Customer Reviews

GM-RAM: Essential Grandmaster Chess Knowledge

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GM-Ram is a fantastic guide to what one should study. Many people complain that Mr. Ziyatdinov offers no analysis with the book. In today's society of easy answers and laziness, what do you expect? You can use Fritz to check your OWN analysis...
WORKING carefully through these positions, and memorizing the collection of classic games, will dramatically improve your ability to think at the chessboard, and give you a collection of standard techniques and methods that is not to be sneered at.
It is also a very nice feeling to KNOW a good collection of classic games. This is a true yardstick of one's love of chess.
If you love chess, and are willing to work to improve, then this book, coupled with extreme tactics traing, offers an incredibly fast route for anyone. My own strength and speed have been dramatically changed by working through this book.

Ziyatdinov's message is clear: if you aspire chess mastery at any level, a previous mastery of the fundamentals is required. The sole vehicle to achieve chess mastery is hard work and this book is a tool. GM-RAM could also become your favorite self-evaluation and review tool.

According to Ziyatdinov, GM-RAM is a knowledge review aid that covers the chess vocabulary. The book is not meant as an introductory manual or even a training aid, but more as a workbook, or "final exam", of distilled chess knowledge. Ziyatdinov makes an analogy between chess and language, where mastery of each requires a prior mastery of the fundamental elements: if you will, chess pieces are letters, their interactions constitute words, combinations and positions constitute sentences, and a game represents an essay on chess.

GM-RAM's fundamental proposition is that chess mastery requires a finger-tip knowledge and understanding of elemental positions and principles of the game in all its stages. The message is that master-caliber players cannot expect, much less attempt, to decipher chess principles or outcomes of typical positions over the board, but should know these beforehand and by heart so as to free the creative element without the added distractions of its mechanics.

Ziyatdinov's proposes a method of learning the fundamental chess elements through multiple positions in the middlegame and endgame and rote "memorization" of exemplary (i.e., classical) games where the implicit principle is that memorization of chess games is impossible on wrote memory alone, but on the logical understanding of the positions, tactical themes, etc. that arise within games. The effect is that the you are encouraged indirectly to understand the principles that, eventually, lead to the facilitated memorization.

GM-RAM's diagram-only format forces you to analyze the fundamental chess elements on your own so that you may "discover" the principles and techniques through your own thought process. GM-RAM will help you check that you know the elements of the language of chess by heart. If you realize you have yet to learn the letters, syllables and words of chess, the lack of written analysis in GM-RAM will only make you work harder so that you may become a better chess "writer".

Readers that express discomfort with the book's diagram-only design would benefit by working first on tactical/combinative exercises and introductory books on opening, middlegame and endgame theory. Most of the exercises are far from simple, require careful analysis and sometimes research, and each should be studied as "White to move" or "Black to move".

P.S.
The book indicates that IM Ziyatdinov had already achieved his first Grand Master (GM) norm.

When I decided to dig my heels in and get serious about chess, this was the first book I bought, mainly because the author connected chess to language (I'm a painter, using "visual languge", so I was intrigued by the annalogy).

After a few introductory pages on "Chess as Language" and a very interesting chapter linking chess to the strategies of Sun Tzu (another interest of mine), the book finishes with its basic positions: king and pawn endings, minor piece endings, rook endings, etc. This is followed by key tactical middle game positions, along with about 60 classical games from which the middle game positions are derived. You are expected to memorize the games!

Now, these positions have no explanations (except for a few rook endings used as an example of how well you need to know each position.) The book, then, is essentially useless unless you have the End Game books Ziatdinov used to gather the positions (they are listed in the book's bibliography).

What is one to make of this? The answers are not given. There is so much work to do! You have to memorize games? Nearly 300 positions? Well, this is one of the most honest chess books ever. The author makes no appologies: this is the work you must do to master chess.

Between 1997 and 1999 Ziatdinov won 200 tournaments (about two a week) and was the winner of the USA Grand Prix. He currently has 5-7 Grand Master Norms, so do not let his title of "IM" fool you!

I should mention after working very hard, I fell flat on my face in chess and was about to quit. I decided to try to contact Mr. Ziatdinov--he is one of the most generous teachers I have ever encountered, and I believe his method of teaching (and playing...every game, every move he uses the positions in "GM: RAM") is the best. His way is challenging, but as he often says, "There is no King's Road in chess," no easy fix.

