The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery

I wanted to write my first product review on Amazon for this book because I think I may have a slightly different perspective on its value than a lot of the reviewers on here. I don't have a USCF rating, but I do play against HIARCS regularly and it seems to classify me somewhere in the neighborhood of 1150. I think this is an important point to note, because this puts me firmly below the rating level most people suggest you attain before starting on Silman's books (Coach Dan Heisman, for instance, recommends waiting until you reach 1400 before tackling The Amateur's Mind, and 1600 before the "big guns" of How to Reassess Your Chess). The reason for this suggestion is generally given to be a need for low-level players to focus on tactics until they are blue in the face, because all of the positional theory in the world won't help you if you miss a nasty knight fork and lose huge amounts of material. As someone who has blundered away more than a few games, I certainly understand their point. With that said, I really believe that a player at my level will benefit tremendously from studying this book. I've noticed a marked increase in my board vision and goal-setting since starting to work through The Amateur's Mind, these are concepts that seem to be thought of as "intangibles" in the realm of casual chess play. Perhaps I still make mistakes frequently, but the mistakes I make are now (generally) oversight errors rather than hopeless tactical fishing... this is the sort of thing that will correct itself with experience and focus. In other words, now when I blunder away a game it is within the context of having a plan that is less effective than that of my opponent! Although I haven't seen the huge increase in rating points that many people claim to realize after digesting this book, I do think that it is only a matter of time and practice before this happens for me, too. I now see the reasons for many opponent moves that once seemed mysterious, and find myself better able to understand why I lost when it happens. I also have a handful of over-the-board nemeses who beat me frequently by the use of their superior tactical skill, but as I watch them play now I am beginning to identify their own strategic failings. While steadily improving my tactical abilities would doubtlessly lead me toward standing toe-to-toe with my usual opponents, an equal amount of tactical improvement combined with stronger positional awareness must result in my being able to not just compete, but win. Perhaps this is not the most commonly prescribed method for improving one's play, but I think that there is a clear delineation between chess players who win by tactics and bravado (not that these are mutually exclusive) and chess players who, nonplussed by their swashbuckling foe, leave him badly beaten and somewhat confused as to where it was he went wrong. I work on tactics problems daily and I don't want to be misunderstood: at a low level of skill, tactics are clearly the area of playing chess that deserves the most time and effort. However, as someone who doesn't take lessons and largely learns by self-directed study, I think The Amateur's Mind challenges the developing player to become aware of the concept of strategy; before reading the reviews of this and Reassess, I was hardly aware of the distinction between the two! After purchasing TAM and working through a couple of chapters, I can say I finally realize what I had long believed but not understood: chess is not a game of single position / solve for x puzzles played in sequence until someone loses, a game of chess develops organically around two people seeking to impose their will on each other. That's a big shift in mindset, and I would be willing to bet it's an extremely valuable one!

This is not a book for rank beginners but if you have a reasonable grasp on tactics and some idea of how to open then this is a great primer for starting strategy. I played quite a lot of chess as a early teenager but never any real study, as such while I was reasonably tactically sound, I would often flounder after the openning if the opponent was playing solidly not knowing really where I should be playing. Now in my thirties I've begun playing again, both online and over the board. I've read a few books, some tactics to sharpen that, some opening books to make sure I don't get in a tangle out of the openning, Silman's endgame book to make sure I recognise how win and when I can go into won end games. All this is good and necessary but of course there is also the question of strategy, as Tartakower put it of "knowing what to do when there is nothing to do". This book taught me quite a bit about how to find the right moves when there is "nothing to do". How to play against knights or with bishops and more particularly about space advantage how to play to strengthen my position not just look for material winning tactics. Where I should be looking to play and how to identify weak squares etc. I can't say I can do it perfectly now or never get sucked into becoming a mindless king hunter, or can always identify what my opponents plan is, but its getting better. Its satisfying to play a move that is both good and one that you wouldn't have considered a few months earlier. I recommend working through the book a few times, read it do the problems at the end - giving the positions a lot of thought before looking at the answers. Then a few months later come back. You can go probably go through it faster but see how you go on some of the problems. Yes you'll probably remember some but that is part of the point. If you are like me however you'll still get quite a few wrong, and need to learn it over again.

Esta obra, é para aqueles que desejam melhorar suas interpretações nas partidas de xadrez. Seja jogando, estudando, reproduzindo partidas, ou aprendendo novos ensinamentos. Nos coloca como uma terceira pessoa, usando varios alunos(as), parceiros(as), nos exemplos com uma variedade de conhecimentos, que nos leva a pensar sobre os lances realizados, suas imprecisões e seus acertos. Desde o primeiro capitulo com "imbalances", já traz a necessidade de desnvolver ideias a partir das diferentes estruturas, em material, ou em criação de planos. Estou lendo com calma, pois merece dedicar algum tempo, em cada capitulo lido. Chegou no prazo prometido, e comprei este livro com base nos argumentos postados por outros leitores. Muito bom para praticantes desta arte.

This is a review from a professional chess coach from Chennai ( Arun - Rebel chess academy) I have a decode of experience in coaching beginner all the way upto 1500 fide. Silmans book bundle along which includes Amateur mind is a excellent way to teach beginners about the positional concepts. After this you can use books by Nimzowitsch or Johan hellesten series.

Soy un jugador que tengo entre unos 1400 y 1600 de rating en chess.com. Compré este libro por las reseñas y porque he visto que Silman es excelente para transmitir el conocimiento ajedrecístico. Este libro ha rebasado todas mis expectativas. Es justamente lo que yo buscaba, un libro que realmente me ayude a comenzar a ver aquellas cosas que no alcanzo a ver en mis partidas. Quizás cosas tan comunes en jugadores fuertes, pero que yo no podía ver o no era consciente de ello en mis partidas. Silman tiene una forma de transmitir única, didáctica, porque pone posiciones a sus alumnos (de distintos niveles de rating) y los pone a analizar en voz alta, y de esa manera Silman puede darse cuenta en dónde está el error en su forma de pensamiento o de analizar una posición. Eso es lo que me parece que ayuda a abrir el cerebro a jugadores como yo, que tienen rato jugando, pero que no he alcanzado a crecer por falta de ver en el juego cosas que son importantísimas ver. Yo lo recomiendo para jugadores que ya tienen unos 1200 a 1600 de rating (aclaro que me baso en el rating de chess.com).

If you think you're bad at chess, let me tell you a secret: everyone is bad at chess. If you're good at chess, tell you a secret: everyone is bad at chess. Get yourself a copy of this book. The most exciting journey of your life if nothing else. And I've been places. Every couple years I re-read it anew, and every couple years it's like I've never read it before. That's the kind of book we're talking about.

Un livre indispensable que j'aurais aimé avoir à mes débuts. Loin des livres innombrables sur les ouvertures, Silman, sur la base de parties de professionnels trace le raisonnement de ses élèves par rapport à ces parties, comme nous pourrions le faire nous-mêmes. On se reconnait forcément dans l'une ou l'autre de ces raisonnements. Très pédagogique, il en profite pour énoncer les principes de base des Echecs de manière très simple, mais aussi des concepts que l'on ne voit nulle part ailleurs. Il apprend à penser par nous-mêmes, sans compter sur l'erreur de l'adversaire. A recommander, même aux non amateurs. Tout simplement excellent et exceptionnel.