Nottingham 1936 stands as one of the great tournaments in chess history. While its top to bottom strength can't match AVRO tournament of 1938, there was arguably more talent gathered at Nottingham: other than Keres, the other seven AVRO participants were there (Alekhine, Botvinnik, Capablanca, Euwe, Fine, Flohr and Reshevsky), along with former World Champion Emanuel Lasker and other top names like Bogoljubow, Tartakower and Vidmar. In the end, Capablanca and Botvinnik shared first with 10/14 scores, just a half point ahead of Euwe, Fine and Reshevsky.
Every game in this classic event is annotated in Nottingham 1936. World Champion Alexander Alekhine uses the same clear and direct style he employed in New York 1924. As I mentioned in that review, I enjoy this style greatly; while some might prefer long computer-verified variations that arrive at the ultimate truth of a position, there's also a lot to be said for Alekhine's direct, plain language annotations. I'm sure there are more than a few errors to be found in his analysis (after all, this was before the days of Rybka), but having the explanatory notes of a world champion more than makes up for this.
Each chapter of the book covers a round of the tournament, and begins with a page summarizing the events of that day's round. This makes it simple enough to find games of interest, or to play along with the tournament from start to finish. The latter method gives a real sense of the building tension heading into the final rounds, as several players were still in contention into the final days, and the race wasn't decided until Botvinnik was surprisingly drawn by William Winter on the final day.
A foreword by Andy Soltis serves to introduce the tournament and its participants. A complete crosstable and a game index, sorted by player and opening, are also included.
Given the importance of the Nottingham 1936 tournament, as well as the quality of the players and Alekhine's annotations, it should come as no surprise that this book is highly recommended. Anyone who enjoys tournament books would be wise to add Nottingham 1936 to their collection.
