Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18553 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 402 pages

Customer Reviews

One of the Best
I have been playing chess for nearly twenty years. Like most players, I had developed many bad habits because I had learnt to play without proper guidance and tuition. What Jeremy Silman does in this excellent book is to go back to the foundations of chess and to help the reader re-build in a way that will promote solid comprehension and long lasting development.

This is a guide to the middle game, though it does cover some essential endings, mainly pawns and rooks. But the bulk of the book is about understanding how to work out a good plan for the middle game. This is an area that many players struggle with. Any one who plays a lot of chess will know the problem, a player runs out of opening moves and then flounders as they move in to the murky middle game. It is essential at this point to have a method for understanding the position and developing an appropriate plan. That is what this book helps the reader to do.

I have used this book on and off for the last five years and have just won my first tournament. This book has been one of the single biggest factors in improving my chess. Most importantly, I have found myself returning to this book again and again, finding new ideas everytime.

As for the style of writing, Jeremy Silman is first class. The majority of chess books I have read are pretty dull. Silman writes with a tremendous sense of fun and energy. He also covers all of the important middle game concepts, including tactical combinations, minor piece play, space, intiative, weak squares, weak pawns and sacrifices. Most of these areas I thought I already understood, but Silman helped me to deepen my understanding and bring the ideas together in a very practical way.

I have read a few negative reviews about this book. One reviewer complained there was not enough endgame material. It is NOT an endgame guide, as Silman points out in the introduction. It is a book that focusses on the middle game, with a few other extras included because some times it is necessary to understand the middle game according to the other stages of the game.

One reviewer also commented that deep computer analysis has shown errors in many of the examples in this book. I personally have not found any errors, though haven't run the examples through the computer because they demonstrate principles only - the principles are still valid even if the examples are not perfect. I do use computer analysis for studying my own games as well as studying grand master games. I can state unequivably that most grand master games have errors that can be shown by deep computer analysis. The best human player can't see all the sub-variations twenty moves deep like a computer can. This book does not promise to teach you to play perfect chess nor does it try to transform you in to a chess computer - such claims would obviously be false.

What it does provide is a very, very good guide to help you to improve your chess. It is very thorough and a great joy to read. Most players would benefit from the themes it explores. Though I would especially recommend it for low to medium strength players, especially those who have found themselves in a rut and need a new perspective.

Good and bad
This book is held in very high regard with several high rated players I know. It has quite a few good points to it and I still plan on using it quite a bit. But there is quite a bot of crappy annotations as pointed out by other reviews. Particularly in Silman's games. Some of them are more or less just for him to gloat about wins I think.

This is about strategy and it is not for beginners. In fact I felt it was above my level for quite a while. It's right about the time for me to reread this and despite its flaws I like the book.

A solid chess book
I have been away from chess for quite some time (10 years) and I found this book to be perfect for someone of my level. I think it would be helpful for many players of various levels, perhaps not the first time player or the expert, but those in between. His example games illustrate his points nicely, and he covers many basic concepts and elements of chess strategy and tactics. I have only read part of it, but I would still recommend it to those who want to improve their game. While it doesn't cover some very basic things (like for example, certain checkmates like queen and king v. king, or king and rook v. king), it does a good job of tackling issues like space, weak squares, superior minor pieces, imbalances, knight v. bishop, etc. Silman's main point, an excellent one at that, is that his rules are guidelines, they don't always apply in every situation. You must play what the board wants you to play, in his words! I think this approach will definitely be beneficial for many players.