Skip to main content

David vs Goliath

What is it that separates chess masters from amateur players? That is a question that many people have asked. A simplistic answer is that the master is simply better at all parts of the game; openings, middlegame, endgame, calculation, tactics - you name it! On the other hand, this question has a quite complex answer. Former world champion, Max Euwe (together with Walter Meiden), has written a book that aims to illustrate the differences in how masters and amateurs approach the game. I have been curious about this book for a long time, and I have finally had the opportunity to read it and share my thougths on it with you.

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 master vs chess amateur is a book that for some reason does not get as much attention as other books. After reading it, I cannot see why. This is a book that has a lot to offer. It is full of practical tips for how to approach the game, and it is very well-written.

Before we get into the details of the book, let's begin with a description of its structure. And what better way to do that than through the authors' own words:
This book consists of a series of twenty-five games played between master and amateur. The early games of the book were played against beginners; later games, against coffeehouse players of various types; the last games against amateur book players.
  Each game has been chosen to study certain aspects of chess.The introduction of the game lists the important points illustrated in the course of the game and discusses in detail one or two aspects of chess which are exemplified in the game.
  As far as possible, the games are presented in order of their degree of amateurishness, but this order has occasionally been varied so as to present openings as a group or in some advantegous sequence. (p. xxix)
As indicated by the quote above, the games that are presented in order of "difficulty", beginning with quite elementary tactical mistakes and loss of tempo in the opening, progressing through more subtle positional details and the exploitation of weaknesses.

It is hard to imagine that this book is written by a world champion. Unlike many other books written by prominent grandmasters, this book has no examples whatsoever of "of-course-isms" (e.g. "Bh4 is of course bad in this position"). Rather, the reader is guided carefully through each example and each move.

The 25 games that are featured in the book seem to have been selected carefully in order to illustrate important principles and maximize the educational value. Here are some examples of principles and themes in the book:
  • The importance of time in the opening
  • Bringing the queen out too early
  • Central control - directly and indirectly
  • Passive play
  • Positional exchange sacrifice
  • Preventing castling
  • Using open files
  • Initiative
  • When to trade queens
  • Isolated pawns
  • Double pawns
  • The "Greek gift" sacrifice (Bxh7)
  • Focusing on a weak square
There are, of course, many other principles that are highlighted in the book, and all of them are explained through illustrative examples from complete games. There is even a little bit of opening theory for common openings, such as the queen's gambit and the Spanish/Ruy Lopez.

The book has a lot to offer in all parts of the game, but for the most part it highlights typical mistakes and misconceptions in the middlegame, which is why I have chosen to put it in the middlegame category as well as chess improvement.

The annotations are quite detailed and the main points are thoroughly explained. Overall, the content is presented in a very accessible and pedagogical way, which makes it very easy to follow the logic and extract the essence from each game.

Who should read this book?

One of the main chess book stores in Sweden describes this as a perfect continuation for players that have just passed the beginner stage and want to continue. I think this perfectly captures the spirit of the book. In my opinion, the book is very much readable for players who have come a bit further in their development. As stated above, it is very well-written and nicely presented, which makes it a delight to read. I would recommend it for all players up to about 1800 strength. Chess master vs chess amateur is a wonderful book in all aspects. So if you haven't already read it, I suggest you put it on your reading list. It will be well worth your time.

About this book

Author:Max Euwe & Walter Meiden
Title:Chess master vs chess amateur
Type of book:Chess improvement, Middlegame
Level:Beginner, Intermediate
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular reviews

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

Winning chess strategies

Chess strategy is one of the most elusive and difficult parts of chess. Compared to the direct and transparent world of chess tactics, strategy can be confusing and opaque. At the patzer level, tactical strikes that gain material or lead to checkmate can be obvious (provided that one understands the tactic). However, in many cases, strong players claim that a move is obvious although it doesn't result in material gain or even a semblance of an attack. We, the patzers of the world, scratch our heads and wonder how on earth anyone can find such moves obvious. How can we take steps towards this deeper level of chess understanding? Picking up a basic strategy book is a good first step. And that's what I did here. 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 a part of my ambition to deepen my understanding of chess strategy, I took on a mission of reading (and rev...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stop and reassess!

In my very first post on this blog, I reviewed The Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman. That was my first step to understand chess strategy. And I actually bought another one of Silman's book at the same time, but for some reason, it took me more than ten years to read. I finally decided to go through it and now I am ready to share my thoughts with you. (It feels like I've written this before.) 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? Before writing this review, I had a few candidates. I am always reading several books in parallel, and I have a number that I'm about to finish. So I asked the Twitter community for input on which book they would like me to review as number 50. And this came out on top. So far I have reviewed 49 books on #patzersreview . Which one should be number 50? My candidates are: - Silman: Reassess your chess workbook - Nunn: Solving in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Not only for kids

Do you read children's books? If you're and adult, you will probably steer clear of any book that has the phrase "for kids" in it. Since it's for kids, and you're not a kid. Right? Well there are some exceptions, and this is one of them. Author Jeff Coakley has written a number of books "for kids": Winning chess strategy for kids , Winning chess exercises for kids and Winning chess puzzles for kids (vol 1 and 2). Although the titles suggest otherwise, these books are highly instructive and useful for players of all ages. In this review, I have chosen to focus on the first book in his series, Winning chess strategy for kids . What can you expect from this book? Immediately when seeing this book, you will realize that there is one major feature that is "for kids", and that is the artwork. Apart from that, there is no reason to assume that this book cannot be used for adult improvers. I used this book as a part of my tactics training p...
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