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

On page 50, the book reads, "Notice that when reality hit him he began to blame the position. His problem is that he wants instant gratification. Trying to make use of one's advantages in a slow, controlled manner is an alien concept to him. He only speaks of kingside attacks and mates. At this point I stopped the game in disgust."Wow! If this means that Silman expressed disgust in a way visible to the student, this becomes a learning tool for teachers on any subject: bad news, a gesture which does not help make progress.Also, Silman's psychological analysis is lame. First, we do not even know the age of this student, who was probably a "little kid."But, should we refuse to read this book? No. There are plenty of college professors who have similar emotional issues and would result in them also expressing disgust. Or, how about your boss? There also exist bosses who might illegitimately express disgust at your work even though you may feel that you did your best given the complexities of your job.The only difference is that a college professor would never put it down on paper; a college professor is a little more world savy.So, Silman's unfiltered writing tells us something about our world. As a parent, you need to know about this world, and choose teachers who will not embroil your children in unnecessary emotional turmoil.But, what about learning chess? How is the book on that topic?I have never had a chess coach. Keep in mind that some authors think that having a chess coach is an important ingredient. In fact, reading through a book on Amazon recently, one author added, "you have a tennis coach, don't you? Why not a chess coach?"At my level, I figure I don't need a chess coach right now. I currently have a United States Chess Federation rating of 1400.But, to the answer: for me, yes, because attempting to understand the salient points of a chess position is difficult. So, the more examples I see, the more examples I am walked through, the better. So, on page 68 it reads, "However, if White had noted Black's sole weakness on d6, he might have hit upon a plan that called for an immediate attack on this target by Rd1, b3, and Ba3. More fuel can be added to this fire by Ng5 and, after the trade of light-squared Bishops, Nge4."Now, some reviewers might disagree with this analysis, or be concerned that a young child might in some way be mislead. I cannot comment on this because I am an adult. For me, as an adult, I appreciate the ideas being presented. I already understand that an idea by itself is not enough (obviously the idea fits into other ideas, other contexts, and other aspects of the position, such as tactics). But, I definitely like to see what ideas are being tossed out there which I then can consider and judge.This is not to say that no other books discuss such topics, for they do (taking into account that different authors give different views and emphasis into the problem domain). Sometimes reading two different books on a similar topic can be helpful when the two authors, taken together as a whole, cover the information more completely.In short, I write this review for adults. There are some very negative reviews on this book which might give an adult pause. I guess this book is popular based upon the fact that it has so many glowing reviews (and also that there only exist about 10 used copies of this book for sale on amazon below the retail price of a new book).In short, an adult need not be afraid of buying this book. That is the primary point of my review.Also, as an adult attending weekly chess club games (the first time control is 40 moves in 110 minutes, for example, and the game can last up to about five hours), I find it fascinating how the students in this book are faced with the difficulties of parsing a chess position. After all, it is difficult! It is a skill that one might learn with practice over time! So, in a sense, disregarding Silman's sometimes negative interpretation of the motivations of his students, we as the reader, share our experiences of the complexity of chess with the students presented in the book. This creates a form of emotional and experiencial bonding with people going through the similar solving of problems. I suspect that it is this aspect of the book, which makes this book so popular. However, this is not to say that it does not contain other information and ways of presenting information which are also appreciated.

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!

I was a little apprehensive to start this book, simply based on the title. I've read a few other chess books and consider myself above "beginner" (not sure of my exact rating, maybe 1200-1300). But now that I've started it I've found it to be an incredible read. The book is broken into chapters which are based on various chess concepts (Bishop vs. Knight imbalance for example). Silman presents a situation (sometimes from a real game, sometimes just made up) and then allows multiple of his students (of various ratings 900-2000) to play as one side while he plays the other. The students reveal their assessment of the initial situation and their reason for each move thereafter. All the while Silman (speaking to the reader but not to the student playing) judges their reasoning and points out where they missed something important or misconception that misguided them. He lets them play out the situation until they reach their point of ruin or success. Silman's assessments are succinct and well thought out. I've read a few books recently that were too dumbed down and slow, but "Amateur's Mind" for whatever reason never bored me or seemed dull or simplistically written. I have found this style to extremely useful for grasping some of these concepts and I find this book already positively affecting my chess game (and I'm only on page 100).FYI: I found a chess board to be necessary for following along in this book. There will be a diagram for the starting position but there will then be 10-15 moves that follow, sometimes without any other additional diagrams. I recently bought a mini magnetic chess set that I really recommend: http://amzn.com/B0019F3DN6.