Customer Reviews

Mastering the Nimzo-Indian: With the Read and Play Method

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

 

 

This book is an excellent starting point for learning the Nimzo-Indian. You learn all the basic ideas, such as pawn structure, weaknesses (such as c4 for white, repeatedly mentioned as one of White's weaknesses in many lines), certain tactical ideas that appear in certain pawn structures, weaknesses you must watch out for in your own camp, etc. Also has an annotated game at the end of each chapter. I would highly recommend reading this book first, and only after that, read a book that has a good number of annotated games, such as "New Ideas In The Nimzo-Indian Defense", also by Kosten.

Not a bad effort, and instructive in terms of general strategies and pawn structure (which appears to be the aim of the "Mastering" series.) However, as an intermediate player trying to learn the opening, I felt that it was lacking in terms of nuts and bolts. A book like John Emms's "Easy Guide to the Nimzo-Indian" would be a better place to start.

Kosten is one of the few chess authors I actually enjoy reading. He usually presents quality work with original ideas and analysis. This book has some good explanations about the positional themes within the Nimzo, but it is not meant as reference work or as a place to fill out your repertoire. Of course, it IS a nice place to start if you want to understand why theory develops the way it does it certain lines. Basically, what are the two sides fighting for within the pertinent lines. From a pedogogical standpoint, I would recommend it to players under 2000 who want to explore the ideas behind the Nimzo rather than trying to memorize the moves or basic themes.
However, as another reviewer mentioned, the binding on this book is bad. The pages will slowly (but surely) fall out as time goes on. And no, I haven't read it 20 times or something. Also, if you try to lie it flat (so you use your hands to move pieces on a board), you'll find that the binding cracks under even slight pressure. It might seem weird to some of you, but I would not recommend buying this book because it is so poorly manufactured. It is frustrating.
However, if you see it in a library or can borrow from a friend (who won't freak out if some pages go AWOL) then go for it. Understanding structure and how to plan based on it is one of the biggest differences between strong and weak players. This book can help you play the Nimzo better once your theoretical knowledge runs out.

This is another in the Read and Play series. The teaching method is innovative and the NimzoIndian is very well presented in a "chalk talk" way.

The pawn structures, traps and common themes of this extremely popular opening are clearly explained. I think those who review this book badly are really looking for cutting-edge current theory -- which is not the aim of the entire series of opening books.

By the way, my copy has held up well over the years, thank goodness. I can, however, understand a low star rating if the book is poorly bound!

The information is this book and its presentation are very good. If you are in the market for a strategic primer then you won't be disappointed. The weakness is that there is not quite enough. Not enough games. No repertoire hints. Little insight into what the author thinks about the merits of each variation - a little too disinterested. You will need more. But what's there is good and is well worth your time and money. As another reviewer claims though, this isn't nearly up to the standard of the better Mastering the XYZ books (eg. French, Spanish).

Unrelated to this book, but maybe helpful to readers - if you are lucky enough to have your lines covered in Mastering the Chess Openings 2 (Watson) it contains very useful commentary. But it is very selective in the lines it covers, so you might not get lucky.

This book covers all the basic strategic ideas in the Nimzo, and the best plans and ideas behind each varation. This book relies on strategy and high level thinking instead of memorization of lines and lines of the hottest theory. It is a good place to start to understand the strategy. However, one game per strategic motif is not sufficent to understand the objectives. It would have been helpful if there were another additional 21 annotated games with explanation.

This is an exceedingly lame book that feels like it was cranked out quickly. It truly is not worthy to carry the "Mastering ... with the Read and Play Method" books. There is no comparison, for instance, between this book and Mastering the Kings's indian Defense by Bellin and Ponzetto. The high price of this just makes it more ridiculous. I had come to expect more from Tony Kosten. This one is a lame-o.