Help With "How To Reassess Your Chess"

Hey everyone, I recently picked up How To Reassess your Chess as well as the How To Reassess your Chess workbook, both by Jeremy Silman.

I am trying to use these books to improve my game, but I am having some trouble with it.  I have trouble keeping up and following all the moves that is in it, with just listing the moves in the notated fashion.  I am having a really hard time visualizing exactly what is going on and what he is talking about.

Does anyone have any opinions about the books, or have read them and used them, or how to use and get the most from chess books in general.

Thanks so much 

JoshH> I recently picked up How To Reassess your Chess as well as the How To Reassess your Chess workbook, both by Jeremy Silman. Does anyone have any opinions about the books, or have read them and used them, or how to use and get the most from chess books in general.

 

Those are great books, and I admire that you're willing to put so much time and effort into improving your game. Unfortunately, those books are completely wrong for your current level of play. First, the examples are going to be difficult for you to follow. Second, and more importantly, you are not going to be losing chess for strategic reasons for awhile... when you're 1450 USCF or so. These books won't help you much or at all now.

 

I actually know someone who focused on How to Reassess Your Chess for over a year but never cracked 1250... he was frustrated that people who knew nothing about strategy breezed past him. First things first: you must not hang material, and you must quickly and consistently spot basic tactics. I didn't see that in your one game here.

Right now, a book like Winning Chess Tactics by Seirawan, Back to Basics: Tactics by Heisman, or How to Beat Your Dad at Chess by Chandler are going to be much more useful in improving your game. If you prefer software, Chessmaster is an excellent purchase. You are free to do as you like, and if you simply enjoy reading about strategy, then great! But it's not a very quick, or sure, path to improvement for players at the <1000 level.

JoshH> I have trouble keeping up and following all the moves that is in it, with just listing the moves in the notated fashion. 

 

You should have a board nearby as you go through this book. You're not expected to be able to keep everything in your head.

As a tip, make sure that when you go through the books, you play out the sequences on a chess board.  It makes understanding the books easier.  I recommend highly Understanding Chess: Move by Move by John Nunn.

I'm a great fan of Mr. Silman's books.  The first edition of How to Reasses Your Chess (which was less than 200 pages) changed my entire outlook on the game.  The workbook seems worth while, though I haven't invested in it yet.  His most recent book on endgames is amazing.  Likesforests is right, though.  Make sure your tactics are sound before you tackle the big strategy tomes. :)

 

As for following the lines in that or any book, do you have an analysis board?  There are few chess books I can read through without one.  (Though a few authors do seem to be making an effort to produce books that provide enough diagrams to follow without one.  (e.g. Lev Alburt, Bruce Pandolfini))  Personally, I use http://www.chesshouse.com/Drueke_Travel_Chess_Set_Magnetic_p/87710.htm , though I'm sure there are plenty of alternatives.  (I like magnetic boards because you can use them just about anywhere.  :) )  As you get more experienced, I'm sure the length of lines that you can follow in your head will get longer and longer, but I woudn't worry about that for now.  (I can't follow anything longer than about 10 plies with any real accuracy except in very sparse positions.)

JoshH wrote:

Hey everyone, I recently picked up How To Reassess your Chess as well as the How To Reassess your Chess workbook, both by Jeremy Silman.

I am trying to use these books to improve my game, but I am having some trouble with it.  I have trouble keeping up and following all the moves that is in it, with just listing the moves in the notated fashion.  I am having a really hard time visualizing exactly what is going on and what he is talking about.

Does anyone have any opinions about the books, or have read them and used them, or how to use and get the most from chess books in general.

Thanks so much 

---

 

Josh H,

Your problem is that both the opponent you've faced in the past here and the one you're currently facing have usernames with "unky" in them.  Don't bother facing any unkies until you reach at least a 1400 level, or you're bound to get destroyed. You'll find that what you've learned from your books will help you in battles against the right opponents.

