This is what's new in this edition: More accurate and more extensive annotations, computer-assisted. Every game has been
examined under Stockfish 14, probably the best analytical engine available for
home computers at this time. For the first edition we had only Fritz 4 and 5,
which compare to Stockfish like a Model T Ford to a Ferrari, and many games
were given no computer examination at all. Thus owners of the first edition
will find most annotations here substantially different (and substantially
better). However, many general assessments and heuristic notes proved valid and
have been retained.
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Torre's own annotations to several games have been unearthed and added. These come from
several sources: the American Chess Bulletin, his book of the 1926
Mexican Championship tournament, and his instructional booklet Development
of Chess Ability.
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Several games have been added. Some, frankly, are Torre losses, which we give in the
interest of presenting a more complete, balanced picture of his play. The first
edition, to some extent, looked at Torre through rose-colored glasses; here we
aim only for untinted clarity. Also added are the six games between players other
than Torre that he annotated for the Mexican Championship tournament book (see
Chapter VIII).
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There are many more diagrams and photographs than in the first edition. Also more
thumbnail bios of Torre's opponents.
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More ancillary material about Torre's life and career: pictures, anecdotes, interesting facts,
opinions, bits of trivia etc., drawn from the ACB, the Wiener
Schachzeitung, the film Torre x Torre, and other sources.
-
A 1927 interview with Torre, published in the Yucatán magazine Anahuac, in
Chapter III.
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Chapter IV, excerpts from the book 64 Variaciones Sobre un Tema de Torre by his
friend Germán de la Cruz.
Taylor
Kingston (born 1949) has been a chess enthusiast since his teens. He holds a
Class A over-the-board USCF rating, and was a correspondence master in the
1980s, but his greatest love is the game's history. His historical articles
have appeared in
Chess Life,
New In Chess,
Inside Chess,
Kingpin,
and the web-site www.ChessCafe.com. He has edited and/or co-authored dozens of
chess books, and translated three from Spanish, including the original Mexican
edition of
Vida y Partidas de Carlos Torre. He lives with his wife Emily
in Paso Robles, California.
Gabriel Velasco (born 1949 in Mexico City) is a a professor
of mathematics and author of over twenty books on mathematics. He has been a
chess enthusiast since age 15. Besides
Vida y Partidas de Carlos Torre,
he is the author of
Masterpieces of Attack (Chess Digest, 1990), presenting
the best games of the late GM Marcel Sisniega Campbell. Velasco lived in Kiev 1985-1987
and shared 1st-3rd prize in a tournament of Candidate Masters and First
Category players, earning thereby a norm of Candidate Master of the Soviet
Union. Back in Mexico, he won the championship of the state of Guanajuato. He
is now retired and lives in Mexico City with his wife and his son Richard, who
was was given that name in honor of Richard Réti.
