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Everything you need?

You should not judge a book by its cover. I don’t think this has ever been more true about a chess book than in this case. Lev Alburt’s Chess training pocket book is an excellent book, but the cover is horrible. I first read about this book in a forum on chess.com, and one member described how he wrapped a piece of paper around the book so people on the bus wouldn’t think that he read a book about how to attract women through chess (however unrealistic that concept is). But don’t be put off by the artwork. Let’s take a look at the content instead.

What can you expect from this book?

According to the author, this tiny book (only 175 pages) contains the most important positions and ideas you need in order to improve as a player. The statement on the cover (”300 most important positions & ideas”) may be interpreted as an indication that the book contains all you need to know in order to become a strong player. Of course, this is not true.

It is hard to disagree with the fact that the 300 positions in the book contain important lessons, but seeing as the author has made a follow-up (Chess training pocket book II) with another 320 positions, it seems that you won’t get everything you need from this book. Rather, these positions should serve as a good foundation for more advanced studies and will most likely be useful along the way. In the author’s own words:
The 300 positions selected for this book will be useful to everyone, and will alert you to the kinds of positions and ideas that are essential to the development of your own theory.
The book has a short introduction that describes the logic of the book, how to practice and thought process. After these 17 pages, the remainder of the book consists of puzzles.

As indicated above, the book contains 300 problems to solve. These are distributed across 150 pages, with 4 positions on one side, and solutions on the opposite side. Unlike traditional workbooks (tactics, middlegame or endgame workbooks), this one is not organized by theme in any way. The point is to mimic the situation in a real game, meaning that you should not get any hint about what to aim for. In some cases you are playing for a draw, in some cases you have a mate in 4, and in some cases you can win material. There is no way of knowing before you dig into the problems.

I had this book as a travel companion for some time while commuting to and from work. The collection of 4 positions per page is perfect for a short training session, and the solution to each problem is a mini-lecture. If you want a longer training session, you can simply turn the page and do another collection.

Who should read this book?

As indicated by the quote above, this book can be useful for ’everyone’. I write this in quotation marks, as I do not think the book is for everyone. If you are just learning the basics, you will probably find this book way too difficult. And if you already are a strong player (rated 2000+), you will probably find many of the problems quite trivial. I would say that this book will sit best with readers with a rating between approximately 1400 and 1800. In other words, a good book for the average patzer.

About this book

Author:Lev Alburt
Title:Chess training pocket book
Type of book:Tactics/Middlegame/Endgame
Level:Intermediate
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Comments

  1. OscarNovember 12, 2021 at 4:11 AM

    It is unfortunate that the solutions are in the opposite page. It would be better if you had to turn the page to read the solution. Instead, you can't help seeing the solution as you look at the diagrams. I have to put a piece of paper covering the opposite page. Other than that, the cover is epic, way to go GM Alburt!

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