[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Mini-review: The wisest things ever said about chess

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Mini-review: The wisest things ever said about chess
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1214772327.shtml


   GM Andrew Soltis has carved out a successful career over the past 2-3
   decades as a chess author, writing four sorts of books. First, there
   have been historical works like [1]Soviet Chess 1917-1991 and his
   [2]biography of Frank Marshall. Second, there have been instructional
   works aimed at the average club player. Third, there have been opening
   works, generally dedicated to non-mainstream lines. Fourth and
   finally, there have been lighter works like [3]Chess to Enjoy, largely
   based on his monthly columns for Chess Life.

   His latest book, [4]The Wisest Things Ever Said About Chess, falls
   most neatly in the second category, but there's a bit of category four
   in there as well. Soltis writes with a light touch and tongue in cheek
   humor, so his instructional works seldom feel like textbooks. Here's
   how the book works: Soltis starts each entry with a short, generally
   sentence-long quotation or approximate quotation expressing some wise
   rule of thumb, and then (when applicable, which is most of the time)
   follows up with a concrete example to illustrate the point.

   Those of us who have read John Watson's comments about the
   rule-independence of contemporary chess may balk at this book's
   concept, but Soltis replies wisely in his introduction:

     This is a book about ideas....Some are well remembered, others have
     forgotten. These thoughts are expressed in maxims, aphorisms,
     wisecracks, kibitzers and proverbs that have been passed down to
     us. Some can be called "rules." That's a word that divides players.
     Amateurs love rules. Masters love to ridicule them. "A
     chessplayer's talent is measured not be his knowledge of the rules
     but his ability to find exceptions to them," wrote Viktor Korchnoi.
     "Only the exceptions matter," said Alexei Shirov. But GMs follow
     rules like everyone else. The occasions when they do so vastly
     outnumber the times that they break rules, as a look at any
     grandmaster game plainly shows.

     Rules and maxims should not be used as a substitute for thinking.
     But they are wonderful as prompters to thinking. Good rules point
     in the right direction. They "should be used only as mnemonics,
     reminders of what to think about," as Kenneth Mark Colby, an avid
     amateur player and respected psychologist, wrote. One of the great
     chess teachers, Cecil Purdy, got it right. "The true art of the
     teacher lies in stating rules in memorable form," he wrote.

   Soltis' book is an attempt to state 288 such rules. The book is
   divided into 17 chapters, and to give you an idea of what's in the
   book, I'll list one "saying" per chapter.

   1. Attack: "When you have opposite attacks going, the quantity of
   pieces is often more important than their quality." (#7) 2.
   Calculation: "Long variation, wrong variation." (#20) 3. Defense:
   "Never make a purely defensive move." (#35) 4. Endgame: "The basic
   rule of endings is not to hurry." (#55) 5. Evaluation: "A weakness is
   a weakness if and when it can be attacked." (#80) 6. Mistakes:
   "Defenders blunder more than attackers." (#103) 7. Move Selection:
   "Always look for ways of ignoring threats." (#114) 8. Openings:
   "Develop as well as possible - but not as quickly as possible." (#142)
   9. Pawns: "A pawn is best defended by a pawn." (#156) 10. Pieces: "He
   who has the bishops has the future." (#184) 11. Psychology: "Of the
   two evils, under-estimation and over-estimation of one's own strength,
   the former is much the more harmful." (#200) 12. Sacrifice: "If you
   play the King's Indian, don't be afraid to be a pawn down." (#215) 13.
   Strategy: "A weak point is a square - not necessarily occupied - which
   can be attacked by heavy pieces." (#233) 14. Studying: "When a player
   decides to change his openings, it's a sign that he's growing up."
   (#245) 15. Tactics: "Any piece or pawn that is attacked as often as it
   is defended is a tactical weakness." (#259) 16. Technique: "When you
   win material you lose interest." (#266) 17. Tournament Tactics:
   "Technique is most of all limiting counterplay." (#274)

   Once upon a time books were filled with this sort of advice, but
   nowadays, for whatever reason, it's less common to find such useful
   aphorisms except on a piecemeal basis. While experts and especially
   masters will know most of these ideas, and players under 1300 or so
   should first spend their time achieving their initial tactical
   competence, I think The Wisest Things Ever Said About Chess (available
   [5]here) could prove helpful to those who are in between.

References

   1. http://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Chess-1917-1991-Andrew-Soltis/dp/0786406763/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214772614&sr=1-1
   2. http://www.amazon.com/Frank-Marshall-United-States-Champion/dp/0899508871
   3. http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Enjoy-Andy-Soltis/dp/0812860594/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214772584&sr=1-2
   4. http://www.ukgamesshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=chnew415&Category_Code=chnew
   5. http://www.ukgamesshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=chnew415&Category_Code=chnew