Recommend a book on strategy

I have several chess books and almost without exception, they show a position then explain variations with a seemingly interminable series of alternatives in algebraic notation; they are hard to use and rather dry and boring.

One book I have that doesn't do this is Levi Rozman's How to Win at Chess, which is filled with pictures for each position discussed—you can learn a lot without even having a board in front of you. However, this book deals mostly with openings and some tactics, but while it is excellent, I'm also after a book with a more strategic slant that uses a similar format. Do these exist, if so what are some of them called; or is it that I do indeed have to go the dry and dusty route to good strategy?

Seirawan's Winning Chess Strategies is a gentle introduction

Tried that one but sent it back (Amazon) as it too consisted of long algebraic alternative moves. It's probably me, but I just get lost when seeing moves in BOLD, and then possible moves in not-bold, then, a bit further on, back to the original line and on to the next BOLD moves. As I said Levi Rozman seemed to manage a much more approachable format [for the simple person]—is he the only one?

You're unlikely to find a another book without notation that goes beyond the rudiments. A common recommendation is to skip over the alternatives to the next bold section on the first reading(s).

You might try Irving Chernev’s books: Logical Chess Move by Move and The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. Also, Fred Reinfeld’s Complete Chess Course has sections on middlegame planning. These are classics but are still worthwhile.

Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess is the closest I've seen to what I think you're looking for. It's mostly diagrams of middlegame themes with a paragraph or two which explains the ideas. There is some notation, but not very much.

You might also like Silman's Complete Book of Chess Strategy, but that has more in the way of notation and variations than Pandolfini's book.

Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess is an excellent suggestion and may be the closest book for what Becca_Baxter is seeking.

"Die Blockade", "Mein System", "Die Praxis meines Systems" by Aaron Nimzowitsch

That's a good book, but not really a strategy book. It's a mating patterns book very similar to "The Art of Checkmate"

Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy

Hmm, so there is good stuff out there for an idiot like me. I'd never thought of ignoring the non-bold bits, I've always tried to use everything that's written—probably why I get lost sometimes. I'll go back over the chess books I have and see what happens.

Thank you all.

In my 'Good Positional Chess..." blog article (above), you might check out my note in the 'Comments' section (below the article), beginning "I recently discovered an interesting book - "The Six Power Moves of Chess" by William G. Karneges." It's very instructive and employs minimal chess notation. It also has lots of diagrams which make it very easy to follow the lesson(s).

While the book is concerned with how to evaluate any chess position for the purpose of identifying and exploiting potential tactical opportunities, the point and purpose of the book is to provide guidelines, i.e., a process, for how to go about doing that. So in that sense the book does have a "strategic slant".

Gambit chess books available on the Kindle link any diagrams to Lichess making it easy to play through the various examples on a board. For instance I have a copy of Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy by John Watson and all the game diagrams automatically link to Lichess so you can play and analyse from that position. It only really works if you use the Kindle app on a tablet such as an iPad rather than an actual Kindle as the Kindle's own browser is rather slow and tedious. You can find a list of books with this feature on their website gambitbooks.com/ebooks.html.

Simple Chess: A great explanation of strategy, making it very easy to understand. You have it on YT as well: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUrgfsyInqNbkyiwPSSBQ6ALkkccKItPE

I have ordered this book, should come tomorrow.

*

I’d say Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt is a solid choice—it’s clear, insightful, and practical. Now, if you’re me, checking out Glass Patterns Quarterly customer service on that site can help clarify real customer experiences before subscribing. Strategy is also about informed choices—reading reviews is part of that.