CORRESPONDENCE CHESS BOOK REVIEWS Including Books, Periodicals, and Software (All Reviews by John Knudsen Unless Otherwise Indicated)
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Reviewed in 1997 BORDER WARS III By Jean Hebert This 88 page book, published in 1984, is an account of the Third North American Invitational CC Championship, 1978-1982. This tournament featured players from the US and Canada. At stake were possible IM-norms and qualification into the World Championship cycle. As an aside, Victor Palciauskas (US) attained qualification into the 10th World Championship by virtue of his placement in the 2nd NAICCC. The rest, as they say, is history - he went on to win the 10th World Championship. Such possibilities make for exciting correspondence chess!
This book has most of the assets required to make it a classic. The introduction was written by John F. Cleeve, who details the organizational aspects of the tournament and the ones that went before it. Mini biographies of the players are given, some of them quite detailed. Sixty-four (nice number!) games are annotated, mostly by Jean Hebert or Jonathan Berry, but quite a few annotated by the other players as well. Small photographs of the players are also included - a nice touch. Interestingly, a glossary of CC terms and abbreviations is given, along with a section on chess notation and symbols, closing with an explanation of how the chess openings were classified. A decent index, tabulation of the openings and length of the games, records round off the book. At the very end crosstables of the first three NAICCC tournaments are given - an important, necessary, and all too often neglected part of a series-tournament type book. The quality of the games presented and the annotations are very high indeed. Berry, in particular, combines a strong ability and sense of humor to produce such comments as: "I have found that players who consistently make good moves in classical openings can be carried away with the desire to kill Rats" (writing about the game Sarosy - Berry using the "Rat" opening).
A complaint about this book is a personal one. I understand that GM Hebert wanted to include only the highest quality games (what exactly does that mean?), but I, as a reader, want to see all of the games. Vitally important in the documentation of CC history is that all games, good and bad, be preserved from important tournaments. Another point is that our heroes have good and bad games, just like the rest of us (although on a much higher plane, I might add). The quest for perfection is an honorable one, but tends to make super-players look elitist to the ordinary enthusiast. But, this objection is a minor one, compared to the all-around worth of the work. This book should be bought by all serious CC players.
Softbound, published by Chess Enterprises, Inc. Check out their web site at
CEI. The list price is $5.00 - a very good value indeed. This book is also available with most other mail order chess book dealers, but, why not support the good folks at CEI by buying direct?