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Modern Chess Analysis
A Gambit Classic Techniques that have revolutionized chess analysis
"Despite being a chess professional who uses chess software almost every day to analyse and prepare for games, I learned numerous new techniques from Smith's book." - GM Ian Rogers
Chess analysis is nearly as old as the game itself, with many of the pioneering works by the giants of chess history being devoted to the analysis of positions, openings and endings. Chess analysis, theory, and knowledge advanced with each subsequent analyst building upon the knowledge of those who went before, using methods that had changed little since those earlier times.
That is until now.
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” - attributed to Albert Einstein
Personal computers and powerful chess software are having a profound effect on chess analysis and theory. Today it is hard to find a grandmaster who does not use a computer, and yet this is the first book devoted to combining the computer and the human brain for chess analysis - an endeavour that is central to modern chess.
However, this book does far more than explain methods for computer-assisted analysis. Readers will develop a deeper understanding of the strengths and limitations of the human mind, and a greater understanding of many areas of chess while working through the examples that Robin Smith presents.
The many topics in this wide-ranging book
Robin Smith is a top-class correspondence chess player. He has been USA Correspondence Chess Champion on two occasions and has won a World Correspondence Chess Championship semi-final.
"if used properly [computers] can be a very useful aid to analysis. However, there is more to it than just setting up the position and asking the computer to analyse it, for there are some types of position in which the computer excels, and others in which it simply flounders. Basically, the computer works best in tandem with the human player, not independently of him/her. ... There is no doubt that the author really understands the strengths and weaknesses of the silicon monster, and the book contains lots of useful tips and advice. Whether we like it or not, computers are very much part of chess as they are of all other aspects of our lives, and he who is in the position to make best use of them will inevitably prosper." - Alan Sutton, En Passant
"a remarkable guide to using chess software to optimum effect. ... within a few pages I was hooked. ... Smith is a correspondence player who has apparently endless time to test examples on all the major chess programs and by astute use of these programs he convincingly unravels some positions which had been assumed to be invulnerable to computer analysis. Keen to discover whether Smith's insights were new or would be common knowledge to the computer programming community, I passed the book on to an artificial intelligence expert, Rodney Topor from Brisbane's Griffith University. Fortunately Topor was also impressed, commenting, 'Smith's descriptions of chess programs are very accurate and I was interested to learn how much difference there is between them.'" - GM Ian Rogers, Canberra Times
"What struck me immediately was the elegance and clarity of Mr. Smith's writing style. Quite aside from his ground-breaking analysis of the interface between game of chess, the human brain and computers, the book is a pleasure to read." - H. Johnson (Amazon reviewer)
"Despite being a chess professional who uses chess software almost every day to analyse and prepare for games, I learned numerous new techniques from Smith's book." - GM Ian Rogers
Chess analysis is nearly as old as the game itself, with many of the pioneering works by the giants of chess history being devoted to the analysis of positions, openings and endings. Chess analysis, theory, and knowledge advanced with each subsequent analyst building upon the knowledge of those who went before, using methods that had changed little since those earlier times.
That is until now.
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” - attributed to Albert Einstein
Personal computers and powerful chess software are having a profound effect on chess analysis and theory. Today it is hard to find a grandmaster who does not use a computer, and yet this is the first book devoted to combining the computer and the human brain for chess analysis - an endeavour that is central to modern chess.
However, this book does far more than explain methods for computer-assisted analysis. Readers will develop a deeper understanding of the strengths and limitations of the human mind, and a greater understanding of many areas of chess while working through the examples that Robin Smith presents.
The many topics in this wide-ranging book
Robin Smith is a top-class correspondence chess player. He has been USA Correspondence Chess Champion on two occasions and has won a World Correspondence Chess Championship semi-final.
"if used properly [computers] can be a very useful aid to analysis. However, there is more to it than just setting up the position and asking the computer to analyse it, for there are some types of position in which the computer excels, and others in which it simply flounders. Basically, the computer works best in tandem with the human player, not independently of him/her. ... There is no doubt that the author really understands the strengths and weaknesses of the silicon monster, and the book contains lots of useful tips and advice. Whether we like it or not, computers are very much part of chess as they are of all other aspects of our lives, and he who is in the position to make best use of them will inevitably prosper." - Alan Sutton, En Passant
"a remarkable guide to using chess software to optimum effect. ... within a few pages I was hooked. ... Smith is a correspondence player who has apparently endless time to test examples on all the major chess programs and by astute use of these programs he convincingly unravels some positions which had been assumed to be invulnerable to computer analysis. Keen to discover whether Smith's insights were new or would be common knowledge to the computer programming community, I passed the book on to an artificial intelligence expert, Rodney Topor from Brisbane's Griffith University. Fortunately Topor was also impressed, commenting, 'Smith's descriptions of chess programs are very accurate and I was interested to learn how much difference there is between them.'" - GM Ian Rogers, Canberra Times
"What struck me immediately was the elegance and clarity of Mr. Smith's writing style. Quite aside from his ground-breaking analysis of the interface between game of chess, the human brain and computers, the book is a pleasure to read." - H. Johnson (Amazon reviewer)
- GenresChess
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2004
About the author
Robin Smith
254 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Robin2^Smith: GR author, Travel, Romance
Robin3^Smith: GR author, Fiction
Robin4^Smith: romance, "Owl and Dylan"
Robin5^Smith: romance
Robin2^Smith: GR author, Travel, Romance
Robin3^Smith: GR author, Fiction
Robin4^Smith: romance, "Owl and Dylan"
Robin5^Smith: romance
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 2, 2020
This is an essential book for everyone who wants to work with a computer chess engine to improve his own play or to analyse games. It clearly shows when the computer is superior and when it has no clue at all. The author has choosen many good example games and it's fun to check his conclusions with the latest versions of the available chess engines.
What I also found very helpful were the tips how to make best use of the chess computer. I don't know a chess master so I have to use the computer to analyse my games. To know how to interpret the results, how to choose variations and how to help the computer to find correct results is the key to make improvements as a human player. Some of the ideas got implemented in the latest GUIs (Chessbase, Aquarium) and it's a pleasure to try them out.
Highly recommended.
What I also found very helpful were the tips how to make best use of the chess computer. I don't know a chess master so I have to use the computer to analyse my games. To know how to interpret the results, how to choose variations and how to help the computer to find correct results is the key to make improvements as a human player. Some of the ideas got implemented in the latest GUIs (Chessbase, Aquarium) and it's a pleasure to try them out.
Highly recommended.
May 27, 2025
Fascinating read, but very dated for a modern player
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews