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David vs Goliath II

What is it that separates a grandmaster from an amateur player? This is a topic of several books, and it is also a question that I've asked myself. I have long been curious about what we can learn from grandmasters and what a patzer like me can implement in my own games in order to take at least a small step towards becoming a competent chess player. And the book under review here is one that promises to do just that. 

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What can you expect from this book?

Grandmaster versus Amateur is a book that I've had in my collection for several years. I bought it back in 2015 and started reading it immediately. For some reason, I only read the first two chapters and then I put the book away. I don't remember why. During my vacation this summer, I decided to pick it up again, and now I've finally read the entire thing.

The premise of the book is to discuss what happens when a grandmaster and an amateur meet to do battle over the board. On the back cover, the book promises to "explain the differences in thinking between professional and amateur chess players, and how the amateur can bridge the gap". As mentioned in the introduction, this is a similar approach to Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Euwe and Meiden. Surprisingly, the authors were not aware of that book, which they comment in the preface:
It was only after the project was up and running that we were alerted to the existence of this book. To avoid ripping off the Dutch World Champion we deliberately avoided reading his book, instead preferring to do our own thing, and we hope the readers will agree when we say that the results are pleasing!
Although Aagaard and Shaw have their names on the cover, they are not the only authors. Both of them have contributed with their own chapters (Shaw has one, Aagaard has two). Other authors are Peter Heine Nielsen, Pavel Eljanov, Boris Avrukh, Tiger Hillarp Persson and Mihail Marin. All authors contribute with annotated games from their own careers along with some kind of narrative frame. 

The authors have all made their own interpretations of the topic of the book. In my personal opinion, this is the single most important determinant of the quality of the book. In other words, the quality of the chapters varies quite a bit. After my initial reading back in 2015, I got a very good impression of the book. I have forgotten most of the contents, but I remember that I enjoyed reading it. When I picked up the book again this summer, I got a very different impression. It felt like any old game collection. When I read the first two chapters again, I understood why; they are written in very different styles.

In the first and final chapters, Jacob Aagaard provides many good examples that resonate well with the overall idea of the book. He explains his thought process and extracts some general principles that the reader may use to beat stronger players:
  1. Play a good solid opening
  2. Play a lot of natural moves
  3. Be ready once you get your chance
The first two principles can be found in many chess books. The third one is based on the fact that even grandmasters are human, and they will make mistakes. What we see throughout the book is that the players who push the hardest eventually lose their games. So in order to win, you need to wait for a mistake and pounce. This seems to be a recurring lesson throughout the book.

In chapter 2, Peter Heine Nielsen continues in the same style. A very entertaining detail is that one of the games he presents is against Magnus Carlsen, with Carlsen in the role of the "amateur" (the game is from 2005 when he was "only" an IM).

The remaining chapters are less interesting, in my opinion. They contain interesting games, but they do not provide the same level of quality in annotations and details on thought process as in the chapters by Aagaard and Heine Nielsen. 

As usual, the publisher has provided an excerpt of the book. As indicated above, the featured example chapter 7 is not among my favorites, so if you like what you see, you will probably also enjoy the entire book. I really enjoyed the first two chapters, but I don't think that's enough for me to recommend the book. If you're looking for a book on masters versus amateurs, I suggest you instead take a look at Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Euwe and Meiden.

Who should read this book?

As with many books from Quality Chess, this book is not aimed at beginners. But it is not as advanced as many of the other books in their catalogue. Being a game collection, it is fairly accessible, even for a a patzer such as myself. The first chapter has a lot of instructional value and is the highlight of the book. So if you stumble across the book, please read that chapter. But I do not recommend you to go out of your way to get this book.

About this book

Author:Jacob Aagaard & John Shaw (eds.)
Title:Grandmaster versus Amateur
Type of book:Game collection
Level:Intermediate, Advanced
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