10-11-2011, 11:29 AM
Fascinating discussion ... which is essentially (and coincidentally) also at the very heart of my just published Everyman book: Giants of Innovation (on Steinitz, Lasker, Botvinnik, Korchnoi and Ivanchuk). For a brief summary of the key attributes that it takes to be a great innovator, see at the end of my book p.279 ... the rest of the book explores the issues. Success is not "just" down to hard work on and off the board, of course, but that's an absolutely essential basis.
As the book's intro stresses, innovation in all its many guises (not just new moves, of course, but much more than that) lies at the very heart of success in chess. Here's the first "review" I've noticed ... not in depth but gives a flavour. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/article_assets/articledir_14685/7342628/chess.pdf">http://www.spectator.co.uk/article_asse ... /chess.pdf</a><!-- m -->. Further info and extracts from the book can be found at the Everyman Chess web-site and Amazon.
As the book's intro stresses, innovation in all its many guises (not just new moves, of course, but much more than that) lies at the very heart of success in chess. Here's the first "review" I've noticed ... not in depth but gives a flavour. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/article_assets/articledir_14685/7342628/chess.pdf">http://www.spectator.co.uk/article_asse ... /chess.pdf</a><!-- m -->. Further info and extracts from the book can be found at the Everyman Chess web-site and Amazon.