Customer Reviews

Chess Exam And Training Guide: Rate Yourself And Learn How To Improve (Chess Exams)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I hesitated for months before buying this book. You shouldn't.

You should know that this is not a training manual or a tactics book. Its goal is to identify where your game is weak. If you are not already a Grandmaster, then it's certain that some areas of your game are weak. But which, and how weak are they? If club players, amateurs, even experts can focus their training on their weak spots, they will improve much more rapidly than if they get better in some area where they are already strong.

This book does a fantastic job of analyzing your game. Here is my experience. I don't get to play much in tournaments; my rating is in the high 1600's but my last major tournament I had a performance rating of 1820, and in club play that's about how I am doing. What should I work on to go farther?

I have done the first 40 problems in this book and scored them. Each has been given to a lot of players with a wide variety of ratings. By averaging how I performed on each of the problems, the author has assigned me an overall rating and a "rating" for how strong or weak I am in each of a dozen aspects of chess.

First, the overall estimate of my playing strength is right around 1800 -- consistent with my US Open performance and club play. But the breakdown -- wow! I rate a pathetic 1000 on pure calculating ability, and not much better on sacrifices. By contrast, the book rates me at 2400 on standard positions (like how to win a Bishop ending with only one pawn), reflecting the work I've done on such positions, and grasp of strategy and defense are both almost as high.

Interestingly, it rates my openings as the strongest phase of the game and endings as the weakest. Until the last US Open I thought the reverse was true, but in that tournament I consistently got strong middlegame positions against players rated up to 2100, only to collapse in the ending. The book accurately captures this relative weakness.

So my new training strategy is clear, and I bet it will work. For the next several months, I will be focusing on complex endings and doing intense practice in calculating them out to completion. That should address both of my weakest areas in one shot.

As part of my profession I have extensive training in developing tests to measure aspects of mental functioning. I am very impressed with this book, and would consider it a remarkable achievement for a psychology graduate student's dissertation.

"Chess Exam and Training Guide" intends to provide the reader with both a numerical rating of playing strength and also suggestions as to which areas to work on for improvement. Khmelnitsky identifies thirteen areas as follows: Overall, Attack, Counterattack, Defense, Opening, Middlegame, Endgame, Tactics, Strategy, Calculation, Standard Positions, Recognizing Threats, and Sacrifice. The book attempts to compute the reader's strength through a series of 100 positions, each of which is accompanied by a few multiple choice questions. In creating the book, each of these positions were presented to a number of chess players with strengths across the entire spectrum of ratings. A rating is computed based on how the reader's answers to the questions compare to those of the sample group.

The questions range from asking for a concrete analysis of the position (white stands better) to asking for the best move given a few different options. The positions are drawn from both real game positions and composed studies. There is no grouping by theme of the positions - a tactical middlegame struggle can be followed by a king and pawn endgame study. In this way each position is more like a real game situation - no one is going to prompt you to trap your opponent's queen or to mate in five while you're at the board in a tournament. On the page following the position and questions comes a detailed analysis of each of the possible answers by Khmelnitsky. The final 70 or so pages are devoted to helping one compute the final rating and also to giving guidance as to how to improve in each of the thirteen areas. This includes both practical advice and book recommendations for further study.

It doesn't take an alert reader to pick up on a few grammar mistakes in the explanations of the positions. The mistakes are just the kind normally made by a native Eastern European when speaking English - often times an article like "the" will be forgotten. Normally I would criticize this but in this case it adds some authenticity to the idea of having a Russian chess coach sitting with you at the chessboard, explaining the intricacies of the position to you.

Personally, I enjoyed the positions and explanations greatly and would have liked to see more than just the 100 provided. I found that my ability to make a concrete assessment of a given position increased as I worked through this book, and I believe my over the board play has improved accordingly.

I bought this book after reading two very positive reviews in ChessToday newspaper. I also checked sample pages and feedback on ChessExam website and Amazon (just click on the cover shot).

The book produced an honest evaluation of my skills and I enjoyed it tremendously. Now, being a 1300 rated player (Class C), I knew I would have difficulties with many of the problems, but those that I missed I had no problem undestanding the explanation, which is brief, direct to the point and has minimal variations.

