400 points in 400 days
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so I randomly ran across this book online, there is this android app "forward chess", where you can buy books online and they are playable. and they give like 1 free chapter as sample for most books. so anyway I read the free chapter and it describes this interesting method of getting large rating improvement via solving tactics, the same ones, over and over, until eventually you can solve all of them in 1 day (i think it was like 1000 tactic puzzles). and I was wondering what you guys thought of the book. of course, from this description you can obviously tell that I'm talking about "pump up your rating", the highly acclaimed book by axel smith, and not "400 points in 400 days", the de la maza book panned by critics as snake oil.
The latter book you mention is about jumping your rating by doing tactics in 7 circles until you do all of them in one day. Even suggested 1,000 tactics if I recall correctly. My understanding is that he has some other fluff in the book too but if you read his Chess Cafe articles on the method then that covered pretty much everything.
Is the Axel Smith book essentially the same suggestion?
KevinLudwig wrote:
of course, from this description you can obviously tell that I'm talking about "pump up your rating", the highly acclaimed book by axel smith, and not "400 points in 400 days", the de la maza book panned by critics as snake oil.
So why intentionally use an incorrect title to mislead everybody?
"The first four chapters lay the foundation for positional chess. ...
...
The next four chapters show an approach to serious chess training. ...
...
> The List of Mistakes - analysing your games and categorizing the mistakes
> The Woodpecker Method - learning the tactical motifs and solving simple exercises to internalize them into your intuition
> Openings - studying them in such a way that you also learn middlegame positions and standard moves
> Theoretical Endgames - studying them only once" - page 10 of the 2013 Axel Smith book. (Chapter nine is about "Attitude".)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708085005/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review918.pdf
The title was intentionally misleading because the point was to describe the method outlined in "pump up your rating" while leading the reader to believe I was talking about "400 points in 400 days". to highlight the complete similarity of the methods. Yes, I know pump up your rating contains additional substance unlike the 400 points book. And from what I can tell from the intro chapter that was free it is indeed very good. But I just found it amusing that one book is panned and the method as far as I know debunked, while the other goes on to win book of the year (and 400 points was written by an amateur while pump up your rating is by an IM). It's just funny. And I was wondering if anyone else noticed the comical similarity.
ylblai2 wrote:
After having read that review, I couldn't help but think the title should have been "Pump Up Your Rating by Deflating Your Chess Fun". The book's not for me - I'm not willing to give up the fun side of chess. 
damngoodcoffee wrote (~5 months ago):
... Anyone who's considering buying or reading this [de la Maza] book will do well to read Jeremy Silman's review before they decide. Silman's review is a great read even if you have no desire to read the book.
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Rapid-Chess-Improvement-p3511.htm
ylblai2 wrote (~5 months ago):
Milliern wrote:
Just a reminder: MDLM talks smack on Silman, so Silman's review is immediately compromised with bias, or should be viewed as highly likely to be compromised.
Any dispute of specifics written by Silman?
"Mr. de la Maza ... tells you, over and over and over (page after page after page), what he’s going to do for you without teaching you anything." - IM Jeremy Silman
There are 16 pages before one gets to Chapter One Chess Vision Drills. Here, by the way, are some excerpts from an approximately page-long description of one drill.
