yeah I started a post a few days ago on chess literature and that book was well reported on...here's the link
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/best-chess-books
enjoy!
the best book
Sort:
“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess”, though highly unacademic, helped me a lot.
One can get some idea of the lasting scope of the respect for My System by looking at:
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-best-chess-books-ever
Still, it might be noted that My System apparently did not occur to GM Yasser Seirawan as something to include in his list of personal favorites, and Aaron Nimzowitsch was not identified by the GM as a very worthy author.
https://www.chess.com/blog/RoaringPawn/an-open-letter-to-the-four-time-us-chess-champion-gm-yasser-seirawan
https://www.chess.com/blog/GMYAZ/open-letter-response-user-radovics-letter-to-me
My System has accumulated some direct negative commentary over the years.
"... I found [the books of Aaron Nimzowitsch to be] very difficult to read or understand. ... [Nimzowitsch: A Reappraisal by Raymond Keene explains his] thinking and influence on the modern game in a far more lucid and accessible way. ... The books that are most highly thought of are not necessarily the most useful. Go with those that you find to be readable; ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)
In 2016, IM pfren wrote:
"My System is an iconoclastic book. A lot of things in there is sheer provocation, and it does need an expereienced player to know what exactly must be taken at its face value.
I love 'My System', and I have read it cover to cover one dozen times, but suggesting it to a class player is an entirely different matter."
Also: "[Some things] ARE wrong, and it's not easy for a non-advanced player to discover those wrong claims.
Nigel Short has claimed that 'My System' should be banned. Stratos Grivas says that the book is very bad. I don't share their opinion, but I am pretty sure that there are more useful reads for class players out there."
Although he is a fan of My System, IM John Watson similarly acknowledged (2013) that:
"... Not everything in it has stood the test of time, ..."
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/john-watson-book-review-108-of-eplus-books-part-2-nimzowitsch-classics
One last point to keep in mind is that, even if My System would eventually help a player, it might not necessarily be helpful to a player now.
"... Just because a book contains lots of information that you don’t know, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be extremely helpful in making you better at this point in your chess development. ..." - Dan Heisman (2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
A My System sample can be seen at:
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/MySystem-excerpt.pdf
A Chess Praxis sample can be seen at:
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/ChessPraxis-excerpt.pdf
Various samples:
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9027.pdf
RussBell wrote (June 1, 2019):
"My System is of course one of the great masterpieces of chess literature, compulsory reading for generations of players...I recommend My System[...]as strongly as I do any other chess book. These days most classic works are no longer essential to a chess education, especially since the Internet; but if there's an exception, Nimzowitch's work is it." - from IM John Watson's book review here...
https://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/john-watson-book-review-108-of-eplus-books-part-2-nimzowitsch-classics
Perspective on Aron Nimzowitsch's "My System"...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/perspective-on-my-system-by-aron-nimzowitsch
RussBell wrote (October 1, 2019):
The following is Yasser Seirawan's Introduction to the Lou Hays 21st Century Edition of Aron Nimzowitsch's "My System", published November 1991. In this introduction he describes his earlier misgivings regarding the book, then continues by praising not only the Lou Hays edition of the book, but "My System" in general....(note particularly his comments in the third from the last paragraph ... ["This then is the strength of My System. It is a book that provokes you to think differently about chess. It challenges you to consider a different approach and urges you to prove or refute Nimzowitsch's ideas. It is also a book that you can read and reread, each time coming away with different lessons and insights, leading to a deeper understanding of the game." - GM Yasser Seirawan (1991)]
...
The following is a scathing criticism of Nimzowitsch's "My System" by Yasser Seirawan (penned in 2018, in response to an open criticism of his apparently prior vocal criticisms of Nimzowitsch, and his book)...
https://www.chess.com/blog/GMYAZ/open-letter-response-user-radovics-letter-to-me
So what are we to make of it - on the one hand Seirawan praises Nimzowitsch and his book, then later excoriates them both....
You be the judge...
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/which-book-should-i-read-first
RussBell wrote (Octoer 14, 2019):
There is a huge difference in (english) readability between the translation of the Quality Chess edition of "My System" and the translation of the Hays Publishing 21st Century Edition of the book. The Quality Chess Edition attempts to be faithful to, and preserve the original pedantic writing style of Nimzowitsch, whereas the Hays translation is rendered in modern english, making it a much easier read. ...
You can use the Amazon's "Look Inside" feature of the Hays edition here to compare its writing/translation style with that of the Quality Chess excerpts/samples from Spongey's post above (a portion of Yasser Seirawan's introduction to the book is also reproduced)...
https://www.amazon.com/My-System-Century-Aron-Nimzowitsch/dp/1880673851/ref=sr_1_3?crid=QQIYFYXQIJKK&keywords=my+system+aron+nimzowitsch&qid=1571075835&s=books&sprefix=my+system%2Caps%2C204&sr=1-3
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/is-the-book-quotmy-systemquot-worth-getting?page=11
Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell
I think the books written by Aron Nimzowitch ."My system and Chess praxis is properbly the the best books written about chess , if you want to develope an understand chess theese are " must have"