Cool! A book of annotated amateur games could be very instructive indeed. Looking forward to it!
Finished my 11th book - out late 2012
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Awesome news. Hope it will be available on Kindle.
Yes, I think it will be available on Kindle (almost all books are these days), but that's a better question for the publisher.
My new preferred way of reading chess books:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/e+chess-books/id475177331?mt=8
Of course, the selection is still pretty limited, but it's coming along... I do have Silman's Complete Endgame Course on there.
Thanks Mr. Heisman for the great books, looking forward to this new one.
I recently read another book with amateur games, annotated by the players with additional comments from the GM author, and I think this approach can be highly instructive. So I am delighted to hear that Mr. Heisman, one of my favourite chess authors, has tackled the same subject matter (no doubt in his own unique way). How exciting!
I would love for this book (and others by DH) to be published in e+Chess format.
Andres from smartchess! App said he was working on one or two books (from Russell Publishing) by Mr. Heisman . This was back in march of this year via email. So hopefully it's coming soon.
Thanks for all the kind words - very much appreciated! The publisher for my new book is Mongoose Press (who also did The Improving Chess Thinker and the 2nd edition of The Improving Annotator but this one's not "improving..."
) Fburton is right - I believe he is referring to Lev Alburt's recent book which has similar theme (based on his Chess Life column) but I believe my approach, content, and inclusion of generic improvement material will be much different than Lev's.
Great news. As a chess teacher, I mostly present master games to my students, especially when doing classroom lectures. However, I think that many amateur games provide positions more likely to come up in student games. When you tell a student that the well played game presented to them was by a well know master it doesn't have the same impact as a well played amateur game. I say this because many beginning players assume only the best games are played at a higher level. I look forward to it's release. I have enjoyed your books and used many of the examples with my students (as well as using them to improve my own game).
Hugh, Thanks. While the book is the "most instructive" it doesn't mean the games are of the highest amateur quality - in fact I tried to pick games that were indicative of the types of errors made by amateurs of all levels starting with about 1000 FIDE up to almost-master. So I wanted the games to be as instructive as possible, not the best possible amateur games played by, say, all expert levels players. Of course the chess definition of amateur is "non-master" but none of the games in the book are by beginners. Each chapter is a different theme and, since time management is such a big amateur problem, the 1st chapter is "Too Fast" and the 2nd chapter is "Too Slow"
Errors are always instructive. I can't wait to read this book!
This book has now gone thru extensive editing and proofreading and has gone to typesetting. If done at the same 5.5x8.5" size as previous books with this publisher, it would be over 600 pages! So the current plan is to have it come out at 6x9" so it won't be quite so thick I think it's a good, very extensive, mixture and balance of:
1) Specific advice on the positions,
2) Generic advice on how to improve and how the positions exemplify that general improvement advice, and
3) Computer analysis to show what the "best" moves and ideas would have been.
I see you point Dan. Sorry I didn't respond sooner but when I'm not teaching chess I'm on the road with a band. Showing games in which errors are made can be extremely helpful because often students will find themselves in a similar situation. Knowing how they got there, what they can do (if anything) once they're in that position and how to avoid the problem in the first place will greatly help the student. An interesting note: Many of my students parents pick up copies of your numerous books for their kids and for themselves, more so than any other chess writer.
I have no doubt this is a good approach. I am a very moderate club class player and when presented with a master strength game I can sometimes, dimly and from afar off, with the help of expert commentary, get a glimpse of what is going on. Mostly I am all at sea.
Amateur games tend to be different: the threats are immediate or just a move or two deep; the positions tend to be more like those reached in my own games; the mistakes (certainly) will tend to have a more familiar look.
Wish you luck with the book.
Saw your presentation the other day (questions thro' the alphabet) - much enjoyed it. Thank you. Hope the voice did not suffer too much.
(Don't feel too old. When you are 63 you will feel much older. :) )
Wow! Congratulations on all this work!
I look forward to reading it. Commenting lower rated players' games and errors is a great idea, it'll be really helpful.
Hi! I have finished writing my 11th chess book. The working title is "The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book". It's a big book - over 100,000 words covering 30 games; full of generic advice on improvement, time management, dand thought process (with the computer analysis of best play noted). The editor is working on the manuscript now and it should be published in the fall. A description of all my books is always online at http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Events_Books/book_descriptions.html - Regards, NM Dan Heisman