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Comprehensive Chess Course #5
Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player
Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player is the fifth volume in Grandmaster Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course series. Endorsed by world champion Garry Kasparov as revealing "the once-secret Russian method of chess training." this uses only materials and techniques that worked well in the former USSR. It contains hundreds of strikingly beautiful positions arranged by difficulty and designed to sharpen tactical recognition and vision. Nothing is left to chance in this work. All materials have already shown their worth in Russian chess instruction.
- GenresChess
333 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 1, 2013
Like the previous two books in the Comprehensive Chess Course series, this book gives the impression of having been slapped together in a weekend.
The selection of ideas (good vs bad bishop, weak and strong squares, etc) is mundane. This book adds nothing in that area. Reshevsky's Art of Positional Play is much better.
The selection of games and positions to illustrate these ideas is also particularly uninspired. Pachman's Complete Chess Strategy does a much better job selecting material.
The lack of commentary and analysis borders on the obscene for a book that claims it will help me become a master. I've given games of speed chess more thorough analysis than this. Where the analysis seems particularly educational and/or thorough, you can be sure it is merely a recompilation of previously published analysis. As just a couple (of many) examples, the analysis of Botvinnik-Boleslavsky (p182) comes from Botvinnik's 100 Selected Games, and the analysis of Tarrasch-Lasker (p217) comes from Reti.
Worst of all, analysis from earlier sources is uncritically poached without the slightest attempt at verification. For example, the analysis of MilnerBarry-ZnoskoBorovsky (p182) is taken from Euwe's Judgment & Planning in Chess. In that book, Euwe ends with "if 24....fxe5, White plays 25.Qg6 Bf6 the game is decided by the invasion of the rooks by means of 26. Rfc1 with the idea of 27.Rc7." Alburt & Palatnik copy this sentence almost verbatim. What Euwe missed (and Alburt & Palatnik didn't even bother to look for) is that Black has 26....e4 27.Rc7 Qxd4+ as a perfectly good defense and White is down a bishop for nothing.
You will learn nothing from this book; save your money.
The selection of ideas (good vs bad bishop, weak and strong squares, etc) is mundane. This book adds nothing in that area. Reshevsky's Art of Positional Play is much better.
The selection of games and positions to illustrate these ideas is also particularly uninspired. Pachman's Complete Chess Strategy does a much better job selecting material.
The lack of commentary and analysis borders on the obscene for a book that claims it will help me become a master. I've given games of speed chess more thorough analysis than this. Where the analysis seems particularly educational and/or thorough, you can be sure it is merely a recompilation of previously published analysis. As just a couple (of many) examples, the analysis of Botvinnik-Boleslavsky (p182) comes from Botvinnik's 100 Selected Games, and the analysis of Tarrasch-Lasker (p217) comes from Reti.
Worst of all, analysis from earlier sources is uncritically poached without the slightest attempt at verification. For example, the analysis of MilnerBarry-ZnoskoBorovsky (p182) is taken from Euwe's Judgment & Planning in Chess. In that book, Euwe ends with "if 24....fxe5, White plays 25.Qg6 Bf6 the game is decided by the invasion of the rooks by means of 26. Rfc1 with the idea of 27.Rc7." Alburt & Palatnik copy this sentence almost verbatim. What Euwe missed (and Alburt & Palatnik didn't even bother to look for) is that Black has 26....e4 27.Rc7 Qxd4+ as a perfectly good defense and White is down a bishop for nothing.
You will learn nothing from this book; save your money.
May 18, 2021
What a great book! A very specific audience yes, but great examples and insights from an awesome author.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews