Chess Strategy

After the intense work with Baku Grand Prix coverage, I decided to reward myself with a good chess book and ordered Glenn Flear’s “Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics”. It should be fun to go over 544 pages of endings with two pieces and pawns for each side. At the same time, I always look for the candidate books that I could buy on next turn, after those endings saturate me.

One title, “True Lies in Chess” by GM Lluís Comas Fabregó, immediately caught my attention. At first I thought this is another book about Fischer, Kasparov, Soviets, KGB or some other controversial subject that people use when they want to earn quick buck. So I wanted to see what is this all about and the first stop was website of Quality Chess, who published this work.

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Frankly, I’m not a big fan of books written by top players. They spend most of their time studying theory and I doubt they can afford switching to explanatory mode. I often browse list of Gambit Chess Publications where I spotted “Perfect Your Chess” by GM Andrei Volokitin and IM Vladimir Grabinsky, but I didn’t pay further attention. Not until I stumbled across the positive review by WFM Elizabeth Vicary. Next step was to download PDF sample and see what is this all about.

I ordered the book and started solving the examples. Unlike the usual study (opening lines…. boring!), this work was so smooth and enjoyable. And the solutions are not only dry move lines, authors are exercising great sense of humor - about king walk: “It is polite to come out and greet guests, but it should be better to stay indoors on this occasion…”.

From Introduction: “Therefore, in this book, we shall not try to teach you how to play better chess. Rather, we shall do something more valuable: we shall give you material, which will help to develop your thinking”. I think this is basically the only secret of the Soviet Chess School - they simply analyse a lot. Don’t get hooked with the flashy book titles by GM Lev Alburt and others, it’s only a cheap marketing trick. Better buy “Perfect Your Chess” or books by GM Alex Yermolinski and GM John Nunn.

I should add that this book is aimed at the club players rated above 1800. Enjoy analysing!

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Hey readers of Chess Strategy )

Here is a list of my favourite chess books:

Winning Chess Tactics for Junior - puzzle book, to learn the basic of TACTICS TACTICS TACTICS. For instance, if you want to mate the opponent’s king on g7, first you have to plan how to remove the defender of g7
How to Beat Your Dad in Chess by Murray Chandler - MUST KNOW mating patterns ) How can you checkmate opponent king without knowing chess mating pattern???

Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving Chernev - every move explained. It is important for 1200+ elo players to understand the purpose of each move and how the Master thinks. A sample of the comments in this book is ‘’every pawn move on your kingside creates weak square'’ –> g2-g3, weaken the light square….it allows your opponent to put bishop on h3 and queen on f3 to create the mating pattern.

The Most Instructive Games of Chess by Irving Chernev - a lot of beautiful, interesting and instructive games, very cheap too.

Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Dr.Euwe - Chess Master will punish the error made by chess amateur, it’s a good experience.

The Amateur Mind by IM Jeremy Silman - designed for 1200 to 1800 elo level. Chess players like to read more comments, not only moves!

How to Reassess Your Chess by IM Jeremy Silman - Best modern instructional chess book

The Reassess Your Chess Workbook by IM Jeremy Silman - you can read this book even before reading “The Amateur Mind” and “How to Reassess Your Chess”, because it contains chapters “Silman thinking technique” and “Imbalance Crash Course”. Every exercise in this book is also very useful!!!

The Middlegame 1 and 2 by Max Euwe - the middlegame examples are highly instructive, another well written book by former World Champion Euwe!

Send us your list

Chess for Zebras: Thinking Differently about Black and White by GM Jonathan Rowson

Zebra Clan is the name of the unofficial “Chess For Zebras” fan club, consisting of my friends whom I have persuaded to buy this book. After seeing the reviews, some will be quoted bellow, I decided to “see what’s this all about”. While still in the reading, my friend GM-elect Mihajlo Stojanovic visited me for training session and we discussed the book. Mihajlo actually played Jonathan Rowson few months earlier at Verona Open (and won), and I was happy to hear some first-hand impressions about my already-favorite author. We have agreed in the conclusion that Jonathan offers new and refreshing (I added “shocking” too, but Mihajlo is already too strong to feel that way) ideas for average player’s improvement.

For me, this is not just a chess book; it is a literature that I enjoy reading, repeatedly going back through the pages and giving a lot of thought on what I have seen. I don’t know how to write an review, so I will quote smarter people bellow.

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How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess-Mastery Course - This is my favorite book that I have read to date out of many. Silman not only helps the beginner, but also re-teaches the importance of certain aspects of the game to the advanced player. Such things as learning the best squares for the knight, and keeping them there (otherwise known as outpost) . The difference between light square and dark square bishops is also covered. It really teaches the importance of middlegame and how to have long term advantages. I highly recommend this book for beginners and advanced players .

Any of Yasser Seirawan’s books by Microsoft. Yasser has been the easiest master I have had understanding as I advanced in chess. I recommend any book out of his collection!

Play Winning Chess - An introduction to chess and some basic strategies

Winning Chess Tactics - An introduction to tactics with puzzles

Winning Chess Strategies - A book on how to use small advantages and use strategies to make them

Winning Chess Openings - Gives a brief description on hundreds of the most popular openings, as well as opening strategies

Winning Chess Endings - Introduction to the endgame

Winning Chess Brilliancies - Notable games in chess that are analyzed by the author.

Winning Chess Combinations - Teaches players how to recognize the main combination patterns; somewhat of a follow up to Winning Chess Tactics

by Lance Johnson

This long awaited edition was finally out of print on January 31, and it already collected fantastic reviews. Here are some excerpts:

Silman’s Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master

“He has divided the book into various sections, based on the playing level of the reader. More advanced readers will read most of the book; beginners need only read the opening chapter. As your play improves, you consult the next section of the book to see what additional lessons you must master. Indeed, you must thoroughly assimilate all of the material in each section before going on to the next section.

A special note for chess teachers, and those who wish to have lessons from chess teachers: I have used the general content of the first three sections of this book as the basis of my lessons with students for many years. (Unlike Silman, I didn’t write it down in book form.) So, buying this book is a good substitute for instruction from a teacher.” - by Petrosian

“Readers familiar with Silman’s other books will not be disappointed. As ever, his writing is full of life, energy and humor. It communicates something of the author’s love for the game, and offers a glimpse into his personality. Most important, in the quality of his instruction he is absolutely peerless. Truly, he has a gift for breaking down a position, walking through the required technique step by step, underscoring the ideas and plans, adding hints there, warning of pitfalls there. His colorful prose keeps the experience memorable and enjoyable. The level of detail seems about right for each rating class.” - JimmyBob

Silman’s Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master

Fellow chess authors have also praised this 500 pages manual - GM Pal Benko, GM Gregory Kaidanov and GM Alex Baburin among others. People who have read Silman’s earlier books will for sure buy this one as well. Others should be at least tempted to see what’s this all about.