My coach does not like Jeremy Silman...

I think that there are some who have that sort of reaction, but others apparently do not.

He simply points out the weak Physiological and positional points is rabbit's games... yes I'm using slang... and lol I realized what I did wrong so many times, I was rash... and traded too much... and the list goes on. I think he improved me by a couple 100 points

"... He writes in a clear and casual style, and time and again has shown the ability to reach those who feel intimidated by the lofty approach that a grandmaster will often take. ..." - IM John Watson (2007)
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/theres-an-end-to-it-all

"... Just because a book contains lots of information that you don’t know, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be extremely helpful in making you better at this point in your chess development. ..." - Dan Heisman (2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
"... The books that are most highly thought of are not necessarily the most useful. Go with those that you find to be readable. ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)

Rating group sorting is great! Although he underestimates 1000s...

My coach hated Jeremy Silman!

So I had a good trick, you can use it too.

What I did was I hired Jeremy Silman and set it up so that he will meet my coach. I kept this a secret from both of them. They both thought they were meeting me for a coaching session.

Right when they see each other, throw a beginner between them, and watch them fight to the death for your pleasure.

Coach: IM Silman! Pleasure to meet you! May I have your autograph?

Silman is just an IM. Unless your coach is 1500 he's not going to care

I mean, I like his books in general, and maybe he's a cool guy, but anyone short of a top 10 player (current or former) and I'm not going to care.

That's just me though I guess.

Or maybe some well known guy like Ben Finegold.

Man if I saw Finegold I know just how it'd go down.

I'd be like, "HEY BEN! C4! EXPLOSIVE!"

And he'd flip me off. Not casually. I'm talking like when people do it with their whole arm, you know, really exaggerate the motion.

"... How to Reassess Your Chess, Fourth edition ... is Silman's masterpiece of chess instruction, aimed primarily at the 1400-2100 crowd, and deserves a place in every student's library. ... I have to agree with Hendrik's specific objection. ... But Silman's books are deservedly among the most popular and admired in the world, and very many players have stated that his works were directly responsible for their improvement. ..." - IM John Watson (2013)

http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/john-watson-book-review-103-challenging-conventional-wisdom

Or if I saw spongey in real life.

I'd be all "hi sponge, how was your day?"

And he'd hand me some pamphlet full of quotes about the day/night cycle.

2 funny

Hello.....I will be the bad guy in the movie, I consider Silman's  "Book of Chess Strategy" to be a master piece; I've improved my rating close to 250%.  I consider the rest of his books essential for anyone who understands basic chess and common sense.  Tell your instructor to "go pump gas for the Army"; from a dedicated Silman follower. (Game On!)  Read all the Silman books you can; especially the end game. (maybe you need another coach; "smile")

There are some terrible coaches out there.

I remember one guy when I was 1600...he decided that the first thing we needed was to examine BB vs K endgames. Seriously. Dude didn't ask me a single question about what I knew or anything at all. Just automatic. "Step 1. BB vs K endings".

I told him that I was having a house fire and needed to leave and didn't know when I'd be back.

Besides Lasker, Morphy also used the "Silman thinking technique":

Excerpt from Paul Morphy: the Pride and the Sorrow of Chess:

"...in 1874, Paul Morphy, in an offhand conversation (Dubuque Chess Journal of December 1874), expressed the following opinion of Mr. Staunton as a chess master:

     Mr. Staunton's knowledge of the theory of the game was no doubt complete; his powers as an analyst were of the very highest order, his coup d'oeil and judgment of position and his general experience of the chess board, great; but all these qualities which are essential to make a GREAT chess player do not make him a man of GENIUS. These must be supplemented by imagination and by a certain inventive or creative power, which conceives positions and brings them about...."

The value of Silman's Complete Endgame Course is that it doesn't make you work that hard.  It shows you where focus your limited endgame study time.  It covers in detail a few of the most important and recurring types of positions.   I started out with Fine's Basic Chess Endings, and went through Averbakh's Endgame books as they came out in English.   Complete books like these are great for reference.  If you want to advance your rating they are not the best way to spend your time for sub-Master folks.  After you've covered Silman's book then you can move on to others.  Why not get the knowledge that comes more easily first?

I do use some of Silman's suggestions, but many of his principles (that is, principles you can pretty much only find in Silman's) are overly broad and don't work often enough to be true principles. One of my favorites is "attack in the direction of the pawns". Sure, it works some of the time, but it doesn't work about as often as it does.

I really am not a huge fan of his Endgame book. There are many excellent Endgame books. For me, Silman's book doesn't even make the top ten.

I think in all honesty if Silman works for you then great, I think his greatest attribute is attempting to get players to think positionally, to assimilate the topography of the chessboard and then decide on a course of action.  This is surely a good habit to get into, however at my measly level much of what transpires is simply hand to hand combat, Realpolitik if you like.

your coach knows if every chess book out there were as good as silman's he would be out of a job. Most coaches have conflicting interests when it comes to feeding you good chess material. Give them too much, and you are almost redundant, give them too little, and they may go elsewhere to someone a little more willing to share secrets of the craft.

read Ameture mind by silman, How To Reassess your chess 4 edition by silman,silman complete endgame course,thinking like grandmaster by alexander kotov and Imagination in chess

your game is 1800+ guarenteed