CHESS INFORMANT 92

400 pages

Chess Informant (2005)

$34.95

Reviewed by John Watson

I don’t think there has ever been a bad CHESS INFORMANT. It’s a bit arbitrary to single out Volume 92, but it’s the most recent that I have (Number 94 just appeared, I think), and the format and quality of Informants don’t change much from issue to issue. Indeed, number 92 is no exception, with 522 annotated games and the usual cast of great annotators, e.g., Adams, Anand, Bologan, Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Kasparov, Kramnik, Leko, Polgar, Shirov, Short, and many others. As always, this volume begins with the ten best games and ten most important novelties from the preceding one. There is also a theoretical survey in ECO format, and sections on combinations and endings. Robert Huebner’s career is featured in a sixteen-page section with an excellent selection of games and positions. One can refer to previous reviews and their website below to get the flavor of what’s offered. The main games are still the heart of Informants; they are brilliant and/or essential to following the latest developments in hundreds of openings. It is indicative of their quality that Chess Informants are used by every titled player that I’ve met over the years, and by most other serious players. They come in a softcover volume of about 400 pages or on a CD. The only caveat I can think of is that the Informants are languageless and their often-intricate game annotations are entirely symbolic. This may be undesirable or even intimidating for the occasional player, while such a presentation is too advanced for the inexperienced.

The company Chess Informant has also published new opening monographs annotated by experts on variations of the Caro-Kann (B12, authored by Velikovic), Sicilian (B22, authored by Sveshnikov), and Ruy Lopez (C78, authored by Belyavsky and Mikhalchishin). I may be mistaken, but I think that this monograph series was suspended some years back and has just now been revived. I used to have editions on the French and Ruy Lopez by Korchnoi and Bareev, whose notes were very useful. That was before we had databases of such size and ease of manipulation: since similar material may now be collected from a database (i.e., the raw moves alone), the key here is the extent and quality of the contributions of the authors. I don’t know what they consist of so I’m not sure what to recommend here except to take a flyer if it’s a variation that’s of special interest to you, or try to get a look at another copy before purchasing.

Click to buy (or get more information about) INFORMANT 94.

Click to buy (or get more information about) INFORMANT 93.

Click to buy (or get more information about) INFORMANT 92.

Click to buy (or get more information about) INFORMANTS 1-91 on CD.