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Thinking about thinking

How should you think during a chess game? This is a critical question. Chess is a thinking game, and therefore, improving your game means improving your thinking. That should be a fairly uncontroversial statement. So if you want to improve your game through better thinking, a book on the subject should be exactly what you're looking for. I wish I could say that this book is the answer to all your questions, but unfortunately, that is not the case. In this review, I will tell you what I like and what I don't like about The Improving Chess Thinker by Dan Heisman.

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What can you expect from this book?

The Improving Chess Thinker is a book that aspires to teach you how to think about chess. The basic idea of the book is to record players at various levels as they "think out loud" about the position they are analyzing. In the first chapter of the book, six positions are presented to form the foundation of the book. These positions are fed to Heisman's students who are then requested to verbalize their thinking while choosing a move in the given position(s).
Chess is a thinking game, and few beginners are taught how to think to find their move. (p. 9)
First, the transcription of the student's thought process is presented, followed by some brief comments from Heisman. This is repeated throughout the book. For those of you who have read Jeremy Silman's The Amateur's Mind, you will recognize this idea. And the logic and structure is pretty similar in Heisman's book.

The Improving Chess Thinker has two different parts, although they are not explicitly presented as such. The first part (chapters 1-8) present the exercises and protocols for players of various levels, from Class F through A and Expert level. Each chapter is concluded by a summary of common mistakes.

According to Heisman the logic is as follows:
Read the chapter representing your rating class. Then read the chapters one and two classes above your level to see what knowledge, process and logic is applied by superior players to arrive at their move. (p. 14)
The second part of the book (chapter 9-14) contain more traditional instruction material, and covers topics such as thinking process, common mistakes and time management. Those who are familiar with Heisman's writing will recognize this kind of material from other publications, such as A Guide to Chess Improvement or The world's most instructive amateur game book.

When I first stumbled upon this book, I was very excited. I had identified a bad thinking process as one of my many weaknesses, and was thinking (no pun intended) that this book would help me correct that problem. I spent some time analyzing the training positions in the book and even recorded my thought process so that I could compare myself to what's presented in the book. But as I dug more and more into the book, my disappointment increased. Let me tell you why. 

The book contains 84 protocols from students and an additional one from former world champion Max Euwe. As I read the book, I got the feeling that an overwhelming majority of the protocols are dedicated to a single position. The same position and the same thinking mistakes were repeated over and over again. As you can see from the table below, the number of protocols is very unevenly distributed across the positions. One position represents 70 % of all the protocols. And one position actually gets no love at all in the book.

PositionNumber of protocols
A59
Z12
E9
C2
S2
B0

This fundamental lack of balance is a big weakness of the book. I can understand that as a coach, Heisman has a preference for a certain position and uses it frequently in his lessons. And perhaps this position is particularly instructive and useful for this kind of exercise. I am not competent to assess that. However, as a reader, I would like to see a variety of examples, and not only the same position rehashed over and over. And for the life of me, I cannot understand why Heisman has included a position that is not even used in the book. This has to be a serious oversight from the author and the editor. The fact that this is the second edition of the book makes it even more puzzling.

Another weakness of the book is the structure. In my opinion, the idea of reading the chapter corresponding to your level represents a broken logic. Sure, if I see common mistakes made at my level, I can become more attentive towards those mistakes. But if I want to improve, I want to see examples of how it can be done correctly. And sure, players one or two classes above me will not make the same mistakes as often, but they'l make other mistakes that I want to avoid.

After reading the book, I made a short summary of how I think the book should have been structured. First of all, I would have structured the book by position. I would have a chapter for each position with examples from players of all levels giving their analyses. This should be followed by a summary of common mistakes and what differentiates the various levels - and, of course, a correct analysis of the position along with the best move(s). 

In my opinion, this would correct two problems this book has. First of all, it would ensure that all positions are given approximately the same amount of attention/commentary. Secondly, it would make use of the differences in mistakes made by players of different strength, and make it clearer what is required to advance to the next level. And thirdly, it would make the book more fun to read.

Incidentally, there seems to be a book that seems to do exacly this. Mickey Adams and Philip Hurtado have recently published the book Think like a Super-GM. Adams has published a blog post about the book, if you want to learn more. I know I will definitely take a look at it.

As you have probably realized by now, I really like the idea behind The Improving Chess Thinker. And I think the book has a lot of good material. But I have major objections concerning the structure and presentation. The book feels more like an initial draft than a finished book. So although I would have liked to, I cannot recommend this book for chess improvement. However, if you have an academic interest in chess analysis, this might be an interesting read.

Who should read this book?

This book is written with a wide range of players in mind. Although it is presented as a sort of manual for how to think in chess, I think it will be most interesting for coaches and readers with an academic interest in how chess players think. If your aim is to improve your own chess, I cannot really recommend it. 

About this book

Author:Dan Heisman
Title:The Improving Chess Thinker
Type of book:Chess improvement
Level:Beginner, Intermediate
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