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46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but flawed, May 12, 2000
This review is from: The Inner Game of Chess: How to Calculate and Win (Paperback)
Can't understand the unrestrained adulation some reviewers have given this book. Soltis can write very well - see for example 'Soviet Chess' which is a scholarly work, or see 'Confessions of a Chess Grandmaster'. The title being reviewed here is also one of his better efforts. The book explains the pragmatic realities of calculation very well indeed. A thoughtful reading of this book will enhance one's understanding of what to calculate, how to calculate, how far to calculate, and what positions deserve calculation. By implication, one's strength would improve. It's difficult to provide a synopsis of this book because, like Kotov, it's not coherently orgainised but is a compendium of practical wisdom concerning calculation. Chapters include 'Trees and how to build them', 'Rechecking' and 'The Practical Calculator' - all of importance to a player. I've given this four stars (and not five) for 3 reasons. The first is lack of organisation. The second, and more serious, is the sheer number of analytical mistakes. The very first example (Piket - Sosonko) has an error. The sacrifice 1.Rxh7 is actually unsound. 3....Bf5, which Soltis mentions in passing, holds the game for Black. Or examine the analysis to Ljubojevic - Stein, on page 58. 11.Qf4 works fine for White. Soltis hasn't done his spadework. The examples that are correct are frequently so because they've been pulled, with analysis, from other sources.This brings me to third criticism: many of the examples are hackneyed, and frequently don't exemplify the ideas well. But these caveats aside, I can recommend this book. There is material to ponder over here. A pity Soltis didn't give the book the time and energy it deserved; it would have been a sterling work.
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50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Live in the Details!, July 15, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Inner Game of Chess: How to Calculate and Win (Paperback)
I've studied The Inner Game from cover to cover three times in the last 2 years, always profitably. My ability to successfully calculate attacking or defending variations has greatly increased because of practicing what Soltis preaches. I strongly agree with his statement "...calculation can be invaluable. It can be a substitute for "book knowledge" you never learned" since few nonprofessionals can know every opening or endgame position. I am surprised at some of the few negative comments in the reviews of the book. I suspect that those reviewers have not read The Inner Game to the end - at least they give no evidence of having done so. One reviewer wrote that "the familiar theme of attacking a castled king" was monotonously used in many examples but really there are few problems that have that as their main theme. Another reviewer said, "There are not enough practical examples. Therefore, I doubt the reader will be able to apply the tips ...in a real game." Actually, there are over 200 examples; most labeled "White to play" or "Black to play" presenting positions from Grandmaster games to analyze before reading the accompanying text. This same reviewer stated The Inner Game has the "right appealing chapter names. But the content ... is not well developed" although he doesn't clarify what he means by that. Yet in every chapter Soltis clearly states his theme and then provides a great deal of examples. For instance, look at chapter 2 ("Ideas"), where Soltis discusses how calculation is inspired by ideas and ideas come from recognizing patterns and weaknesses. Examine chapter 3 ("Trees and How To Build Them"), in which Soltis shows you in a very detailed fashion a possible way of mentally organizing all those ideas. Disagree with the chapter contents but don't say they're not well developed. In that reviewer's opinion the Dvoretsky series of books, Jonathan Tisdall's "Improve Your Chess Now" and Buckley's "Practical Chess Analysis" are all "certainly better than Soltis" - but he doesn't bother to say in what way. My impression is Dvoretsky's books are written for very experienced players, Tisdall is not focused on calculation and while Buckley's book is all about calculation it is far shorter, with much fewer examples and less text. One reviewer said the book was "not coherently organized." Huh? Soltis begins logically enough by defining his terms: what calculation is and isn't. He follows with a second chapter on how ideas inspire calculation. The third chapter presents a method of organizing those ideas. Having set up the basic groundwork, Soltis expands on the methods: finding forcing sequences that make calculation easier, evaluating resulting positions, "monkey wrenches" that upset the calculations, practical considerations. Where's the "lack of organization"? The reviewer claims the book has so many analytical mistakes (he has 2 examples) their "sheer number" proves "Soltis hadn't done his spadework." He cites Piket-Sosonko, 1993 and says 3...Bf5 "holds the game for Black." Well, I'm no GM like Soltis but I do have Fritz 6 and a 950 MHz computer and it begs to differ with that assessment (in one variation winning Black's queen). Similarly, the reviewer says in Ljubojevic-Stein, 1973 the move 11 Qf4 works fine for White but Fritz's deep position analysis finds that 11...f5 12 Nd4 g5 13 Qg3 f4 leads to an uncomfortable White position where his queen is in the path of both Black pieces and pawns. He announces "The examples that are correct are frequently so because they've been pulled, with analysis, from other sources" but doesn't name those sources! He adds "many of the examples are hackneyed" without saying in what way (Perhaps he skimmed the first chapter; saw a diagram from Nimzovich-Marshall, 1927 and another from Reshevsky-Botvinnik, 1955, and didn't realize most of the book's examples are from GM games played circa 1970-1993.) I strongly agree with A.J. Goldsby's review: this isn't a book for novices, a couple of primers on tactics and elementary books like Chernev's Logical Chess should be studied first. I strongly agree with the reviewer who said to benefit from this book you'd really need to study and practice although he is wrong when he says "Soltis emphasizes visualization" since Soltis only has one visualization exercise in the first chapter and rarely mentions it thereafter. Again, read the entire book before you make the claim!
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book!, but ..., December 14, 1999
This review is from: The Inner Game of Chess: How to Calculate and Win (Paperback)
Before you read my review, I ask that you read the majority of the other reviews. This may give you a better feel for what I'm about to say. This is a FANTASTIC book. It is destined to become a classic. But, after reading all the reviews, I have to make the following comment. This book may be written for a really strong player. (or players.) I think you should be at least 1600-1800 to grasp much of what goes on in this book. There are certainly many valuable insights which will make you a better thinker and "Calculator." But in the long run, your calculating powers will already have to be fairly well developed to really benefit from this book. I was already a Master when this book came out. I spent close to 6 weeks with this book, and it made me a better thinker. But two of my students who have bought and read this book felt it did NOT make them better at calculating. Sadly, it may be true. The average GM may not remember what it was like to struggle to see one move ahead. Because they do not understand [or remember] the problems, it is difficult for them to address them. If you think you are ready for this book, buy it. But if you have any doubts, get a couple of simple primers on tactics. Maybe "Logical Chess, Move by Move," by Chernev. Wait until your rating gets over 15-1600. Then buy this book. On the positive side, this book is beautifully written. The examples are mostly very carefully chosen. And the book is wonderfully and beautifully annotated. This was truly a work of love by the author. If you are just looking for many, many hours of enjoyment, then you want this book.
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