My coach does not like Jeremy Silman...

I like Silman and I have learnt a lot reading his books. And about he doesn't push students far...I don't know, when you are going to take the exercices of every lesson they are usually hard. Is the kind of final exercises that you wouldn't like to have in an exam. Easy lesson, or at least understanable, nice examples, and impossible exercises in which you really have to think and struggle to get something and really see if you have learnt the lesson in a complete new example.

If you watch any chess coverage, you'll periodically hear theme after theme discussed. All of the fundamentals.If you read "Reassess Your Chess" he discusses basically everything that I've ever heard spoke of in analysis.

In other words, "Reassess Your Chess", will take you from a rookie player to a very well versed, 'literate' chess player, that can understand all of the key fundamentals over the board.

Nowhere in life have I ever seen all of the key ideas identified the way that Silman has laid it out in Reassess Your Chess.

If you're new and want to buy one book, there is none other. For anyone to say otherwise is a joke. They should know better.

Does Silman teach things like...how to concentrate? No. The ability to do that is not so simple...but arguably more important than any single bit of 'advice' you see in most any chess book.

Rowson talks about it nicely in one of his books.

How much is he paying you? I'm tired of Silman's community managers

How pathetic 

I have never read any Rowsons books, are they any good?

Chess for Zebras by Jonathan Rowson

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233853/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review526.pdf

The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by Jonathan Rowson

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094244/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review274.pdf

Seven Deadly Chess Sins is really a special book. Google some reviews.

Chess for Zebras is quite good as well

If I remember right, he's philosophy major so that points to how to think about these...but they are not some sterile academic waste of paper by any means!

I've heard Grunfeld players rave about his book on that, but I do not have it.

Thanks ylblai2.

But let me contrast Taylor Kingstons almost laughable critique with this from our own Jeremy Silman:

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Seven-Deadly-Chess-Sins-p3834.htm

and point to this : http://www.chessbanter.com/rec-games-chess-misc-chess/48114-taylor-kingston-featured-latest-new.html

Should one want to delve deeper into this...but really, the book is awesome!

Let me add, if I remember correctly, Taylor last played an OTB game over a decade ago, retiring as a 'class C' player.  So...who is more qualified to comment on the merits of the book. IM Silman or Class C player Kingston. Just think about it.

"Harish73 

Cornfed wrote:

"... if I remember correctly, Taylor last played an OTB game over a decade ago, retiring as a 'class C' player.  So...who is more qualified to comment on the merits of the book. IM Silman or Class C player Kingston. Just think about it."

The Rowson ("Sins") book itelf along with reviews of it were about a decade and a half ago. If I remember correctly, the primary focus of the chess playing of Taylor Kingston was in the realm of correspondence chess where his results were respectable. At any rate, he provided many Rowson quotes, enabling one, to some degree, to make one's own judgment. Anyway, I am glad that Cornfed has provided an alternative view and I hope that it will be given appropriate consideration.

"Looking through the web, I noticed a huge chorus of Rowson critics and an equally vocal group of Rowson fans." - IM Jeremy Silmam

Having given it up long ago (at 2398 ICCF), I tend to regard 'Correspondence' as more an academic exercise than 'real' chess. Heck, I beat a Correspondence GM at our city championship this year.

Rowson looks more at chess 'ability'...doesn't 'teach' so much in his books...rather how to get more out of your game. It's probably more for already decent players, but even a lower rated player will enjoy it.

Oh, beware of people's quotes during reviews. It often makes something look...well, they way the reviewer WANTS it to look...

I'll leave it at that.

You are not saved by catholic tradition/docterine.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

Romans 10:9-11

It is still possible to go to the Gambit Publications site and view a sample from the Rowson ("Sins") book (two pages from the third chapter ("Wanting")).

I feel like it should be explained like this: when we play chess, it is like we are building a home. When a beginner plays chess, they are building with their bare hands. Sure, somewhere down the road they learn to use a hammer and maybe a pocket knife, and they use that hammer and pocket knife to the greatest extent possible. However, at the end of the day, it is still just a hammer and a pocket knife.

Reading someone like Jeremy Silman is the equivalent of a man coming along and telling you: "Hey. Instead of using a posket knife, here's a power saw. Instead of a hammer, here's a nail gun. Instead of placing and carrying all the beams yourself, here's a fork lift, crane, and elevator. Instead of digging ditches with your bare hands or a shovel, here's a backhoe."

Did you discover those tools yourself? No, which is what I believe your coach is driving at. However, it's not like the tools won't be useful once you have them. Sure, you could go the long and arduous route of systematically discovering every individual tool on the planet. However, isn't it just easier to find someone else to tell you what all the tools are and how to use them? It's not like you suddenly don't think when you're using the new tools to build the house. You just build the house more efficiently and you learn new ways to use your tools along with discovering which tool works better for a certain aspect of building your house.

Chess is just like that. We could take years to discover a dirty little secret or two that really helps us out. Or, we could go to a very effective chess coach and get the right tools for the job.

agreed.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." - Ephesians 2:8-10

The works come from God working through us, for us, and placingus in situations where we will naturally do the good works and are the evidence of our faith. The works themselves do not save anyone by themselves. 

Has there been an NKT73 post in this thread since June of 2016?

Sounds like you should dump your coach, waste of money anyway. You only need a coach if you talented and can make a title

Has there been a DragonSavage post in this thread since October of 2015?