Silman has blogs on chess.com so you can read some of his blogs and decide for yourself if you like what he has to say.
Is it worth buying J.Silman Books?
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I like the Endgame Course and the Workbook. I am not really sure the others are worth it, but these two are.
Complete Chess Strategy is enclyopedic, but too small be useful and enclyopedic at the same time.
The Amatures Mind is useful if your an idiot that insists on making mistakes in the face of empirical evidence that you are making mistakes.
I have the third edition of Reassess Your Chess, which is basicaly a treatise on letting your mind wonder.
4th edition of "How the reasses your chess" is worth it. It is completely rewritten.
Balachandar wrote:
I've read the Reassess [Edit: 4th Edition. I have the 3rd edition too, but I haven't read it.] book twice, the first reading took about 4 months. And it's defenitely worth a third read. It's a great book on many concepts of the middle game.
The speciality of Silman is that his books are not for the prodigies but for the average guy. He doesn't give tons of analyses, he is very liberal in using humour, which takes away the boredom of reading books to a large extent. I can rarely sit more than 1 hour at a stretch with other books. They focus more on variations. Reassess focuses more on concepts, and illustrating it with examples. That way, it's easier to grasp.
One final note, that many strong players [including Im Pfren, if I remember right] say this book is not worth it, you should go and read the classics. I feel that is certainly not be the most resourceful book in terms of chess level, but as I said, it's aimed at amatuers, and it does the job.
I've read a few pages from the Endgame course, stopped it due to exams. I'll resume it soon.
shukriya bhai, asha karta hoon ki shatranj mein behtar banne mein madat karegi
May 7, 2013
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#26
Complete Chess Strategy pretty much just touches on every point. I don't consider it a good book except as an introduction to chess strategy or used for a quick review. It's an easy read, so it could also be good for those that want to learn chess strategy, but for whatever reason can't or don't want to get into something deep. It would be good for someone in the early teens.
I like Reassess Your Chess a lot. I'm a big fan of books that explain in many words. I have both the 3rd and the 4th editions. I prefer the 3rd edition. In my opinion he lost focus in the 4th edition, tried to do too much, didn't keep it on just imbalances.
In fact how to reasses your chess is a book on positional play
Silman's books have been referenced by all my chess teachers. I promise, even if you are an "expert" you will learn something from his books. Mr Sillman is an excellent teacher and author and has combined these talents and efforts for the love of the game and to help as many people as possible. From someone who is still learning, "WOW" and thank you again Mr Silman.
Thank you
Harry Perkins
Eufaula, Alabama
That was really motivational, looking forward to grap all the above 5 mentioned books.
Two thumbs up from me. Never been disappointed in any of his books, I have half a dozen of them.
May 7, 2013
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#32
If you do decide to grab all of the mentioned books, then i would suggest reading The Complete Chess Strategy (CCS) before Reassess (RYC). It would make RYC an easier read (not that it's hard,) and it won't feel like a waste. CCS does have a thing or two RYC does not which might interest beginners.
Yes, 100%. Get the complete endgame course as a must have.
Oh thanks so much. I will make sure doing that, but thinking to start with 'the amateurs mind' how will be that?
May 7, 2013
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#35
Silman's books are excellent. But his opinions elsewhere can be narrow-minded and he gets very angry about points of view different from his own - he is probably a liberal of some sort. Try reading his rants about world corresp. champion Hans Berliner ("The System"). Silman is rather bigoted where correspondence chess is concerned. However, I found his "Reassess" outstanding.
But "The System" is a ridiculous book
Last_Check wrote:
try to avoid the trap.better get chess informant and a pj book .then read one page these then switch to another
You learnt chess by reading the Informant ?
Deep Blue, I told you only humans are allowed on chess.com.
Back on topic : I don't know, I haven't bougt any of those books. I learnt with chess books none knows, they are probably no longer available and probably never were in English, but they are pretty good. I guess the problem is not so much to find a "good" book than to find a book that comes at the right moment (see #15).
Yes
Hmm thanks
how to reassess your chess is a decent book though 'the middlegame' by euwe and kramer is far superior.