2 comments about Checkmate!: My First Chess Book (Everyman Chess).

1. In my first week of the fourth grade, the teacher announced that everyone in the class was going to learn how to play chess. She believed that it was the best game to be incorporated into an educational scheme and she was right. We all learned and certain times each week were set aside for games of chess. It was a very popular time, as playing any game was preferable to doing other things like spelling and writing practice.
   I am in complete agreement with this philosophy, firmly believing that everyone should learn to play chess. This book is an excellent way to start, which is what you would expect, given that Kasparov is considered the best chess player ever. He starts with a description of the pieces, how they can move and their power rankings. From this, he sets up the game and explains the basic goal of the game as well as the algebraic notation used to represent the movement of the pieces. Kasparov uses a series of situations to illustrate problems, such as how to force a (stale)mate from a specific orientation. Solutions to these problems are given at the end and many of them are nontrivial. You are really required to think hard before finding the answer to some of them.
   Basic strategies such as classical openings, defenses, the pin, a skewer and back rank mating options are covered. The illustrations are very high quality and it could have been used as the textbook for my fourth grade class, where I first learned how to play. Adult beginners will also find it an excellent way to learn.
   
   Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.



2. I have been researching for months to find a good 'starter' book to begin a chess club. I have searched online and made many stops at book stores and even asked many questions. Some of the books out there are excellent, but the cost was a little more than I wanted to spend as I am starting the club for homeschoolers and wanted to do it more as a ministry than a money-making enterprise.
   To me, a great technician doesn't always translate to a great teacher. No doubt Kasparov was the former, but after reading this book he is definitely the latter as well. I believe it is an excellent book for beginners and even intermediates will find clear and colorful information here. It is also fun to read (a great quality especially for young people). The contents are:
   1) the basics
   2) the pieces and their moves
   3) notation
   4) winning and drawing
   5) more about the pieces
   6) tactical play
   7) checkmate
   8) opening play
   9) endgame play
   10) solutions to puzzles
   11) glossary
   
   For my needs it clearly achieves a 5 star rating. It is an inexpensive way to start a club or even to teach children. Not only that, but I will be teaching my wife tonight using this very book.
   Thanks Gary!

5 comments about Pawn Structure Chess.

1. This book is not about openings! Although some discussion about openings and their relationship to "pawn structure" is necessary, the pawn structure is the subject. The moves Nf3, d4, c4, and many others can lead to the same structure. You can buy hundreds of books about openings. This book is different. In my opinion, studying opinings without understanding the concepts in this book is a waste of time.
   
   One think I like is that Soltis does not claim that either black or white has a win from any basic structure. For each structure, he shows tactics/maneuvers for both sides. If you want to buy a book that shows that you always win if you play a certain opening, this book is not for you.
   
   The blurb on the cover, "How to handle all characteristic pawn structures," is false. I don't think there is more than one example of Benoni formations in the book. However, the author did not write the blurb. What Soltis said was, "This book explores several of the more important pawn structures." Not all possible pawn structures. I do not think a book truly covering "all possible pawn structures" will ever exist. Soltis could have written a book four times longer, but it would cost 4 times as much, and few would buy it. I wish Soltis would write a second volume for "Pawn Structure Chess."
   
   However, I think most chess players could study this book for years and gain very useful knowledge.
   
   Let's go back to the coverage of Benoni formations. Suppose you like to play the Benoni, but your opponent plays Nf3 before d4. Instead of pushing his d-pawn to d5, he allows you to capture c5xd4. You are now playing the black side of the Maroczy Bind (see the sub-chapter "Maroczy Unbound" in "The open Sicilian-English" in this book). A player who understands structure, rather than one who only memorizes opening moves, has an advantage, although even an excellent positional player can fall into a tactical trap occasionallly.
   
   This book is not specifically about isolated pawns, doubled pawns, etc., although sometimes those are covered in the context of pawn structures. You can get many books on those subjects.
   
