Customer Reviews

Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Games (Dover Chess)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First off, this book is a compilation of strategic examples. The author groups these examples according to theme (Key Squares, Pawn Structure, Positional Sacrifices) and presents them with a few explanatory textual comments and variations. The author is far from prolix, so you should already understand the strategic themes and want to peruse a selection of illustrative examples and analyze them yourself. For the price, I feel this book is outstanding and one of the best of the Dover reprints. The author does not swamp the reader with Fritz like variations, but provides enough input to guide the independent reader on their way. For those formulating their approach to positional chess, the Positional Chess Handbook would be worth the $.

I've rekindled my interest in chess and, not wanting to expend too much time on the game, have limited my reading to three books: on tactics, on the endgame, and on positional chess.

This book, serving the latter purpose, has 495 diagrams, mostly from practical games between top players, many of which are known classics. Each illustrates a point, and the author avoids copious variations. The moves usually extend from the diagram position to the end of the game. They are very well selected. As a result, my intuition has clearly improved in an important area of the game.

Gelfer's rigor is reflected in his impeccable English (no translator or editor is mentioned). I can't think of a single typo, in word or variation, and the text is clear, no nonsense and to the point. He seems to have honed the work, culled from his training manuals for the Israeli youth and women's teams, over years. This makes the book a pleasure to read.

My copy, which isn't a Dover edition (which have excellent bindings), is getting old (1993) and pages are beginning to fall out. But that's a good sign: it's due to the use the book has seen. Highly recommended.

This is an excellent book on chess. The diagrams are clear and can easily be followed through and the previous reviewer who commented that they were too small, was on my part greatly exaggerated and didn't do any justice. Buy one copy for yourself and decide. This book gave me countless hours of enjoyment and I am sure it will do the same for you.

I recommend this book for any 1500+ ELO player who wants to improve their strategic game. A lot of the variations are given few comments, so a solid chess understanding and playing the moves on a board are essential. The book is organized into themes which any chess player can appreciate: discussion of good/bad knights/bishops, endgames, 2-bishops, bishops opposite colors, etc.

I am an avid player and own an extensive collection of chess books. As most chess fans have probably discovered, a lot of chess books are simply the same ideas rehashed and presented with different games. This book however, is a refreshing break from the rest, presenting strategic play in a condensed format with great exemplars of the theme discussed. Honestly, probably one of the best books on the game that I've read. Short, sweet and to the point--highly recommended!

The selection of game vignettes to illustrate each theme is outstanding. That aspect of this book reminds me of Andy Soltis's Chess Life columns. Finding just the right examples from among the millions of master games is by far the hardest part of assembling a work such as this.

The annotations are just right for me: On point, insightful, and they don't explain the obvious but give lines that show clearly the dynamics of each vignette. I'm a 2200 player, a strong expert or weak master, whichever way you want to view it. Anyone from Class A to GM would enjoy reading this book. There are better books, with more instructional prose annotations, for players under 1700 or so.

The paper and printing quality of this book was a real disappointment. It was printed on pulp paper, just a bit heavier than the stuff newspapers are printed on, and the diagrams are so faintly printed the eye has to strain to see where all the pieces are. No big deal to do once, but doing it 495 times unnecessarily taxes the reader. A five-star book produced by a two-star publisher yields four stars.

Very useful for me. I use it as a kind of a puzzles collection, take a position, setup the pieces on the board, try to find the best plan and then check with the continuation in the book.

This book is a great collection of strategic examples. You can dedicate many time in the themes of each position and also you will enjoy with this useful manual. A must for every chess player.

This is an excelelnt book for players that ar already tactical and are looking to increase their positional awareness. I say its a book for those 1900- 2000. This is a nice book to learn how to analyze games sort of like an introduction to analysis. What I mean is other poritional books are very detail and many lines and this is good if you been doing it a while, bt if your starting analyses to move on to the next level this works great, it categorzied by themes like key squares and real games are use, so you will develop an understand of positions. From this book you can graduate to full blown analysis games.

This book was my companion to all waiting rooms in the last year. Excellent compilation of positional material with lots of positions. For practicing your analysis is the best in its class.