So far, I have found using "GM: RAM" in conjunction with "Fundamental Chess Endings" to be _very_ beneficial. My favorite part of "GM RAM" is the fantastic collection of classic games.

"GM RAM" is _not_ an instructional book. To me, it is almost a puzzle unto itself, yes, a challenge. Track down the positions, or even similiar positions that illustrate the same key _ideas_, analyze them with a teacher or a powerful chess program (like Fritz). These positions are the basic building blocks GMs use in all their games--learn them _cold_.

Good luck!

The creative format intrigued me, and I bought it immediately. I later read some unfavorable reviews but after going through the book, I decided that most of the reviewers didn't get the point. For instance, one reviewer said he wanted an indicator of which side was to move.

I have owned the book for two days, and have studied just the first 11 positions. However, despite 3 years of reading and playing chess, only now do I understand the pawn-king-king endgame. The original format forced me to work through the options for both sides, preventing me from being lazy and "skipping to the answer" in the back of the book. I work through what I think is best play for both sides, then run the position through Chessmaster 8000 to check. Without words, the book taught me to get my king to sixth rank ahead of the pawn and to move the pawn to the seventh rank without check to queen it. I also learned, however, that a rook pawn is basically screwed. So, not only can I now win quickly with an extra pawn, I can quickly spot and take advantage of an error by an opponent who has the extra pawn.

I look forward to mastering the rest of the book's positions, and the ideas they teach.

I too reacted as did other reviewers, with an emphatic "What's THIS?" when confronted with page after page of diagrams that don't even indicate which side is on move, and then further pages of master games with nary a hint of an annotation.

I bought the book, initially, to have a collection of positions to use in doing "Stoyko" studies--- briefly, rich middlegame positions to analyze deeply. This book will certainly provide that, but as I'm learning, it will provide still more.

Willing to at least give the author's approach a try, I took the first master game and played over it again and again until I had it memorized. And a funny thing happened. At each replaying, I found myself asking more, different, and deeper questions. Then, I found the diagram in the book that was taken from this game, and it suddenly all clicked.

What it's all about is doing your own analysis, and doing it deeply and repeatedly, taking and revising copious notes as you go along, a la the Stoyko method. Eventually, you will have to check your results with a strong computer program (or a teacher of a least IM level, if you're fortunate enough to have one). But you need to put a minimum of several hours into each game or position before you even think about checking your results. Then you need to put in more hours understanding the computer analysis (or your teacher's guidance). I'm thinking about 10 hours per position or game is required here (that's about where I am), maybe even more.

So what the book is all about, on the bottom line, is hard work. The author provides the raw material--- positions and games that have great teaching value and presumably practical play value. You then put in the hours and the labor (and though it's hard I'm finding it quite enjoyable and rewarding).

It might take you literally a couple of thousand hours to fully work through the book. But I can't help but believe that will lead to serious mastery of many aspects of the game. Stoyko himself claims a potential improvement of about 100 rating points for doing a single deep position study. Obviously there will be diminishing returns, but doing over two hundred such studies, as contained in the book, has simply got to make you into a solid player.

The book (at present writing) can be obtained quite inexpensively on the used market. If (and only if) you're willing to put in the effort, it will be money very well spent.

The 300 essential position method seems to have been used successfully by many Soviet players. This book only has 250 positions with the rest for you to fill in with your own positions (I don't like this and would rather have had 300 of the author's original positions). Additionally there are some really good classic games in algebraic notation but without move explanations. I believe that the positions here will make you a strong player and memorizing the games as the author suggests would probably reward the effort. Ultimately the book hinges on whether these are indeed important positions for you...I can't answer that. It is far better than Albert's 300 both in terms of content and w/o the tacky cover too. I do find it funny that an IM would write about essential GM knowledge. Perhaps IM-Ram would have been a more accurate, if less catchy, title?

I like the book, but I don't think that having no text is an advantage. If you want to figure things out for yourself, then show some willpower and don't look at the answers! I prefer Kosteyev's 40 lessons for the Club Player, Nunn's Understanding Chess Move by Move, Howell's Essential Chess Endings, and Pongo's Tactical Targets Series. I should also mention that I'm ~1900.

