Chess Book Review: The Amateur’s Mind by Jeremy Silman
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Summarized Chess Book Review: The Amateur’s Mind – Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery
I often receive emails asking for chess book recommendations. I have decided to review books I have found useful over the last few years in order to help chess players.
One of the books I recommend to most of my chess students is Amateur’s Mind by International Master Jeremy Silman. This is a unique book developed as a result of Silman’s chess coaching session with his students. Silman is able to uncover the deeply rooted misconceptions his students possess; in Amateur’s Mind, he addresses these misconceptions and provides great tips and advice. In addition to the great instructive content, Silman provides 26 tests with full solutions to help students practice and test their newly acquired skills and knowledge.
Who should read this book?
As I tell my students, Amateur’s Mind, is the best 2nd book to have. This book is not for total beginners. Before picking up this book, the reader must know all the chess rules and basics of all phases of the game.
Ideally, you should read an introductory chess book like Chess for Dummies or The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess before going through Silman’s book.
In my opinion, reading Amateur’s Mind is a highly beneficial for those in the 1200 – 1700 USCF/FIDE rating range.
The Amateur’s Mind 2nd Edition retails for $19.95. This item is on sale for only $15.35 at our Amazon.com bookstore.
I am the Founder and CEO of Chess University LLC, the world's leading online chess academy with its primary website located at https://ChessUniversity.com
My journey in the chess education world began when I became a #1-selling coach on Chess.com. I later became President of Chess.com University and started offering "super-premium" services, that went beyond Chess.com's core offerings.
In summer of 2014, I organized the world's first online chess camp featuring 2012 Vice Wold Chess Champion GM Boris Gelfand.
Towards the end of 2014, I created the Prodigy Program which today is Chess University's flagship offering as well as the world's undisputed #1 chess course. Five-time World Chess Champion GM Viswanathan Anand started teaching in the Prodigy Program in 2016 and has been helping Chess University / ChessUniversity.com revolutionize online chess learning since then. In 2017, 13th World Champion Anatoly Karpov taught a live lesson in the Prodigy Program.
Instructors formally or presently associated with Chess University include: Five-time World Champion GM Vishy Anand, 13th World Champion GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Boris Gelfand, GM Alexei Shirov, GM Roman Dzindzichashvili, GM Alex Yermolinsky, GM Erwin l'Ami, IM Mark Dvoretsky, IM Nazi Paikidze, IM Kostya Kavutskiy, IM Daniel Rensch, IM David Pruess, FM Dalton Perrine, FM Elliott Liu, FM Arne Jochens, Kairav Joshi, and many others.
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Outside the chess world, I am also an educational entrepreneur with interests in bringing top STEM education to schools around the world.
Outside of my present career, the subject that interests me most is astrophysics. I've studied the orbital dynamics of our solar system in the past and enjoy reading about the latest research done to find exoplanets.
I love working and partnering with great people and great businesses. Contact me if you'd like to improve at chess or work together on something else!
Best,
Kairav Joshi
President and CEO
Chess University LLC