True Combat Chess

TRUE COMBAT CHESS: Winning Battles Over the Board
Author: Tim Taylor
Everyman Chess (2009)
208 pages
$24.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

TRUE COMBAT CHESS: Winning Battles over the Board by American IM Tim Taylor is a very personal book from a veteran of over 40 years of tournament play. Anyone who has read his books or articles in Chess Life know that Taylor is one of Caissa’s truly devoted who still dreams of becoming a Grandmaster as he nears his 60th birthday. If you remember the Mickey Rourke character in The Wrestler you’ve got some idea what Taylor’s career is like as he continues to go from tournament to tournament to put food on the table for his family.

Some might see TRUE COMBAT CHESS as a cautionary tale of the price one pays to be a chess professional. Others might view it as an inspirational book. Taylor shares plenty of his bitter losses and valuable lessons learned but in the end his enthusiasm comes through. Have no doubt he will be back and better prepared!

TRUE COMBAT CHESS is divided into six chapters. The Critical Move, Opening Preparation, The Endgame and the Clock, Winning the Won Game, Beating a Grandmaster and Underground Innovation. The first three are aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at players from 1800 on up. Many of the players who buy this book may never play in a tournament with an increment time control where they are in never-ending time pressure the moment they reach the endgame. Nor are most weekend warriors in the United States, where pairings typically go up five minutes before the round, in danger of being knocked out in the opening due to pre-game preparation, but there is still plenty of valuable material to be absorbed here.

Winning the Won Game is likely to be the chapter that proves the most useful for club players as here it is Mrs. Taylor and not IM Taylor whose games are featured! Mr. Taylor goes over 5 of his wife’s games using over 30 pages to carefully explain, predominately with prose, just what was going on. Players from 1400-1800 will find this chapter especially useful.

TRUE COMBAT CHESS concludes with Taylor sharing his experiences taking on strong GMs and learning just hard it is to take them down. One lesson that is repeatedly drilled into him is the need to have a reliable and well thought out opening repertoire that is sufficiently diverse to dodge the opponent’s preparation.

TRUE COMBAT CHESS is recommended to amateur players who are looking for a more aggressive approach to chess. Taylor, who originally hails from Pennsylvania, just like Joe Frazier, has always shared the noted pugilist’s love of attacking and his philosophy to go forward no matter what the cost is present throughout this book. This spirited approach to the game and Taylor’s lively prose makes TRUE COMBAT CHESS a good read.

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