Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player (Comprehensive Chess Course Series) (Paperback)

by Lev Gm Alburt (Author), Sam Gm Palatnik (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A series of chess lessons which take the mystery out of long-term planning in chess. Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player is the fifth volume in Grandmaster Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course series. Endorsed by world champion Garry Kasparov as revealing "the once-secret Russian method of chess training," this uses only materials and techniques that worked well in the former USSR. It contains hundreds of strikingly beautiful positions arranged by difficulty and designed to sharpen tactical recognition and vision. Nothing is left to chance in this work. All materials have already shown their worth in Russian chess instruction.

About the Author
Grandmaster Lev Alburt, a three-time U.S. chess champion, has spent years translating secret lesson plans used to produce a long line of Soviet world champions. His "Comprehensive Chess Course" series is the result. Alburt lives in New York City and teaches at the Chess Information and Research Center. Grandmaster Sam Palatnik is a former captain of the Ukrainian squad that recently won the world team championship ahead of the United States and Russia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Chess Information and Research Center (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889323055
• ISBN-13: 978-1889323053
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #949,706 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Close to Worthless, May 8, 2005

By	Alberto Dominguez - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like the previous two books in the Comprehensive Chess Course series, this book gives the impression of having been slapped together in a weekend.

The selection of ideas (good vs bad bishop, weak and strong squares, etc) is mundane. This book adds nothing in that area. Reshevsky's Art of Positional Play is much better.

The selection of games and positions to illustrate these ideas is also particularly uninspired. Pachman's Complete Chess Strategy does a much better job selecting material.

The lack of commentarty and analysis borders on the obscene for a book that claims it will help me become a master. I've given games of speed chess more thorough analysis than this. Where the analysis seems particularly educational and/or thorough, you can be sure it is merely a recompilation of previously published analysis. As just a couple (of many) examples, the analysis of Botvinnik-Boleslavsky (p182) comes from Botvinnik's 100 Selected Games, and the analysis of Tarrasch-Lasker (p217) comes from Reti.

Worst of all, analysis from earlier sources is uncritically poached without the slightest attempt at verification. For example, the analysis of MilnerBarry-ZnoskoBorovsky (p182) is taken from Euwe's Judgment & Planning in Chess. In that book, Euwe ends with "if 24....fxe5, White plays 25.Qg6 Bf6 the game is decided by the invasion of the rooks by means of 26. Rfc1 with the idea of 27.Rc7." Alburt & Palatnik copy this sentence almost verbatim. What Euwe missed (and Alburt & Palatnik didn't even bother to look for) is that Black has 26....e4 27.Rc7 Qxd4+ as a perfectly good defense and White is down a bishop for nothing.

You will learn nothing from this book; save your money.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good primer on strategy....., January 2, 2006

By	C. Diniz "c17d70" (Boston, MA.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It never ceases to amaze me why so many are so quick to trash Alburt's Comprehensive Chess series. I studied this book Chess Strategy as well as the rest in the series awile ago. I can say without a doubt they helped me establish a very firm foundation in chess. It was through the knowledge in these books that I was able to progress to more advanced works & actually understand these advanced concepts!

So many put the cart before the horse in these days of 'instant gratfication.' If you are below 2200 & are reading works by Dvoretsky, Nimzovitch, Yussopv, etc. you are wasting your time! To reap the full rewards of the above mentioned authors you must have a very solid chess foundation! ALburt's Comprehensive Chess Series provides this foundation! These books are meant to be studied & not breezed through in a few weeks....digest them! Some say Alburt's books are too simplistic.....well they are meant to be this way so as to be undestood by many. This in no way detracts from the valuable information therein though!

After finishing the Comprehensive Chess Course my USCF rating shot up to 1925. I then purchased some other works by Euwe, Marovic, & Chernev. I studied these works and broke the 2000 barrier. Once I was here I started to pour over opening theory & understand it easily enough....this lead me to my current rating of 2110. So as it relates to me I did not need a 100+ book chess library to attain this level of play. Again this is because of a solid foundation provided by ALburt's series of books! If there is one important lesson I learned myself by reading this series it is the importance of developing an organized & sound thinking technique! This is something the student must aquire on his own & one can learn it by studying Alburt's series!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something clicked, January 11, 2002

By	"pansophy" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

As the other reviewers stated, this book covers the usual suspects, like bishops versus knights, ranks/files, weak and strong squares, etc.

What this book does, that the others haven't for me, is pull it all together. His examples, not only show how to create an advantage, but also show how to USE that advantage to create advantages for your other pieces or as the center piece of an attack.

I've read several tactical books and can solve most of the challenges, but never seem to be able to create strong combinations in real games. This book has made the practical use of tactics also more clear _ as a player accumulates strategic advantages their opponents defenses begin to break down naturally, creating the opportunity for tactical blows or a break-through into enemy territory.

Obviously, there is nothing earth shattering about what I'm saying here. But the clarity of the examples and connections that Alburt/Palatnik make, have made these concepts usable to me in games I play _ I've only had the book a couple of days and I already see a big difference in the complexity of positions I am creating.

I definitely recommend.