   If you read this book, you will inevitably find some positions that you find unclear. The first one I remember is p. 41-42, Maroczy-Chigorin 1899. The last paragraph says, "But now in the diagram White cannot play 15.nxe5 nxe5 16. without risking disaster after 16. Bb3 nf3! 17. Rad1 Bh3!
   
   I still find this line unconvincing. I think 17 ...Bg4 is better.
   
   Still, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Also good are Marovic's "Understanding Pawn Play in Chess" and "Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess," which go beyond Soltis on certain subjects, but have less coverage than Soltis, for example, on the closed Sicilian. Marovic's organization is logical (open center, closed center, dynamic center) but I find Soltis's organization more useful (Caro, Slav, Open Sicilian-English, etc.) more useful, from my subjective point of view. Still, the Marovic books are wonderful too.



2. I can't understand why so many people praise this book. Sure, Soltis devotes chapters to many different structures, but he doesn't teach us anything in those chapters that a good specialized opening book wouldn't cover. The advice is very basic and the prose he gives is, to me, insufficient.
   
   He provides supplemental games that don't always fit well with the content of the chapter, and even if they do the notes to these games are very scant.
   
   This same author's Opening Analysis for Advanced Players (I have the 2nd part but have never seen the first part) is EXCELLENT. This one is not.
   
   There are a handful of chess authors (chess fans who have been around the game know who I'm referring to) who pump out tons of chess books. 1/3 to 1/2 of them are decent-to-well-done, and the remainder are trash. I wouldn't place this book in the "trash" category, but it leaves a lot to be desired.



3. This is an advanced book. It requires some studying to understand the concepts. This is the kind of information you need to move up to the next level of thinking. It is well laid out with good examples and explanations. I was already noticing new ideas in my play after the first chapter.



4. Highly over rated . Too much so . This book is not as good as Pawn Power in Chess by Kmoch . Save your money . Buy the book Pawn Power in Chess which is cheaper and way better . The main disadvantage of this book is it deals mainly with openings . Not many concepts are given about pawn play -- mainly how u handle pawn structures in some openings. Your play will suffer if your opponent does not play the openings or if some variations turn up . U will be a sitting duck on the chess board . Get Kmoch's book --- please . U won't be disappointed .



5. I'm about a 1300-1400 player so I wasn't sure whether this book would be over my head. And, sure, a lot of the moves in the games didn't make sense to me. He's writing to a sophisticated audience - BUT, his description of pawn placement and movement is excellent and accessible to most any player. He breaks down the openings by pawn structure and explains the objectives for each opening, both for white and black. I don't memorize a lot of openings and this book helps me play without worrying too much about opening book lines (although that helps of course). His approach is more positional as tactical, another important part of improving one's game. Studying this book has enabled me to better analyze games. And as I study the book I'm starting to understand the illustrative games better which illustrates how I'm improving with the book.
   So why only 4 stars for my review? I'd like to see a little more annotation and explanation for moves and maybe a bit more on the openings.
   After 3 weeks with this book I'm already playing at a higher level.

5 comments about Understanding the Chess Openings.

1. There are many different openings books which focus on different aspects of opening play. This book is like a survey of the territory and covers the most likely openings to come up and the many variations of each. What I most like about it is that it is logically organized, well-written and easy to follow. It includes commentary, but the commentary is not comprehensive. This good or bad depending upon what you are looking for in a book on openings. In short, the text gets to the point with respect to the major tactical advantages and disadvantages of particular openings. However, it doesn't cover any of them in great depth.
   
   I like this book because it doesn't repeat a lot of the ground covered in other books. It is a small volume at less than 225 pages of many different openings and the MOST important points about each. This makes it a great reference book to get one started with a particular opening. However, you need something with more depth to go along with it.
   
