Customer Reviews

Judgment and Planning in Chess

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

 

 

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.

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

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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This is a classic work of chess literature that deserves another five-star rating. If GAMBIT publications came out with this book today, with a big double-column format with a nice cover, it would be hailed as a classic. In other words, this McKay edition is not laid out in the best fashion, but it is a great book, that is ten times more useful than cranked out word processed streams of consciousness like The Road to Chess Improvement or the Seven Deadly Chess Sins. Those books are a different genre than this. This book was WRITTEN, with painstaking care, as were books by Reti, Pachman, Nimzowitsch and other greats. Because they were written out, they are more carefully done than the books today. Yes, the books today are backed up by computer analysis, but that does not make them more enjoyable to read. Read the classics of chess literature. You will see in fifty more years people will still be reading this book, whereas Yermolinsky, Rowson, will be forgotten....

The 5th World Champion, Dr. Max Euwe, is an underrated chessplayer; I think this is because he knocked off Alekhine during the latter's uncontrollable alcoholism. The chess legacy of this man lies, however, more in his textbooks than in his playing career. His prose is very clear, and to the point. I would even say that at many points he is refreshingly terse!

JUDGMENT AND PLANNING IN CHESS is not difficult to comprehend (I didn't say "easy" because it WILL require some work, but not an inordinate amount), and because Euwe explains things that are missing in other, even great, middlegame texts. I have read many of the classics (Niemzowitsch, Pachman, Silman, Stean, etc.), but none of them, to my recollection, explicitly detail the power of a queenside majority (Ch. II), or "The Queen's side Attack" (Ch. III. Euwe's prose on Bogoljubow-Capablanca from New York, 1924 which begins the chapter is brilliant, in my opinion). Another topic that he devotes much (needed!) time to is "Knight vs. Bad Bishop" (Ch. IV). All experienced players have heard of this and have a concept of what a bad bishop is, but Dr. Euwe actually makes exploiting such an advantage understandable. In this chapter, the variations given are particularly valuable.

Now, the book is invaluable simply for coverage of the above. The author does cover many of the "standard" topics of middlegame texts, including "Weakening the King's Side" (Ch. V) and of course "The Attack on the King's Field" (Ch. VI), but even here he has something worthwhile to add, especially in that he does not discuss the maneuvers of the attacking side in a vacuum (as many authors do) and thoroughly analyzes the example games as a BATTLE, and not as a one-sided MASSACRE.

Implicit throughout "Weak Pawns" (Ch. VII) is the difficult motif of ALTERNATION (Euwe even calls it by name at a couple of turns). Provided herein are good examples of play against isolated and hanging pawns, the latter not receiving enough attention in the chess literature, in my opinion.

"Strong Squares" (Ch. VIII) is also, it seems to me, unique. If you have surveyed Kmoch's PAWN POWER, this chapter will no doubt reinforce the power of sealer/sweeper maneuvers when available. In fact, Euwe talks about "sealing," both as a detriment to the defender, and how the attacker should avoid the sealing off of weaknesses! Very interesting!

"Open Files" (Ch. IX) is much akin to Stean's "The Minority Attack" in SIMPLE CHESS, but is well-done for those who will encounter this for the first time, even if the title of this chapter should be "Half-open Files."

Some general comments. There are plenty of diagrams, and Euwe certainly utilizes them in all the right places, making it possiible to gain much from this work on-the-go, because his "expository power," as the blurb calls it, is tremendous. Euwe also does not overburden us with variations: he includes them if they are important to understanding the main play, or if they help illustrate the subject of the current chapter. Also (fair warning!), this book is written in Descriptive Notation (even using Kt for Knight), so you will have to know how to read this. But if you have been reading other classics, this should be no problem.

HIGHLY Recommended.

This book explains many important middlegame themes like superiority in wings, queenside attacks, minority attack, open files etc. It does not show only finding the weaknesses of your opponent but also how to exploit them. Good for intermediate players.

This book is incredibly useful for the player who has understood opening principles; this book is one of those (very rare) which explain some middlegame's concepts very clearly. A must For a player who wants to go up to 1900 ELO.

First of all this is a really good book written by an ex world champion
Make sure you buy a copy in algebraic notation, I'm reading an old copy in primitive english descriptive notation and it really sucks after decades of using algebraic notation. I'm also having Fritz 12 "read" the book along with me in "infinite analysis" mode and finding a fair amount of errors that I'd easily overlook or never notice (but then I'm barely a Class-A postal player)
Overall though, I'd give this book 2 thumbs up!