When I saw my final results - wow! Overall rating of 1345, that is only 25 points off my OTB rating. My Standard Endgames rating was only 1024. While tactical rating was 1487. I sort of felt this way about my skills, but seeing it as a number was rather dramatic. Of course, the reports with tips and training suggestions were very helpful. I went straight to the one that covers Standard Endgames and got the suggestions on what to do next. So I am using books by Averbach and Alburt and applying some of the recommended training techniques..

Overall, I would agree with some of the readers - this book will not stroke your ego, but will give you an honest assessment and clear recommendations. Children rated under 1100 and adults who don't know much beyond the rules of the game should postpone getting this book. They should focus on books like "Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" by Snyder. Everyone else will get their money worth 100x and enjoy their time spent.

One more thing, after every 10 positions-set there is a rating scale and "Take a Break" chess puzzle which is very entertaining.

This book has some of the most challenging and instructive problems in it without being over the head of most 1600+ players. Most chess problem books have an obvious format that is conducive to finding the right answer but in this book, assessing the position and comming up with the right plan/move is often the right answer instead of the obvious puzzles found in most other books which are usually win material or find mate. Another feature which is unusual in this book is the explanation of the right and wrong answers. Since this book has a lot of positional material, a lot of explanations are made in regard to faulty/propper planning and judgement in chess. Igor has obviously worked very hard to come up with instructive but challenging examples with plausible alternative answers. A well crafted book that any chess player can be happy to have in thier collection. I would suggest this book to anyone over 1600. Below 1600, I would suggest doing conventional tactical puzzle books first (like 1001 Checkmates by Fred Reinfeld).

I was honored a few months ago when Igor Khmelnitsky sent me an e-mail and asked me to review his new book. (Chess Exam) I said yes and the new book arrived shortly thereafter. (You should also know that I am a LIFE-Master, and make a living teaching chess on the Internet.)

You should also know that I do not consider these books to be all that valuable, and that I was prejudiced from the very start against the idea. This is not the author's fault; I have probably been the victim of too many BAD books of this type! (Many appear to be hastily thrown together over a very short amount of time ... they will not help your game much, despite the many promises that are made to you before you buy the book.)

Here the author is not some pretender or 'chess wannabe' ... who has no real chess credentials at all. He is a solid IM: who has won many events; has participated in several U.S. Championship tournaments; has a great many students who deeply respect him; and is the product of the highly vaunted "Soviet School of Chess."

My initial impression of this carefully crafted book was very favorable; the first problem is an endgame that could arise at nearly any level. Several students who are rated 1700+ failed to solve this problem correctly.

I have a friend - he is an Internet student, and also teaches English at the University level. He enjoyed the book tremendously, although he pointed out that there were quite a few grammatical errors ... this {self-published} book could have benefited from having a chess editor with the proper credentials and background.

I found several problems with the book, a few of the variations are probably questionable. Also - the educational value of the book could have been greatly increased by having more instruction and explanations in the analysis of the various problems. For example, I sent problem # 87 out to about 50 Internet contacts. Of the 20-30 individuals that responded, all of them said that they were unable to solve this problem. (Unless they cheated, and used a computer program.) The correct solution is: 1.Na4!!!, b5xa4; 2.Rf4!!, PxN; (e5xf4) 3.g3xf4! Now Black is helpless against the threat of Rg1+. The most common defense offered by my students - which Khmelnitsky does NOT cover - is 3...Kh8. This is easily refuted by 4.QxP/f6+, Kg8 (the only legal move); 5.Rg1 mate. Now comes the interesting part. How do you break down Black's defenses after the much superior try of 3...Ne6!; here? (Khmelnitsky does NOT cover this at all, either! And one local student, and several Internet students did not solve this problem, even after five - or more - minutes of thought.)

Another problem is that the Russians must be sitting on some secret files somewhere ... if they are, they need to publish them! The above problem is <supposedly> based on the game: C.H.O.D. Alexander - Frank J. Marshall; Cambridge, ENG; 1928. (I think I have seen this game in another book somewhere else.) All this is fine and good - except for the fact that I could not find this game in any database. (I usually advise my students - if they are interested enough - to look up a game and study it. This usually helps fix the problem firmly in their head.)

