Customer Reviews

Modern Chess Miniatures

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

 

 

Great little book in you enjoy playing over miniatures (games won in under 30 moves). Over 50 games by players such as Kasparov, Kamsky, Kramnik, etc. that are well annotated. Games are grouped by theme to illustrate attacking methods.

This is a really great effort. The format, diagrams, and games are all excellent.

This book could be used just for fun (i.e. playing over the games), or for instruction (i.e. especially in a scholastic setting).

I once attended a lecture given by Grandmaster Ashley on how to teach scholastic players (i.e. what was most important for rapid improvement). He said the focus should be 1) tactics 2 ) endgames and 3) play over minature games.

Playing over minature games can help you (or your students) develop a sort of "feel" for tactics sort of by osmosis.

anyway, give this book a try - you wou't be disappointed.

(June 2005) This book is already ten years old ... and I have owned it for a very long time.

Read the other reviews here, they all say that this is a good book. McDonald was a very young writer when he wrote this, he spent a great deal of time on this volume, and it is apparent from the first time that you pick this book up.

Most authors just splash the game across the page with broad, vivid strokes, often they are content to let the moves speak for themselves. Not so for Mr. Neil McDonald, his love of chess is evident - he spends time telling you how the game was played, how the combination could have been improved - in short, he gives you most of the information and detail that other (more experienced?) authors could not be bothered with.

Why should you study miniatures? Well ... there are a lot of good answers to this question.
# 1.) You quickly learn tactics.
# 2.) You learn how to punish your opponent's mistakes, especially in the early part of a chess game.
# 3.) If you study enough games of this type, it will definitely improve your overall feel for the game.
# 4.) Just because it is fun!!!

I love this book, when I used to work nights at a local radio station, I studied this book for around an hour every single night. I really like McDonald's work ... he has written enough books now to show that he is a good author - and that he is here to stay.

I did not give this book five stars ... for reasons that have nothing to do with chess. ---> The diagrams are not 100%, the print is fading, and the pages are rapidly yellowing. ALSO - the binding has come apart on two of these books ... but I will readily admit that intense wear could have been the cause. (This is like my third or fourth copy of this book.) But I honestly do not think these are serious issues, many of you may not even notice these flaws.

I wholly endorse this book - the quality of the writing is well above the standard most authors normally set for a book of this type. McDonald - by turns - instructs, delights and amazes his readers. (Recommended.)

Face it, many of us lose games in under 25 moves or so. What makes this collection of modern miniatures compelling are a few factors: you get to see world class players make some obvious errors, which rebuilds our hope that even though we make many mistakes, we can still be competent; McDonald is an excellent writer; and, most importantly, there is a wealth of textual explanation and analysis of positions. For instance, he frequently somes up the results of the opening to show what it is about the position that leads subsequently to the quick win. This makes the book an excellent instructive manual on the opening and middlegame.