Book Review: How to Reassess Your Chess

How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess Mastery Course by Jeremy Silamn is probably the best book available the reassess your Chess mastery at any given level. Its a bulky 600+ pages book with marvelous tips on how to improve from Elo 1414 to 2020 or how to cling on to your 2345 Elo. A masterpiece for every level. If you can only get one book to improve your game, this one is it.

This particular masterpiece is the most popular step-by-step course that will create a marked improvement in anyone's game. Jeremy Silman shows how to dissect a position, recognize its individual parts and ultimately find the move that conforms to the needs of that particular situation. By explaining the thought processes that go into a master's choice of move, the author presents a system of thought that makes advanced strategies seem clear, logical and at times even obvious. How the Reassess Your Chess offers invaluable knowledge and insight that cannot be found in any other book.

While speaking of imbalances, Silman points out the following to keep in mind:

• Superior minor piece
• Pawn structure
• Space
• Material
• Control of a key file
• Control of a hole/weak square
• Load in development
• Initiative
• King safety
• Statics vs. Dynamics

The position illustrated is from a game between Nepomniachtchi (Elo 2720) and Kurnosov (Elo 2676) played at the 63rd. Russian Championship in 2010. The game is here:

1. Closing the position is often good for your Knight.
2. Steer for endgames where all the pawns are on one side of the
   board. This negates the enemy Bishop's long-range abilities while
   amplifying the importance of the Knight's ability to attack both
   white and dark squares.
3. Do your best to create a permanent advanced home (support
   point) for your Knight.
4. If a tasty support point exists but it seems a long way away (and
   perhaps impossible to reach), try hard to find a way to get there.
5. It might take several moves, but that's what moves are for-to
   place your pieces on their best squares so they can exert maximum
   effect on the board.

As the owner of a Bishop --------->

1. Make it as active as possible by placing it on a free diagonal, or
   creating an uncluttered diagonal if one doesn't already exist.
2. Prove that it's performing a key function and is thus extremely
   useful.
3. Steer things into an endgame where the long-range capabilities of
   the Bishop give it a huge edge over the enemy Knight.
4. Don't allow the enemy Knight to find its way to an advanced,
   permanent support point. This calls for Anti-Knight Strategy-Do
   your best to take away all advanced squares from the enemy horse!

Below is a game between Sugar XPro (Elo 3411) and NirvanaChess (Elo 3179), which is actually an advanced version (continuation) of a game illustrated in the book on page 396 (diagram 387), as an example of "integrating the imbalances with the choice of opening". The actual game as in the book is between Formanek and Donaldson played in 1987.

Last but not the least, a deadly suggestion from Silman's masterpiece :

Rip open some lines and go for the throat!