Originally posted by gaychessplayerSilman's endgame book improved my buddy by at least 200-300 points, and I don't believe he's finished it.
For 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.
Previously, he used to try unsound attacks to finish games in the middlegame, now, if he gets the tiniest advantage, he'll try to force the game to an endgame which he knows he can win.
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I have to agree with the above posts. Silman's endgame course is absolutely brilliant providing you're willing to put the work in.
On the other hand whole concept of "the amateur's mind" is that he'll anihilate weaker players then telling you why he's better. There are some interesting lessons in there but there are also more tactful way to teach them.
Silman's Endgame book is fantastic and fun to read.
I took the amateur's mind out from the library about a year ago and found that I learned a decent amount just by reading the summaries at the end of each game/chapter. Keeping some of the mantra's in your head, such as looking for a way to ignore your opponents threat instead of mindlessly reacting and defending, helped quite a bit. He did get annoying a bit when in every game he comments "horrible" or "terrible" move, even though they are, he does say it a lot. Perhaps this is a good approach because you will remember why it was so horrible and hopefully avoid the mistakes in your game.
The Reassess your chess workbook is also great. You can learn a lot from the book, even just reading the answers as a teaching tool; but you can try to figure the answers out yourself as well. A great book to learn how o plan. It is also a great way to assess your ability-the part on annotating games helps with this.
Originally posted by hunterknoxBoth books are excellent and very few people will ever waste their time on these. Yes, "The Amateur's Mind" can be exceptionally irritating, but ignore that and concentrate on the lessons to be learned about thinking. It made a difference to me.
On the other hand whole concept of "the amateur's mind" is that he'll anihilate weaker players then telling you why he's better. There are some interesting lessons in there but there are also more tactful way to teach them.
