A few weeks back (as we assume you have noticed) the English Chess Federation released their shortlist of nominees for book of the year (going from 1st August 2014 to 31st July 2015). Each publisher is allowed to send two books to the judges. A shortlist of four books is then announced.
Both books we put forward this year were shortlisted. Here is what the judges had to say:
Chess Structures – A Grandmaster Guide
Mauricio Flores Rios | Quality Chess pp464 £21.95
“The book was ‘born out of my desire to guide players who, like me, struggle to apply their strategic knowledge to a practical game’. Rios shows exceptional clarity of organisation and selection of (nearly all contemporary) illustrative games. Each of the 140 games starts with ‘Learning Objective’ and concludes with ’Final Remarks’. In all, ‘28’ chess structures are covered and the book finishes with 50 exercises. It is hard to imagine any student not learning from this book; but the problems of using this knowledge over the board, even for a world-class player, are discussed in the Gelfand book below.”
Positional Decision Making in Chess
Boris Gelfand | Quality Chess pp284 £23.99
“This remarkable book, written in collaboration with Jacob Aagaard, is an attempt to show how a world-class player (there are few with Gelfand’s extensive top-level experience) thinks during the course of a game. As the title suggests, the games selected concentrate on aspects of positional play such as space advantage or the squeeze. Very interestingly, Gelfand admits to being strongly influenced by Akiba Rubinstein, a great player in the first half of the 20th century; a number of Rubinstein’s games are included. Throughout, Gelfand is very honest about his thoughts and recollections during the games presented. As a result the book is a fascinating insight into the mind of a great chess player at work.”
Quality Chess has previously won the ECF Book of the Year award with:
2007: San Luis 2005 – Gershon & Nor
2010: Attacking Manual 1&2 – Jacob Aagaard
2013: How I Beat Fischer’s Record – Judit Polgar
Gelfand & Aagaard for me but the judges might fall into the allure of Kasparov.
When will the decision on the winner be made public?
@Tobias
October somewhere…
Congratulations as the winner is… Positional Decision Making in Chess 😉 :).
BTW. Do not ask me what way I predicted the winner. It is a BIG secret 😀
This is a great year for chess books and a great selection -the two other books (Benjamin and Kasparov) are excellent too ! I am happy that I don’t have to vote…
Of course we want to win, but to me all four books are winners…
I think one of your books should win, but for some reason, I would feel a bit sorry for Rios if he doesn’t clinch it. Of course, Gelfand’s book may be even better, but Rios has written a fantastic pedagogical manual for U2200 players.
Both books are top notch. Too close to call for me. I wish I could. They seem to work well together to this patzer.
Congrats to quality chess and also to GM Rios. Both books really deserver the prize!