Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Finally, why oh why are the Chapter headers for each game the site where the game was played rather than the players? Chernev thoughtfully explains the decision-making process and contextual meaning behind each move as it’s made. I really liked this style, as often when a chess book gives a series of several moves without commentary, I might not understand why those moves happened.
Chernev presents classic games by players such as Capablanca, Tarrasch, and Alekhine to repeatedly demonstrate the advantages gained by efficient development and strong positional play.I could not have been more stupid in ignoring this book so long, not to mention being wrong about all of the above. It helped me study queen's pawn openings that I feared playing as black like Queen's Gambit and Colle System. Modern chess is a little bit different and to understand why GMs break the rules could be interesting.
Experiencing openings and positions in the heat of battle is far more illustrative in play than theory.This book purposely repeats the analysis and rationale over and over (phrased slightly differently each time) to drill the concept into the reader’s mind. Even if the moves are in the opening, I don't know anything about most openings and would appreciate hearing the basics. None of us were particularly good, playing without tactics or logic, but rather just throwing pieces here and there, hoping for the best. How fianchettoing kingside actually makes the king safer, despite requiring the g-pawn to be pushed.
No one learns a musical instrument by starting off with the hardest pieces even though they're beautiful; it's best to start with the basics!English Opening: C4, original move, leaving Black to amass at the center, opening up fianchetto, striking at center from a distance to undermine it.
Chernev does not repeat himself, but drums up new insight and wit every time the first move is repeated. Sometimes, I wish he spoke a little more about alternatives - because in my mind, I could see alternative moves that I thought would work really well but it wasn't explained why they weren't played. Chernev's book presents a number of games in a fantastic format - each move is explained, even if it's the 20th time you've seen 1.The games are extremely well chosen, and if the repetitive first move analysis becomes tiresome the rest if perfectly on target. The content in this book - the descriptions, the explanations, the way the passion of the author is exciting to read and demonstrated with each move - is fantastic. Look at squares to protect rather than pieces, then whenever you need to move a piece into strategic squares there’s already defense laid long ago. When you "look inside" a book and see algebraic notation, what you expect is to get a book with algebraic notation. The open games in the first half are very entertaining, but the second half contains too many Queen Gambits.
Great Deal 
New Comment