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Book Review: Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna

June 17, 2019 by manshu Leave a Comment

I recently finished reading this book, and I think it is a great resource for any improving chess player. The big idea of the book is that you need to develop a sense for when tactics are present in the game, and there is a specific method to do that. The book lists out certain signals that alert you to the presence of a combination.

An excerpt from the book explaining the signal:

A signal is a weakness in the opponent’s position. When we look for a signal, we look for a reason why we should be winning. Since Steinitz, we know that the combination does not appear randomly, but as a consequence of the positional superiority of one side. This superiority lies in positive factors, let’s say more active pieces. But we can take the opposite approach: looking at the opponent’s position, we can establish that he has passive pieces; or they may be trapped, locked in or lacking coordination.

Further, the book also lists out the signals you should look for in your game.

  1. King’s Position
  2. Unprotected Pieces
  3. Alignment
  4. Knight Fork Distance
  5. Trapped pieces
  6. Overloaded defender
  7. Defence too far away

When you see a signal above appearing on the board – you should start looking for tactics, and combinations, and reading the book and practicing the puzzles in there help you do just that.

I was able to read, and implement these ideas immediately, and also without much conscious effort. When you practice the tactics based around a certain signal and theme then your brain starts looking for these patterns subconsciously and you will be able to find them in real time in your games.

This is an example from a recent game I played:

Black has just played Qd7 and castling would be quite normal for white here. However, I can sense that black played Qd7 to possibly castle queen side, and as soon as he does that his king and queen will be aligned on the light squares. I have a light square bishop which I can use, but it will unprotected at h3 which is the square from where I can attack him, and he also has e6 in reserve. Fortunately for me Nf4, solves both of those problems, and you can see this is exactly how the game goes.

This book was very useful for me, and I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone looking to improve their chess tactical ability.

Filed Under: Books

Book Review: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

May 27, 2019 by manshu Leave a Comment

I have read this book twice now, and I find it immensely helpful. This book can be read in a few hours, and while it probably doesn’t contain anything you didn’t already know – it is always helpful to be reminded of such things specially when you are going through a stressful period in your own life. This is also touched upon in the book itself which has the following passage:

If you were to read everything that has ever been written about worry by the great scholars of all time, you would never read anything more basic or more profound than such hackneyed proverbs as “Don’t cross your bridges until you come to them” and “Don’t cry over spilt milk.” If we only applied those two proverbs instead of snorting at them, we wouldn’t need this book at all.

There are several quotes in the book which I quite like, and this is consistent with Dale Carnegie’s writing as well, which lends it a familiarity when you are reading it.

An example of a quote I really liked:

“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”

This particular quote really resonated with me because at the time of reading this book – there were a number of things going on in my life, and I was going crazy thinking about all the different outcomes there could be if a thing turned out one way or if it did another.

In the end thinking about all of it at once is far too overwhelming, and ultimately you go down a rabbit hole of worries that you are better off away from. Much more prudent is to live in what the book calls “day-tight compartments” and finish off the tasks at hand. This will make you feel much more in control of your life, and ultimately if you do these things today they will help you prepare much better for the future.

I really like How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie, and I think I have read it twice now, and can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves worrying too much about things out of their control.

Filed Under: Books

Book Review: Tal-Botvinnik 1960: Match for the World Chess Championship

February 24, 2019 by manshu Leave a Comment

This book is usually listed in the top ten books of almost all chess enthusiasts. I read this immediately after reading Botvinnik’s 100 selected games, and it is quite a contrast.

The book is delightful not only in terms of its analysis but also the human aspect of the match. Tal has a unique way of explaining positions, and ideas and has an almost magical ability to calculate long lines, and evaluate them. The Magician from Riga also has a reverence for Botvinnik that comes across clearly in the pages, and at certain points in the book you feel that it was Botvinnik and not Tal who won the match!

Chess books are not novels, but this is a breeze to read through. It is written beautifully, and more than that you come to adore Tal for his humility and love for the game. After reading this book – I decided to read every book that Tal has ever written!

Filed Under: Books

Book Review: Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games: 100 Selected Games

February 24, 2019 by manshu Leave a Comment

I have read a few of chess books, but this is hands down the best one I have read so far. Mikhail Botvinnik is regarded as the father of the Soviet School of Chess, and his scientific method and approach to the game is on display in every single game.

When I bought the book – I thought it would be nice if I could go through fifty games because reading chess books is usually not that easy for me, and 100 seemed like a very daunting number. I was able to go through all hundred games without any difficulty, and in fact even looked forward to my daily commute because that’s when I was reading this book!

I believe the best way to absorb the content of this book is to play along and try to predict the moves Botvinnik would have made. This is probably the way to read any chess book of this nature, and will greatly enhance your understanding of the moves and the principles behind them. The book is written using old notation, and while that may make it harder for some – to me it makes it just all the more charming.

Since the book is a selection of 100 interesting games – there are no draws in the hundred games, and this is very good because I know that while you can always learn something from every game of a world champion – it isn’t always very entertaining.

Everyone who enjoys chess no matter at what level they are can definitely enjoy this book.

Filed Under: Books, Chess

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