23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!, January 4, 2004
This review is from: Judgment and Planning in Chess (Paperback)
Max Euwe is justly famed for his series of superb instructional books on the middle game and end game. This book, despite what the blurb says, is firmly a middle game book. What Euwe does is show typical middle game situations, explain the positional dynamics behind them, and advise the reader on how to handle these positions in their own games. This is really useful, practical stuff, clearly explained.
The book does not advocate any sort of 'thinking method' aside from the old fashioned one of examining the position for salient strategic features (such as those shown in the book) and playing accordingly.
For example, the second chapter deals with a strategic feature termed 'pawn majority on the queen side'. Euwe shows how the possessor of the majority should station their pieces so as to support an eventual passed pawn and then, when the time is right, create one. Further Euwe points out the real value of a such a pawn is that the opponent must commit his forces to blockade it, creating weaknesses elsewhere. He comments that many average players will rush a passed pawn through but then find it becomes isolated and is quickly lost. (I find this sort of advice very valuable when playing chess as this is exactly the sort of error one is likely to come across. After all, the vast majority of us only ever play other average players!) Further, we see the sort of openings that lead to this situation - enabling a player to aim for this in their own games.
Euwe cautions that while following this policy the player must remember to keep an eye out for tactical threats and opportunites - he takes pains to reinforce this throughout the book.
Each chapter covers a different theme. Note that chapter one - which you can read in Amazon's 'Look Inside This Book' feature - is actually the least useful chapter, and very different from the rest of the book. I think Euwe's intention in that chapter is simply to reinforce his dictum regarding tactical awareness.
Of course this book does not set out to cover all possible middlegame situations but rather a careful selection of situations which occur with reasonable frequency. Thus it serves as a useful introduction to more advanced middlegame works.
I would say the sort of player who would gain most from study of the book someone who doesn't make silly tactical errors, knows enough opening theory to reach an ok middlegame position, but then finds themselves unsure as to how to proceed.
A well written quality product.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent for improving the play of intermediate level chess, November 16, 1996
By A Customer
This review is from: Judgment and Planning in Chess (Paperback)
This is another fine book from Max Euwe, although written at
a slightly higher level than Chess Master vs. Chess Amature.
I especially recommend the first several chaptures on form-
ing a queenside attack. Euwe writes in a style similar to
Silman's popular Reassess Your Chess but covers more about
the technique of carrying out an attack rather than the
basic elements of the position. This makes it a book more
suited for intermediate level players then beginners. Euwe
often analysis subvariations for many moves which requires
setting up several boards to follow him, but this effort is
well worth it as he demonstrates the ideas behind the plan
and the technique for exploiting common features in a
position.
Patrick Needham
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best introduction to positional chess play, July 12, 2004
This review is from: Judgment and Planning in Chess (Paperback)
Very informative book which is highly recommended by the great middle game teachers (Highly recommeded by Pachman).
Although written in hte late 70s, the chapter on knight v Bishop was ahead of its time. All the examples are drawn from the games of famous GMs. So not aonly do you get the games looked at from the perspective of their classification, attack on king, Queen side majority, minority attack etc but the book also serves as a collection of famous games annoted by an ex world champion. What can the book do for you? Without a doubt:
Great introduction to positional elements.
Great intermediate text on the key peositional issues (You will go back time and again to this book)
Great collection of games that are used by other teachers to illustrate other aspects, you will thus be familiar with many of the most instructive games
Finally I would expect a gradual improvement of 100 Elo points in all players below 2000 Elo if you study & apply your new knowlege.
The book is not too long so you can finish it lol.
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