Have you read How to Reassess your chess first?
**How to Reassess Your Chess Workbook Help**
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Dec 29, 2011
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#3
I think I read the recommendation on his 3 books, Amature's Mind , How to Reasses... and the Workbook is to do the work book LAST. somebody correct me if needed.
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Dec 29, 2011
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#4
Recommended Chess Books
by NM Dan Heisman (updated 12/02/2011 )
Silman Book Reading Order
"My recommended order (though all stand alone):
1) Read Reassess Your Chess through page 52. Then put it away! [Dan's note: You can skip this 1st step with the 4th ed. of How to Reassess Your Chess]
2) Read all of The Amateur's Mind.
3) Read the rest of How to Reassess Your Chess.
4) Read The Workbook.
And yes, you have to start people out with tactics and the basic mates else they will get shredded instantly.”- IM Jeremy Silman in an e-mail to Dan, 11/16/2001.
(From Dan Heisman's website)
I only have the workbook, so I guess I'll just read it when I get good enough to understand it.
I have found the Chapter on Self-Annotations and problems to be very helpful after going back over imbalances. If you only have the workbook, I suggest reviewing the section on imbalances, then looking at middlegames, then endgames, then openings. That seems to have been the best way for me. Add in self-annotating a game when up for a real challenge.
Also, when starting out maybe read through the solutions of a few problems to get a feel for the book.
Good Chess!
I'll try that and see how it goes.
I'm working in it now, so let me if you need any help or want to work over some position together.
Hey dattyw, is that Bakersfield in California?
Yes it is. Bakersfield, CA
Silman's analysis in his examples and problems is dated and inaccurate in Amateur's Mind and HTRYC workbook since it wasn't engine-checked (engines weren't that powerful back then he says).
However, many people seem to like the way he explains positional concepts.
You could try reading the corresponding chapters in Amateur's Mind, Workbook, and HTRYC 4th ed, in succession (e.g. read the BvN chapters in all 3 books, then read all the pawn structure chapters), input all the positions in Amateur's Mind and Workbook into a computer and have an engine analyze them. Then on your own, play through the lines and come up with an explanation of how Silman's Imbalances support the lines generated by the computer. That way you get the best of both worlds.
A 2nd way is to input the positions into a computer, not for analysis, but to keep playing through them you can play the entire line once without error (you don't need to memorize it cold), matching a Silman explanation to the Silman move (on your own). After playing through all of these examples and knowing them well, some common patterns and themes will form in your brain and you will be better acquainted with the Silman Thinking Method.
A 3rd way is to simply read and play through each example one time only and never repeat anything until you have read and played through everything once. This gives some people a better "big picture" view and gives you exposure to many concepts that supposedly prime your brain for more advanced learning even if your understanding is only primitive after the first go-round. After going through all 3 books like that, you can either opt to repeat them or, better, you can read other strategy books (Pachman, McDonald, Stean, Alburt, Hellsten, etc.) in the same manner...over time, you will understand more. This is the simplest and most practical way and allows more exposure to more authors, since they essentially repeat the same thing but the brain learns the concepts better by the slight variations/emphases by different authors...kind of like the difference between someone who does 5 high-quality knight fork problems 200 times over and over vs someone who does 1000 different "medium" quality knight fork problems; the latter will destroy the former in terms of being able to instantly recognize a knight fork tactic when it is present.
A 4th way is to gather all of the strategy/positional books by all of the authors that you definitely plan to read and then read their corresponding chapters in succession. For example, you read the BvN chapter(s) in Silman's books, followed by Seirawan, Alburt, Pachman, etc. Then you do the same for pawn structure, etc. This way, several of the same concepts get repeated but in a slightly different way, with different examples, by different players, from different eras.
If studying chess strategy is like studying other fields, then the worst thing you can do is read a few pages, play through an example and then sit on that example for hours or days on end saying to yourself "dammit, why can't I figure out this 24-move variation after I just read 3 pages in which he explains the ideas that this example purportedly shows?! I will read and re-read this chapter and will not move on to the next chapter until I understand and can easily come up with this line/analysis all by myself within 5 minutes". This is akin to the phrase: "The enemy of good is perfect" and "If it were only that easy". Good luck. Go Lions.
damstrate
One word : CT art 3.0 :)
Whabbut CT art 4.0?
I have recently purchased Jeremy Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess Workbook. I am not sure how to go about reading and studying it to absorb everything I can from it. Can someone here post a technique they used to study this book?