Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition (Dover Chess) [Paperback]

Michael Stean (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Chess | Publication Date: January 7, 2003

Written by a Grand Master, this guide isolates basic elements and illustrates them through Master and Grand Master games, breaking down the mystique of strategy into easy-to-understand ideas. More than a lesson in fundamentals, it illustrates the value of acquiring small, permanent advantages and saving the attack for later.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (January 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486424200
• ISBN-13: 978-0486424200
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #576,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Bronstein, Niemzowitsch, Pachman, Silman..., October 30, 2005

By 

Andre E. Harding (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

[First reviewed October 30, 2005] I have read the reviews and the questions about the "difficulty" of this book. At the outset let me state that I am a USCF "Class A" Player, rated 1875.

Now, about the title of my review. I have read Chess Praxis, My System (Niemzowitsch), The Amateur's Mind, How to Reassess Your Chess, How to Reassess Your Chess Workbook (Silman), Modern Chess Strategy (Pachman), Simple Chess (Emms), The Middlegame in Chess (Kotov and Keres; WAY overrated) and a book I reviewed previously, Bronstein's book on the Zurich International Tourmament of 1953. This last book I had considered the best middlegame book I had ever read (I have not read Pyotr Romanovsky's texts, nor those of Euwe and Kramer).

Stean's book was recommended to me by the editor himself, Fred Wilson, at a chess tournament. I purchased the book and soon realized that Stean has made understanding positional chess much more simple. Yes, Stean presupposes that his reader has some advanced knoweldge (like the ability to win endgames, to conclude a middlegame attack), so I would not recommend this text to a newcomer. However, there are plenty of books that serve this purpose! What seemed lacking to me was a good middlegame text for near-experts like myself who have not been able to make that breakthrough in positional chess.

Therefore, I must disagree with the reviewer who says one may skip this book and buy one of Reinfeld's puzzle books. That is like comparing apples to oranges: it is certainly always important to sharpen tactics, to improve attacking play, defensive play, endgame play, etc. But this book is for improving the positional handling of the strong "Club-Player," positional handling being separate and distinct from other parts of chess (at least as far as traditional study is concerned).

Let me emphasize that I feel this book is a superior course on STATICS (relatively permanent positional features in a chess position). It seems that authors are teaching DYNAMICS much better these days, but friends around my level have more problems exploiting the statics, and that is why I feel this book is incredible. The advanced player has learned of the importance of outposts, open files, color complexes, etc., but Stean's Simple Chess helps one to "get it." It is such a shame (a tragedy?) that Stean did not see fit to write more.

[UPDATE, February 9, 2006] I am reading Stean's magnificent work for the second time, and I would like to say, in addition to what I said above, that I now consider this the greatest chess book I have ever read, on any facet of the game. After finishing this book again, I will read it a third time, but only the prose and will ignore the games--it is in the prose where the genius of this book is found. Almost no page goes by without some eye-opening insight or three, or four. At many junctures, EVERY sentence on a page reveals something that the intermediate to advanced club player likely never thought of, and helps you see the game of chess in a new light. I can't say enough about this work.

146 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book on strategy but not simple for beginners, September 10, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

By the title you might think this is a book written for beginners. It is not a simple book at all, yet a good one for the non-beginner. It is a book on strategy, looking at things such as various uses of opening files and minority attacks. More positional ideas, where a beginner or even someone just beyond the beginner stage should be looking at books on tactics, chess traps and going over some of the books that have games with each move analyzed.
However, if you are looking at books like "My System" then also consider getting "Simple Chess" just don't be mislead by the title!

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beginners beware! This is not a primer..., July 28, 1998

By 

N. Beach "romansperson" (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simple Chess (Hardcover)

For grandmaster Michael Stean, this may have seemed an appropriate title, but for neophytes out there in chess land, this book is decidedly not simple. Instead, I place this in the range of such books as Larry Evans' excellent New Ideas in Chess, but below that of Pachman's equally fine Modern Chess Strategy. Stean uses complex grandmaster games to illustrate the cornerstones of chess technique such as the Minority Attack, Outposts, Weak Pawns, Open Files, Space etc. Each example is accompanied by insightful descriptions and explanations that one cannot help but learn from. One of the measures of a truly good chess book is that it teaches on all levels, ie., that a 1300 player might learn a tremendous amount from a book and then reread the book later as a 1700 player and make a completely new set of discoveries. Reti's Masters of the Chessboard is like that for me, and so, to a lesser extent, is Simple Chess. This is a small book at 120-some pages, easily overlooked, bu! t well worth the price of admission and the effort one might put intoit.