Author: Michael de la Maza
Date: 12:49:52 04/03/99
Go up one level in this thread
Dave,
I'm not qualified to review the book because I'm a very weak chess player, I'm
not a chess programmer, and I haven't finished reading the book. My guess is
that it would be of great interest to the beginning chess programmer -- Berliner
maps out part of an evaluation function in explicit detail (e.g., a paused pawn
on h6 is worth X). The advanced chess programmer might also find it of interest
for its opening material and for his suggestion that someone might be able to
enocode The System.
Here are some more tidbits:
Format: Figurine algebraic in a very pleasant and easy to read two-column
format.
Main thesis: White starts off with a half-move advantage and "The System" is a
way of maintaining that advantage throughout the opening. Berliner suggests
that many standard white responses to standard black defenses give up that
hlaf-move advantage.
Table of contents:
Symbols and Abbreviations
I am not Alone
Bibliography
Foreword
Introduction
1. The Basic Advantages
2. The System Principles
3. Chess Dynamics
4. The System at Work on an Actual Opening
5. The King's Fianchetto Defences
6. Miscellaneous Opening Analysis
7. Illustrative Games
8. Epilogue
About the Author
Memorable quotes:
-- "White's correct first move is 1 d4..."
-- "..I believe even the most die-hard sceptic will agree that we present
excellent evidence that Black cannot achieve equality in such standard openings
as:
a) The Grunfeld Defence;
b) The Queen's Gambit Declined;
c) The Benko Gambit;
d) The Modern Benoni"
-- "..the hypermodern strategy does not work for White."
-- "Weaver W. Adams was the first person I met who actually had theories about
how chess should be played."
-- "I once discussed this position with David Bronstein, who pioneered the
wonderful attack (after 10 0-0 cxd4 Na5 12 Bd3 Nc6 13 d5!? Bxa1 14 Qxa1) which
though brilliant was found only to lead to a draw with the best defence by
Black. I said to David 'Why would anyone want to castle in this position? What
good is the rook going to do on the squares b1 through f1?' David looked at me
in his wonderful way, and said nothing. That was quite a statement. Clearly,
this idea had made an impression on a connoisseur of this opening."
-- "I can remember one sunny December afternoon in the 1960s during one of the
US Invitational Championships in which both champion Robert J. Fischer and I
were playing. Somehow, we found ourselves walking down one of Manhattan's
Avenues, and of course, we were talking chess. I said to Bobby 'Why don't you
ever play 1 d4? It is much superior to 1 e4.' He replied 'How can you say
that? Give me some proof.' So I replied 'Well, we all think of the Slav
Defence as being quite reputable. I am very close to busting it completely.'
'Give me some variations' was the reply. So I told him some lines...Then I went
into how after 1 d4 d5 it is clear that 2 c4 is best. And also after 1. d4 Nf6,
2 c4 must be best. The only other reasonable move, 2 Nf3, blocks the f-pawn too
early on...Bobby said that he understood what I was saying, but in the absence
of clear variations, he was not persuaded...Some months later, Bobby began
annotating other GMs' games for Chess Life. He annotated a game between (I
believe) Keres and Averbakh, which began 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 (D). To my amazement I
read his note which said that this move could not possibly be best!!? Wow!! He
had learned something from our discussion after all. In the next issue of Chess
Life a number of Soviet GMs took issue with Bobby's statement, saying he was
arrogant to say something like that, and that 2 Nf3 was just as good as any
other move such as 2 c4. So -- they still had the veil over their eyes, while
Bobby had this glimpse of Nirvana."
-- "Maybe some things will work according to System principles, and some not."
Michael
On April 02, 1999 at 22:10:06, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>On April 02, 1999 at 15:36:39, Michael de la Maza wrote:
>
>>I am reading Hans Berliner's "My System" and, after reading a few more pages, I
>>think that this will become the best chess book I have ever read. He makes
>>several amazing claims, including: 1) 1. d4 is white's strongest move and 2)
>>several often-played black defenses are suspect.
>>
>>Given that Berliner is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, chess player
>>to ever head the development of a top-level computer program, I encourage other
>>good chess playing programmers to write books. Unlike many GMs and non-chess
>>playing programmers, great chess playing programmers may have the unique ability
>>to formalize their understanding thus rendering it comprehensible to average,
>>but technically sophisticated, chess players.
>
>I have never heard of this book before. I just checked amazon.com, it's
>publication date is March 1999! Can you review it for us? Or at least, provide
>some sort of summary of its content? I am guessing that it is geared towards a
>chess player, but is there also specific interest for computer chess software
>developers?
>
>Dave Gomboc
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