1. The series consists of 10 books. They added a "Revision & Exam" book to the orange series. 2. The order of the books is listed at the end of the book. 1. Build up, 1. Boost, 1. Evolution, 2. Build up, 2. Boost, 2. Evolution, 3. Build, 3. Boost, 3. Evolution. I'm going to guess that 1. Revision & Exam should probably be the last in the series, but I'm not sure. 3. From reading the introduction, I don't think you're supposed to simply read the examples. It states, "First think about every diagram position (for at least 5 minutes) and try the solutions on your own". At first, I thought he was referring to the exam questions, but the next paragraph explains, "The second part of the lesson is a test with 12 positions." So clearly, each lesson will take a lot of effort. The author warns, "On average, you will need 1 to 2 hours per lesson." 4. I've read elsewhere that the rating band recommendations are probably overly optimistic. I'll need to start with the first book! 5. Thank you for your insights!
I also recall that Yusupov did not want his books on chessable, that's why you see only 2 of the books from the series there. However, chess tempo has 4 of the books available. I'm not 100% sure of the reason for Yusupov's resistance to the electronic versions of his books. I'm guessing he would like people to actually set up the pieces on a board.
@@zonykel I think that's more a thing between Quality Chess and Chessable. I don't ever see any Quality Chess books om Chessable anymore. Don't think Yusupov himself has anything to do with that..
@@KeepChessSimple I've read Jacob Aagaard's comments. It was a Yusupov decision. Yusupov owns the rights. I'm not sure why the lineup of Yusupov's book is greater at chess tempo (4 books) vs. chessable (2 books).
As a 1600 who has read the first two orange books, hearing that they are meant for under 1500 came as a surprise. Damn did Yusupov expect a lot from his students
Worked through 8 of the books, took me from 1900 blitz lichess to roughly 2300 lichess blitz in a 9 month period. Sadly that was 2 years ago and now I am too busy :( Otherwise always great to have a channel focusing on improvement with great advice!
The interesting thing about these books is that there are many reviews from improvers of book 1. Based on either the whole first book or a few chapters. Almost all of these reviews are very positive and they gush praise about the book. And yet there are amost no reviews involving even the second book, let alone the whole series. This tells me that while this series is undoubtedly great. It is really hard work. If you're planning on giving it a go buy them one at a time.
I bought all 9 + "Win At Chess" + "Improve Your Chess Tactics" -- I started defeating patzers & street hustlers. Your tactical vision will improve a lot with the first 3 Yusupov books. The Yakov Neishtat book will put your tactical vision on steroids if you do all problems per chapter as the examples come from very strong GM games.
There was also quite a lot of discussion on the Quality Chess forums about the difficulty. Yusupov admitted in a Q&A that he might be a bit optimistic here and it's hard for him to know how below 1500 players think. I believe the general consensus is that you should be at least 1500 for the Orange ones.
