Understanding Chess. My System, My Games, My Life by William Lombardy

You have to buy this book direct from  Lombardy who will autograph it  and it can be purchased HERE.

From Lombardy’s website:

      "Understanding Chess is William Lombardy’s sixth book to date, aside from his collaborations in many books and periodicals. This ambitious project consists of an exposé of Lombardy’s most important games viewed through the prism of his system for learning. The first section of the book introduces the author’s background, how he came to learn chess, and how he came to formulate his theory of learning applied to chess, ultimately becoming one of the top players of his day. In this part the reader will find an articulated approach on how to learn the game in a well-rounded manner for those with long-term aspirations.
      The remainder of the book consists of the “Games” section, where the author highlights the underlying presence of his system. Many of the games are also complimented by the appendix section that often provides background information while supplementing the various motifs the author seeks to explore. Furthermore, the 119 newly annotated games (including several unpublished games and 37 appendix games), along with the 46 photographs, are embellished by anecdotes and observations drawn from Lombardy’s remarkable career, spanning almost sixty years from the early 1950’s to the present. Thus, aside from its main didactic endeavor, the book has a strong autobiographical undertone."

It is a paperback, 312 pages with 119 of his games, starting with one against Jack Collins in 1953 and ending with a 156-mover against Deep Shredder in 2009. The annotations have a huge amount of text in them.

Sample Game for Download

 

      Among his opponents are US chess greats from the past as well as international stars: Dr. Eliot Hearst, Anthony Santasiere, George Kramer, and Dr. Max Pavey, Hector Rossetto, Samuel Reshevsky, Tahl, Botvinnik, Olafsson, Spassky, Portisch, etc. Strangely, no game against Fischer though.

      This looks like a pretty interesting book that I would like to own and it’s gotten great reviews, but I hesitate purchasing it because of its hefty price tag of $54 plus a $6 fondling charge.