Nunn’s secrets

Let me tell you a secret. There is no such thing as 'the best chess books'. It all depends on the preferences and expectations of the reader and of course the work s/he puts in when working with the book. So just because someone else claims that a certain book belongs in the 'best books of all time' category, it does not necessarily mean that it is a book that you will appreciate. This little intro may have given away the content of this review, but that's ok. Secrets of practical chess is an example of a book that has gotten a lot of praise on a more than one occasion. So let's dig in and see what the fuss is all about.

What can you expect from this book?

Secrets of practical chess has seemingly been well received in the chess world. Overall, the opinions are very positive. John Watson gave it a very positive review, and Jacob Aagaard has listed it among the top 10 books of the 20th century. It is also mentioned in another list of 'best' books. On the other hand, it has received mixed ratings on Goodreads as well as on Amazon (although some reviews cover the old version of the book).

The book has six chapters. First off is a chapter about thinking at the board. It discusses the (in)famous tree of analys put forth by Kotov in his Think like a grandmaster. Nunn challenges the method and argues that humans do not think like that. The chapter also gives some attention to blunders and various warning signs (e.g. LPDO = Loose Pieces Drop Off).

In the second chapter, Nunn discusses the opening, how to build an opening repertoire and how to choose and use opening books. Basically, the suggestion is to choose an opening that suits your preference and prioritize learning main lines and slowly expanding your knowledge. Not much of a 'secret', really.

The third chapter is about the middle game, and presents two main rules: If you have a better position, don't give your opponent counter-chances. If you have a worse position, defend as good as you can, and try to complicate the position to cause confusion (hopefully only for your opponent).

After the opening and the middle game, there is a chapter about (you guessed it!) the endgame. This chapter has a rather unexpected flavor, and is basically a presentation of a few different endgames that one should be familiar with (king+pawn, minor pieces, rooks, queen, rook vs minor, rook+minor vs rook). I think this part is very good, but it is not unlike other endgame books out there.

Chapter 5 is about the use of computers, and mostly Chessbase. It presents some ways to use Chessbase to prepare for games and to find specific positions. Some attention is devoted to discussing the strengths and limitations of engines.

Finally, the book concludes with a chapter on chess literature. The chapter contains a few book reviews (Rapid chess improvement by de la Maza and Basic chess endings by Fine) along with a general discussion about chess books. The last few pages contains a list of books that Nunn recommends.

In addition to the content mentioned above, the book contains a lot (!) of annotated positions and games. There are about 100 different games/positions in the book, of which about half is in the endgame chapter. It seems to me that Nunn very much enjoys the process of analyzing and writing about analysis. While I am not qualified to assess the quality of the analyses, I believe that the instructional value of the games is not always at the level one would expect from one of the greatest chess books of all time. Don't get me wrong. I think one can learn a few things from the annotations. But the connection to the topics in the book are at times so weak that it is difficult to see the logic behind the choice of examples.

In terms of content, it seems that much of it has been recycled from other publications and manuscripts by Nunn. The chess literature part (chapter 6) is apparently based on a few previous reviews that he has written, and the endgame chapter seems like an excerpt from an endgame book. Perhaps it is a first draft of what later became Nunn's chess endings (released one year later).

My impression after reading this book is similar to my experience with Excelling at chess calculation by Jacob Aagaard. In my opinion, both books give a 'lazy' impression. I get the feeling that both authors gathered a bunch of stuff they had laying around and compiled it into a book. Here's the basic recipe: Take a handful of more or less validated principles and describe them in one or two paragraphs, produce a header for each principle, add a few more or less randomly chosen games to fill up the chapters, and finally slap on a selling title on the front page. Voilá! You have yourself a best selling chess book! (Of course, given that you are a well established writer.)

One Amazon reviewer captured my impressions perfectly:

What is frustrating is there that is so much advice he could have given but doesn't. He waffles between extremes of being far too brief and superficial to going way overboard in providing many pages of analysis of specific variations. I see the point he's making in these analyses - but this book could have been far more informative by reducing the scope of such analyses and providing more examples and providing a lot more practical advice.
I truly believe that this book is just a lot of loose topics that he's written about over the years and thrown together. It is not cohesive. Sometimes his text seems to be targeted toward players rates 1600. Sometimes it seems targeted toward candidate masters or masters.

While I agree with the description above, I think that the one-star rating is a bit harsh. I think there are some important takeaways from the book, but the presentation could be better. And to be frank, it seems that the 'meat' is not sufficient to fill an entire book.

Who should read this book?

As indicated above I do not subscribe to the view that Secrets of practical chess is one of the best chess books ever - far from it. In fact, I would not really recommend it at all. It does contain a few good recommendations, and it contains a number of interesting and well annotated games and positions. I believe that readers of all levels may get something out of the book, but the content is probably best suited for readers with a playing strength above 1600 Elo.

About this book

Author:	John Nunn
Title:	Secrets of practical chess
Type of book:	Chess improvement, Game collection
Level:	Intermediate