Well, I have to disagree with Andras here. I'm not a big fan of those books, not that they are particularly bad, not at all, quite the contrary even, but the books are in general difficult, too difficult for their target audience. It's quite interesting that Andras had difficulties to know/judge which number 1 book should be read first. There are 9 books based on level of play/difficulty, so 3×3. Even more confusing is that you are supposed to read all the 1 books first, and only then go to the number 2 and 3 ones, respectively, as opposed to the imo more logical 1,2,3 booster your chess, then 1,2,3, build up your chess, and finally 1,2,3 chess evolution. However, within each number's range, the order I just wrote is correct: first build up, then booster and finally evolution. Maybe it was Yussupov's way to explain his readers that move order is very important in chess, so do not mess up your move order 😉. Good luck to remember the right move order for his books😁. Frankly it would have been less confusing to have them numbered 1 to 9, but the fact that it's not completely obvious that the exercices of book 1 are easier than those of "book 9" is speaking volume imo. There is supposed to be at least 600 elo difference or more in the level of between those books. The series start with under 1500 and finish with under 2100, but imo you won't have much pleasure unless you're already a 2000 player when you start, and even then... everything is relative😄. But the quality is there, so if you think the opposite than me, if you're a believer that training should be hard to simulate at best competition, then those might be the right books for you. Again, the quality is there. And I have the deepest respect for GM Yusdupov, the player who had been a Candidate to the world title (some of his games in his Candidates match against Ivanchuk belong to the perles of our old game, it's spectacular chess at its very best), the second (he seconded Vishy Anand for many years including the 1998 lost match vs Karpov in Lausanne which I could attend live), and I had the great pleasure of watching him play and see live a few times. Including this one time in a chess open in Chicago where he was chatting with GM Vadim Milov and Vadim, recognising me, stopped his conversation with Artur to greet me: wtf Vadim, really? 🤣🤣 At least it gave me the opportunity to say hello to the great Yussupov. But I cannot say we had a conversation: I was too shy and embarrassed by the situation, and Artur, while looking like a bear, seems very shy himself. I'm slightly above 2000 elo FIDE and I find the exercices in the books too difficult with a few exeptions. I'm deeply convinced that over 80% of training should be easy. Build knowledge step by step without too much strain, adopt the concepts slowly but steadily. Easy in general, with a few intensive exceptions, and keep in general your energy for the competition. That's not what you will do with those books. I still use the books from time to time for the remaining intensive training (about 10-15% training time in my case).
@@frednimzowi9852 Well these days there are many armchair psychologists and armchair experts creeping out of the woodwork left right and center!, man these guys can tell us and explain games by Magnus even better than Magnus can explain those games himself!...it's like they are more Magnus than Magnus himself!😂
i had the same impression, i was around 1800 elo on lichess and struggled already with first book 1 after some ten pages far...also they are quite 'dry' written, without any fun quotes or motivation text, very analytical. I prefer a bit more side notes . It looks like a University book, very dry, no emotional part in the book.
If you want structured learning without shortcuts and pure hard work then the yusupov book series is the best. Topics are also not boring and full of sample & test exercises. A must have for every developing chess player!
German (speaking) readers note: This is the English translation if the German original "Tigersprung" series. The books are really good and studying them is definitely hard work. I gave up playing in a club 40 years ago - lack of time - and came back to chess 2 years ago. I soon noticed that the 1800 ELO books get difficult soon. The tactic problems were no real problem for me. But the strategic/positional problems... I don't know the English translations. However, the German version is the original. So, if you are German or have no problem with German chess books...
I do own them. Unfortunately I started with the last series, as my dwz at that point was 2000. But the examples are quite difficult, even in the first series. Some are directly taken from Endgame Manual. I remember a fun story told by Adhiban. One day he saw the book at his mother's shelf and he thought he will solve them on the fly, because it's only for 1800 players. He said he couldn't believe that's 1800 stuff, as it wasn't a walk in the park even for a player of his caliber😅The series helped me to boost my calculation skills quite a lot.
I can confirm that the rating range reported for the books should be a bit higher. I'd propose 1200-1700 for books 1, 1700-2000 for books 2, and 2000-2200 for books 3. I've gone through approximately 4 of these books, and they're fantastic.
Regarding the sequence of the books: The German version has volume numbers for each level (1500, 10800, 2100): Volume I, Volume II and "Übungsbuch" (Exercises).
At 8:43 I found 1. Qh7+ Kf8 2. Bf6 More or less the same as your solution. Discovering this over the board is certainly beyond 1500 😛 For me the second puzzle at 10:29 was much easier than the first one. I immediately saw the second bishop move.
My idea also was to start with Qh7. That also wins, but black has a more stubborn defense with 2...Nce7, when white still has to find Ng5 to continue the attack. 1.Bf6!! is a bit more clean.
Seems like it’s worth it’s weight in gold and would have been in your previous video. Follows your preference of encompassing all phases of the game - going to try and jump on it. Thanks again !
I once had email contact with Yusupov with a question about the scoring system. If you get the full point if you only got the first move from the solution in bold right. He said the scoring system shouldn't be taking THAT seriously and that it is mainly for fun and motivation. Even if you fail a chapter you have learned something and can move on and come back to it later.
