Winning Chess Strategies

by Yasser Seirawan

A complete overview of proven chess principles that teaches players how to deploy their pieces using the right moves at the right time to build small advantages into effective, long range strategies.

Genres: Chess, Nonfiction, Games, Reference

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Yasser Seirawan is an American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He is a published chess author and commentator. His peak FIDE rating was 2658, which he reached in November, 2011.

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting publication, as it is Microsoft Press; meaning that it was first put together on Word. Let me first say that there is an error on page 246 (there's a funny joke about publishers who thought they published an error-less book - they got the title wrong). Some manuals do not "give a King's point count as 3 1/2". Some manuals give a Knight's point count as 3 1/2.

This was the first serious chess book I have read through, and let me tell you, I got my analysis board good and broken-in. The other neophytic chess books I've read have been no where near 257 pages.

As a chess and chess literature newbie, I really learned a lot. I learned of pawn structures; I learned to read the position and know whether to prefer knights or bishops for the endgame; I learned of territory, and of targets.

Seirawan, towards the end, becomes a bit more conversational in his writing; and I like that. He even references a "prose-like" chess work, which I have now forgotten. I wish I had taken notes with a voice recorder, or used a highlighter at least, so that I could look up the books he mentioned. It will take a while to go back through. There was just so much good information; and yet, after every couple of paragraphs, you are given theory to work through on your analysis board.

The diagrams given half-way through notations were really helpful. Many times, I found I had erred. Wishing to glean as much knowledge as I could, I would start over from the beginning anyway.

Seirawan and Silman proved to me with this book that I really enjoy the nightly ritual of chess reading. My 5" magnetic sheesham wood set and I look forward to more.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love attacking and mixing it up, but after spending a few weeks with this and adopting a more defensive posture at the board, I find that not only have I not lost in several weeks, but I'm now handily beating people I used to consider my equals (or, in a couple of cases, my betters.)

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humorously enough, I finished reading this book shortly after playing my first face-to-face chess game in a few years, which I lost (alas) in a tough endgame after a largely closed position on the board.  I suppose like many people I can read about chess [1] better than playing it.  As this is the third book by the authors I have read, I have to say that this is the first of those books that I felt spoke to where I am at as a chess player.  The first book I read from them was a bit too challenging as it was aimed at people who looked to become chess masters, something I have not decided to do.  The second book I read of theirs was a bit too basic and had a political angle I was not in favor of, and so it was even more disappointing of a read than the first volume.  This third book, though, I think gets the balance right.  The book is aimed at positional and strategic play and does so in a pleasant and enjoyable and worthwhile fashion, making this the first book by the authors I have read that I can wholeheartedly recommend for a reader like myself.

This book of a bit more than 200 pages is divided into twelve chapters after its acknowledgements and introduction and before its glossary and index.  The authors begin a discussion about the importance of strategy in building a long-term pattern of victory in chess (1).  After that the authors talk about how one makes the most of a material advantage (2) and stops enemy counterplay by giving the other person's pieces nowhere to go and nothing to do (3).  There is then a lengthy discussion of understanding where the pieces go (4)--something that some readers might (mistakenly) think of as an obvious and trivial issue, before the author talks about superior minor pieces (5) and how to properly use pawns (6).  After this the authors discuss various positional matters such as the creation of targets (7) through moves and sacrifices as well as territorial domination that hems in positions (8).  After this the authors discuss how to attack the king (9) and some faulty strategies that readers should avoid (10) before closing the book with a historical discussion of some great masters of strategy throughout the last 150 years or so like Steinitz, Rubinstein, Capablanca, Nimzovich, Petrosian, and Karpov, with some apologies for not including Botvinnik and Fischer (11) and giving solutions to the book's various problems (12).

It is clear that without attempting a detailed discussion of positional thinking that this book seeks to provide the authors with an entry into the overall celebration and encouragement of positional principles among chess players.  Properly speaking, there are several different ways that players can approach chess.  Some players are heroic and romantic tactical players that seek to win through grand attacks.  There are also players, especially nowadays, who seek to win scientifically through the pursuit of engine-like play.  In between these two approaches, though, there is room for those who pursue sound positional play without the calculation of every option, and who seek to pursue gradual elements of permanent advantage that can be turned into (eventual) victory.  As those who have played chess against me are well aware of, I tend to be a grinder when it comes to patient and gradual play that takes a lot out of people.  Perhaps with time and a lot more practice I will be back where I feel comfortable playing chess with other people face to face a lot more often, but in the meantime at least there are good books to provide thought-provoking material on the subject.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

[Antonín Praus · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first ever chess book, and thus formal introduction to chess. All I had before that were youtube videos and days upon days of trial and error.

When I picked it up, I had already been playing online for some 3,5 years and made it to ~1500 rapid rating on chess.com, which translates to roughly top 3% of online players worldwide and logged over 14 000 games. That being said, I lacked much of the formal knowledge necessary to advance beyond intermediate level and skipped many concepts along my mostly self taught journey. This book helped me clear some of those things out and made think about things like pawn islands, outposts, structures, weak and strong squares etc.

It all reads pretty well, Seirawan explains all the concepts clearly and I found his style easy to digest. Now let's see how it all pays off in action!

[Haraldohoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, engaging, deep, amusing. GM Yasser is a charming raconteur.

As an adult learner of chess (about 1100 chess com rated) that did not go through any scholastic or organized lessons, this book filled in so very many knowledge holes in my basic understanding of chess. My thinking and execution is much improved.

