Yes great book if you study it seriously,
You can't go wrong with the Quality version hardback beautiful book much,much better than my old dog eared torn and have eaten Hayes version from 1995 I studied.
My System by Aron Nimzowitsch
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"The elements" (first) section is good, but I found the section section on positional play really hard to understand and I would definitely not recommend it to beginners. There is much better written material on positional play elsewhere.
Oct 30, 2015
0
#4
http://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Explained-Algebraic-Edition/dp/0713484640 Logical Chess Move by Move would probably be best suited for you in my opinion. It's on sale for $16 and worth it.
Better approach would be to finish the ChessMentor courses, then a book called Chess Strategy for Club Players by Herman Grooten.
This book can be read later after completing above material.
http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-for-beginners-strategy2
http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-for-intermediate-players-strategy2
Oct 30, 2015
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#6
There are YouTube video versions of much (all?) of the book that are quite good, so that's the easiest way to learn the material, which itself is quite good.
pfren wrote:
As someone who has read this and currently working through the follow up book Chess Praxis, I'm curious to know why you'd advise giving this a miss Pfren?
It was a landmark, iconoclastic book when it was published eighty-something years ago, but I'd rather advise you giving it a miss.
Dec 30, 2015
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#8
My System is NOT for beginners, and may even be too advanced for intermediate players.
About 5 months ago, IM pfren wrote:
Regarding "My System": Many people consider it bad, and outdated- some top trainers like Mikhalchisin and Grivas included.
Freddie-Freeloader wrote (~57 hours ago):
... is Nimzowittsch's [My System] worth reading?
IM pfren wrote (~54 hours ago):
My System is interesting, provocative and outdated. Some of the things in it are classical wisdom, while some others are plain wrong.
I'd rather advice you reading something else instead, especially if you take everything at face value.
IM pfren wrote (~52 hours ago):
Freddie-Freeloader wrote:
... What do you recommend?
Reti's "Masters of the Chessboard" is an ideal start to serious study.
There's a newer, more modern version of My System by John Watson. I think it has chess strategy in it's title.
Ah yes, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy.
Someone does a YouTube series of My System part by part it's not bad. I think Silmans books cover everything that Nimzovich taught and then some though...
IM pfren wrote (~41 hours ago):
Several Senior Trainers, e.g. Grivas, are way more dismissive than I am of the book. I am no Senior Trainer yet, so I guess it comes with time...
Nigel Short says My System is rubbish. Sometimes boldly, some other times "subtly":
My System is not exactly fun, is it?
(a recent tweet of his).
For the record, Short is also a very fine trainer, I guess a wee bit better than mr. Reynolds... Pentala Harikrishna is his most reknown pupil.
On the other hand I’ve never liked Nimzovitsch's My System that much, finding it to be a tough read and rather convoluted in its thinking.
(GM and Chess Author Nigel Davies)
GM Spraggett claims in his blog that Davies is rather too keen on Nimzo, and the book is way too convoluted.
And so it goes... ...
Yeah I agree, check out Reassess your Chess and the Silman endgame course
IM pfren wrote (~40 hours ago):
I have three copies of "My System" in my library. One of them is priceless, I bought it in a Rusian old bookstore for quite some $$ thirty years ago. It's the first Russian edition (1930) printed in 10,000 copies, and authored by Maizelis. A rare copy, that is, which becomes more precious due to erratic page binding.
But leaving archival purposes aside, it's not hard to find something more useful to read...
There are other classics, e.g. Pachman's "Complete Chess Strategy" which are still a terrific read.
IM pfren wrote (~15 hours ago):
My first read of "My System" was back in 1976, when I was 17 y.o. and a Candidate Master (never got the title of National Master). I found this being an interesting read, although it was apparent to me that many things were written as a mere provocation. By that time, I also read Reti's "Modern Ideas In Chess" and a Petrosian games collection. Surely enough I have learned more from both of them than Nimzo- actually I don't believe he really wrote the book as a didactic text. ...
Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy by John Watson
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094414/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/smcs.pdf
How to Reassess Your Chess (4th ed.) by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708095832/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review769.pdf
Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708103149/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review594.pdf
My System by Aron Nimzowitsch
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105648/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review600.pdf
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/john-watson-book-review-108-of-eplus-books-part-2-nimzowitsch-classics
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/my-new-cds-and-somebody-elses-system
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/quality-books-reply
Is this book good for beginners?