   I am sometimes "turned off" by chess books which are 1,000 pages with very little text or diagrams. This is a bias that I have and learning anything sometimes seems overwhelming. This book strikes a nice balance between text, diagrams and presenting a series of moves. It makes the content more digestible and because of how its organized, easy to learn.
   
   As far as I am concerned, this is a MUST own book for a serious chess player and particulary for someone transitioning from the beginner to advanced beginner or early stages of intermediate play. It uses modern notation and it is extremely well thought out with respect to layout. Both the author and the editor did an excellent job!
   
   This book WILL help you to improve your opening play. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any player and if you are turned off by poorly organized or cumbersome large volumes, you will like it even more.



2. This book is very well organized. I am very pleased with it. By playing several of the openings in the book I have found myself (finally) able to defeat the computer at chess at levels where I couldn't do so before. I have also learned which openings are to be avoided as well, that way I don't have to spend time memorizing all of them. But it is still important to understand why some openings aren't good.



3. Well-covered by other reviewers, I feel compelled to add my vote for this rare, well-written chess book. I've played chess for years but just recently started getting serious about getting a decent rating. While Reuben Fine's book is often referenced as great for understanding openings, I found it to be impenetrable. Meanwhile Sam Collin's book has become my first go-to book for getting a basic understanding of what an opening is all about. His writing is crystal clear, and he gets you straight to what the opening is trying to accomplish. Other books, like Modern Chess Openings or Standard Chess Openings, can then be used to examine alternative variations, but speaking for myself, I really need to start from Collins to get the strategy behind the opening first. I find this book to be an essential reference for a beginning or intermediate player.



4. This book should have been entitled "Learning the Major Chess Openings". It organizes the main opening lines and many sub-lines well, and it's a good reference if you want to learn the difference between say, a Scheveningen Sicilian and a Najdorf Sicilian, but it does little to help you "understand" these openings.
   
   As is typical with most worthwhile chess books, the text contains a lot of strings (and stub-strings [and sub-sub strings] of moves, and it can get confusing. My objection is not to that, but rather to the fact that the explanations as to why one move is correct and another is incorrect are often so perfunctory as to be completely unhelpful. Over and over again, I found myself asking "why?" Clearly, this book wasn't helping me "understand."
   
   As an alternative I'd suggest John Nunn's "Understanding Chess Move by Move." His book takes the approach of examining specific games to explore various themes in chess, not just the opening, but it will give you much better insight into the "why" of the opening moves than Collins's book. My one quibble with Nunn's book is that the Table of Contents does not specify the opening for each game (I've taken to handwriting them in myself).
   
   So, alas, I guess we'll have to wait a little longer for the definitive replacement for Reuben Fine's classic, "Ideas Behind the Chess Opening," still arguably the best book on opening theory but now a little out of date.



5. As someone who took up chess late, I faced the challenge of trying to find out a bit on different openings and what would be best suited to me. There are huge resources in any specialised opening but this overall guide to the types of openings has a clear help. Instead of trying to guess 2-3 moves of a reply, you get a clear explanation of white or blacks plan to move into the middle game. I've met Sam Collins at tournaments and duely said "Thank you !" on behalf of the adult learner.
   Without doubt in my mind, this book has helped provide a straight forward, uncomplicated structured approach to finding your way out of the beginners to a competent club player...and even beyond.
   
   There is always work to be done in improving but this is an excellent book to put you smack in the centre of making the best informed choice of what opening or reply you can take on.
   
   Excellent work Sam, Get to the Cork congres soon so we can get you autgraphing books !

5 comments about Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Games (Chess).

1. This is an excellent book on chess. The diagrams are clear and can easily be followed through and the previous reviewer who commented that they were too small, was on my part greatly exaggerated and didn't do any justice. Buy one copy for yourself and decide. This book gave me countless hours of enjoyment and I am sure it will do the same for you.



