"How can I improve my game?" is a perennial question facing chess-players. While there are no easy answers, Alex Yermolinsky is better qualified than most to offer advice. Having found the famed "Soviet School of Chess" wanting, he trained himself, slowly but surely raising his game to top-class grandmaster standard. In this book, he passes on many of the insights he has gained over the years. He steers the reader away from "quick fix" approaches, and focuses on the critical areas of chess understanding and over-the-board decision-making. This entertainingly written book breaks new ground in many areas of chess understanding. Topics covered include: Trend-Breaking Tools; The Burden of Small Advantages; What Exchanges Are For; Classics Revisited; and Computer Chess. A large part of the book discusses a variety of important opening set-ups, including methods for opposing offbeat but dangerous lines, such as the Grand Prix Attack.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Grandmaster Alex Yermolinsky is one of the strongest players in the United States. He was US Champion in 1996, and won the US Open Championship in 1995 and 1997. He has represented the USA in four Olympiads, and played board two for the team that won the World Team Championship in 1993. His credentials as a teacher are no less impressive. He assited Irina Levitina in her bid for the Women's World Championship in 1982-4, while his former pupils include top-class grandmasters such as Alexander Khalifman and Vladimir Epishin. After his arrival in the United States in 1989, he continued coaching, with one of his pupils, Boris Kreiman, winning the US Junior Championship in 1993. He also teaches chess via his online "Yermo Chess Academy". Through his magazine articles, he has also earned a reputation as an excellent writer. This is his first book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
118 of 129 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great chess book - Sure to be a classic,
By Lawrence S. Tamarkin "USCF Life Chess Master" (Levittown, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: The Road to Chess Improvement (Paperback)
Having read some of Alex Yermolinsky's chess articles in the past, and knowing of him from various tournaments where I saw him play, I anxiously awaited this book in the mail. I was not dissapointed! Especially for competing tournament players, this book has everything. It sets itself the high objective of wanting to be more than just a collection of Yermo's best games and succeeds admirably. Grandmaster Yermolinsky disscusses the Psychology of being the higher-rated player trying to beat the lower-rated one, as well as the other way around. He speaks volumes about particalarly dangerous opening systems such as the Benko Gambit, and the so-called Grand-Prix Attack in the Sicilian, and the approach he takes in preparing against these lines successfully when encountering a booked up, usually lower-rated opponent in the typical American swiss event. Most importantly to me is that Yermolinsky's writing style is very coversational, even more 'American sounding', then a person who has been born in the USA, (He is from the former Soviet Union), and he address chess issues that I always wonder about in my own games, such as how to break out of a plateau in your game, how to choose a move when you can't see all the way to the end, and how to apply various practical thinking techniques to the situation of the game. There is even a chapter on the approach a Grandmaster takes when playing a chess computer, compared to facing a human. This was only a little dissapointing, (but still useful), as Yermo was White in all of the computer games he shows, and only shows one loss (against HIARCS, in a different chapter). He annotates his games (and the games of some few others), in sufficient detail to give the feel of the game as he was playing it, and also groups his games in chapters that apply the theme of what a typical tournament player (well if you can put yourself in the shoes of your typical Master to GM tournament player), is trying to achieve at the time. Its great that Yermolinsky admits that he doesn't have all the answers, and that this book will not solve all of your chess problems. He points out that knowing (and figuring), out what needs to be done to improve your games is an important step in in the process of improving it. While that may be some typical zen like psychology, it is in the execution of the advise that makes it useful, or not. Its interesting to me that Yermolinsky remarks that he carries the recently published classic, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, by John Watson, around like a bible, and quotes some of that authors brilliant observations, in his own writing. That's the same sort of thing that happened in many chess books, after 'Think Like A Grandmaster, by Alexander Kotov, 1st published 1971)., came out - Many chess authors used its remarkable (for the time), advise in there own works. If the author produces a conscientious work, as is done here, the new book complements the earlier work. (Most chess author's can't carry that through, and only a few of the post 'Think Like A GM', books were worth having). And that is exactly how I feel about this book, after reading just a few chapters. I now consider this the one chess book to read completely through, before any others. It is my bible amoung the many chess books that I own, and one of the 10 or so best chess books (Improve Your Chess Now!, by Jon Tisdall, 1997. Secrets of Pratical Chess, John Nunn, 1998. Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, by Watson, 1998. and Soviet Chess 1917-1991, by Andy Soltis, 2000., and most of the Doveretsky, as well as John Nunn books), that have come out in the last couple of years. In the light of the year 2000 and beyond, I must say that a wonderful thing is still happening for chess players in this age of the Internet, computer playing programs and databases; even more great chess books are still being written. This is one of the best yet.Larry Tamarkin, Marshall Chess Club, NY
60 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Truth keeps on being told,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Road to Chess Improvement (Paperback)
