How to Reassess Your Chess - 4th Edition

Anyone have any pictures of the cloth version?

Wish Silman would stop making this stuff -- soon the lowest rated player in the US will be 1800, making it harder on all of us

Or has he published it in other languages too

The 3rd edition of How to Reassess Your Chess was one of my first chess books when first learning the game. Even after a few re-reads of Chapter Two, Imbalances and the Silman Thinking Technique, I still don't get it. Maybe I'm just not ready.

I'm still at the point in my game where chess is about both avoiding and punishing mistakes. Someone must make a mistake for the other person to win, otherwise the game is a draw. Back to imbalances.

" An imbalance in chess denotes any difference in the two respective positions."

"The real goal of a chess game is to create an imbalance and try to build a situation in which it is favorable for you."

"It is simply a difference. It is the player's responsibility to turn that difference into an advantage."   -  Jeremy Silman, How to Reassess Your Chess, Expanded 3rd Edition.

I thought that the real goal of chess was simply to make the best move possible. Wouldn't looking for a move to imbalance the position sometimes cause one to miss the best move? What if you have the opportunity to place your rook on an open file, and Rybka says it is the best move, yet you say to yourself, "but I see a move that would cause a difference (imbalance) in the position, so I will play that move instead, and then hope to turn that difference into an advantage". Isn't that just wishful thinking?

Silman was interviewed (audio) for an entire hour by IM John Watson over at ICC, where he talks about the motivations behind his 4th edition.

One thing of note: Silman had noticed that many of his readers still didn't get it - his teaching on imbalances - so he drives that point home in his 4th edition with more text and chess diagrams.  

Is the 4th edition easier to understand than the 3rd edition?  Do you look for ways to create imbalances in your games?  Examples would be great.  Thank you.

I gotta admit I was super-skeptical of how much these books would really help. But I did a quick read-through of The Amateur's Mind, and at first felt like it didn't teach me anything. But zomwtgoodness, I get a board in front of me and all the stuff about planning around imbalances suddenly shapes my every move and I'm smacking people around the board that I would have had no chance against two months ago.

Extrapolating, once I'm done with my slow re-read of AM, my trip through RYC will leave my biggest chess problem being figuring out when the next tournament I can pick up an IM norm will be in town.

You got my attention and I own The Amateur's Mind. Please post a chess diagram of one example where this zomwtgoodness happened?

So, you are able to do the Silman thing now, i.e., see or create a difference (imbalance) in a position, and then covert this imbalance into an advantage? Teach me how to smack people around the board.

@Musik

Imbalances, as im sure you have read, are merely stuff like:

King Safety, minor piece activity, pawn structure, space, material, file control (bolding this cause you mentioned it in your previous post, it is an imbalance so you are making a move that addresses imbalances when you take control of an open/semi open file),

weak squares, development, initiative--->straight from the 4th ED

The best move will generally stem from the imbalances unless tactical nuances are present, in which case you must pay attention to those as they often override positional considerations like imbalances. As some dude once said (I forget who--Steintz?) "Tactics flow from superior positions"

When you address the imbalances and strengthen your position, tactics are more likely to be in favor of you, and this can grant you initiative that can net you a point.

By noticing the imbalances, you can act upon them. Like say you have a bad bishop or "tall pawn" as Silman calls it, then perhaps you can consider a pawn sacrifice for piece activity. Or lets say you see a juicy weak square, then find a way to move your OCTOPUS (Silman's word for a great knight) to that square. Imbalances allow you to see targets in the position and make it easier to find a plan.

K. Here's one from the other night, against an opponent rated about 150 points higher than I was before I read AM:

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=39198

At move 8, I'm already figuring his dark-squared bishop is penned in, so I want to keep making my minor pieces better than his like Silman keeps talking about. I know that my knight is strong on e4 and he can't boot it off without giving up his strong light bishop, which would be playing into my hands.

After move 14, I've got exactly what I wanted: strong knight on e4, my dark-squared bishop able to dart in and out of my pawns vs. his knight (that does have a strong outpost on e5 available) and his trapped dark bishop.

So now I'm trying to figure out how to boot his knight off of that good square, and I put my queen on c7 to keep some pressure on that diagonal until I can get it off later.  But now the pressure to try and open up the board for his bad bishop causes a tactical error that I'm well-positioned to exploit thanks to my good bishop and good knight.

I had some better moves in a few spots, but the AM gave me an idea of what I should be trying to do, which led to positional pressure on my opponent, which led to the tactical opportunity.

That was an excellent game. Thanks for posting it. 

You developed a plan around White's bad bishop and targeted a "juicy square" (e4) for your knight and executed this plan for the win. Basically, Black forced White to play without the use of one minor piece. Well done.

That was a generous amount of your typing time. Thank you. It's making more sense. Chess will be so much more fun when I get better at seeing these differences which will then bring about a plan. Playing chess without a plan is well... not fun.

@musikamole

I thought that the real goal of chess was simply to make the best move possible. Wouldn't looking for a move to imbalance the position sometimes cause one to miss the best move? What if you have the opportunity to place your rook on an open file, and Rybka says it is the best move, yet you say to yourself, "but I see a move that would cause a difference (imbalance) in the position, so I will play that move instead, and then hope to turn that difference into an advantage". Isn't that just wishful thinking?

The goal of chess is to win the game. This means finding the best moves you can find for the best plan you can devise. It's unreasonable and counterproductive to be unsatisfied with anything but the "theoretical best move" in every position -- the theoretical best move does NOT maximize your winning chances if you don't know how to continue. In some cases the theoretical best move might leave you a razor sharp position where one false step spells disaster, whereas a lesser move gives you a comfortable edge with moves that are easy to find. 

"Imabalances" are a thinking tool to help you understand a position so as to make moves that help your cause! Nevermind about finding "rybka's move" -- Lesser skilled players not only frequently fail to find the best move, they play moves which actually harm their own position, or (this is very common) make moves which are completely beside the point.

A player who plays alertly for tactics (both his own and those of his opponent) and consistently makes moves which are 'consonant' with the position (not best, but sensibly in accordance with the position) -- That's probably enough to make rated expert IMO. 

But an open file is an imbalance (or control of the file is an imbalance). Imbalances are nothing more than "something to work with" -- some are positive (like controlling an open file, there's no downside to controlling an open file) but most are neutral, neither good nor bad, they are what you make of them! You must make the imbalances work for you... and you create imbalances so as to have something to work with... but if you already have something to work with, like an open file, that's probably where your best move lies. 

I realized that my copy of RAYC4th was broken when I hung my queen today, and later a knight.  Maybe I need a sturdier hardback edition...

Just ordered mine on amazon... can't wait!

Excellent post. It all makes sense. Thank you.

Our own chess.com GM Gregory Kaidanov talks about imbalances and engine moves in his latest video lecture - How To Improve Your Chess 4. http://www.chess.com/video/player/how-to-improve-your-chess-4 

here is my rendition of a picture of his fabulous book as well as my board/pieces.

Enjoy!

I would have sex with that chess set... <3

I have just received my copy and so far so good. It seems very well written and not boring at all.