Amazing miniatures

A while back, I almost completely lost my motivation for chess. I felt uninspired and uninterested. Nothing seemed to be fun anymore. But one day I looked at my book shelf and picked up a little book and started to flip through it. I went through a game. Wow! I went through another. Wow again! This book is nice! So since that day, the book has been on my bedside table, and I have (mostly) gone through one game per day before going to sleep. The book I am talking about is Instructive Chess Miniatures. Let me tell you why I like this book.

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What can you expect from this book?

I have written about miniature games before. In my review of Catastrophes and Tactics, I mentioned that the definition of a miniature can vary. In Ataman's book, the games last 25 moves at most.

So what's the point? Why study miniatures? First of all (and obviously), they are quite short. This means that you can play through a game quite quickly. This also means that you can use the games for visualization training, aiming to keep all the moves in your head. Secondly, master games often consist of a lot of subtle maneouvering, which can make them quite difficult to follow for patzers like us. However, in minitatures, the ideas and plans (strategic and tactical) are carried out in full, which allows us to see the logic behind the moves more clearly.

Ataman sums this up quite well in the foreword:

These short games usually come to an end with a spectacular combination or an admirable deep idea. This makes miniatures really amazing and memorable!

Instructive Chess Miniatures is a simple book in terms of structure. There is a short (!) foreword of just half a page, and then the games are presented. The book contains 57 games in total, of which 4 are presented as "supplementary games". The remaining 53 games make up the main body of the book.

Each game is presented in full. The games are clearly presented with detailed annotations and several (usually 3-5) diagrams. The games are presented over roughly 120 pages. This means that each game is given about two pages on average. The supplementary games are, however, not annotated at all.

If you are curious about the layout and level of detail, you can find an excerpt of the book on the publisher's webpage. The excerpt also contains a table of contents which lists all the featured games.

As indicated in the introduction of this review, I have read read this book in bed before going to sleep. As you probably understand, this means that I haven't used a board to play through the moves. In some cases I have turned to my phone for assistance, but for the most part, I have played through the games in my head - of course with the help of the diagrams in the book. I think this is a perfect book for the purpose of visualization training. The combination of few moves and many diagrams means that you have to keep just 5-10 moves in your head.

The selling point of the book is the game selection and annotations. The book is a nice sample of games that really illustrate the beauty of chess. There are quite a few classics such as Anderssen's "evergreen game" and Morphy's "opera game". But there are also several lesser known and more recent examples. The games usually end with a beautiful combination or the execution of a deep strategic plan.

For me, personally, this book was very inspiring and rekindled my love for the game. It reminded me why I was drawn to the game in the first place. Each game has left me with the feeling of amazement and awe. I have repeatedly found myself just saying "wow" and going back and reviewing the game again to really take in all the awesomeness.

Who should read this book?

In the foreword, the author writes that the book is suitable as an introduction for younger players. I don't think age is the deciding factor. Rather, I think the book is good for developing players (patzers) of all ages. It can be used for beginners, in order to illustrate various points; both opening ideas as well as tactics and strategy. As suggested above, it is also a perfect book for visualization training. And it can of course also be read purely for enjoyment - if you just want to look at some beautiful games. Probably, your playing strength is somewhere below 1800 Elo. If this sounds like you, I suggest you read this book.

About this book

Author:	Alper Efe Ataman
Title:	Instructive chess miniatures
Type of book:	Game collection
Level:	Beginner, Intermediate

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