New Book- The Chess Battles of Hastings

I am a big fan of tournament game collections and was quite excited when I saw this book available for pre-order on Amazon back in April, with an August 1st release date.

However, as August approached, it got moved back to September, then October, then November, December, and finally December 15th.  I ordered it on the 15th, and it didn't arrive until just before New Year's.  That being said, I am quite happy with the book.  I got the hardcover edition, which was the only version available when I ordered it.  Since then, they have added a Kindle version which I have not looked at.  The hardcover sells for $32.95 and is a high- quality book.  Hastings is one of the oldest, longest running tournaments in the world, and the book contains stories and games going back to the 1800's and running up to the present.  There are some of the world's greatest players, many fabulous and historic games, and interesting stories and trivia to entertain you.  I give it two big thumbs up.

I just checked the table of contents. Looks like a great book. I bought Cambridge Springs 1904 and Zurich 1953. Maybe I'll get this one too. There's another one I'm considering. New York 1924 by Alekhine.

I have NY 1924, NY 1927, and Nottingham 36, all annotated by Alekhine, on my Kindle.  I also have the St Petersburg 1909, and the Hague Moscow 1948 on my Kindle as well.  In book form I have Zurich 1953, London 1922, Carlsbad International Chess Tournament 1929, San Luis 2005, The Soviet Chess Championships, and several more, some in my storage unit in boxes.  There are more in my Amazon wish list, like Curacao 1962, Reggio Emelia 2007/2008, the First and Second Piatigorsky Cup books, the Gijon International Chess Tournaments 1944 to 1965, and more.  I think the reason I like tournament books so much is that some of the best players in the world are all gathered together, so it gives you an idea of the relative strength of the best players in the world at that time.

There's also 4th Candidates' Tournament, 1959 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade, Harry Golombek. Great tournament but not well annotated according to some of the Amazon reviews. Nottingham Sounds interesting.

@BoardMonkey  I have the Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade book as well.  I purchased it last April after I had purchased a Zagreb set from HoS, and I probably first saw the Hastings book available for pre-order at that time.  I may be a bit off, and a confessed chess collector/addict, but my love of great tournament books keeps me searching.

Linares 1992 and Wijk aan Zee 2001 were great tournaments. I might be off on the years though. I don't think there are any books on them. I just have the PGN. Think I'll get Nottingham 1936 and New York 1924. I can't believe Lasker won New York 1924.

Capablanca beat Lasker for the world championship in '21, but in '24 Lasker was still a pretty good player.  It is not as if losing the championship means you forget how to play chess.  Look at Capablanca's record after losing the title to Alekhine.  Capa hardly lost a game for years, and lost very few games over his entire career.

Fascinating. Interesting era in chess.

It was a very fascinating era in chess.  My personal favorite player is Capablanca.  It is out of print and a bit pricey, but Capablanca's Best Games by Golombek was a watershed book for me ( the one with the blue cover ).  People have said his opening repertoire was limited, which may be true.  However, his middlegame positional knowledge and his brilliant endgame play won him so many games.  When I read the Golombek book, the games had such clarity, almost a kind of simplicity, that I felt I understood what he was trying to accomplish.  Compare that to trying to get inside the head of Shirov in his book...well, there is no comparison.  People also complain about Golombek's annotations, and that he was very pro-Capablanca because he knew him personally.  That may be, but I played the best game of my life after I finished that book.  I played a guy at my club I had never played before, and did a Queens Gambit and somehow channelled my inner Capa, got my rooks to the center, piled up attackers on a target, a massive exchange of pieces ensued, and I ended up with a passed pawn and the enemy king cut off by my rook.  Just like Capa would have done it...well almost lol.

I have Capablanca's Best Games by Golombek. I feel so lucky to have it since it's out of print. I had the opposite experience at a tournament recently trying to channel my inner Capa. I tried to double my rooks on a file to get one down to the seventh rank like Capablanca would have done. Unfortunately for me, my opponent had the faster plan of trapping one of my bishops.

Well, even Capablanca had an Alekhine lol.