I'd hate to repeat what LArry Tamarkin said, but I was one of the people who grew up on the classical texts that explained moves with principles and classified players as positional or tactical. Now, since I have more money to buy books, and since there are more books by GM authors who are willing to tell the truth about how to improve, I am beginning to understand chess better and see that it is much more complex than I initially thought as a kid. The number of books that work on the thought process required to improve has grown and they are much more realistic than the propaganda-laden, "Think like a GM", which at times made it seem like the Russian Schoolboy was a born genius. "The Road to Chess Improvement" is the newest and probably the best in the line of new age books for the following reasons 1) it is written by a GM. 2) it has more examples of the(not a) GM's games in a realistic context (putting it ahead of previous groundbreaking works which usually used other's games) 3) it shows a lot of the psychological struggle tha the game of chess entails and games which I had seen earlier and thought were clear cut(Yermolinsky -Serper, Chicago 1996) were put in a much more revealing light. 4) It contributes to a synergistic view of the chess game since a lot is discussed and seeing the chess game as a complet whole is a problem for many players who try to attach one rule to every position.The Computer chapter is dissappointing and I am yet to see a discussion of what is becoming my favorite phase of the game(endgame). But this book is much better than most of the books coming now and like Tisdall(Improve Now), Nunn(Practical), Watson(Modern Strategy), Soltis(Inner Game), Silman(Amateur,REassess) is one of the books you have to get if you want to see how the better players see the game. Studying becomes much easier with that understanding. Highly recommended and even more so than Watson for players betwen 1500 and 2000 USCF.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go to school with GM Yermo!,
By A.J. Goldsby I "A.J.G." (Pensacola, FL (U.S.A.)) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Road to Chess Improvement (Paperback)
Dozens - if not hundreds - of people have written me and asked me to review to review this book. I have had the book for close to a year now. I have played over perhaps a hundred of the examples, 10-20 in great detail. And I have just plain 'read' the book from cover-to cover at least twice. And I have also "polled" dozens of players - both in person at chess tournaments, and on the Internet - about this book. At first I was a little critical of many of the examples in this book, (he only uses his own games to illustrate points that could have been accomplished by better known examples)- but the text is pretty clear and concise. I will give a very small extract from the book later, and you can judge for yourself. I am a "Chess Pro" (A LIFE-Master), ... for over 5 years now I have made a living teaching chess ... both in person and lately - sometimes giving 3-7 lessons in a [good] day on the Internet. So my questions about this book were twofold: #1.) Is it a GOOD teaching vehicle? # 2.) Is it something the average chess player would benefit from? Another hard consideration is there are dozens of chess books out there on the market today - all promising improvement. So why should I listen to this guy? (Especially when I could buy the series from Lev Alburt?) Well the answer is pretty simple, this guy is NOT a yutz: this is a [former] U.S. Champion who at one time had played in like 8 consecutive U.S. Championship events. He has won many large open tournaments in the USA and has even played very creditably on the International Chess scene. He is an extremely well known teacher and has written many respected articles for newspapers and magazines on chess. He is also a product of the highly vaunted "Soviet School" of chess - their teaching methods are well known and have produced all but one of the chess World Champions since Botvinnik. I am not sure I agree with the layout of this book, I might have done it differently - but this is more of an ergonomic and stylistic remark than a valid criticism. There are sections on everything from the Benoni structure to advice on how to handle complex tactical positions. There is also some very frank and extremely instructive advice and commentary on some of the endgames. In the introduction the author tells you that this book is, "essentially a collection of A. Yemolinsky's games and analysis." (In the Introduction.) So the only question remains did he come through on the two basic questions that I posed above? Well, a good question to see would be to find one of my own weaknesses and see if the author could help me in this area? The answer was yes. On page 51, we find an extremely detailed explanation - and the beginning of a whole section of analysis - on, "The Burden Of Small Advantages." (Steadily converting a small ad vantage is an area I have had a lot of problems with.) Here is an extract, I have started with near the end of one paragraph, and the start of another, simply to make a point. The next few examples I found to be VERY illustrative - and both entertaining and instructive. I went over them many times, one time playing the main lines out on a big chess board, and looking at the side-lines on a small wooden peg board ... AND a magnetic set. The first example (in this section) is Adelman - Yermolinsky. He shows how White, (who is a very strong player); took a very seemingly equal and harmless position - with almost no visible weaknesses - and went on to lose. I think I learned a great deal from this section. But the real question is not whether he can teach a chess pro; but whether or not the average player would find this book of any real instructional value. I took one of the examples- with a diagram - copied it, word-for-word; (with a few sparse comments from me); and sent it out to dozens of my friends and students. (Both on the Internet and in the U.S. Mail.) I also asked as many people about this book (esp. in person, at a chess tourney); as I could. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. A medical doctor - who is currently the Pensacola Chess Club's president; felt this was a great book. A player in Tallahassee, FL said, "This is a GREAT book, one anyone could learn from." A player from Kansas, whom I teach on the Internet, said, "This was - without a doubt - the best chess book I had ever read." (!!) A player from Mobile, AL (who attends college there), called this, "A VERY good instructional book!" Of the nearly 30 players who responded, only 1 "Class D" player said, "This is probably good stuff, but I felt it was a little over my head." My honest take on this book is that it is a VERY good teaching book. I would give it an 8.5, on a scale of one to ten. I also think it is like one of Shrek's onions, it has MANY layers. I.e., I feel almost any player who applied themselves seriously to this book, (a 6-12 month study course); would show DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT! My only criticism is that a very inexperienced or lower-rated player would be a little lost with this book. Highly recommended for players in the 1700-2199 ratings bracket!!
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