Author: Robert Sherwood
Year: 2013
Publisher: Caissa Editions
Place: Yorklin, Delaware
Description:
220 pages with photographs, diagrams, table, bibliography and index. Royal octavo (9 1/4" x 6 1/4") bound in original publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to spine and cover. Edited by Dale Brandreth. First edition.
San Remo 1930 was the first international chess tournament held in the San Remo casino. Sixteen chess masters including the world champion Alexander Alekhine, played a round-robin tournament from 16 January to 4 February 1930. The games were played in the casino during the day, and in the evening the playing hall was used for dancing. Alekhine dominated the field with a score of 14/15, 3½ points ahead of second-placed Aron Nimzowitsch, and won 10,000 lire.
Author Robert Sherwood conducted the analysis of the games with the help of three top notch search engines: Komodo 5, Critter 1.6a, and Houdini 3. The other analyses are by the players themselves. In the introduction written by Tartakower, he mentions that a feud by some journalists was started when they felt Alekhine was obligated to play Capablanca a rematch for the World Championship Alekhine had won three years before. Alekhine did ask for an increase in his appearance fee in tournaments where Capablanca played. As a consequence, Capablanca didn't play in San Remo 1930. The other major missing participant was Emmanuel Lasker.
Before each round there are capsule comments about the critical moments of each game similar to the 1924 New York tournament book by Alekhine which are a nice touch. The diagrams are clear and numerous; 2-4 per page! This is the only book in English that is so thoroughly informative and instructive on such an important tournament. There is much to learn and enjoy! I wish there were more photos of the event - perhaps none were taken. Just one from the tournament is shown, and a photo of Alekhine that I've never seen before.
Condition:
Near fine.