Rapid Chess Improvement (Everyman Chess)
by Michael de la Maza
List Price:
Buy Used: from $2.70 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
(Click here)
Book Summary Information
Author: Michael de la MazaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-06-01
ISBN: 1857442695
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Everyman Chess
Book Reviews of Rapid Chess Improvement (Everyman Chess)
Book Review: Someone needs to say what this book is and isn't about
Summary: 1 Stars
I have been driven nuts by some of the reviews here and got so fired up that I finally had to write a review of my own. It seems that nobody here is willing to put their finger on what this book can and cannot do. My review isn't as much about whether or not you should get this book... It's more about what this book is and what it isn't.
First off, if you are seeking a greater understanding of chess, this is NOT the book for you.
What this book can do for you, as advertised, is to bump your rating up, and quickly in many cases. I know people who have studied this book and whose ratings increased greatly in a short period of time. I myself was tempted into the program, though I created my own tactics database of 1000 positions in my favorite chessplaying program rather than buy the recommended software.
Once I started going through my database, I began seeing the errors other players were making against me during games much more clearly and I was able to capitalize on those errors as a direct result of my studies. In addition, I was not hanging pieces as often anymore and I almost never hang a piece when I play nowadays. This is beneficial, of course, but therein lies the rub, and also the reason I stopped using this book.
The entire system of play the author advocates only works by capitalizing on other people's mistakes while minimizing blunders of your own. To be fair, the author is pretty up front about this system of play. However, there is no mention of creating a weakness in the opponent's army, no mention of how to build an attack, and no mention of how to put your pieces into positions that will favor you so that when the opporunity for a tactical shot comes, you can play it confidently. These are the things that chess is about!
The only thing you will be able to do better after a study of this book is to recognize tactical errors in your opponent's play and prevent tactical errors of your own. If you want to play strong chess, you must go beyond tactics and create opportunities to win games, not simply wait for the other player to make a tactical error!
Sharpening your tactics is an absolute necessity if you want to win games. There is no doubt about that. But I have become a much stronger player now that I have devoted what little study time I have to learning about the game, rather than going through a bunch of tactical drills repeatedly. You can certainly win your share of games by waiting for the other player to make an error - as the author (correctly) points out in his book - and your rating will most certainly go up. However, I must ask: since when is chess about accumulating rating points?
There is no way a player can reach the Master level by simply studying this book. Masters are not only extremely strong tactically, but in addition, Masters also understand many different elements of the game (there's more to it than just tactics!) and a study of this book will take you nowhere in that pursuit.
If you are content with a quick-fix "infomercial" approach (as several other reviewers have called it - lol), and you simply want your rating to go up, then this book has merit. But if you want to truly learn about chess, which most of us who play do, I must urge you to study something else.
Summary of Rapid Chess Improvement (Everyman Chess)
This is the ideal book for serious adult players who want to improve. It describes a study plan that came about thanks to a re-evaluation of standard chess teaching and includes several unique components aimed at improving deficiencies in the play of adult players. This book is the only one of its kind for the simple reason that it has been written by an author who hugely improved his own rating over a twelve month period by following his own advice. He therefore fully understands the challenges faced by enthusiastic players who are relatively new to the game. This is in sharp contrast to most books aimed at this level which are usually written by very strong players who have long forgotten what it feels like to be starting out in the game. (6 1/4 x 9 1/4, 128 pages, diagrams)Chess Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in "Chess is 99% tactics"
Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas, Second Editionby Lev Alburt
Chess Information and Research Center; Published: 2000-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.26
Price in other shops:
Sharpen Your Tacticsby Anatoly Lein, Boris Archangelsky
Hays Publishing; Published: 1996-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.94
Price in other shops:
1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate (Chess lovers' library)by Fred Reinfeld
Wilshire Book Company; Published: 1971-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
The Art of Checkmateby Georges Renaud, Victor Kahn
Dover Publications; Published: 1962-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Gamesby Laszlo Polgar
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; Published: 2006-01-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.28
Price in other shops:
Rapid Chess Improvement (Everyman Chess)by Michael de la Maza
Everyman Chess; Published: 2002-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess, Third Editionby Patrick Wolff
Alpha; Published: 2005-05-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.51
Price in other shops:
My System: 21st Century Editionby Aron Nimzowitsch, Lou Hays
Hays Publishing; Published: 1991; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
Simple Chess: New Algebraic Editionby Michael Stean
Dover Publications; Published: 2003-01-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.83
Price in other shops:
Chess Tactics for Studentsby John A. Bain
Learning Plus, Incorporated; Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.16
Price in other shops:
Chessmaster: Grandmaster EditionUBI Soft; Ubisoft; Release date: 2007-10-30; Windows; Video Games
Best price: $11.10
Price in other shops:
The Improving Chess Thinkerby Dan Heisman
Mongoose Press; Published: 2009-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.95
Price in other shops:
Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Gamesby Laszlo Polgar
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; Published: 2006-01-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategyby Ray Cheng
Wheatmark; Published: 2007-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.08
Price in other shops:
Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Masterby Jeremy Silman
Siles Press; Published: 2007-01-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.65
Price in other shops:
The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Masteryby Jeremy Silman
Siles Press; Published: 1999-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops: