Trains and boats and planes are all part of a day in the life of globe-trotting Grandmaster Julian Hodgson, as is his constant surveillance of the chessboard in search of some lethal tactical strike. Now, in Chess Travellers Quiz Book, Hodgson reverses roles and. setting the brainteasers himself, challenges readers to find the winning combination in 200 test-yourself positions, all taken from practical play. These are arranged chapter by chapter, in order of increasing difficulty, anticipating that by the time you reach your final destination you will be a keener, sharper, more imaginative player.
"....Meredith’s total output was a trifle less than two hundred problems. The selection which follows proclaims their author one of the foremost American problemists, one who has passed on to posterity some very noteworthy compositions that will endure as classics of our noble art and pastime and perpetuate the name and memory of their illustrious composer."
If chess is a game for people of character, then Fischer was born to become a chess genius, because it was precisely his character that led him to leave school while still an adolescent and embark on a journey studded with inevitable pitfalls, his only quide and muse the chequered board. He would go on to rewrite the history books: become the youngest ever grandmaster, achieve boundless success and transcend his own capabilities. He would learn Russian and Serbo-Croat, study and practise chess until he dropped. By the 1960s his mere presence was enough to raise the limits of expectation...
The games collected in this book were played during the 35 years of my career in big-time chess. Do I number them among my best 1 In the main, yes, because victory in them brought me that which attracts me more than anything in chess. Defeats are also instructive, of course, but that is a quite different topic ...
