The Greatest Attacker in Chess the Enigmatic Rashid Nezhmetdinov
Reflection & book review by Dr Lyndon Bouah.
In the month of June 2023, I completed a wonderful book called, ‘The greatest Attacker in Chess- The enigmatic Rashid Nezhmetdinov ‘by Cyrus Lakdawala (New in Chess, 2022).
I had always read about Rashid Nezhmetdinov and his fantastic tactical prowess. I thoroughly enjoyed this book with all the stories, the wonderful and witty annotations by the author. Nezhmetdinov won the Russian Championship five times and was never awarded the Grandmaster title. However according to the author, he was probably close to 2700.
This book is a must read for any budding attacker and of course for those that enjoy a complicated fight which may not always be objectively correct but makes for great theatre and drama.
Rashid Gibyatovich Nezhmetdinov was born in 1912 and lived in what is now known as Kazakhstan. He was a draughts champion and later on became Russian champion. In 1958 he won the event for a fifth time! There are many excellent games in the book some of them which are not in the databases!
Rashid Nezhmetdinov v David Bronstein
About the author
Dr Lyndon Bouah is an advocate and was captain of the South African Open team during the 2018 Batumi Olympiad. He is also one of Africa’s most prolific chess writers.
Links
Khalifman – Life & Games by Everyman Chess.
The Story of a Chess Player” by GM Jaan Ehlvest.
The Grandmaster Battle Plan by Vassilios Kotronias.
The Giant Chess Puzzle Book by Zenon Franco.
Chess Highlights of the 20th Century by Graham Burgess.
The Art of Planning in Chess by Neil McDonald.
Chess Shop
Article by Kenya Chess Masala.
