Just Curious - jeremysilman.com

[Peter McKillop]

It appears that Jeremy Silman's site, in particular the book review section, hasn't been updated for about 2 1/2 months. Anyone heard what's up?

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: Just Curious - jeremysilman.com

It appears that Jeremy Silman's site, in particular the book review section, hasn't been updated for about 2 1/2 months. Anyone heard what's up?

The book reviews were the only part that was being updated. They were always glowing and fairly useless, so I'm not sure it will bother me if it goes away. It is unfortunate though that there isn't a steady source of chess book reviews out there.

[Michael Yip]

Re: Recent Books

Some recent books
Attacking Chess
(a)King's Indian vol 1+2-Vigorito(Everyman 2010)
A competant summary of theory but the format is nauseating. No complete games just summaries of Line B23, B24 etc. I just use them for reference, so I've barely openned them.

(b)The French-Williams(Everyman 2011)
A really good book. Complete games without overwhelming notes. Plans and ideas clearly explained. A fun and informative book and one of my new favorites. Williams also did a good job on the New Sicilian Dragon(also complete games format)

How to Beat the Sicilian Defence-Garwain Jones(Everyman 2011)
Repertoire based on Bb5(+) and KIA vs 2....e6. A really good book. Complete games without overwhelming notes. Plans and ideas clearly explained. A fun and informative book and one of my new favorites. Looking forward to his next book

Strategic Wins Karpov Vol 1+2(Quality Chess 2011)
Very good books but author has a very irritating writing style.
(a)He frequently tries to guess what Karpov was thinking/feeling
(b)Lots of not so relevant information like how many times Karpov played this or that move
(c)no index of opennings
Good point is that tons of supplementary games are in the notes. You'll just never be able to find them again

Vol 1 also has at least one irrelevant game of AK as a kid which gets a glowing review but his opponent play just bad and AK played obvious moves.

the Sniper-Storey(Everyman 2011)
This book is awful. Superficial analysis, incomplete coverage...but complete games format followed.

Chess Evolution-Naditsch etc
A chess friend showed me one. I took 15 seconds and gave it back. BORING! all variations no text except little blurbs before each game. Rather like reading an Informator. I don't find this kind of book very useful.

The Grunfeld vol 1+2-Avrukh(Quality chess 2010)
The usual top quality job by Avrukh and readable for non-2400s. No complete games. Just lines, analysis, explanations of subtle points and the usual lots of TNs. Must have for Grunfelders and 1.d4 players.

Grandmaster Chess Strategy-Kern and Kaufeld(NIC 2011)
A good book based on complete games of Ulf Andersson. Training questions mixed in with text so you use it to guess the moves. The book is too short! There could have been so much more...so in that sense a disspointment. But overall one of my favorites.

Pinter's 1000 Combinations
Hardcover but book falls apart on first reading. Low quality production. Lots of repeated classic combos.

Michael Yip

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Just Curious - jeremysilman.com

It is unfortunate though that there isn't a steady source of chess book reviews out there.

Start write yourself :)

*-*
now reading secrets:

• Chess Secrets: The Giants of Strategy: Learn from Kramnik, Karpov, Petrosian, Capablanca and Nimzowitsch by Neil McDonald
  easy to follow games with many diagrams.
• Chess Secrets I Have Learned from the Masters by Edward Lasker
  a biography with elements of everything. (Em.Lasker was boycotting the German Chess federation because it did not support "grand"masters. Ed.Lasker went to a all-night party to celebrate the Alekhine's win in Scheveningen, and thus he was not in a form to fight for the third prize in the morning. Alekhine lost to Janovsky the last-round non-decisive game too :)
• Kasparov on Kasparov. a very good bedtime book with very long variations - the mind is lost after 5 min :)

[Erik Malmsten]

Re: Just Curious - jeremysilman.com

Start write yourself :)

*-*
now reading secrets:

• Chess Secrets: The Giants of Strategy: Learn from Kramnik, Karpov, Petrosian, Capablanca and Nimzowitsch by Neil McDonald
  easy to follow games with many diagrams.
• Chess Secrets I Have Learned from the Masters by Edward Lasker
  a biography with elements of everything. (Em.Lasker was boycotting the German Chess federation because it did not support "grand"masters. Ed.Lasker went to a all-night party to celebrate the Alekhine's win in Scheveningen, and thus he was not in a form to fight for the third prize in the morning. Alekhine lost to Janovsky the last-round non-decisive game too :)
• Kasparov on Kasparov. a very good bedtime book with very long variations - the mind is lost after 5 min :)

Excellent sharing. I remember a couple of times Chesstalkers giving list of their favourite books, Too bad this information isn't on the Strategy Games store website.

[Peter McKillop]

Re: Just Curious - jeremysilman.com

... They were always glowing and fairly useless, so I'm not sure it will bother me if it goes away. ...

I agree, with some exceptions. For instance, John Watson's and Randy Bauer's reviews were generally a cut above the rest.

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: Just Curious - jeremysilman.com

I agree, with some exceptions. For instance, John Watson's and Randy Bauer's reviews were generally a cut above the rest.

John Watson reviews books, infrequently, on TWIC. His work is quite good. Bauer no longer seems to write for Silman's site.

There's a weekly review on chesscafe.com. They often seem to be on DVD's though. The reviews are well-intentioned, but never seem to tell me much.

I have often thought that reviews are an excellent marketing tool. I have often gone out and sought a well-reviewed book that I would not have bought otherwise. I am rarely disappointed.