PAWN SACRIFICE
Author: Timothy Taylor
239 pages
Everyman Chess (2008)
$24.95
Reviewed by Jeremy Silman

The surge of books about attacking chess continues. Recently we’ve seen ATTACKING MANUAL 1 by Jacob Aagaard, THE ART OF ATTACKING CHESS by Zenon Franco, and HOW TO CRUSH YOUR CHESS OPPONENTS (by Simon Williams). And now comes something completely different: PAWN SACRIFICE: Winning at Chess the Adventurous Way by IM Timothy Taylor.

Taylor, who makes his home in Los Angeles, has had a lifelong love affair with attacking chess. His openings are oriented towards sharp or offbeat systems where he can toss everything he owns at his opponents, and if given the choice between a safe and highly advantageous positional middlegame or a wild sacrifice where the fur is flying in every direction, Tim will rush towards the latter.

Unlike the attacking books listed above, Taylor’s PAWN SACRIFICE is an easier read. Tim’s excitement with the subject matter is obvious on every page, and his conversational writing style and humor keep things hopping. A couple original tidbits he tosses in are “Favorable Omens,” a term he coins to show you how to spot situations where such sacrifices make sense, and “Mr. Fritz?” which appears every time a pawn is tossed. The idea is to see if the German god agrees with the goings on, or if it gives the proceedings a gloom and doom assessment. Then Tim adds the “Author’s Opinion” where he lets you know whether or not he agrees with Mr. Fritz. I should also mention the term “Sacrificial Shock,” which he uses as a means of explaining why many players simply fold when faced with the complications that the pawn sacrifice creates.

PAWN SACRIFICE features quite a few games by the author, which makes sense since he likes to part with the little guys at every semi-sane opportunity. And, of course, he also raves about his idolization of Mikhail Tal – is there any crazed attacking player that doesn’t love Tal? However, I found it very interesting to see Taylor being won over by Petrosian, who was known as an almost unbeatable positional player, but who also sacrificed the Exchange with reckless abandon. But pawn sacrifices? It turns out that the great Tigran did so on many occasions.

At times I don’t agree with everything Mr. Taylor says, but who cares? Tim had a clear agenda: to excite, teach, and entertain the reader and make the student as thrilled with the prospect of sacrificing pawns as he is himself.

What’s next? Perhaps a joint effort between Taylor and Emery Tate (who makes Tim look passive in comparison!) titled, LAVA ON BOARD. If you toss Shabalov in for a threesome, then the pages might actually melt.

Click to buy (or get more information about) PAWN SACRIFICE

Other books by Tim Taylor:

BIRD'S OPENING

BEATING THE KING'S INDIAN and GRUNFELD

Other books on attack:

ATTACKING MANUAL 1 (by Aagaard)

HOW TO CRUSH YOUR CHESS OPPONENTS (by Simon Williams)

THE ART OF ATTACKING CHESS (by Zenon Franco)