Art of Bisguier Vol 2

THE ART OF BISGUIER: Selected Games 1961-2003
Authors: Arthur Bisguier & Newton Berry
Russell Enterprises, Inc. (2008)
www.chesscafe.com
272 pages
$28.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

Five years ago, THE ART OF BISGUIER: Selected Games (1945-1960) appeared. Now the second volume, with another publisher, Russell Enterprises Inc, is hot off the press. THE ART OF BISGUIER: Selected Games 1961-2003 is a fine game collection that captures the personality of one of America's friendliest grandmasters.

Bisguier, who will celebrate his 80th birthday next year, has always been known as one of the great natural talents of American chess since winning back to back US Junior Championship titles in the late 1940s. During a distinguished career he represented the US in 2 Interzonals, 5 Olympiads and innumerable US Championships (he took first in 1954) and is on the short list of contenders for the title of having played the most games of chess face to face in a career. Arthur has not only enjoyed a long career as a player but has given thousands of simultaneous exhibitions.

A confirmed classicist who has answered 1.e4 with ...e5 and 1.d4 with 1...d5 for much of his career, Bisguier specialized in certain variations in the Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit Declined. Many instructive and well-annotated games with these lines can be found in this volume and its predecessor. Bisguier was especially adept on the Black side of the Closed Catalan and THE ART OF BISGUIER: Selected Games 1961-2003 features nice wins against GMs Geller and Udovic and IM Donald Byrne.

What sets this book apart from other game collections are the stories that preface each encounter. Bisguier, who has lived American chess history for over 60 years, has always been known as an excellent raconteur and his memory for the clever observation and ability to bring to life Caissa's departed soldiers is second to none. He quotes the Seattle master Olaf Ulvestad for the answer to the difference between a master and a grandmaster ("A master studies the board, calculates, deliberates and at last makes the correct move. A grandmaster tosses a piece in the air and it lands on the proper square."). This explanation struck a chord with Bisguier, who has always strongly relied on his intuition when selecting a move.

Remember the famous game where Fischer resurrected Steinitz's 9.Nh3 in the Two Knight's Defense against Bisguier. Art has a story about the game:

“Paired against Bobby in the New York State Open that year, I noticed that he was taking a long time to move. Then I saw the he'd fallen sound asleep. In a few minutes the flag on his clock would fall and he would lose on time. That's not the way I like to win games, tourneys, or titles. So I made what some would call the biggest blunder of the tournament. I awakened Fischer. Bobby yawned, made a move, punched his clock and proceeded to beat me. It ended up as Game 45 in his MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES. Later I heard that Fischer had stayed up late the previous night playing speed chess for money.”

There are many other stories in THE ART OF BISGUIER: Selected Games 1961-2003, including one relating the incident at the 1975 Cleveland International where IM Bernard Zuckerman threw a captured Bishop across the room at a noisy spectator. Zuckerman also features in another anecdote where "Zook the Book" enhanced his well-earned reputation for opening acumen with some scholarly reading in the tournament bookstall during a game -- incidentally this habit got Zuckerman forfeited in the last round of the World Open in the 1980s.

THE ART OF BISGUIER: Selected Games 1961-2003 has opening and player indexes and many black and white photographs. It is neatly typeset with a clean two-column layout.

Strongly recommended

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