By now you might be getting the impression that I did NOT like this book ... and, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth!!! I LOVED this book, despite a few mostly minor flaws, it is the ONLY book of this genre that has even slightly interested me. My students also LOVED this book, and found its educational benefit to be very great! It gets my HIGHEST rating for a problem/self-test book, and I would advise ALL of my students to purchase this book ... and study it carefully!

Two other books that I would advise studying along with this book would be:
# 1.) "Turning Advantage Into Victory in Chess," by GM Andrew Soltis. and
# 2.) "Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking," (from the first move to the last); by GM Neil McDonald.

I can say without exaggeration that if I had to give up all but one chess book of the dozens and dozens in my collection, this book would be the one I would keep, because it leads to maximum, concrete improvement in the shortest possible amount of time.

As a currently unrated player who has been away from tournament chess for more than 30 years, I am using this book to assess my game prior returning soon to active play. It is proving to be a very important tool and is saving me hours and hours of time by quickly zeroing in on the things I need to work on most.

This is not to say that improvement will be without effort, that's impossible! But the results of the exam ensure that you will focus on your needs and thereby get the best results from your study.

Despite some interesting flaws, this book was definitely fun to go through and a breath of fresh air compared to many other duller chess books. The questions he asks have some nice variation to them. Sometimes he asks simple questions like "Who's better in this position?" and sometimes it's more specific like "What is Black's endgame strategy here?" or "What's the best follow to this move?", etc.

I started off though by saying that there were interesting problems and indeed there are. Firstly, lots of typos. I don't know if it was translation or proofreading or what, but I've found at least 15. Secondly, and most importantly, you can see the answers to the puzzles through the page!! Well, not exactly the answer, but to the left of the puzzle you can see what answer the majority of grandmasters picked. Needless to say, they're always right. It's simple to fix, (I just put a small piece of paper to the left of each puzzle before I start it), but it was something that I didn't expect. Also, I must say that it is not an easy book. I would not recommend it to anyone rated under 1000. (I'd say over 1200 is about right) I'm at about 1300 and some of the puzzle explanations were way over my head. There don't seem to be many "easy ones" in here.

Despite these criticisms though I definitely enjoy doing these puzzles and I really like the periodic updates after every 10 problems. His system does a fantastic job of breaking down where you're strong and where you're weak (I wish there had been a few more 'opening' problems though)and has a good list of strategically recommended readings. There's too many minor problems for me to give it a perfect 5 but this is a rarely seen book and it's well worth a look.

This book is unique and worth the purchase price. It is mainly a rather difficult exam which covers all ranges of chess expertise and therefore we novices miss many of the questions completely and this is a little difficult to tolerate. Fortunately the 100 questions are broken up into 10 sections and you get to review your performance at these points, which is a big relief. The main benefit I got from the book was the detailed explanations of the correct answer and the chess thinking that one should utilize in solving the problem. There is no system to the order of the problems. After the exam there is a very detailed analysis of your answers and you get an approximate rating in various aspects of the game (tactics, endgames, etc.). Based on this information, the last portion of the book provides some general guidance on how to improve, along with some specific books that might help. My only criticism of the book is that it covers the whole range of chess expertise and many of the problems were way over my head. My rating was 1450.

I am a USCF Class B player. Like many competitive amateurs, I desperately desire to improve my chess skill. I have purchased a truckload of chess books in my competitive chess "career", but I have never encountered a test that provides such detailed, practical feedback in all areas ... Attack, Counterattack, Defense, Opening, Middlegame, Endgame, Tactics, Strategy, Calculations, Standard Positions, Sacrifice, and Recognizing Threats... as IM Khmelnitsky's exam.

His exam will save you money even if you engage a professional chess coach. A good chess coach can use the results of this exam to tailor a training program to facilitate your improvement.

The only caveat I have about his test is that you absolutely should not take it if you are only seeking to have your ego stroked. Your test results may sting a bit but it is good medicine. No pain, no gain. :-)

This has got to be one of the better training books for chess, the ease on which it helps you pin-point your weakness, and then recommends what you should do to improve is invaulable- This is a book any level player wishing to improve should have! (I put it up there with books like "My system" and "Modern Chess Openings") This book well definitely challenge you to think