Reviews

GM Matthew Sadler

Forgotten Genius

Velimirovic is a player whose name will always remain immortal in the collective chess memory. But he had a career that was characterized by strange hiccups and odd twists of fate, robbing him of many opportunities. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#8 I left you on a cliffhanger in the last issue with my finger poised over the ‘order’ button for both volumes of Forgotten Genius – The Life and Games of Grandmaster Dragoljub Velimirovic by Georg Mohr and Ana Velimirovic-Zorica. Well, the story continues happily, as I did order them and loved them both!The book is co-written by the Slovenian player and journalist Georg Mohr and Velimirovic’s daughter Ana. Mohr also co-wrote a volume on Velimirovic’s contemporary Albin Planinc, reviewed in a previous issue. Ana’s involvement adds a special touch to these two volumes. She not only had a large collection of photos and cartoons of her father (many of which appear in both volumes) but also Velimirovic’s175

The Real Paul Morphy on PowerPlayChess!

The Real Paul Morphy on PowerPlayChess!

GM Daniel King publishes a variety of interesting chess materials on his YouTube channel PowerPlayChess, ranging from puzzles to book reviews. Recently, he interviewed our author Charles Hertan about his biography of perhaps the most enigmatic chess player in history: Paul Morphy. Watch the interview below, or click here to watch it on YouTube! 

GM Matthew Sadler

Extraordinary inventiveness

It started with his childhood coach, who mentioned the games of Sergio Mariotti, or ‘The Italian Fury’. This led to reading two books about Albin Planinc, a genius of the same category who has almost been forgotten. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#7 This month’s column is a little different because due to a logistical mix-up, I ended up a little short of books! So I’m focusing this time on the books I’ve bought recently myself, my reasons for doing so and what I’ve discovered!The first set of books I’d like to discuss are Apologia of the Unexpected – Selected Games of Albin Planinc by Pablo Iglesias (Amazon, self-published) and Forgotten Genius – The Life and Games of Grandmaster Albin Planinc by Georg Mohr and Adrian Mikhalchishin (Thinkers Publishing). As you may gather, I’ve developed an interest in the games of this Slovenian Grandmaster (1944-2008) who for a brief period (1968-1975) dazzled the chess175

The Woodpecker 2 on PowerPlayChess!

The Woodpecker 2 on PowerPlayChess!

GM Daniel King publishes a variety of interesting chess materials on his YouTube channel PowerPlayChess, ranging from puzzles to book reviews. Recently, he interviewed our author Axel Smith about the second volume of his highly succesful book series, The Woodpecker Method 2! A shortened clip of the conversation can be viewed below, click here to watch the entire hour-long interview on YouTube!

GM Matthew Sadler

Endgame Class

A competitive sport tends to have one key element in which a professional is expected to demonstrate his class. Failing in this key discipline is more than poor: it’s almost a moral crime, something to feel ashamed about. In chess, the endgame is that element. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#6 Towards the end of July, I joined Natasha Regan at the 2025 British Championships in Liverpool to commentate on the blitz and rapid junior championship events (from Under-16 down to Under-8) played just before the main event.Natasha had the lovely idea of inviting all the parents into the commentary room, and then asking the kids to come to our table after they finished their games to show us their games (if they wanted, of course!) After a few minutes of uncertainty, it really took off and we soon had long queues of proud and enthusiastic kids. As you can tell from the stream (on the ECF YouTube site), it was a pretty chaotic but very fulfilling couple175

Sadler on Books

The Russian Sphinx

Three new titles show that the chess opening book is still relevant. However, the five-star reviews are for new volumes about chess greats Alekhine and Korchnoi. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#5 After diving into 4000 pages of Paul Keres last month, 300-page opening books now feel like an absolute breeze! This month, I reviewed a record number of titles.We start with Richard Palliser’s The Tricky Tromp from the rebranded Popular Chess label (formerly Everyman). One thing to note right away is that this book only covers the Trompowsky after 1.d4 ♘f6 2.♗g5, so it’s not a complete opening repertoire for White. But it will help you sidestep those pesky Nimzo-Indians and Grünfelds! In fact, Palliser pulls off a double sidestep by focusing on less popular Trompowsky lines. For example, after the main line 1.d4 ♘f6 2.♗g5 ♘e4rather than focus on the current main line 3.♗f4, Palliser picks up Julian Hodgson’s old favourite 3.h4 as well as re-examining175

Ulf - the attacker! on Power Play Chess

Ulf - the Attacker! on PowerPlayChess

On his YouTube channel PowerPlayChess, Grandmaster Daniel King shares his expertise and passion for chess. He recently interviewed one of our authors - IM Thomas Engqvist from Sweden - and looked at a few games from his latest book, Ulf - the attacker! The complete interview, which is over an hour long, can be watched on Power Play Chess. In the shorter clip, Daniel and Thomas examine a specific game, which demonstrates that Ulf Andersson was more than a positional genius, possessing a crystal-clear style.