On the surface, the book seems to be a philisophical tome on strategy from Tzun and the art of war along with 240+ chess diagrams with 59 games without annotation. Many will take a superficial look at this work and toss the book without knowing that they merely saw the TIP of the iceberg.

A deeper analysis of the book reveals that the positions provided (which includes ESSENTIAL endgame and middlegame positions), are in fact carefully chosen and each illustrates an important aspect of chess strategy, tactics, and endgame. Are the answers given? Absolutely NOT! It is your job to do the proper research to come up with the answer yourself. Utilize any resources you can (ie. Fundamental Chess Endings / Along with books on chess strategy will help...using a chess engine is another option). The author wants you to be intimately involved with the each and every position: what if its "Black to move"? What if i change the position of some of the pieces? What about only one? What tactical motifs are availible? If you come up with a solution yourself, and you do an honest amount of research into each of the particular positions, you are well on your way to mastery. You are not at a total loss however, since the Classical Games provided at the end of the book included all the middlegame positions. So you can see what moves/plans were in the positions provided.

As far as my results are concerned, I understand chess a LOT more and have gained about 200 rating points 1600 to 1800 USCF. Ive only been through a mere fraction of the problems, and there is always more to learn from most of them. I reccomend this book to students of the game who are go-getters and look at this book as if YOU are completing the work.

In the past twenty years, research in cognitive psychology has estimated that grandmasters retain anywhere between 10,000 to 50,000 patterns/templates/chunks (call it what you will) of chess knowledge stored for reference. IM Ziyatdinov has published 59 "essential" games and roughly 256 "essential" positions (136 endgame positions), which, if memorized and understood, should make one a grandmaster. If you do the math, this means that each position must hold -- as a conservative estimate -- at least 40 (10,000/250) essential chunks of chess knowledge. I believe that this is not logistically possible. The games and positions contained in this book are very instructive, but I believe that they are not a complete basis set of patterns necessary to become a grandmaster (or even a regular master).

Taken as a separate course, the endgame positions, which cover 136 positions, are probably close to a compete set of endgame positions one needs to master the endgame. This is a fantastic collection of essential endgame positions to rival Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master and 100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player. But understanding technical endgames is only one component of chess mastership.

On the last paragraph of page 13, Ziyatdinov himself admits that much supplementary work is necessary besides his book. This is a little-known caveat to Ziyatdinov's alleged claims. Ziyatdinov writes: "Assuming understanding of the strategy [sic], openings, and of chess tactics, a student of chess who knows every position in this book 'by heart' (such that in a matter of seconds he or she understands everything important about the position [what is the result with White to move, what is the result with Black to move, and how to best play for each side]), will achieve Grandmaster status." There is a popular myth that the 256 positions and 59 games listed in this book will be all you need; but the author himself doesn't even buy into this myth! Have chess amateurs (and other reviewers) not read the first few pages of the book carefully, and do they want the book to be more than it is?

The 59 games presented in this book certainly are instructive. I've always found that older games are the most instructive games, and about half of the games in GM-RAM are from before 1900. No game is from later than 1936. The games are not sophisticated or obfuscated with complex, modern ideas. (See Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy for a reference about this.) The "simplicity" inherent in these classic games is one reason why they are so appropriate for students. Classic, simple, games form a basis set of ideas for the student.

But if a student needs at least 10,000 "chess ideas" to make master, then 59 games is not going to cut it. Modern chess teachers like Silman and Heisman (or almost any chess master) will recommend studying thousands of master games, before expecting to become master class. It is possible that these 59 games and 136 endgame positions -- including all variations and analysis -- contain 10,000 basis ideas, but it seems unlikely.

I would recommend buying this book just to use these games and positions as a foundation for chess mastery, as a springboard for studying the older masters. Most people who have improved by starting the program in this book have probably improved because they have started to systematically work hard at their chess, and these games and positions certainly are instructive. But the the positions are not a panacea. If you have doubts, buy the book and decide for yourself.

One reader complains that only 250 positions is given and not 300 positions. I think I know why. These positions are derived from the opening repetoire ! Since the readers have different opening repetoire, the author cannot provide these postions. The reader has to find out what these position are based on his opening repetoire.

This is among the worst books I ever bought. Only the positions are presented. It doesn't even have notes/indications to which side is to make a move. This is not a buy.