2. I recommend this book for any 1500+ ELO player who wants to improve their strategic game. A lot of the variations are given few comments, so a solid chess understanding and playing the moves on a board are essential. The book is organized into themes which any chess player can appreciate: discussion of good/bad knights/bishops, endgames, 2-bishops, bishops opposite colors, etc.



3. I've rekindled my interest in chess and, not wanting to expend too much time on the game, have limited my reading to three books: on tactics, on the endgame, and on positional chess.
   
   This book, serving the latter purpose, has 495 diagrams, mostly from practical games between top players, many of which are known classics. Each illustrates a point, and the author avoids copious variations. The moves usually extend from the diagram position to the end of the game. They are very well selected. As a result, my intuition has clearly improved in an important area of the game.
   
   Gelfer's rigor is reflected in his impeccable English (no translator or editor is mentioned). I can't think of a single typo, in word or variation, and the text is clear, no nonsense and to the point. He seems to have honed the work, culled from his training manuals for the Israeli youth and women's teams, over years. This makes the book a pleasure to read.
   
   My copy, which isn't a Dover edition (which have excellent bindings), is getting old (1993) and pages are beginning to fall out. But that's a good sign: it's due to the use the book has seen. Highly recommended.



4. This book is a great collection of strategic examples. You can dedicate many time in the themes of each position and also you will enjoy with this useful manual. A must for every chess player.



5. I am an avid player and own an extensive collection of chess books. As most chess fans have probably discovered, a lot of chess books are simply the same ideas rehashed and presented with different games. This book however, is a refreshing break from the rest, presenting strategic play in a condensed format with great exemplars of the theme discussed. Honestly, probably one of the best books on the game that I've read. Short, sweet and to the point--highly recommended!

No comments about The Chess Instructor 2009: The New in Chess Compendium for Chess Teachers, Coaches and Parents.

5 comments about How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom.

1. I picked up this book by chance, but it drew me in and I read it in a couple of days. Kasparov takes a fairly radical view that his aggressive, analytical and highly disciplined approach, so successful in chess, can be effective in business, politics and other areas of life. Understandably, he argues for an attacker's advantage and in general views life as a sort of competition (although it may make wince those who think of life in more romantic terms).
   
   My favorite parts of the book are the anecdotes from Kasparov's championships and especially the stories of the other Grandmasters and world chess champions. They were as different as any group of people, followed different training regimes and preferred different game styles. They all perfected their game and through training and competition achieved their personal best. In a way, this book is about playing your own game. Who wouldn't want that?



2. I believe this would make an excellent college textbook, so if you are a college student, or new to the corporate world, then I highly recommend this book -- particularly if you are in sales or marketing.
   
   If, however, you have been in sales or marketing for a number of years, then you will find the messages in this book to be repetitive of what we learned in the 80s and 90s.
   
   This is actually not a criticism of the work for the advice is solid and true to the real world. It's simply repetitious of what's already been said by others. I was expecting something more enlightening.