Hi Andras, love your videos. I am around 1600 lichess, so probably a bit too low rating for this series of books. What would you recommend as my first chess book? I've been really enchanted by your review of Mastering Opening Strategy by Johan Helsten. Or do you think I can just go ahead with the Yusupov series?
But you said "Chess Structures A Grandmaster Guide" was the best book if you had to choose only one. Now I'm unsure of what to pack for my deserted island.
what do you think about Dvoretsky&Yusupov School of Future Champions? Should i combine that course with Yusupov Build up Your Chess, Boost Your Chess, Chess Evolution books ?
Thank you for your amazing review :) Always looking Forward and got several of your recommended books :) I'm still wondering about Hellstens Endgame Strategy book. Is a review on that still planned? :) Already got the opening book after your review
I purchased the first three book and was very disappointed with them. I remember reading the first book and there was a chapter on move 7 or 8 in the ruy lopez (could have the details wrong) . For under 1500? Almost every beginner chess book I have read said not to concentrate on specific openings, concentrate on opening principles. When other authors do this, they get mocked, but when AY does it, it get praised. As an average club player, I consider these books the most over rated series in print.
I have all 3 books in series 1 and 2. Six books in total. I started with the first and o'boy are they boring. And bizarrely difficult. I mean this is sub 1500-puzzle? That bonkers!
Chikos and Chikas...i wonder if Andras know that he is not the most beautiful guy on the planet🤠😂apart from that i think the book of that Indian coach on calculation is probably the best book...why would Yusopov's book suddenly be so great, i hope this has nothing to do with some promotion tricks?🤔
@@ChessCoachAndras Well my problem with your videos is that i don't know if your videos you put on you tube are just your own opinion about how chess work or will these topics you discussed here also be presented by great minds like Kasparov, or Magnus or Fischer, Tal etc in the way you understood the game?(that i don't know...because you know it's harder to unlearn wrong teachings and ideas once it's rooted in the brain!)(In one of Lasker's books...i think Manual of Chess he discussed there that he continually try to unlearn(to empty) his mind of garbage that he has learned over time!...and he explained why etc...I'm sure you know about what I'm talking about? I'm just careful what i put in my brain, fist of all i want to know that it is the truth for starters, so what is wrong with my approach?...because if your videos are true in the way you present them it will withstand all scrutiny and it will stand up to the test of time!...but if it is NOT then it works completely opposite don't you agree?🤔
@@KeepChessSimple I don't know maybe you are right(i never had the book( i think his name is R.B.Ramesh) in my hands but i listened to the whole podcast where he was interviewed about his book!)...yes it is hard he said but it is hard in terms of dedication to work through that book, it's not hard(as i understood him correctly) that the puzzles and exercises are beyond the understanding of a 2000 rated player or even lower...but anyway it is not a book that that will teach a beginner what castling is or what an pasant is...but that book sound extremely ordered and structured...so you will start off with a and then b and then c and lastly z...this GM Ramesh is one of the best couches in the world...so that is why i said that this book will be my choice if they put a gun to my head to choose a chess book🤠👍
@@Christiaan1958 the difference is that R.B. Ramesh wrote a book only on calculation with hard puzzles and Yusupov's series is not just about calculation, but about everything chess (and with hard puzzles too). It doesn't teach you castling either! You're going to work hard even if you're a master level chess player. I had a chance to look at both books and both are great. I would choose Yusupov's series (I mean all 9 books and not just 1) to take with me to desert island, because after learning all of the contents I know I'll be a well-rounded pattern-knowing calculating monster. If I'm to have only R.B. Ramesh's book, I would be just a calculating monster. To add to this, R.B. Ramesh's book is from 2022 and Yusupov's series - from 2011. I don't think this video is an advertisement (and Andras gets paid for it), as the book was published long ago.
I don't have the books, but I intend to get at least the first one for next year. The reading order is not intuitive but it's easier to remember if you imagine that the circle, square and triangle form an arrow ⏺⏹▶
