Recently I asked Yasser Seirawan to give me a list of his favorite few chess books. His top three appear to be: the 1960 Tal-Botvinnik match book by Tal, Fischer's 60 Memorable Games and Bronstein's book on the Zurich 1953 Tournament (mentioned with reverence).

Since I have already reviewed the first two, I feel it's a "forced variation" that I give my two-cent's worth about Bronstein's masterpiece also.

It seems that everyone and his uncle has conspired to write thousands of tournament books, so what makes this one stand out? Aside from the impressive list of players (in order of their final score: Smyslov, Bronstein, Keres, Reshevsky, Petrosian, Geller, Najdorf, Kotov, Taimanov, Averbakh, Boleslavsky, Szabo, Gligoric, Euwe, and Stahlberg), what makes this a book for the ages is, quite simply, the amazing notes. Bronstein's interesting prose, his highly instructive explanations of plans and ideas, his witty stories and his fantastic variations begin on page one and continue through all 210 games.

Deep strategic explanations of the King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian and Sicilian abound. The personalities of these chess legends are soaked into every page. Magical combinations take our breath away and profound endgames keep our attention glued to every move. If you combine all these things with an exciting battle for first place (it almost feels like you're at the tournament watching the event take place), you might begin to realize just how special this book really is.

I could go on and on, but it's best just to say this: if you don't buy and read this fantastic book you will be doing yourself a great injustice. Get it, hold it, sniff it, rub it on top of your head, place it under your pillow; this is simply the greatest tournament book ever written and it deserves to be in every self-respecting chess library.

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