Customer Reviews

Improve Your Chess Now

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I agree that this book is not really for novices or players below, say, 1700 USCF. I was reluctant to purchase this book at first because how many times can we go over the same concepts and practical advice ("Study master games. Study your games. Read books on positional play. Solve combinations." And so on...)? But Tisdall writes engagingly about the confusion we all experience once we leave the sterile, analysed positions in our texts (Chapter 1). He offers a way to develop that "vision thing" through blindfold chess (Chapter 2). And if we mess up? Playing bad positions (Chapter 3). When we're at the board, can we recognize patterns that will give us ideas on how to proceed? (Chapter 4). Chapter 5 shows how piece values change during the game. The last chapter is concerned with various practical tips that every chessplayer could use now and then. This is not your standard, "here are the laws of chess" text. It does not treat you like a child and say, "Study x hours, read y books, etc."

I'm a little over half-way through this book, so maybe I'm not fully qualified to review it. However, let me say this: I am a USCF Expert, I've been playing chess for over thirty years, and I've read at least three hundred chess books. This is, quite simply, one of the best chess books I have ever read. If you're looking for an instructive chess book with some new ideas in it, this book is for you. If there's a bad part, I haven't found it yet.

The noted author International Master Jeremy Silman calls Grandmaster Jon Tisdall a more "human" Chess master than the stars such as Morozevich, Kramnik and Leko who seemingly don't have to work as hard. One does indeed get that feeling from reading "Improve Your Chess Now" in that it details what the ordinary joe can do to improve, with much work, their Chess abilities. Tisdall has put a lot of work into the production of his book almost to the point that we can say it was a labour of love. It is filled with insightful observations and numerous tips on how to get better. Particularly interesting are his theories on blindfold Chess and to what extent it can help improve one's game (read the book to find out!). Unfortunately, your average Chess player may not be able to adequately utilise the material in the book but for those more advanced players who can, it will become an indispensible manual for how to play Chess and still be human.

Finally, a thinking method that works! It is simple, flexible, and realistic, very human unlike Kotov and Silman's suggestions. The chapter on "stepping stones" and visualization are excellent, as well as all the mating patterns in the appendex. A great book to improve your game.

While I still have some way to go to achieve a Master rating, this is exactly the kind of book which may push me towards this aim. Tisdall combines a very enjoyable style of writing with a number of highly interesting ideas about improving in chess. He proposes a way to calculate variations which is certainly easier to follow than Kotov's and his suggestions on practicing blindfold play to improve the visualisation skills are certainly very helpful for the improving player. I have no doubt that any player above 1700 will benefit considerably from working through this book.

Why you might consider buying this book:

1) It dispels the myth that you should calcuate in chess like a computer (tree of analysis). Clearly, as humans, we possess an evaluative ability that allows us to make decisions based on nonlinear thinking. The key point in this book is that we shouldn't overly-complicate on our analysis and instead should gauge our choice of moves based on "main lines" that are in accordance with our plan and with the immediate threats imposed by our opponents. All in all, not one of the best chapters in the book, but certainly a valuable lesson.

2) The book provides a great deal of instruction on chess thinking. The author provides rationale for the assessment of positions and plods through important themes in chess. Although this is found in many books, Tisdall seems to know what it's like to be a learning chess player and focuses on the central questions students stumble across (and answers them!).

3) Tisdall provides a great number of references and gives you his opinion on why they're valuable (or in some cases, not so valuable). In a sea of chess books, this is important.

4) This is not a book on openings with endless variations and sub-variations. I think chess writers finally have figured out that few people improve by reading detailed books on a single opening. This book is not comprehensive in its instruction (for example, it is just over 200 pages), but working through the examples is very instructive for each phase.

What didn't quite work in the book ...

1) The method of stepping stones isn't very well thought out (or explained). It would have made a great deal of difference for the author to reference this technique much more often in his book. He has some limited explanation of visualization versus tactical sequences but it really isn't clear what he's recommending (of the two or if both, when to apply one and not the other). After done reading the book, you may disagree with me and wish to give the book a five (like many other reviewers), but I'd love to hear this subject better explained. The book is very readable without a chess board. There were a few examples where I needed to actually see the board to work through sub-variations. But that is a limit of my own ability.

2. The reference to Shogi just didn't quite work for me. I don't play the game and the limited explanations could just as easily be integrated into the text without any outside reference to the game. Andy Soltis does the same and although his books are almost all first rate for instructional value, I have the same problem.

In conclusion, this is a relatively inexpensive book with a great deal of good instruction that would benefit almost any player. The newer chess player might need to leave some of the sub-variations for a second reading or perhaps when they've improved a bit. But often Tisdall will point out mate in one penalties!

I recommend this book for anyone wishing to sit down and take some lessons from a grandmaster who is explaining the game as if he were there.

This is a gem of a book, packed with entertaining prose, which makes it readable, and a well-debugged method for learning how to think more effectively about chess. I own about 100 chess books -- how to manuals, game collections, openning theory, endgame treatises -- but this book has improved my play more than just about any other book. (Other favorites include, the Encyclopedia of Chess Middlegames, How to Reassess Your Chess, Zurich '56, and Tal-Botvinnik 1960) After reading this book, I began scoring much better against higher-rated players whom I have always struggled to beat. And, my victories felt like they required little effort. This book will improve your ability to calculate and to visualize the board. If you are rated below 1700, this book is probably too difficult. Try instead, Michael de la Maza's Rapid Chess Improvement and Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess. Also, you should work a lot of tactical problems daily.

Good guy and good writing. But only for very advanced players. As surely title shows. It is not easy to follow the sequences although this is main theme. Not clear tree form but loosley written. Nevertheless interesting blindfold comments. Not read whole thing yet.
Very very bad is enclosing. After one hours pages are flying in the room.
And as I have bought it via Amazone international transfer probably US.
I am sitting in Germany. The fee with approx 10 $ is very high.
So costly product.
Frank

Very good book, with lots of advices about calculating and training in general. You will not be dissapointed if you buy it.

The very first time I touched this book I realized it would be a nice journey on the realms of fresh ideas in chess teaching. The author knows exactly when and how to stress some new ideas, and we follow him, learning new concepts and views in this wonderful game/sport. I have learned a lot, specially ideas on blidfold chess to perfect ones's calculating power. I thank Mr. Tisdall for such a good book, looking forward for the next one he will, certainly, write soon.