What is the "secret Russian method of chess training?"

I have been considering Lev Alburt's books (Comprehensive Chess Course, Chess Tactics for the Tournament player, etc.). On the front of the Chess Course #1 (and I am sure it is other places as well) it says "Lev Alburt here offers for the first time the once-secret Russian method of chess training."

Could someone tell me how the "secret Russian method" is different from any other chess training. In other words, what is it????

stwils

If you knew what it was, then it wouldn't be a secret.

There is no secret, it's just a cliche to help sell the book.

 Please explain.

 stwils

The secret of the russian chess training was that chess had an unique status in soviet society and was highly popularized by goverment, resulting in a great number of people involved in chess schools and local tournaments.

In this case, I'm thinking the ""secret Russian method" is just a marketing trick to get you interested in buying.

From what I've heard, its a decent book with a systematical approach to improve your understanding of chess step by step. But not really that useful book for players above 1800 elo or so.

 I have to say Ive never read it myself though.

Perhaps it is merely mastering basic endgame motifs and ideas and building a foundation on that, instead of going forward with this "Let's have fun and play the game first, worry about details like the endgame later" teaching methods that are more common throughout the world.

Obviously a kid in this day and age who takes to the game for the purpose of "fun" will tune out in microseconds if I set up king-and-pawn endgames for him to drill against.  He might never want to go near a chessboard again!!

Though this system must have worked wonders decades ago when chess was more than just a "fun game" to certain people.

Another possibility could be this "GM RAM" concept we keep hearing about. Perhaps the training was merely subjecting a student to an intensive battery of chess positions and making sure he could play them in his sleep. This would be very different from waiting until the student hit a position he couldn't figure out and then being taught during post-mortem analysis how he should have played it.

S.

I've heard differently.

The Soviets did indeed teach the game from end to beginning, but I think the "secret Soviet system" refers more to a conceptual approach to strategy, planning, and positional play.  I think it refers to a method for analyzing a position, considering candidate moves, and selecting the best possible candidate move.  There are many books that teach on a similar subject (Silman's "Reassess your Chess" has a step-by-step procedure to follow to analyze any given position and select a move, for instance), but I think the "secret Soviet system" is idolized as a perfection of how to analyze a position and/or select a move.

no comment

it is, of course, using the powers of vodka to enfuse the different positions of the chessboard into their players' minds ;)

So far it seems nobody has posted who actually has experience with the set of books in question.

I own them all... From volumes I & II through "Just The Facts" - the book that teaches (somewhat) comprehensive endgame knowledge.

I would say that the 'secret system' claim is something the publishing company included to help sell the books. This is very common in all forms of literature; chess books are no exception.

With regard to the content of the books, here is a breakdown:

1. Comprehensive Chess Course, Volume I - this acquaints students with the basics of chess playing. How the pawns and pieces move and capture, etc. Each piece is given its own separate chapter with a number of examples. Check and checkmate are covered. En passant captures have their own chapter. There is a chapter covering notation and how to write it for one's own games. Finally there is a brief chapter covering basic opening principles which also describes why 1. e4 is thought of as better to open with than, for instance, 1. h4. All through the book, a part of each lesson is devoted to building on the previous lesson's material and making all the lessons come together, so the student is learning the game of chess as a whole, rather than in a fragmented, haphazard way. The book is primarily designed as an instruction manual for chess teachers who instruct in a school-like setting. Since this is the way the Russians were taught chess (maybe still are?), this might be where the 'secret method' stuff becomes somewhat legitimate. Again, though, in reality it's just the publisher trying to make money.

2. Comprehensive Chess Course, Volume II - this book covers the final couple of lesser-known rules that were not covered in Vol. I (such as 50-move repetition draws) and begins to introduce the student to things like basic tactics, traps, planning, basic mating patterns, one-sided mates (R+R vs. K, for example), and K+P vs. K endgames. It is designed to bring the student to a level so that he or she can perform comfortably in tournaments. Incidentally, starting back in Volume I, the touch-move rule is stressed throughout so that aspiring tournament players are already in the habit. At the conclusion of this book, there is a section called "Moving on to Expert and Master," which gives some recommeded chess reading outside of the Comprehensive Chess Course and gives some good overall advice on improving one's play in each major phase of the game.

3. Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player - this is an excellent introduction to tactics with many strong examples highlighting tactical play. If you are looking for a one-stop-shopping method of introducing every conceivable tactic, this is the book. It obviously does not go into too much depth on any one topic, but introduces the player to tactics while ramping up the difficulty gradually so that one does not get overwhelmed. An excellent book, and to me, the strongest of the series.