3. Garry kasparov ha escrito un libro profundo en el que intenta establecer analogías entre el ajedrez y la vida cotidiana. Para los lectores que no están familiarizados con el juego del ajedrez este no es ningún problema, ya que no analiza partidas o posiciones en el tablero. Más bien, explica sus experiencias que vivió como niño, joven y adulto en las preparaciones y competiciones en el deporte-ciencia denominado ajedrez. Al mismo tiempo brinda interesantes anécdotas ajedrecísticas-personales de los mejores jugadores de ajedrez en la historia como Botvinik, Capablanca, Bobby Fisher, Tarrash, Lasker, solo por mencionar algunos. Las anécdotas son muy enriquecedoras en el libro y logra encajarlas en el momento preciso de la "novela" para ejemplificar alguna cualidad humana o situación a superar en la vida cotidiana.
   El libro menciona momentos históricos como la primera y segunda guerra mundial, y las lecciones económicas, políticas y sociales que se aprendieron de estos desafortunados eventos. Dado que el escritor es Ruso, no podría faltar mencionar algunos hechos históricos que cambiaron a la Unión Soviética. Al respecto, Garry Kasparov se ha inmerso en la política de su país que vive tiempos de transformación con la era de Putin y con el actual presidente Dimitri Medvédev. Kasparov se declara un perseguidor de la democracia para la transformación de Rusia hacia un país democrático y plural, y hace claro que esta es su "segunda vida" después de retirarse de los torneos internacionales.
   Hay muchas cosas que aprender para la vida cotidiana de este libro. Quizá el único reproche que tendría sería en el título del libro: "Cómo la vida imita al ajedrez". Al principio pensé que era una mala traducción del título original. Sin embargo, después de consultar el título original publicado en Londres "How life imitates chess", no me quedo sino aceptar que así era. No sé cómo Kasparov defina la vida. Yo quiero pensar que se refiere al lapso de tiempo que tenemos los humanos en la Tierra y las actividades en las que nos vemos envueltos. Es difícil que "la vida" imite a un deporte, arte o ciencia. La comparación o analogía en ese orden parece no ser precisa. "La vida" parece ser algo que fluye con nosotros y sin nosotros, y es independiente de nuestras aficiones. Por eso, considero que un titulo más preciso que el actual sería "Cómo el ajedrez imita a la vida", o "How Chess Imitates Life".
   Quizá solo fue un título sugerido por el editor para llamar más la atención. No lo sé.
   De cualquier manera, estoy seguro que muchas personas disfrutaran de la lectura de este libro. Quizás vean reflejadas algunas etapas o hechos en sus propias vidas, o quizá sirva para aplicar conceptos como motivación, tenacidad, estrategia, y valores en la vida cotidiana.



4. you can see how someone climb the life mountain,and still there is enough to go,how we can learn from the past and correct the way during the life,to not be dogmatist.



5. Part motivational pep talk, part memoir, and part chess instruction, How Life Imitates Chess shares insights accumulated through a lifetime on professional chess's world stage by the most accomplished player the game has ever known. Self-awareness is the main message, and Kasparov has a gift for making the steps to achieving it plain, if not easy. His points are well-illustrated by anecdotes from his chess and political careers as well as historic examples from the worlds of business, politics, sports, art, science, and warfare.
   
   Being a chess nerd is not a prerequisite, though it helps, and if your goal is to become a chess nerd, this isn't a bad place to start.

5 comments about Winning Chess Openings (Winning Chess - Everyman Chess).

1. The author has selected openings where brief analysis is provided, some of the concepts that are important in the specific opening and then provided variations. Memorizing lines is not what a beginner should be doing. It is better to "understand" the ideas behind the openings - yes this book doesn't say "memorize openings" per say, but it that is what the actions of this book seem to call for.
   
   Personally I feel that a beginner should be looking for "non" mechanical openings that contain a variety of both tactical and to a lesser degree positional concepts for learning purposes. The type of tactics that you will encounter at a beginning level in the openings you are using is important. I like the idea of getter a general survey type of opening book that has a good concentration of the ideas (like "Understanding the Chess Openings") along with a book that covers opening tactics (like one of a variety of Chess Trap books) is the way for a beginner to find the right openings and to gain an understanding of what they entail. You need a good variety of openings to be shown for you to get a fair grasp of what you might like - and this book falls short in this area.



2. I never really got good at chess until I started focusing first on a simple e4 e5 with the relative strength of second moves and then relative strength of third moves and looked at it as a tree with branches in every direction. It makes sense not to go on to d4 d5 until you have explored e4 e5 out at least 10 moves out in each popular direction.
   
   Yasser Seirawan uses a very logical arrangement of the classic games to take you down the branches of each possible move so that memorization is easy. Most importantly, he tells you WHY a certain move was made. He keeps returning you to the "main line" after he shows you the branches off to the side.
   
