Skip to main content

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
Labels:

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

Post a Comment

Popular reviews

Under the surface

I did something different. I bought a chess book without doing any research. I decided to reward myself with a new book after having written ten reviews. So I asked my friends on Twitter for suggestions, and someone suggested that I take a look at the book Under the surface by Jan Markos. Since the book is quite new, I couldn't find much information about it, so I decided to blindly trust the recommendation. Luckily, I was not let down. What can you expect from this book? I am not the only one who has done something different. Jan Markos did the same when he wrote Under the surface . He takes a quite philosophical approach to chess, which should probably be expected from a former student of philosophy. This comes across quite clearly in his choice of chapter titles. The names "Magnetic Skin", "Anatoly Karpov's Billiard Balls" and "On the Breaking Ice" are not the most transparent chapter titles in the world. But once you get under the surfa
Post a Comment
Read more

Evaluate that!

I suck at positional evaluation! Countless times, I have played a game in which I felt I was better only to have my ego stripped away by Stockfish. So when the book Evaluate like a Grandmaster  was announced, I immediately knew I had to read it. And I recommend that you do the same. Read on to see why. If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from this book? As the title suggests, Evaluate lika a Grandmaster  is a book entirely devoted to positional evaluation. It is mainly a puzzle book in which your task is to evaluate the diagram positions. There aren't many books on positional evaluation, which makes this very interesting.  The book has a few introductory chapters on how the book is structured and why positional evaluation is important. But the meat of the book is in the problem section. The problems are grouped into four categories, and each of them have their own chapters. Eva
Post a Comment
Read more

Tactics for post-scratch players

Which is the best chess book ever? As a chess community, we repeatedly ask this kind of question, for various categories. And one of those categories is, of course, tactics. So which is the best tactics book ever? The answer to this question depends on the playing strength of the reader. But if we consider the fact that the majority of chess players are in the middle of the bell curve, the best books should logically be among the ones written for an intermediate audience. With that said, this might be the best tactics book ever written. A bold statement, perhaps. Read on to find out why I recommend this book. If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from this book? Chess tactics from scratch was originally published as Understanding Chess Tactics  – as indicated by the book's subtitle. This book is actually what inspired the now famous "woodpecker method". In his book Pu
Post a Comment
Read more

Master of strategy

During the past two years, I’ve been working on improving my strategic/positional play. In this process, I have read a number of books, and two books that have long been on my reading list are the strategy books by Johan Hellsten. So when the Swedish chess federation requested reviewers for two of these books, I didn’t hesitate. I am happy that I was given the opportunity to review these books, and hope this review can be of help to you as a reader. If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from these books? Johan Hellsten has created a name for himself as one of the leading experts of chess strategy in modern times. His series of strategy books ( Mastering Opening Strategy , Mastering Chess Strategy and Mastering Endgame Strategy ) have received glowing reviews from many parts of the chess world. So it feels good to finally dig into these nuggets. His endgame book is still in my boo
Post a Comment
Read more

Judgement and planning

Some books "fly under the radar" and do not get the same attention as the evergreen classics. But sometimes, there is gold in old mines. And I found a little golden nugget while shopping for used books. A book written for amateurs, by (arguably) the best amateur of all time; former world champion Max Euwe. Sounds promising, right? If you like these reviews, please consider supporting my work. Visit my patreon page for details. Become a Patron! What can you expect from this book? In my previous review of Chess Fundamentals , said that few world champions have written books for beginners and intermediate players. Capablanca is, of course, one exception. And another is Max Euwe. Euwe is not the most well-known world champion. He was in his prime in the 1930s and 1940s, most notably in 1935 when he dethroned none other than the great Alexander Alekhine. Although many have suggested that Alekhine only lost because of heavy use of alcohol, beating him is no small feat (rega
Post a Comment
Read more