I just received 2 of Jeremy Silman's instructional books as a gift, "The Reassess Your Chess Workbook" and "The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery". I've started going through them and they seem pretty interesting. I think they'll be a great help in demystifying the questions I've always had about how (intuitively, at least) to evaluate a position on the basis of something other than material, and how to create a plan of attack. I plan on sitting down with these books and a chess set on the weekend to see if I can learn something about Silman's "imbalances" concept.
Just wondering if anyone else has read these books or others by Silman, and what your thoughts were. Also, let me know if you have any recommendations for an intermediate player looking to understand the game on a fundamental level.
Originally posted by PBE6I haven't read The Amateur's Mind, but I have read Reassess Your Chess and it is WITHOUT A DOUBT the most useful chess book I have ever read. Go through all of the positions with a physical board and set and play through all the variations. You'll hit 1600.
I just received 2 of Jeremy Silman's instructional books as a gift, "The Reassess Your Chess Workbook" and "The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery". I've started going through them and they seem pretty interesting. I think they'll be a great help in demystifying the questions I've always had about how (intuitively, at least) to ev ...[text shortened]... ns for an intermediate player looking to understand the game on a fundamental level.
Originally posted by PBE6I haven't had a chance to run through the two books your listing here. However Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame course is a great book and has tons of material worthy of learning. If his other works are similar, they will be tremendously helpful.
I just received 2 of Jeremy Silman's instructional books as a gift, "The Reassess Your Chess Workbook" and "The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery". I've started going through them and they seem pretty interesting. I think they'll be a great help in demystifying the questions I've always had about how (intuitively, at least) to ev ...[text shortened]... ns for an intermediate player looking to understand the game on a fundamental level.
-GIN
Originally posted by PBE6And you should do so. These books are extremly helpful. Even if you on the end decide not to play using the imbalance method you will still learn a lot about bishop/knight interplay, use of open files, outpost, pawn structure... In addition, you will be taught how to analyse faster and more accurate.
Excellent! I look forward to devouring these. 🙂
Really excellent middlegame/strategy books, I would say. Start with the Amateurs mind first, of course.
I have three Silman books.
The Complete Book of Chess Strategy is the first I bought. It is pretty worthless. It's basically an encyclopedia, or glossary, of chess info. It's good for a complete beginner who doesn't know what a backward pawn is, but it really won't make you a better player. It's a good book to keep by the toilet.
I also have the Endgame Course. This book is excellent, if you are interested in studying the endgame. But that is not the topic of this thread...
Lastly, I have Reassess Your Chess. It has its pros and cons. As with any chess writer/author, Silman has a particular style. In my opinion, he can be a little dogmatic at times. He is fond of using exclamation points, and sometimes seems to imply that his ideas are the "best" or only "logical" moves for a given position. You just have to take this book with a grain of salt I think. It has some very valuable information on forming plans. And, it is a good introduction to chess strategy and positional concepts. I read the book in a piecemeal fashion, skipping around the chapters. Some chapters are simply better than others. Just don't assume that Silman's ideas are the only, or best, ones out there.
Originally posted by PBE6Silman is excellent. Of those two, read the Amateur's mind first.
I just received 2 of Jeremy Silman's instructional books as a gift, "The Reassess Your Chess Workbook" and "The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery". I've started going through them and they seem pretty interesting. I think they'll be a great help in demystifying the questions I've always had about how (intuitively, at least) to ev ...[text shortened]... ns for an intermediate player looking to understand the game on a fundamental level.
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I haven't read The Amatuer's Mind, but I've read a lot of How to Reassess Your Chess which I think is a very good book, but not as good as most people say it is. I personally think that Point Count Chess by I. A. Horowitz and Geoffrey Mott-Smith is a better book on chess strategy. Point Count Chess is much harder to find and is more expensive. I paid almost $50 for my copy (hardcover) recently, but it was $50 well spent! It's also available in paperback.
Originally posted by PBE6For one thing, unlike Silman, Seirawan isn't condescending and also he doesn't berate weaker players. I've read excerpts from The Amateur's Mind which show Silman to be kind of a jerk on occasion. Having said that, Silman's books are very good, and his latest endgame book seems to be excellent, perhaps even great.
What's the difference between Silman's approach and Yasser Seirawan's?