Understanding Your Chess (Paperback)

by James Rizzitano (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
James Rizzitano, an experienced international master, has reassessed games from the whole of his career, and in this book presents the lessons from them that will be most relevant to club and tournament players.

A common problem for the typical weekend competitor or club player is that his time available for studying chess is very limited. What should he study? Grandmasters from Botvinnik to Yermolinsky have stressed the importance of reviewing and annotating your own games. Rizzitano shows how by doing that you can gain a greater understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and drawing upon his own experiences, explains how to shape your approach to chess to make the most of your own abilities.

Major topics include:
--Developing a reliable and coherent opening repertoire
--The importance of understanding opening theory rather than simply memorizing it
--Theoretical novelties: finding your own and facing the opponent's
--Opening selection depending upon the nature of the game and event
--Risk management and "playing for a win"
--Competing successfully against higher-rated opposition
--Accumulating small advantages: a safe method when the opponent plays for a draw
--The power of the initiative: lighting a fire and keeping it burning

The book contains more than 60 deeply annotated games.

About the Author
James Rizzitano is a strong international master who dominated chess in teh New England region during a 14-year period from 1976 to 1989 - he won 157 out of 336 events in which he competed. His career highlights include victories over Alburt, Benjamin, Benko, Christiansen, Dlugy, I. Gurevich and Wolff, and exciting draws with de Firmian, Larsen, Speelman, and the legendary former world champion Tal.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Gambit Publications (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904600077
• ISBN-13: 978-1904600077
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,146,766 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Instructive Commentary and Analysis, March 27, 2004

By A Customer

This book contains some very instructive commentary and analysis. International Master James Rizzitano was a legend on the American Swiss-System chess tour during the 1980's. I saw him play in the US Open in Boston and at a couple World Opens in Philadelphia during the late 1980's and he was simply a ferocious, fearless player. His playing style can best be described as a cross between the Latvian attacking player Alexei Shirov and the Swedish endgame expert Ulf Andersson. I think he started out as a straight-ahead go-for-the-throat attacking player and evolved into a more positional style; the book contains some real strategic masterpieces. The book contains some great notes and instructional material; it is 192 oversized pages with very little white space, so it is really around 300+ pages of a typically sized book. I was unable to put this book down once I began reading it; the lessons and stories are very well-written and I enjoyed the games tremendously. Some of the world's best players are in here along with most of the top United States players of the past 20 years or so. I strongly recommend this book.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, Easy to Understand Lessons, March 27, 2004

By A Customer

This book is outstanding! I am a Class A player (sometimes an Expert!) and Rizzitano's lessons really hit home. The prose is extremely well-written, the game selection and chess notes are fantastic, and there has been incredible attention to detail. The fundamental theme of Understanding Your Chess is that it is important to analyze your own games in order to improve. Some of the innovative features I really like about this book are: 1) The games are grouped together by various themes and ordered chronologically - a clear connection is drawn between games, including ones that demonstrate a different lesson. Also, the 64 complete games which comprise the main body of the book are given interesting titles (similar to Bobby Fischer's classic My 60 Memorable Games) to help the reader remember the themes. 2) The USCF ratings of the players are given so that you can see how Rizzitano (and some of his opponents) improved over time; the rating span is an 800 point range from 1800 to his peak of around 2600. I have never seen a book in which a strong player gives some of his games when he was relatively low-rated and pinpoints his weaknesses - the book is very compelling. 3) The notes are outstanding; Rizzitano typically explains the important themes to look for within the variations. 4) The notes are honest; there are many places where Rizzitano admits that he overlooked a certain move or couldn't calculate a variation correctly. In conclusion, a fantastic book.

2.0 out of 5 stars Mis-titled!, June 20, 2009

By	C. Wise "BOOKBOY" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I must say I completely agree with avig avig. This book's title is totally misleading.I have a ton of game collection books by and about world class G.M.s and other types of game collections books as well. I no longer buy this type of book. The only reason I bought this one was because of the title! It turns out this book is just a collection of Rizzitano's games. Good games by a IM who was probably strong enough to be a GM. But basically just a collection of his games. Which I did not need. I feel cheated.If the book had been titled as "Rizzitano's Best Games" or some such I would not have bought it.