GM Matthew Sadler

A monstrous Keres project

Now past fifty, Matthew Sadler finds himself looking backward as much as forward – and correcting a few false assumptions. His most recent reappraisal was prompted by a 4,013-page project on Paul Keres. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#4 As I head towards my fifty-second year on this earth, I have the strange sensation of looking backwards as much as forwards. Plans for the future are tinged with a hint of melancholy because I’ve become aware that my life path has made some dreams very unlikely to happen. It’s the chess player’s equivalent of staring forlornly at your black pieces at move 30 and thinking, ‘What possessed me to play the Czech Benoni?’I don’t have too many regrets about the mistakes I’ve made in life, because life is something you figure out as you go along and accidents are bound to happen. However, I have felt quite irritated about some of the mistakes I’ve made in chess – strangely enough, not so much about the blunders175

GM Matthew Sadler

Seekers of the ultimate truth

These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#3 To players of my generation, the clash between Nimzowitsch and Tarrasch is still a burning issue! You truly feel some personal connection because you read Nimzowitsch’s My System as an impressionable teenager. Willy Hendriks chronicles the clash in his new book, full of humour and larger-than-life characters. At such times, a certain gloom (British understatement) about the life that awaits us is unavoidable, but chess books remain a ray of joy. In particular, I’ve loved the attention that authors of the past years have shown to the many facets of chess history. The publishing house Elk and Ruby has brought the grimly fascinating Soviet era of chess to life, highlighting the lives and games of many forgotten figures of that period, while, thanks to books about FIDE President Folke Rogard and Gideon Stahlberg, I seem to have spent many days reading about the Swedish175

Sadler on Books

100 Studies and 50 Mistakes

These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#2 In idle moments, I’ve sometimes found myself thinking to which period of chess history I would choose to return if given access to a time machine (well it beats thinking about work I guess!). My choice has fallen most often on the period between the two World Wars. Pretty much everything you could love about chess is in there: fantastic players (Capablanca, Alekhine, Lasker, and a host of other colourful and interesting characters), huge classical tournaments, the emergence of new chess approaches such as hyper-modernism, a growing professionalism in opening preparation leading to new systems and discoveries, but not so much that lifelong King’s Gambit romantics like Rudolf Spielmann couldn’t find a place in the world elite. However, chess history isn’t even a fraction of the whole story of course and chess players weren’t spared from the horrors of the rise of Nazism and the outbreak of war (the abovementioned175

GM Matthew Sadler

Timeless anecdotes

These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#1 In one of those chess books without chess in it, Peter Doggers manages to serve the contingent of new chess fans who started as Netflix watchers or YouTube subscribers. It is a worthy introduction to chess and the world behind it. My youngest nephew received a SIM card for his phone for Christmas which has led to some late-night calls from him (don’t tell his parents) excitedly explaining the ins and outs of an esports game called Rocket League. It involves flying cars playing football, it’s played professionally, and the best player in the world is a Frenchman called Zen. My nephew hasn’t shown much interest in chess so far but after the chess.com announcement that chess would be included in the inaugural 2025 Olympic Esports Games (next to games like Rocket League), maybe I’ll jump in his esteem!Announcements like this do make me feel my age. As a chess player175

GM Matthew Sadler

So confusing!

These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2024#8 The third volume of Viktor Korchnoi’s biography still does not bring clarity. So many things happen in Korchnoi’s games that they are sometimes very difficult to understand. It’s a strange feeling to read a modern repertoire book, Queen’s Gambit Accepted by Nicolas Yap, about an opening you have known extremely well, only to discover that every recommendation would have been considered completely unsound in your day! In all fairness, none of Yap’s lines are particularly well-known even a year after the publication of the book, but they have been played by super-grandmasters on various occasions.It’s always an interesting question for an older player like me to ponder why certain possibilities remained hidden to us in the pre-computer age, despite intensive analysis of that opening over many years. I certainly thought a few times about meeting 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 with175