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Title: The Art of the Middle Game by Paul Keres, Alexander Kotov ISBN: 0-486-26154-9 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A note on content.
Comment: This is a breif review of what this book contains and how usefull it will be to various players. It is writen in descriptive notation (i.e. P-K4), which is difficult to muddle through in our modern, algebraic world, but wonderful fruits will flow from its examination.
Part one is relatively simple, concerning itself with basic planning and the attack on the king in various positions. (Another excellent book on this is 'Art of Attack in Chess' by Vladmir Vukovic in algebraic notation, which is considerably larger.)
Part two is more complex, discussing how to defend difficult positions and pawn configurations in the center. Keres' section on defence is, relatively speaking, a masterpiece and contains many ideas that are virtually indispensible. The section on pawns is also very informative though not exhaustive on the role of pawns. (Hans Kmooch's book 'Pawn Power in Chess' is certainly more in-depth concerning pawn positions that cover the entire board, but it has the special detraction of being almost incomprehensible due to its excessive complexity and needless terminology.)
Finally, part three is generally for the more advanced player. Called 'The Art of Analysis', it concerns mental computation in conjunction with written variations (particularly concerning the endgame). Not for the weak of heart, this section would probably intimidate most novices because the numerous variations often stretch to 20 moves or more. That is not to say that it isn't valuable - on the contrary, this section provides valuable study by any player of any strength, but only relatively strong players will reap the fullest benifits of its study.
Rating: 5
Summary: SO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR MIDDLEGAME?
Comment: Then this is the book for you! Be prepared to do more than read this book. The ideas it plants in your chess brain are the seeds of future success. Keres, with Kotov, two great players of the past have put to paper chess lessons for the ages. Don't worry about the descriptive notation, if you can figure out 12 moves of some obscure King's Indian line then you can master an old way to record moves. Keres' section on defending difficult positions is worth the price of the book alone. Add in his section on the art of analysis and we have a true winner. Granted, adjoured games have gone the way of the wind in many cases but this is still good fertile ground for the correspondence player and for over the board tournament players because it goes into how to assess a position and the ramifications of your decision. Read the book and you will never look at one of your games the same way. Kotov's sections are good too but they are just a bonus for a book that doesn't cost much but is full of instruction and in how a great Grandmaster (Keres) thinks.
Rating: 3
Summary: Did not find what I was looking for
Comment: It seemed to me from the favorable reviews that this was THE book for an intermediate level chess player. I have a 1550 rating and did not benefit too much from it. It may be for the more advanced chesss players. The one section that I learned from was the section on pawn structure, and how to go about a pawn blitz.
Bottom line is that this book is no magic wand. "Well d'uh thats not obvious? there is no single book that has a magic wand effect" you might say, yet the reviews looked great and I had hope that I would end up increasing my rating having read the book; did not happen.
final comment about some of the reviews: I think it is unfair to trash the book just because the notation is not algebraic. It takes one minute to figure it out. Descriptive notation does not diminish the information content.
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Title: Art of Attack: Rev. Algebraic Ed. by Vladimir Vukovic ISBN: 1857444000 Publisher: Everyman Chess Pub. Date: 01 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis ISBN: 0812925297 Publisher: Random House Puzzles & Games Pub. Date: 14 November, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess-Mastery Course by Jeremy Silman, Siles Press ISBN: 1890085006 Publisher: Siles Press Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan ISBN: 1857443330 Publisher: Everyman Chess Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Ideas Behind the Chess Openings : Algebraic Edition by Reuben Fine ISBN: 0812917561 Publisher: Random House Puzzles & Games Pub. Date: 22 August, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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