You can sometimes catch Yasser on the ChessBrah Twitch Channel for deep analyses, good cheer and hilarious stories.

[Chris MacFadyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 4.5/5 -Winning Chess Strategies is a great introductory level book for serious club players into the foreign land of strategical chess. Yasser's writing is concise and informative, while also engaging and interesting. Highly recommend this or Simple Chess by Stean as first books for getting your feet wet into strategical chess.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

great as a first book on chess strategy

[Matthew Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

fire. i love grandmaster seirawan's narration and he clearly explains each concept. makes me more thoughtful about my games

[Ravi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

Yasser Seirawan shares the essential strategies involved in positional play of chess in an amazingly simple way. I've watched a few of his instruction videos on YouTube and was so impressed that I looked for any books from him. It is so kind of him that he authored the Winning Chess series books where he shares profound knowledge of chess in a simple and interesting way.

Winning Chess Strategies, in particular, is a book that every chess enthusiast should read (and study). Seirawan introduces us to the winning chess strategies in a logical way and complements the material with more than 100 chess positions and real games played by masters serving as practical examples of the strategies discussed. He also gives us a lot of test situations helping us improve the application of the principles better.

I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to broaden the understanding of the game of chess.

[Sharad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this was a good book. I was expecting a lot after really liking "Winning Chess Tactics" from the same authors but was a little bit disappointed. It overlaps quite a bit with "The Amateur's Mind" which I read before so I didn't feel like I was learning new concepts. The one chapter I really liked however was "The great masters of Strategy". It's very cool getting games from great strategic players.

I would recommend it for people that haven't read a chess strategy book before. Surprisingly the language of the book is a little bit mature at points so I would recommend it for improving adults instead of kids.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Winning Chess Strategies” by Yasser Seirawan is a great book that provides a good list of advice and strategies.

While the author does explain multiple strategic principles, which may be a bit complex for beginners, the book also offers beautifully played games with explanations and encouraging life stories.

I highly recommend this book, or its Chessable version, to anyone interested in chess.

Thank you.

[Ian Mullet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yasser Seirawan:
"Hundreds of thousands of books have been written about chess. What can you hope to learn from this one? With all due modesty, a lot.... In this book, I show you chess as a science.

ps if you're in austin come to chess night at the carver library!

pps we'll be switching to thursday nights after new year's.

[Çağlayan Taybaş · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yasser Seirawan farkıyla yazılmış harika bir satranç kitabı. Satrançtaki temel stratejik ilkeleri örneklerle ve büyük ustaların maçları üzerinde öğrenmek için okumanızı tavsiye ederim. Seirawan satranç anlatırken esprili uslübuyla okuyucuyu hiç sıkmıyor ve birçok zaman güldürmeyi de ihmal etmiyor.

[William Herbst · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this volume of the series to drag quite a bit. Not sure that reading this helped my game in any respect.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan strikes an enthusiastic, eloquent tone in this guide geared toward all levels of chess players. With useful depictions and simple algebraic notation, Seirawan informs his readers of the pitfalls and golden rules of this byzantine, challenging game, eagerly imparting versatile techniques aimed toward gaming the board to readers' advantage. As a relatively mediocre chess player, this book acquainted me with many of the fundamentals of the game and equipped me with insights that would have eschewed my understanding otherwise.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great chess book! This was my first by Yasser Seirawan and likely won’t be my last! Loved his approach to chess strategy and how he sprinkled his ideas with humor and great game analysis to make his points! Really enjoyed reading it and playing through the games on my board! Highly recommended! 😎♟

[Rodrigo Monico-Barros · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid teaching manual. The authors do a good job of explaining concepts and how to implement them into one's games. The book is both intelligent and interesting. I feel like my chess game improved after this book.

[Dan Hyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good workbook approach. Gives examples, poses questions and also gives the most likely responses to a particular position by %. Need to go back and spend more time with this book when I have time.

[Mika Garibov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the first chess book I read in my life. The book is written in a very clear and clever way. Every single detail is explained explicitly.

I loved it so much and I'd recommend if you are new to chess. Looking forward to reading other books of the series.

[Phillip Woodard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read Chess instructions. One of a series of books from the same author.

[Noah Seymour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memorable read in the life of any chess player. For those who haven't indulged, you are missing out.

[Seonghyun Cho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep hanging my queen how do I stop this

[Wyatt Lindvall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is great book for most of the rating range. Definitely learned a couple new things from it. Yasser is the goat

[Hector · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer for strategy, though somehow it feels insufficient. My games are still decided on tactics and not on any of the concepts from this book.

[Firoze Cassim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful book. Especially the chapter about 'Where the pieces go'.

[Joel Rockey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yasser is one of the best chess authors I've read.

[Abner Rosenweig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seirawan is a master--or should I say grandmaster?--at making difficult chess concepts accessible to the amateur. His books are always a pleasure to work through. WCS provides a clear discussion of what chess strategy is, then dives into multiple ways to accumulate and maintain strategic advantages throughout a game (material, stopping counterplay, using the pieces, pawn structure, targets, space, how to attack, faulty plans). Many amateur players are tactical fiends and don't appreciate positional play. This book gives the reader an appreciation for the subtlety of the game and gets him thinking and playing on a deeper level. I only wish the book went deeper into the concepts. However, now that I'm more versed in strategic ideas, I feel ready to go beyond this book, and that is probably Seirawan's intention.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of chess strategy.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aight. I didn't find it as informative as his other books.

[Swapnil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book if you seriously want to improve your game.