Leonid Stein

What are the differences between Leonid Stein: Master of Risk Strategy and Leonid Stein Master of the attack. Obviously the authors are different, but I am unfamiliar with the style of either.

Are either of these books great illustrations of Stein's style? He seems like a very interesting player and I want to study some of his games.

Stein is an incredible player. 

He would have given both Petrosian and Fischer a run for their money.

"Leonid Stein Master of the Attack" is a book written by English GM Raymond Keene about Stein's play.

He annotates a great deal of the games on ChessGames. 

Or am I thinking of someone else?

So it looks like you oughta go for the Gufeld.

Yeah, he could've given Tigran and Bobby a real workout if they had played (shazam, they did!). 

I can only find two games where both Bobby Fischer and Leonid Stein played. 

One is a draw, the other one is a win for Fischer.

That's not enough to see who is stronger.

"He annotates a great deal of the games on ChessGames"

Same guy.

You should write an article on Leonid Stein.

thanks 

Both players were at one time supposed to play in a big tournament, but it never happened.

Yeah well, poor Stein met up with destiny...

There are a few interesting anecdotes (which batgirl probably knows of)...one I remember where Stein was introduced to Fischer as a "country cousin" and proceeded to give him a run for his money.  One of the nice moments when Fischer was the butt of a joke... 

Leonid Stein was one of the players featured in the book Chess Secrets: Great Attackers along with Kasparov & Tal.

http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Secrets-Attackers-Kasparov-Everyman/dp/1857445791

Stein and Fischer were scheduled to play a match but it never came off. Sigh.

AHAHAHAHAH no.

Yes he would have.

He has a good score against Fischer and is an incredible attacker.

That was my first reaction too but after a quick check I found this.

"He was one of few players who had an even score against Vasily Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian, and Mikhail Botvinnik. He even had plus records against Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, and Paul Keres. Stein defeated virtually all of the top players of his era."

So Fischer would hardly have an easy day's work  beating Stein.

Stein clearly had given Petrosian a run for his money, and probably would have done so with Fischer too. It's a pity they never had that match.

Yes Stein is an amazing chess player.

I want to emulate his style to some degree. That is why I want to know which game collection is best. I have seen a sample for Chess Secrets: Great Attackers. The analysis is really dense. Will it really help me?

How do the other two books compare? One person reccommended the Gufeld book, but no one else has said anything.

Any comments or reviews on any of the three books is appreciated.

There are now four books on English (five if you count Kasparov's MY GREAT PREDECESSORS) which deal with Leonid Stein: STEIN MOVE BY MOVE has been published by Everyman, written by a master whose previous work is the excellent MBM book on Petrosian.

All four books are worth having, but if you really want to know about his life and have some games, Gufeld remains the one.

But for thorough analysis, get the STEIN MBM.

Stein is put into context with Kasparov and Tal in the GREAT ATTACKERS book.

I have all four, even the Keene book is significant, if for no other reason than that it was the first treatment in English of a player who was highly regarded by Bobby. (Bobby also thought Petrosian to be the strongest player by far of the "Russians" in the early sixties.)

I think that Stein would have been a great opponent for Bobby: probably would have had a better chance in 1975 against him than Karpov would have. But we'll never know.

BTW, the match between Stein and Bobby was arranged during the Chess Olympiad in Havana. Castro was all for it, and agreed to host immediately after the conclusion of the Olympiad. But the USSR Championship was scheduled to begin shortly after that; and as it was being treated as a zonal tournament to qualify for the world championship cycle, Stein had to back out of the match.

I've read the Crouch book, and the Gufeld one is on my list of books I'd like the read this year.