Patzer's review

Sometimes books just come to you by accident. In my case, I came across an unknown book on an online second-hand book store. A chess novel by GM Jesse Kraai. What? Why have I not heard about this? I felt obliged to check it out. And chances are you are not familiar with the book either. So why not read my review to find out more? 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 you probably can guess from the title of the book, Lisa is the name of the main character in this book. And the book describes her experience of learning chess while growing up. I may have missed it, but I don't think Lisa's age is given specifically, but she goes to school and seems to be curious about alcohol and boys, so my guess is that she is in her mid to late teens. Lisa comes from a broken home, she doesn't like school very much and her mother works too much. In order to keep her dau...

Study your own games and learn from your mistakes! This is an age-old piece of advice that is thrown around in the chess community all the time. But how do you actually  learn from your mistakes? This is a tricky question that rarely gets the same level of attention. So when you come across a book with the title Learn from your chess mistakes , it has to be a good sign - right? A friend of mine had this book in his collection and suggested I read it. It took me some time to get around to it, but finally I went through it. And let me just warn you at the get-go; this book has very little to do with your  chess mistakes. But anywho, let's dive in! 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? Chris Baker (author of this book) is a British IM, and as far as I can determine, this is the only chess book he's written. However, he is also the writer of the column "How b...

Chess is a game filled with mistakes. And if none of the players make a mistake, the game is drawn. So eliminating your mistakes is essential for improvement. Thus far, I think most people will agree. But the main question is how you can work on eliminating or minimizing your mistakes in the most effective way. To this question, there are numerous opinions and theories. This post will be the first in a series of reviews on the topic of chess mistakes and improvement.  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? Larry Evans is a name that will be familiar to many chess enthusiasts. He was a grandmaster, won the US championship multiple times, and has written several books. But although he shares his name with the famous Evans gambit, it is not named after him. In The 10 most common chess mistakes , Evans aims to provide lessons for improving chess players by presenting...

What goes on inside the head of a world champion? Many champions have shared their analyses of chess games, and even some inside stories. But the mental struggles that surround the chess tournaments and championship matches has not been revealed to the general public to the same extent. So when former world champion Vishy Anande published a book on this topic, it felt like a must-read.  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? Vishy Anand is a very fascinating person for a number of reasons. He was at the top level for more than three decades, and reigned as world champion from 2007 to 2013. Despite losing his title to Carlsen, he kept playing in top events and even managed to win the candidates tournament for a rematch against Carlsen in 2014. He has also won the prestigious Wijk an Zee tournament five times. When I visisted the tournament in 2020 , I reflected o...

Get better at positional evaluation, they said. Read Heisman's book on positional evaluation, they said. It will be fun, they said. Well, I read the book, and I don't really know what to make of it. But my evaluation skills did not improve much from reading this book. Read on if you want to know why. 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? Dan Heisman probably needs no introduction. He is a renowned coach and author of numerous chess books, mainly aimed at beginners and intermediate players. Elements of Positional Evaluation  definitely belongs in this category. The book was first published in 1974, and was revised and republished in 2010. Heisman begins by revisiting the state of "positional theory" in 1974, and addresses some aspects that Heisman considers to be flaws or inadequacies in what he calls "1974 theory"; development, doubled pa...

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...

In recent years, there has been a growing movement to promote greater gender equality in chess. One of the most influential chess profiles in this regard is Jennifer Shahade. A few months ago, I heard an interview with her on Daniel Lona's podcast, where Shahade talked about her latest book and some compelling stories about the most prominent female chess players throughout history. After hearing this interview, I felt that I was painfully uninformed about female chess players. Curious to find out more, I read her book Chess Queens . 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? Jen Shahade is an American chess player, writer, and commentator. She is a WGM and two-time U.S. Women's Chess Champion. In addition to her work in chess, Shahade has also been involved in advocacy for women in chess and other fields, and has served as an ambassador for the game. Chess Queens...