The opening is closely linked to structural ideas and typical plans, right through to the endgame, which 2000 minus players still have no idea about. How can one drive without knowing all the parts of the car?
Yes exactly, which is why endgames and middlegames should be studied first, so that you have some road map for what you're "trying to achieve" from the opening.
Funny enough the first one was haardest 😅 but maybe i should of thought Rb4 faster. I understand maybe this was probably sort of click bait but I think anybody over say 1500 should at least know all the ideas here even if they got the wrong answer.
Really appreciate these recaps! I just had a down tournament myself and I like your candid self assessment as well as your ability to find the positive to take from it. That said, you are too hard on yourself, these young underrated players are coming for us all. Good luck in your current tournament!
Could you also review some more books for lower rated players? The Dvoretski books are probably really good but there are most likely only like 5 people in your audience who would be able to work with them
Hi Jesse - what do you think of Jon Tisdal's "Improve Your Chess Now!' - I'm working my way through the electronic version, and it's really very good (and also one of the last 'classic' pre-computer books). I seem to remember it was quite controversial at the time. I bought a Dvoretsky's Endgame book and learned my lesson! Exceptional, but way too difficult for me, but it's nice to know that GM's find chess as frustrating as the rest of us!
Kasparov himself used to say that chess is mental torture. GMs are not at that level because they're not frustrated but because they have higher pain tolerance than us :)
I'm curious about your opening choices. You seem to like sharpish lines. Isn't it common wisdom that when playing down and especially against kids you want to play more solid? Didn't you used to be a French Defence and Nimzo player? And now it's KID and Sicilian. Play what you like for sure I'm just curious about your thoughts on this aspect of choosing openings based on the fact that your biggest hurdle to get to GM is going to be playing kids who love sharp positions.
Black would win 90% of the time against a lower-rated opponent, but those numbers and letters got into his head. I'm guessing you got stronger mentally so that's worth the __ Elo.
Fascinating that you start by saying you should label each book by a rating range, but then rank all these books without mentioning which rating range it is suitable for.
I am glad that you mentioned that this book is extremely difficult! My coach, when I was 1500 USCF, told me to pick this book up and the fact that it was well outside of my abilities became clear to me when I failed to find the correct idea (let alone get all the details) for the first 10 or so problems. I put the book down and went on to greener pastures like Vukovic's Art of Attack and Tal-Botvinnik 1960(Thank you Chess Dojo). Now at 1850~ I am revisiting Tactical Play and still finding it quite difficult, although I am finding the ideas in most positions, just not most of the details. That said I agree, this book is really not for at least sub-2000 players. I am going to try and plug away at it and see how far I can get before I give up but I don't feel so confident about it. It goes without saying, that coach didn't last long. Now that I mention it, I have a couple other books due to that coach which I will likely never read because of the difficultly of the books: "Positional Decision Making in Chess" - Gelfand, "Strategic Play" - Aagard. Both of those books I have heard placed at the " Don't touch till you're 2300" level. And 2300 is not a given for me. The likelihood that I may never be able to enjoy these books motivates me to hit the master level. LOL
Jesse I can’t tell you how much I love that you made this review. “Here’s this dvorestsky book that’s incredible…you have to be 2300 FIDE minimum and the book is riddled with errors”. Ha sounds fantastic.
Working thru the Polgar 5334 in Chessbase 'replay training' often shows engine disagreeing with book. I'm not prepping for a match with Stockfish so I just ignore it. Later, I punish the engine by forcing it to stay up all night analyzing amateur games from FICS