4. The King In Jeopardy - this is, in my opinion, the weakest of the books in the series. It has instructional value, but by the time the student is ready to handle the subject of building attacks on the enemy king, he or she is ready for "Art of Attack in Chess" by Vukovic, which is a far superior book (and in my mind the best ever) on the subject. For what it's worth, "TKIJ" covers attacks with same-side castling, opposite-side castling, attacks on an uncastled king, and so on. There is just so much to cover on this subject, and "TKIJ" glosses over much of it under the guise of being an "introduction to the subject." Practical attacking technique is best learned elsewhere, I'm afraid.

5. Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player - this book is best used as a complement to another basic strategy book that I have, Seirawan's "Winning Chess Strategies." The two of them together work very well to introduce elements of chess strategy in ways that are more accessible to more readers than, for instance, "My System," can be. "CSftTP" is a good introduction to chess strategy, but really is nothing special.

6. Chess Training Pocket Book - a useful resource for puzzles of all kinds: tactics, mates, drawing an inferior position, etc. There are 300 puzzles scattered randomly throughout the book. They are 4-to-a-page with no indication as to what to look for; simply a position and the side to move. On the facing page of each set of puzzles, the solutions are given. These do include a brief one-sentence "hint" before divulging the actual solution, so if you get stuck and have no idea what to do, you can always read the one-liner for a clue of some kind. Alas, some of the hints are useful ("The Suicidal Rook Sets Up A Pin That Mates!") and some are not ("Practical Thinking"). According to the authors, these are the "300 most important positions & ideas" in chess. I've always been a tad skeptical of this claim, and I've become even more skeptical now that the "Pocket Book 2" has been released, containing an additional 300 "most important" positions. Despite this, the puzzles are worthwhile and educational and I do recommend this book.

7. Just The Facts - this is the only book in the series I have yet to study. I've owned it for years and just haven't gotten around to it, quite frankly. A look at the table of contents reveals a chapter devoted to each major type of endgame: pawn endings, pawns vs. pieces, rook endings, knight endings, etc. Also included is a chapter about how to steer a game toward a favorable ending right from the opening and through the middlegame until a small advantage becomes a winning one. Again, I have not read this book, but it seems to be a very strong introduction to advanced/sophisticated endgame knowledge.

In summary, the books I would recommend would be (as they are numbered in my list above): 2, 3, and 6, with a 50/50 recommendation on 5 and a tentative recommendation on 7.

Hope this helps! This is by far the longest post I've written anywhere before! Lol

If it's like other Russian strategies, you send waves and waves of dirt-poor peasants against an unstoppable enemy until they run out of ammunition, while in the meantime the leaders of the country live luxuriously in excessive paranoia. That was just for 20th century wars, though.

If the enemy is unstoppable, how come it's always the Russians who stop them?  Ever hear of Nappy or Adolf?

 Rob_Soul, thank you so much for your detailed and helpful summary of the Lev Alburt series. You are the only one I have encountered on this site who has read them all.

And thank you for taking me seriously. I now have most of them, and I think just to cover any gaps in my knowledge, I will start with the Chess Course Vol 1. And then to Vol.2. Ought to be a good workout. Different from my other books. Then I'll tackle Chess for the Tournament Player. (I'll leave the King in J. alone for now and Strategy, also.)

I really appreciate your taking the time to give me such a detailed analysis of those books.

stwils

Even though it's been a long time "thank you" Rob_Soul for your detailed analysis of the series of books you have read on the subject.  Has been extremely helpful to me.

yoo

Desnazification

the secrets are

1°) insane obscene amounts of training and dedication, since a very young age,  like they used to do in order to train pianists and gymnasts

2°) gulags

In the Soviet Union, chess teachers were paid. Talent was developed through rigorous training that covered all aspects of the game. Chess was valued.

That’s the secret.

The book that I recommend to beginners more than any other is José Capablanca, Chess Fundamentals (1921). Get the 1994 Cadogan edition in algebraic or read it online free on Chesstempo.

Ilya Maizelis, A Soviet Chess Primer is more comprehensive and more challenging. If you have the talent for hard work, it will lift you from beginner to competent tournament player (and maybe beyond).

The tactics sequence found in the two volumes (now three) of The Manual of Chess Combinations by Sergey Ivashchenko, first published in the Soviet Union, will do you far more good than twice as many tactics exercises on this web site. The difference is in the organization.

I have most of Alburt’s series. I think Maizelis is better for covering the basics than Alburt’s first two volumes. Alburt’s Pocket Book was for many years the only tactics book I read all the way through. Solved every problem twice over the course of a year twenty years ago.

These books are another relic of the Soviet School. I think they are very good.

http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-manual-of-chess-combinations.html