"Use [these drills] if you feel that you are missing obvious opportunities or are taking too much time to find simple moves. ... start with the knight on a1 and move it to b1 in the shortest number of moves, ... physically hit the squares that the knight moves to, but do not move the knight itself. Once you have completed the a1-b1 circuit, move the knight from a1 to c1. ... After you have completed all of the circuits that start on a1 and go to all of the other squares on the board ..., move the knight to b1 and repeat the process. ... This drill will take half a day to complete. ... (64*63) pairs of squares ..." - Michael de la Maza
"on page 47 of his book: 'If you do not have access to a computer you should make every effort to get one. New computers can be purchased with a monitor for under $400 and used computers can be purchased with a monitor for under $200. The money you spend will be immediately returned to you when you start winning prizes at tournaments.'" - IM Jeremy Silman
"his sample game (one of his own in which he plays White), where he shows how one should think move by move:
'Opponent’s threat: No significant threats. Decide move: 1.e4 of course! 1.e4 c5 Opponent’s threat: No significant threats, but watch out for …Qa5. Decide move: No tactics. 2.Nf3 or 2.Nc3 are both reasonable. 2.Nf3 d6 Opponent’s threat: No significant threats. Decide move: No tactics. 3.e5 is most shocking. Continue development with 3.Nc3. ...' ..." - IM Jeremy Silman"... the 16 pages he devotes to reader’s praise. The title of this chapter is 'Success With Rapid Chess Improvement.'" - IM Jeremy Silman
And here is another GM John Nunn comment:
"... de la Maza ... recommends ... going through a set of 1000 tactcs problems seven times. One might imagine that a suitable set of 1000 positions would then be provided, but no, readers are advised to buy a piece of software ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
The contents of the book are about 120 pages.
ChessOath wrote:
KevinLudwig wrote:
of course, from this description you can obviously tell that I'm talking about "pump up your rating", the highly acclaimed book by axel smith, and not "400 points in 400 days", the de la maza book panned by critics as snake oil.
So why intentionally use an incorrect title to mislead everybody?
Ya... Get your title right.. This ain't YouTube.. 
the title is correct it's called click bait yo
KevinLudwig wrote:
the title is correct it's called click bait yo
Soooo, message received...Any thread created by KevinLudwig is clickbait, don't bother with it.
actually if you read the original post there was a very interesting topic about the way identical information can be presented by titled and untitled players and it is received very differently by the chess community. Personally I think that's fascinating.
and perhaps click bait was the wrong term. the point was to be misleading for an interesting surprise value.
KevinLudwig wrote:
actually if you read the original post there was a very interesting topic about the way identical information can be presented by titled and untitled players and it is received very differently by the chess community. Personally I think that's fascinating.
Yeah, it is rather funny. I havent read pump up your rating, but im sure it didnt get book of the year for suggesting "do tactics!".
KevinLudwig wrote:
and perhaps click bait was the wrong term. the point was to be misleading for an interesting surprise value.
That is pretty much the definition of click-bait... 
Also, the Axel Smith book looks like it encompasses much more detail and doesn't hinge on the tactics repetition method for the rating gains.
I haven't read the either book, though I have read the articles the 400 point book was based on. If the Smith book has a significant amount of other methods to increase ratings, then just because the tactics exercise is essentially the same doesn't mean the books, and how well each was received, can really be compared in that way.
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/pump-up-your-rating/
"To study tactics, Smith borrows from his friend Hans Tikkanen and prescribes a two-tiered approach. Players should first go through basic motifs and themes. After that, they should select a set of mixed theme problems and solve them repeatedly until they can run through the set quickly and without mistakes. This second part, which resembles the infamous De La Maza program for improvement, is not uncontroversial. Still, Smith makes a case for his recommendation, and even those unconvinced by the need for repetition will find much here to study."
actually click bait is to be misleading expressly to generate clicks. I'm not really sure why writing an interesting/clever forum post title is frowned upon.
I'll point out that I found the book review well after I read the sample chapter, and after I posted this here. So it's not like I'm the first person who's noticed this.
I didn't say click-baity subject lines are not allowed, just that the title was click-bait 
The review you linked to has a pretty good synopsis of how the Smith book is different:
"Smith’s Pump Up Your Rating is, in truth, two books in one. The first half of the book is an advanced course in chess strategy and thinking. The second is a tested and thoughtful guide to chess training and improvement. "
The 400 points book is essentially just doing the tactics. No wonder one is more acclaimed than the other. Very little to do with one player being titled.
KevinLudwig wrote:
"... Yes, I know pump up your rating contains additional substance unlike the 400 points book. And from what I can tell from the intro chapter that was free it is indeed very good. ..."
Also worthwhile to note the vision drills, etc. advocated by de la Maza. See post #9.