   I wish I had this book about 10 years ago when I was playing in competition. I have bought a lot of chess books but I think this was money well spent. I think I will buy others in the series.



3. If you seriously know nothing about the opening then this book will probably help you some. However, if you already have gathered all the basic concepts (which seem to be mentioned in pretty much every chess book ever made) then this book is a waste of money. Even for the complete beginner, I reccomend the recent books Openings for White/Black Explained by Lev Alburt, Roman D., etc., which can serve as both an introduction and a full course.
   
   I thought this book would give me a repertoir, so I would know some actual openings. However, the coverage of any one opening is so minimal you definitely dont know enough to actually play it in anysort of competetive way. To repeat: this book will not teach you to play openings competetively, it is only an introduction. Seirawan briefly covers classical openings and then covers in slightly more depth his "opening solution" which is the Kings Indian Defense versus d4, the Pirc versus e4, and the Kings Indian Attack as White. First off, I found I do not enjoy playing any of those openings at all. What is the advantage of being able to play the same 5+ moves at the start of every game? Then what after that? Well these openings are not devoid of theory and once you reach the end of the first 5 moves you have just as much work to do as with any other opening; you have just delayed the inevidable conflict for the center--which means a slower, longer, duller game. Secondly, if you do like these openings you will still have to buy more books that actually cover them!
   
   I would reccommend, even if you are a beginner, to buy the Openings Explained for White / Black by Lev Alburt, Roman D. Besides full coverage of the openings in the repertoir book, it also briefly covers some other traditional openings (just like winning chess openings). If you want an introduction you have one in the first chapter; if you want to really LEARN an opening then you have that too. Or if you already have an idea what openings your want to play then DEFINITELY don't get this book, instead get some thorough books on that/those openings.



4. What's the point of an opening book? There are two possibilities: 1)Build a reperotoire; or 2)Teach you how to play a specific opening. Seirawan's book tries to fill both categories, but spreads itself too thin and ends up being frutstrating.
   
   The structure of WCO is just like MCO, NCO, and all the other "CO"s: it systematically presents opening after opening, giving various explanations and lines. Seirawan's book is geared to much lower rating levels than more complicated books like Modern Chess Openings, but it doesn't cover enough CONCRETE ground to be of any practical use to any rating.
   
   The best example I can find is in the section on Alekhine's Defence. Yasser (or "Yaz" as he's known here in Seattle) gives only a single line for the opening: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.ed cd 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nc3 g6 8.c5! and white apparently has a sizeable advantage. This isn't well supported by theory, and there are many other lines black can opt for (5...ed, 6...g6, 6...N6d7 etc.) that have better results. It's almost as if the author is unwilling to engage in a discussion of the more critical lines.
   
   It may be argued that there is a lot of textual explanation for the openings. Yes, there is, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't know what moves to play. There is little concrete basis for how to play in the openings, so you will inevitably find yourself struggling as soon as you get to the 6th move in an opening Yaz discusses.
   
   I'll spare it the harsh "sub 3-star" rating because Seirawan's style is very engaging and fun to read. Even given the "chessic" inadequacies of the book, it's still very fun to read, and Yasser is self-depricating and funny when he writes (his style is similar to David Norwood's).
   
   In 272 pages, Seirawan manages only a vague definition of each opening. The book doesn't, as many reviews claim, give you a reperotoire for white or black, because there simply aren't enough variations to look at. If you want to pick out an opening for white or black, thumb through WCO. Otherwise, pick up something more specific. You could get the same value from a much smaller, cheaper text.



5. It is not so clear exactly what this book is trying to do. It tries to set itself up as an "Modern Chess Openings" or "Nunn's Chess Openings" when listing variations but fails by being far to sparse to be of any use. It tries to provide some ideas of what is happening in the opening like "Understanding the chess Openings", "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" or "Ideas Behind the Openings" but yet it is far to sparse with the ideas. The mix and match, trying to do cover all of these in one book is off base. Not enough ideas for the beginner or intermediate level player, Not enough lines/variations to be of any use to an intermediate or advanced player. I think three stars is rather generous, as perhaps the just beyond beginner or just under intermediate range of player might find some small benefit to this book. Some of the "Winning Chess" series books are very well done. This is one of the few books in the series that is at the bottom end.

