Chess For Tigers - Book Review
Simon Webb's book, Chess For Tigers, was published in 1978, and is a slim little volume with an awful lot of text. With chapters named things such as 'Play the man - not the board', 'Fortune favours the lucky', and 'How to catch heffalumps', the book is written from a different angle than many books. Whereas most volumes will focus on playing the best possible chess, Webb takes a different angle, in digging up and looking at any and all possible ways for the club player simply to improve results, however the means. As he says many times throughout the books, 'a tiger only cares about winning'.
Webb's book is simple and down to earth. There's no pretension here, no long words and terminology when it isn't warranted, and because it doesn't focus heavily on theoretical aspects of the game, there's no fear of any of the information being out of date or behind the times. Giving hints and tips on time control, playing against stronger opponents, putting yourself in position to aim for swindles, and other such general tactics, Webb focuses heavily on encouraging a ruthless efficiency in all levels of club and tournament play, and combines this with example games from general history along with his own practice.
Discussing psychological tricks and tactics puts this in a different category of chess books, one just beyond the general 'how to improve your chess', and I think it is a good thing. It is a collection of essays with examples, rather than analysis of games and positions, highlighting concepts and theories rather than going on a move-by-move basis. Perhaps the seasoned tournament player knows many of these techniques and uses them frequently, but perhaps reading over chapters such as 'what to do in drawn positions,' will still provide an aid to a thought process in the middle of a tightly-contested match.
Chess For Tigers is an easy, short read, that one can finish in an afternoon or two, at just under 100 pages. And yet the content is so much more, that I think it is essential reading for anyone, perhaps even up to FM or NM level. It may not improve your chess for playing the 'best' move, but if it helps you make a practical decision in a tournament that means you come away with a third place and a small wad of cash thanks to the draw, I think that it's worth reading. It's message is simple: be polite and respectful, but also sly and cunning.
Rating: 8/10
Review by Kieran Judge, aka TheBookSmuggler
