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The best book for patzers?

I have been playing chess since I was a kid, but until about 10 years ago (2009), I had not even considered reading chess books.
For some reason, this changed. I cannot remember why, but I decided I wanted to learn more about chess and probably pick up a book or two. I searched the Internet and consulted a few online chess forums, and was recommended the book The Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman. I bought the book, and that was the start of my growing collection of chess books.

The Amateur's Mind has had a tremendous impact on my understanding of the game. Prior to Reading this book, I had no idea about how to evaluate a position or how to play the opening properly (or any other phase of the game, for that matter). I saw my results improving dramatically, and gained a couple of hundred rating points in just a few months. At this point, I only played online, so I did not have a "proper" rating. But regardless, I learned a lot from reading the book.

What can you expect from this book?

In The Amateur's Mind, Silman provides the basic building blocks of positional evaluation, using his system of imbalances, which are differences in the positional elements for the two players. Examples of imbalances are initiative, development, material and pawn structure. The book will teach you how to identify these imbalances and use them to "take the position apart" and derive a proper plan for how to proceed in the game.

The book is based on a large number of games where Silman has played with his students and asked them to explain their thought process out loud. The transcripts are used as a foundation for Silman to explain the difference between how an amateur thinks about chess and how Silman thinks one should think about chess (hence the title of the book). This is very informative, especially since any amateur will recognize various misconceptions from his or her own games.

I enjoyed this book for several reasons. It is well written, full of good advice for how to make chess a bit easier. Silman has a particular sense of humor that comes through in the text. I enjoyed this, but it may not be for everyone. At the end of the book, there are 25 tests for the readers to try their newly acquired knowledge. At the end of the book, there are "solutions" to the tests, which are quite detailed analyses of each test position. These are concluded by listing a number of tips of how to handle similar positions.

Being the first chess book I read, it made a great impression on me. I was completely ignorant as far as chess theory goes, so every bit of information in the book was gold to me. Looking back a few years later, I still find the book useful.

Who should read this book?

If you are fairly new to chess, or have had little or no formal chess training, this is an excellent introduction. Perhaps you are a post-beginner with holes in your positional understanding. In terms of playing strength, I would expect your rating is below 1600 FIDE. But the book can also be relevant for more advanced players.

If you find this Review useful, please let me know in the comment section.

About this book

Author:Jeremy Silman
Title:The Amateur's Mind
Type of book:Middlegame
Level:Beginner/Intermediate
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Comments

  1. UnknownApril 22, 2019 at 11:00 PM

    This, Reassess your chess, and Silman's Endgame Course belong in the collection of everyone under 2000.

    ReplyDelete
  2. evaDApril 23, 2019 at 2:51 PM

    As an aspiring adult improver, chess book collector, and sometime chess coach. I appreciate your effort here. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 20, 2019 at 8:36 PM

    Your review made me put this book in my "wish list". I am a post-beginner, indeed a patzer with many holes in positional understanding. Thank you very much.

    ReplyDelete

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