Book Review: Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur

Introduction
Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur by Max Euwe and Walter Meiden is a collection of annotated games, where, as you might guess, chess masters take on amateur players. Instructive game anthologies rarely feature amateur games, and this is the oldest book in this genre that I am aware of.

More modern anthologies that feature masters playing amateurs, and even amateurs playing amateurs, include Grandmaster versus Amateur by Shaw and Aagaard and The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book by Heisman.

Content Overview
First, a warning: The book was first published in 1963 (my edition is from 1994) and so it uses descriptive notation. If you don't know descriptive, it takes a few hours to get used to, but the payoff is access to a world of classic books.

The book includes 25 complete games, organized by the skill of the amateur player. This is a really nice idea, as in the first games the masters completely demolish the amateur players. Then, at the end of the book, the masters must generally use more nuanced and strategic play to win.

The authors' annotations are quite easy to follow and do not include exhaustive variations. At least for me, the variations tended to answer natural questions I had (why didn't he just move there or capture that?) or they shed light on general principles or ways to think about the position. 

Honestly, I felt like I was reading volume two of Logical Chess: Move by Move. Though not every move is annotated in this book, the style is very similar.

Here is the first game featured in the book.

Instructional Value

The killer feature of this book is watching how masters identify amateur mistakes and then systematically build their game around exploiting them – think speedrun videos but from the 1960s. And a book instead of videos. And in descriptive notation. But, otherwise, like a speed run.

This is so highly instructive that I will likely pull this book out again next summer and reread it with fresh eyes.

I am a solid 1650-1750 USCF/FIDE player. This book was perfectly geared to my level. I imagine it would be useful for most 1200-1800 players.

If you have spent time learning tactical motifs and have read a previous book or two on strategy, either prose-style or annotated game-style, you are ready for this book.

Verdict
Overall, Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur is a highly instructive classic book that is easy to read. It is in that rare genre of instructive annotated game collections of masters playing amateurs. I’d recommend it to club players who want to learn how to take advantage of an opponent's mistakes, while also getting more exposure to general chess principles and strategic play.

My only criticisms of the book are that 1) it is in descriptive notation, 2) it features some outdated openings, given it was written in the 1960s, and 3) it does not name the players; it only refers to them as Master and Amateur (or Beginner). At times, I wondered whether some of the games were displaying analysis instead of actual games. Regardless of that third point, it wouldn't matter to me, given that the book is instructional rather than documentary.

Rating: ★★★★☆