It was a perfectly executed plan......except for my perfectly executed bishop. In the early stages of chess development, I believe it is better to learn about the pieces in a solo capacity, and the build from there. The only goal in chess is to attack the king with more force than he has defending him. The means to this end is the conflict of the pieces, which is the struggle for imbalance. One thing I would suggest is getting Reinfelds 1001 checkmates and 1001 sacrifices. This is a good way to get a feel for the power of the pieces, what makes them happy. You see an amazing checkmate for example. Then you look at the position on the board at the beginning of the puzzle and you can see what elements helped the combination along, what made it possible. So in the beginning, studying each pieces attributes will be very helpful in creating a solid chess foundation. A lot of chess is learning how not to lose, more than how to create masterpieces. Play play play, and practice tactical studies.  

THe one I am currently facing for you information is helping me as a coach, I don't play on here usually.

NoOneOfConsequence wrote:

As for following the lines in that or any book, do you have an analysis board?  There are few chess books I can read through without one. 

Bingo.  You'd have to have pretty impressive visualization skills to get away with less.  I've got a magnetic analysis set I can practically use as a bookmark, and it was < $5.00.

I also picked up "The Complete Chess Course" by Fred Reinfeld.  It's massive , i think it's 8 books made into 1 great big one.  Would this be a better book to start off with?

I'm probably going to take some flak here by saying that the Reinfeld books haven't really worked for me.  Lot's of people have liked them for a long time, but for some reason they just didn't click with me.  I'll agree with Likesforests again in recommending Yassir Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics as a really good next step.  (The whole series is excellent.)

You've gotten great advice here:

1.  you need to have a chessboard to work through the positions for nearly every chessbook out there.

2.  Reassess your Chess may be too advanced at this stage.  It was for me when I picked it up a few years ago, but I hope to go back to it soon.  I love Jeremy Silman's writing style.

3.  The Winning chess... series would be a fantastic investment.  FWIW I read somewhere that Silman did most of the writing on this series.

 

One book that helped me a great deal and you don't really need a board to follow is Winning Chess by Irving Chernev.  It's basically a series of problems highlighting the different tactical themes.  It boosted my rating tremenously.

 

Good luck and enjoy. 

"Until you are at least a high Class A player: Your first name is 'Tactics', your middle name is 'Tactics', and your last name is 'Tactics'." -- Ken SMITH

"A knowledge of tactics is the foundation of positional play. This is a rule which has stood its test in chess history and one which we cannot impress forcibly enough upon the young chess player. " -- RICHARD RETI

 

There is a website I found: 

http://www.chessgames.com/index.html

I paid $25 for a year membership.  Under "Game Collections" chessplayers have collected thousands of games into PGN format.  If you have a chessbook you are studying, type in the name and someone may have entered all of the games and positions into PGN format.  I found "Reassess Your Chess" there...all the positions and games, with the page number noted.  Even Bobby Fischer's "60 Memorable Games" is there!  Just go to Game Collections and search by author, player or book name. 

This makes studying the positions quite easy, just use your favorite viewer (such as Fritz.  Some good ones you can download for free are:  

                    Arena    http://www.playwitharena.com/                                                       Babas    http://www.babaschess.net/)

Also,

http://www.chesscorner.com/ 

has a great games collection section, including  all the games from "The World's Greatest Chess Games", by Buress, Nunn & Emms, in PGN format.  I load a game and study from my book, but see all the moves on my computer.  When I buy a new chess book, I check around to see if anyone has put up all the games in PGN format to make my life easier.

I hope someone finds this information helpful.  Good luck!!

Just use Chess.com's analysis board as you are reading. These books aren't designed for armchair reading. They are textbooks. You should have a pencil, paper, highlighter, sticky notes, and analysis board(s) on hand.

This book is plenty adequate for your level. Though the book was crafted for 1400+ players, anyone below that will surely gain from it. Also keep in mind a level is arbitrary. If you have been playing chess constantly for more than 3+ years, you'll understand the book. The concept that "positional" analysis doesn't matter until you are above 1400's is extremely misguiding. Chess is not about attacking the king. It is 100% a positional game. Of you see and understand your position, the next move will be obvious. If you work through this book and find that you have not improved as a player than either you did not fully  understand the concepts presented in the book or you are a clumsy player. Either or, you should work on that alongside positional study. Any player who understands positional advantage immediately will have end game advantage.

 

Have fun!

Check out my playlist for anyone who needs help with this book: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1giCgzb8YB4KcnWxcdRn8cdxN_BBuS1w