Jeremy Silman (1954–2023)

This is a great book, but not one that you should read, this is a book that should be studied. Many of the ideas are in algebraic chess notation, and unless you are particularly good at visualizing the board, you should probably have one handy. Personally, I suck at visualization of the board, but I digress.

Silman has split this particular edition that I have into sixteen parts, each of which is thematically connected. Most of these parts are further subdivided into chapters. For instance, show more the first part is all about endgames. The first chapter talks about the King, the idea of Opposition and Outflanking. The second chapter of the first part is about King and Pawn endgames and the third chapter of the first part is about King and Rook endgames. It isn't exhaustive by any means, but it does cover the basics.

As I said, each part covers a theme. The first part covers endgames, the second part covers Silman's Thinking Technique and the list of Imbalances, the third covers Calculation and Combinations, the Fourth covers Minor Pieces in the middle game and so on. The fifteenth part covers solutions to problems in the book and the Sixteenth is a Recommended Reading List.

Since this is a book that must be studied if you hope for improvement, it isn't something that you read cover to cover mindlessly. It would probably be best to have some kind of board handy so you can play through the games, since all of the possible lines that are mentioned get confusing for me. It has scenarios from actual games and attempts to peer into the mind of the master at crucial points, so it is also helpful in that regard. show less

Good introduction to the game, but meant for a complete novice. I enjoyed how Seirawan mixed instruction with history to give the reader an appreciation for both how the game evolved and the personalities that helped to shape modern chess. His commented games and examples have enough intermediary diagrams of positions that about half can be followed by a new player without needing a chess board. This makes for a good compromise between book length and ease of use.

Some people find Silman's style condescending because he primarily uses lower ranked players games to illustrate points, but I find that this makes the lessons more accessible. Watching Grandmasters slug it out can be instructive, but the simpler, linear approach of Silman's students, with his line by line dialog, make this book a great lesson on chess theories and changed the way I think about the game...

This is an excellent, in depth book for the beginning chess player. I followed through carefully with a chess board, and I know that I can still gain much more by re-reading, which I plan to do sometime in the future.

The basis of Silman's chess philosophy is identifying imbalances (both temporary and permanent) and then making plans to take advantage of the imbalances while denying the opponent the use of their imbalances.

The book goes through chapter by chapter over different imbalances, show more and then discusses some weakness in amateur chess play (such as mindless King hunters and playing on the right side of the board that one's play has led to).

Finally, the book ends with 26 chess problems, with in depth analysis of each problem.

Highly recommended for the amateur player to develop and improve their game. show less