Introduction
Learn From the Legends is an astonishing learning resource. It’s among the best books that teach how to navigate simplified middlegames and complex endgames. It’s engaging, entertaining, perfectly annotated, and incredibly useful. It’s neither a middlegame, nor an endgame book though. If I had to categorize it, I would say it’s a book that aims to help you develop technique and conversion.
It consists of eight chapters, devoted to eight chess legends, six of whom became World Champions; Rubinstein, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Fischer, Karpov, and Korchnoi, and their technique in a specific type of position – how they treated simplified positions with a certain material balance such as bishop versus knight or rook endgames. Such a division was a new approach in 2004.
“Throughout chess history, the great champions have been enthusiastically acclaimed by the public, have dictated the fashion for a while, but, more importantly, have provided posterity with a wealth of study material of inestimable value. Clearly, each of them had his own specialties, certain territories where he acted like a true virtuoso, specific ways of playing that became proverbial.
Each chapter of this book focuses on the way a great player treated simplified positions with a certain material balance (for instance, bishop versus knight, minor piece versus rook, queen and rook versus queen and rook). The only exception consists of the chapter dedicated to Viktor Korchnoi, which in a certain way is a summing up of the rest of the book.“ ― From the Foreword to the first edition (Marin, 2004, 5)
Learn From the Legends was named Chess Cafe Book of the Year in 2005 and has had two new editions since its original publishing.
About the Author
Mihail Marin is a Romanian Grandmaster and an accomplished author. His greatest chess achievement may be qualifying for the 1987 Interzonal. He has also won three Romanian Championships and has played in the Olympiads twelve times.
Marin has written numerous remarkable books, including Secrets of Attacking chess, an English Opening Repertoire in two volumes, a Pirc Defense Repertoire, a Leningrad Dutch Repertoire, a Dutch Sidelines Repertoire, and a Spanish Repertoire, all part of the great Grandmaster Repertoire series by Quality Chess. He has recently written Learn from the Legends 2 and Learn from Bent Larsen, two books that continue his Learn from series.
How did Learn From the Legends come about
The book first came out as a series of articles in Romanian and Swedish publications. Only after it had already been well received, had it been transformed into a book. Books that come about that way are usually great. Learn From the Legends is no exception. Tried and tested material reworked on a higher level. The four original articles, from which four of the chapters in the book were created, were written by Marin and his family members while they were trying to graduate from the school of chess trainers – they were their “master theses”.
“I can’t recall having seen a better book in the last two decades.“ ― IM Jeremy Silman
Structure of the Book
Each of the eight chapters is devoted to a legendary chess player and what he was most famous for (sort of), with the definite exception of Tal and Karpov. The chapters devoted to them cover Karpov’s opposite colored bishops, and Tal’s rooks vs minor pieces, which isn’t what they are best known for. Tal was, of course, a wild tactician, and Karpov a boa constrictor and a strategic mastermind.
The rest of the chapters are Akiba Rubinstein’s rook endgames, Alekhine’s heavy pieces, Botvinnik’s analytical mind, and Fischer’s famous bishop, and the final chapter on Korchnoi, which doesn’t have a specific theme. The third edition also has a 9th chapter, devoted to Magnus Carlsen. I haven’t read the third edition, though.
Each chapter consists of an introduction, where Marin shares interesting stories or an instructive overview of the material presented (or both). There isn’t much uniformity between the introductions, but that’s fine. I enjoyed reading them. They are full of fun historical facts and provide great context to the games played by the legends. The main body of each chapter are the annotated positions and games. They all illustrate the main theme of the chapter or the subthemes Marin thinks are important. I like those best. Take, for example, those in the first chapter on Rubinstein’s rook endgames, subtitled “Converting an Advantage”, “Converting a positional advantage”, or “Play on two wings”. Marin uses each sub-chapter to go into more detail on the playing technique, which makes the material easier to digest and learn from.
Learn from the Legends 2
The sequel came out this year. I got my hardcover a few weeks ago and couldn’t wait to read it. Its chapters are devoted to Stein, Polugaevsky, Bronstein, Keres, and Portisch. The structure of the book is similar, but the chapter topics aren’t as clearly divided, and the entire book may be considered an attacking manual. There is one important and excellent addition compared to the first volume; each chapter in volume 2 comes with test exercises. Each test position comes with a specific question you must answer. I prefer the first volume simply because of the themes it covers, but the second one was a very useful read too.
Quality of Annotations
I don’t believe I’m about to say this, but the annotations are flawless. Every book I’ve read and reviewed so far has had the same flaw, more or less obvious – inadequate annotations, either in quality or quantity. Learn from the Legends is the first exception. Marin has managed to both explain each move, each idea, and each principle and instructive point in detail, and he has managed to find a perfect balance between variations, their depth, and the amount of annotations.
The annotated positions and games are the heart of the book, and what makes it so good. Marin writes well, not perfectly, but this isn’t Proust. It’s an instructive chess book. From a learning perspective, Learn from the Legends is, in my opinion, flawless.
How difficult is Learn from the Legends
One of the questions I always try to answer is the recommended rating for reading a book. The concepts in Learn from the Legends are elementary at first glance. Rook endgames, material imbalances, converting an advantage, or bishop versus knight, is something even beginners should be familiar with. But. Marin’s teaching approach and the way the material is presented, may be best suited for advanced players. My conclusion is that anyone above beginner level, say 1400 online, would greatly benefit from the book, but advanced players, 1800 FIDE and above, should think of Learn from the Legends as a must-read book for improving their technique.
How should you use the book?
I have gone through the book with a board, and I was setting up all the positions and analyzing all the sidelines. I paused whenever something Marin wrote wasn’t immediately clear. If I was unfamiliar with the concept he was explaining, or if I couldn’t understand the position, I would treat it as a problem I had to solve. I think that approach would work best for all readers. I was engaged, and the process felt like training, but it remained fun.
Conclusion
Learn From the Legends is a fun and instructive read. It’s annotated perfectly, which is something I have never said before. Following the games and the skills of the eight legends doing what they did best is a great format. I think this is a must-read chess book for any ambitious player, and a great first book for everyone regardless of strength.
