Skip to main content

About Patzer's Review

I am a patzer! Say it with me. It's liberating. You can be a patzer too.
I am a husband and a father of two. I have been playing chess most of my life, but did not join a chess club until my mid 30s. I work full time, and still have the ambition to improve my game. Some may say it's an impossible equation, but I am not the kind to give up easily.

Why do I review chess books?

I started this blog for two reasons. First of all, I have a lot of chess books. I have read many of them, but not all. I want to read them and document my thoughts about the books. I also want to share my impressions of them with others like me; the patzers of the world. Many of the books and book reviews out there are written for masters, but the majority of players are at an intermediate level. So there's a need for more perspectives on chess books. 

About my reviews

All opinions on this blog are my own. I am not affiliated with authors or publishers in any way, and I do not write reviews for anyone else. Also, I do not claim to represent the opinions of a larger group or that my reviews are "objectively correct". My reviews are simply accounts of my experiences in interacting with the books I've read. If you have a different opinion on any of the books that I've reviewed, please leave a comment below the post, or get in touch with me.

In my book reviews, I try to give an estimate of the playing strength that readers should have to benefit the most from the books. These estimates are always given based on FIDE classical rating (OTB). So if you only have an online rating, please look up how to estimate your approximate OTB strength. I also give each review a tag for the estimated level. Here are some approximate rating intervals for the different categories:

BeginnerUp to 1500
Intermediate:1500-2000
Advanced:2000 or higher

The attentive reader may have found that I do not review opening books. This is no coincidence. First of all, they are all rather similar. Furthermore, I do not feel that I do not have the competence to distinguish the good opening books from the bad. But most importantly, I am not very interested in opening books.

About my recommendations

The groups I review are sorted in two main categories; (1) the ones I highly recommend and (2) all the rest. The highly recommended books receive my "stamp of approval", which is both a badge that I add to the cover image as well as a tag for the posts/reviews. The remaining books range from decent to awful (my subjective opinion), which is a very wide category. So why not apply some kind of rating system for these? Simply put, life is too short to read mediocre chess books. I suggest that you read the great ones and leave the others to the collectors.


So let's learn from each other and share tips and ideas about how patzers like us can improve our chess. This is me doing my part.

This blog is for patzers, by a patzer. Masters are welcome too, but may find my rantings all too trivial.  

If you want to get in touch, please find me on Twitter, @DrLangstrand.


Become a Patron!

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 29, 2019 at 11:24 AM

    Well, being a weak 72 years old chessplayer, father of four, owner of around a hundred chess books, I think we are at the same wavelength! So I'll read all your comments, of course!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular reviews

Rapid chess improvement

Would you like to gain 400 rating points in 400 days? That is what Michael de la Maza did. And he wrote a book about his progress and the methods that got him there. Quite an appealing idea, and many players at the beginner and intermediate level will be enticed. I was. Are you? In 2001, Michael de la Maza wrote an article in Chess horizons called "400 points in 400 days" . In the article, he outlines the main components of his training program and gives a short account of his own progress. He managed to to get from about 1300 to 2000 in just two years, which is quite an accomplishment. His ideas were later elaborated upon and presented in the book  Rapid chess improvement. This book was published quite a few years ago, and can be difficult to find. But it has been republished in a new form, together with two other books in A chess course: from beginner to winner . If you decide you want to buy Rapid chess improvement , this three-in-one volume may be a good option. ...
3 comments
Read more

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

The best book for patzers?

I have been playing chess since I was a kid, but until about 10 years ago (2009), I had not even considered reading chess books. For some reason, this changed. I cannot remember why, but I decided I wanted to learn more about chess and probably pick up a book or two. I searched the Internet and consulted a few online chess forums, and was recommended the book The Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman. I bought the book, and that was the start of my growing collection of chess books. The Amateur's Mind has had a tremendous impact on my understanding of the game. Prior to Reading this book, I had no idea about how to evaluate a position or how to play the opening properly (or any other phase of the game, for that matter). I saw my results improving dramatically, and gained a couple of hundred rating points in just a few months. At this point, I only played online, so I did not have a "proper" rating. But regardless, I learned a lot from reading the book. What can y...
3 comments
Read more

Chaos on the board

Have you ever felt tired of chess? Maybe you’ve been uninspired or perhaps you think it’s too much work. To paraphrase a famous movie: All work and no play makes you a dull person. If that is the case, I may have a cure. You need a fun chess book. Something that will rekindle your joy for the game and inspire you to play creatively. I give you Tiger’s Chaos Theory ! This book found me at a time when I needed it the most. My inspiration and motivation to study chess was way down. And like a bolt from the blue, the Swedish Chess Federation approached me and wanted me to review this book. And the kind people at Quality Chess agreed to send me a review copy. An offer I couldn't refuse. So after this happy turn of events, I have a new review for 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? Grandmaster Tiger Hillarp Persson, a multi-time Swedish chess champion, has al...
Post a Comment
Read more

Attack the king

One of the finest chess books ever written. Those are tall words from the back cover of this classic book. But The art of attack in chess is one of those books that keep popping up in lists of best chess books. It is highly regarded by many players and trainers, so the initial statement is probably not all wrong. This is a book that has been on my reading list for several years, but it has taken some time for me to actually pick it up. I've been curious about what the hype is all about, and now that I've finally found out for myself, I am ready to share that insight with you. So let's dive in! What can you expect from this book? Before we begin, let me just get one detail out of the way. One thing that struck me when I picked up the book is the title, which seems to be missing a "the". When reading about the book online, it is referred to both with and without "the". When I looked up the original book (this one is a revised edition, edited by Joh...
3 comments
Read more