I started reading this book (finally found algebraic edition, thank god). I found some online resources to go along with the book, and the annotations seem just lazy to me. Chernev gives very little variations, which are often so wrong. I know he didn't have an engine, but these mistakes are not some crazy, deep lines he missevaluates. What are your impressions of the book? Would you consider it worth reading anyway? Since the annotations are very few, I can go through games quite quickly, and the games seem very well picked, and instructive. I guess it will still expose me to many very important strategical ideas, and classic games worth knowing.
Chernev's deep love for the game is obvious to any reader of his books. Chess historian Edward Winter commented:
- Although Chess Notes items have shown that he sometimes cut corners, he was active at a time when writing and scholarship were not regarded as a natural pairing and when anecdotes and other chestnuts were particularly prevalent. Few were interested in sources. Above all, in the pre-digital age the work of writers in his field was far harder; they could not fill in gaps in their knowledge with press-of-a-button 'research'. …
- Chernev's output — clear, humorous and easy-going — gave the impression of effortlessness, but much industry lay behind it all. …
- Although his prose was often conversational, it was literate and carefully structured, bearing no resemblance to the ultra-casual 'I'm-just-one-of-the-lads' stuff increasingly seen in chess books and magazines since his time. We have also been struck by the scarcity of typographical errors in Chernev's writing throughout his life.[4]
I started reading this book (finally found algebraic edition, thank god). I found some online resources to go along with the book, and the annotations seem just lazy to me. Chernev gives very little variations, which are often so wrong. I know he didn't have an engine, but these mistakes are not some crazy, deep lines he missevaluates. What are your impressions of the book? Would you consider it worth reading anyway? Since the annotations are very few, I can go through games quite quickly, and the games seem very well picked, and instructive. I guess it will still expose me to many very important strategical ideas, and classic games worth knowing.