Found an old copy of Dr. Tarrasch's "The Game of Chess" at a bookstore in Lincoln City at the coast last weekend. I hesitated to get it a first (I'm more of a Nimzowitz fan), but my gut feeling was that Tarrasch taught everyone the fundamentals, and even though later some improved on his approach and found fault with some of it, they all had this assumed base of knowledge as a starting point. As I've been reading, this has turned out to be true. There's gold in this book, for instance he summarizes some categories of endings and assesses them (basic stuff for you higher-levels but new to me). Also talks a lot about time vs. space vs. force, the three elements which can be interchanged. Talks a lot about tempo and "giving up the center" (where Nimzowitz might disagree). I think this is a very valuable book, and Tarrasch is a very clear teacher. I also went to the library and picked up Chess Praxis as kind of an antidote.
- Jeremy
I've been looking for a good annotated games book. This one looks great! Next step up from Logical Chess: Move by Move, Chernev, IMO, and very engaging as the annotations and story are done by Tal, first hand. Also the Match was an epic; tactical genius meets positional stalwart. The annotations seem clear and engaging, and at least every few moves. The text is not overwhelmed with variations.
I was working through game 2 from the "surprise me" excerpts on amazon.com tonight and misclicked and lost it at about move 6. The "surprise me" is random so I couldn't get back. Rats! I was totally into it. It's in my shopping cart, though.
Comments on the book or other great books of this kind, at the advanced beginner level, maybe 1300-1600, not the 1800+ stuff?
Truth be told, for me working through intermediate books like "My System" and "Chess Training Pocket Book" etc., is rewarding, but it's work and very slow going. Winning series by Seirawan is easier going, and plenty to learn, and I recommend them, but dry, IMO. Amateur's Mind (and probably Reassess) is OK. That's a lot of words and examples to get the ideas across, though. I end up going about 1/2 or 1/3 through the chapter then moving on. One of the reasons I like some of the best openings books is that studying them feels more like a journey with complete games (and positional ideas and tactical pointers along the way), rather than a collection of short stories as with the lessons books. I think the complete games book is gonna be a welcomed change of pace.