Best Lessons of a Chess Coach (McKay Chess Library) (Paperback)

The pragmatism of the author does not make the book dryer or less enthusiastic.. it simply means that the goals that you are aiming for in a game are more likely to be pulled off, and hence it is a source of happiness when rules to keep in mind are given for chess pragmatism. Lots of general rules are given, many of which for the first time for the reader. I'll quote a few examples: "Two pawns on the fourth can act as a screen to move pieces around.", "Do not look at what you are trading; look at what is left on the board after the trade.", "A rook lift is generally preferred over a pawn storm if both players are castled on the same side of the board". There are a great number of such hints, and these are gems for a player moving from not-great to intermediate. I'd recommend this book to anyone who hasn't studied strategy already to some depth. I had already read quite a lot of a strategy book, and despite that book being quite comprehensive, Weeramantry's book brought up things that weren't mentioned, or weren't explained as clearly in the other book.

This book is so readable that I studied through all ten chapters with my magnetic chess set in 4 days. I think the breakdown was two lessons on the first day, one on the second, three on the third, and four on the fourth. The book still looks like it could be fresh from the shelf at the bookstore, though I have made underlinings throughout it as you will probably do. At the end of each chapter, (or "lesson"), there is a review section, bulletpointing the themes touched upon in that lesson, and a list of 'Guidelines' and 'Advice' of things mentioned during the lesson, and also several supplementary games with themes similar to those in the lesson are given to be studied independently, though they are annotated at the parts most relevant to the things learnt during the particular lesson. These review sections at the end are a major plus. I felt throughout that it was a pleasure to have access to these chess lessons, and that the price of a book is extremely cheap for ten lessons that feel like one-to-one chess tuition. This book cannot be highly enough recommended for a chess player who is a begginer and wants to improve, or who may consider themselves intermediate already but will likely benefit from the consistency and comprehensiveness of these lessons.

The pragmatism of the author does not make the book dryer or less enthusiastic.. it simply means that the goals that you are aiming for in a game are more likely to be pulled off, and hence it is a source of happiness when rules to keep in mind are given for chess pragmatism. Lots of general rules are given, many of which for the first time for the reader. I'll quote a few examples: "Two pawns on the fourth can act as a screen to move pieces around.", "Do not look at what you are trading; look at what is left on the board after the trade.", "A rook lift is generally preferred over a pawn storm if both players are castled on the same side of the board". There are a great number of such hints, and these are gems for a player moving from not-great to intermediate. I'd recommend this book to anyone who hasn't studied strategy already to some depth. I had already read quite a lot of a strategy book, and despite that book being quite comprehensive, Weeramantry's book brought up things that weren't mentioned, or weren't explained as clearly in the other book.

This book is so readable that I studied through all ten chapters with my magnetic chess set in 4 days. I think the breakdown was two lessons on the first day, one on the second, three on the third, and four on the fourth. The book still looks like it could be fresh from the shelf at the bookstore, though I have made underlinings throughout it as you will probably do. At the end of each chapter, (or "lesson"), there is a review section, bulletpointing the themes touched upon in that lesson, and a list of 'Guidelines' and 'Advice' of things mentioned during the lesson, and also several supplementary games with themes similar to those in the lesson are given to be studied independently, though they are annotated at the parts most relevant to the things learnt during the particular lesson. These review sections at the end are a major plus. I felt throughout that it was a pleasure to have access to these chess lessons, and that the price of a book is extremely cheap for ten lessons that feel like one-to-one chess tuition. This book cannot be highly enough recommended for a chess player who is a begginer and wants to improve, or who may consider themselves intermediate already but will likely benefit from the consistency and comprehensiveness of these lessons.