No comments about Fighting the Anti-King's Indians: How to Handle White's tricky ways of avoiding the main lines.

No comments about Starting Out: D-Pawn Attacks: The Colle-Zukertort, Barry and 150 Attacks (Starting Out).

5 comments about Winning Chess Strategies, revised (Winning Chess - Everyman Chess).

1. I started taking chess seriously about one year ago and I bought this book only a few days ago. This book is very engaging and has demystified many aspects of positional chess for me because of Mr. Seirawan's very lucid and down to earth approach to the various concepts presented. It is also very encouraging to see that even an IGM of Mr. Seirawan's ability can err during play. I am about to purchase "Winning Chess Tactics" and I know that my money will be well spent!!



2. This is book at a mid-level skilled player who wants to add on their their basic knowledge of chess. Ideas are taken from actual play and are made into broken down examples. This is instead of using complete games (another excellent way to improve - here one of the mid-level comment on every moves book like "Logical Chess" or "Unbeatable Chess" would fit in well) the author focuses on a variety of concepts that he fees are important. This is certainly a good, but not a great book.



3. I purchased this the same time as Seirawan's "Tactics" book. I enjoy the author's writing style and he knows his stuff. He uses a good sense of humor to keep the reading lively and his background on the annotated masters games is informative, interesting, and engaging.
   
   The only reason I give "Tactics" 5 stars over this one's 4 is that Tactics is just easier to read and work through. Due to the topics of this book the examples are long, some even full games, so while the explanation of the principals of the chapters is simple and straightforward it takes some serious set-aside study time to work through the examples with your own chessboard. (Tactics on the other hand with its short term calculations can be done in your head). The format of having test questions at the end doesn't gel with the subject matter as well as Tactics, but is consistent with the format of the other books of the series.
   
   The examples take longer to work through than to get the point of the chapter--with several chapters I could correctly answer the end of chapter tests without working through the examples. You can quickly review the points of the chapters just by looking for the italicized print, and that is often enough information to answer the end of chapter questions correctly. I'm sure working through all the examples would increase the value and understanding of this book but I am someone who does not have hours a day to devote to studying chess.
   
   Again it is an excellent book and I recommend it, I do believe it has improved my play. Just plan on scheduling serious study time when you want to read through some of it, it's not something you can read casually on your nightstand.



4. This is the 3rd book in Yasser Seirawan's "Winning Chess" series. In this book Yasser discusses chess strategy and coming up with a plan. He discusses topics such as proper piece placement, and pawn structure. Once again Yasser does a good job providing clear explanations of the topics to the reader.
   
   I would have to think that his series is about the best introductory chess series in the English language.



5. Ok . There are 31 customer reviews already and I add a 5 star (if there was 6 I would give it) to this product . ABSOLUTELY the best book on strategy !! Explained in clear and brilliant style . It's as if Seirawan is physically there at the board talking to you like a coach . It's like having your own personal coach . Seirawan knows the ins and outs of an amateur's play and he precisely pin-points them . If you are bored of reading books with pages and pages of annotations , if you would like some strategic advice that can be applied TO ANY GAME --- this is the book for you !!! I know I have been searching long for books that don't just show me one master game after another but give me some ideas I can use in my own games . I need to know which ideas work in games and this is exactly what Seirawan does . The games he uses to illustrate are brief and terse . Once he has shown how opponent uses the concept to gain advantage , he moves on !! This is very important !! Annotating the game till the end not only makes it difficult to follow but the main idea gets left behind in the jargon . This is a MASTERPIECE . It will be with me forever ....