Winning Chess Strategies: Proven Principles from One of the U.S.A.'s Top Chess Players [Paperback]

Yasser Seirawan (Author), Jeremy Silman (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 1999

Learn to: Knock your opponent off balance with bold opening moves Formulate an overall game strategy before the middle game Understand the motivation behind your opponents every move Position yourself for a winning endgame. A special section features actual games of history's greatest chess strategists.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is the third of Seirawan's four-volume series, which takes the reader from chess greenhorn to a player advanced enough to understand grandmaster play. Here, Seirawan shows how to set long-range goals for a game and systematically gain a superior position. His deft explanations give anyone with basic chess knowledge (covered in his previous books) the insights to leap levels in play. As usual, he tackles the subject with an infectious enthusiasm, communicating the sporting thrill as each piece of a meticulous plan comes together. Throughout the book, engrossing chess puzzles help teach strategic points.

Review

"Seirawan does a great job with this book."--Chesscorner.com

"These two books will teach you enough to beat most of your friends and family and all the kids on your block."--Evan Kreider, ChessPraxis

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (April 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556156634
• ISBN-13: 978-1556156632
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,495,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mid-Level Strategy book focusing on a varitey of concepts this author feels is important to learn, December 16, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Winning Chess Strategies, revised (Winning Chess - Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

This is book at a mid-level skilled player who wants to add on their their basic knowledge of chess. Ideas are taken from actual play and are made into broken down examples. This is instead of using complete games (another excellent way to improve - here one of the mid-level comment on every moves book like "Logical Chess" or "Unbeatable Chess" would fit in well) the author focuses on a variety of concepts that he fees are important. This is certainly a good, but not a great book.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars maybe the best book in this great series, June 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Winning Chess Strategies (Paperback)

Anyone who is serious about learning to play chess well should begin with Seirawan's Winning Chess series. I had heard good things about it, so I bought this series for my wife. I figured that it would all be too simple for me, but decided to skim through the books quickly anyway. I learned quit a bit from both the Tactics and Strategies books. Seirawan's system is very similar to the system that co-author Silman teaches in his more advanced How To Reassess Your Chess (which would be the perfect book to read after finishing the Seirawan series). I learned things from Strategies that I hadn't learned from Reassess; and Tactics goes into greater, very helpful detail about setting up and executing tactics and combinations. This is a great series, I recommend it strongly to any player rated below 1600.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb book. must read right after the tactics book, March 15, 2005

By 

Mohammad Rashid (St.Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winning Chess Strategies (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

superb book. must read right after the tactics book by the
same author. However, you don't have to become really good
at tactics before reading book. see, the tactics book has
2 levels of porblems. Ones that are easy and ones that are
really tough. As long as you can get through the erasy ones
in each chapter, you are ready for this book.

This book is real genius (2 negative poinst are mentioned
below), here is why:

1. author used very simple language
2. he answered so many of my questions
3. it, i think, covers every situation I could think of
4. it is broken down by chapters, each one covering
either a a general principle (e.g. where
pieces should aspire to go, only it is NOT boring)
5. It teaches you how to think and evaluate any position
and then formulate a strategy.

2 negative points:

1. really there should have been more diagrams per example.
2. there should have a chapter (separate) on "how to evaluate
a position". The topic is covered in different chapters.

I am so impressed: I want o give examples:

lets say you are ahead a minor piece, what should
youn do?

lets say you are ahead in development, what should you do?
answer is attack.

Ok, so where should you attack? center, q-wing, k-wing?
let's say that you should attack on king-side, what
conditions must exist (or you should play to create)
before going for the actual attack?

How do you attack? pawns? prices?
what do you attack? king? a piece? a square?

great book really.
I would say best for ratings 1350-1800. mine is 1600+.