Modern Chess Strategy

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Summary: How to improve your chess fast
Review: In my chess development there have been three books which each caused a step change improvement in my game, this one on chess strategy, Averbakh's Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge and oddly enough a small book on combinations entitled "The Penguin Book of Chess Positions". Each of these books provides a compete introduction to an essential part of the game. I immersed myself into each of these books and emerged a much better player after each reading one.

Pachman gives clear direction on learning to think strategically by dividing the book into two sections, one on piece play and one on pawns. He leads the reader systematically through each part by giving verbal generalizations followed by numerous examples from master play. In this abridged version, the editors used game fragments to replace some of the complete games found in the three volume version. I for one feel that the use of fragments does not detract from the educational aspects of the example games while enabling this book to be an inexpensive one volume version of the original. In particular, the chapter on rook play is superb.

I first read this book twenty years ago and the concepts of this book have stuck with me. Every time I play a game in which I use a rook lift to deveop a rook outside the pawn chain, I have Pachman to thank directly.

Rating:
Summary: A basic book
Review: One of the best chess books I have. Almost all you need to know on chess strategy.

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Summary: Excellent
Review: One of the best! Just with simple words Pachman is able to explain very deep and complex concepts: beginning with the 'center', pawns structure, bad and good bishop and so on. Also, and not less important, good written!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: One of the best! Just with simple words Pachman is able to explain very deep and complex concepts: beginning with the 'center', pawns structure, bad and good bishop and so on. Also, and not less important, good written!

Rating:
Summary: Pachman's classic work....
Review: This book is a compact version of three-volume set of Pachman's original work. For many decades after WW II, he was known as one of the leading chess theorists. For this set of books, there are:
Volume 1: about piece plays and exchanges.
Volume 2: about pawn structures and the center.
Volume 3: about attacking on the wings, where one has superior position like pawn majority or weakness and subjected to a minority attack. (How Yin-Yang can chess be?)
I found in a local library the first two volumes, and like them very much. For some time, I had a few chess books. In the openings, I have: Horowitz', Korn's and Fine's. For the endings, I have Fine's. I also have Tartakover's 500 master games. I could not find any GOOD books about theory in middle games. Then I got the books of Chernev (Most Instructive Chess Games...) and John Love's (Positional Ideas...). They teach about the middle games. Love's is good but not enough details, and I could not follow the logic (arrangement) of Chernev's. Finally I found this impressive work of Pachman. I know I must have Pachman's books in my collection. One day, I found at a local used chess bookstore these books. The curious thing was I here found only the last two volumes. I grasped them at once and knew that my collection was still incomplete. A few years ago, I found this compact version of Pachman. I got it, knowing that in this book the new editor dropped out lots of games. I agreed with other reviewers, Pachman took great care to select good games for his books. The new single volume book lost some of its value. It is still good enough to carry to a tournament as reference book, however to fully appreciate Pachman's effort, only the complete 3-volume set can do its justice. I plan to get the first volume to complete my collection, and the compact one is for reference.
The arrangement of Pachman's work makes lots of sense. For tactical (easiest) chess, the piece play has the dominant roles as we see sub-1500 players often do. At the super-1800 level, the players begins to play positionally (more difficult), work with pawn structure and center more. After that, if both players are at higher level, they will work on the dynamic elements (most difficult): space superiority, square weakness, development lead, positional sacrifice, etc.
Of course, this superficial opinion is from my only sub-1700 level, for sure the higher rank reader will think differently.
This book was written in the pre-Fischer and Tal era, so the games didn't have much the dynamical aspects of the late 20th century chess. Even so, the theory and application of Pachman's work still find its characteristics in Nunn, Burgess, Karpov, Kasparov's chess and writings.



Rating:
Summary: First step in chess strategy
Review: This book is a first step to the amateur who want to improve. There are good insights on strategy.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Introduction
Review: This book is an abridgement of Pachman's three-volume "Complete Chess Strategy", which ranks as one of the classic works on strategic and positional chess (Another such work would be Euwe and Kramer's "The Middlegame", in two volumes.). Unfortunately the abridgement doesn't capture the rich and full flavor of the original. Many of the classic examples have had to be omitted for reasons of space. A player of class C strength might learn something from this abridgement, but for stronger players I would recommend the original three volumes. It's a fact of life that the general level of chess strength and erudition has risen markedly during the last several years; the level of knowledge that once would have sufficed to maintain B strength is, alas, inadequate.

Many of the topics discussed in Pachman now have specialist texts addressing them. For example, for isolated pawns, see Baburin's "Winning Pawn Structures"; for the major pieces see Damsky's "The Heavy Pieces in Action". There are numerous other examples. Pachman can be usefully employed as an introduction to these more specialised books.

Whether a player works with the abridgement or the original, I recommend he also have available Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy", which lends perspective on the contemporary state of understanding of strategic and positional chess.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Introduction
Review: This book is an abridgement of Pachman's three-volume "Complete Chess Strategy", which ranks as one of the classic works on strategic and positional chess (Another such work would be Euwe and Kramer's "The Middlegame", in two volumes.). Unfortunately the abridgement doesn't capture the rich and full flavor of the original. Many of the classic examples have had to be omitted for reasons of space. A player of class C strength might learn something from this abridgement, but for stronger players I would recommend the original three volumes. It's a fact of life that the general level of chess strength and erudition has risen markedly during the last several years; the level of knowledge that once would have sufficed to maintain B strength is, alas, inadequate.

Many of the topics discussed in Pachman now have specialist texts addressing them. For example, for isolated pawns, see Baburin's "Winning Pawn Structures"; for the major pieces see Damsky's "The Heavy Pieces in Action". There are numerous other examples. Pachman can be usefully employed as an introduction to these more specialised books.

Whether a player works with the abridgement or the original, I recommend he also have available Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy", which lends perspective on the contemporary state of understanding of strategic and positional chess.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book on chess strategy.
Review: This is a great book on chess strategy. Pachman's style is concise and accurate. He doesn't engage in useless babble, he gets right to the point. After reading this book you will have a much better grasp of positional play.

Studying this book will also help you create more combinations. Let me explain. Combinations don't happen on their own(except if your opponent blunders). They result from proper planning and strategy. If you can create postional weaknesses in your opponents camp, the chances are higher that you will be able to create a combination.

The reason that I gave this book 4 stars is that it is an abridged version. The editor admits that several games and opening moves were omitted. I would have liked to see those games.

I would recommend this book to 1600+ players who have a good grasp of tactics and would like to learn some strategical concepts.

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Summary: Nimzowitsch made easy
Review: This is one of the first books any aspiring chess player should read. The book is basically a compilation of the classic texts by Nimzowitsch and Euwe, in a clear and readable style. It covers issues such as pawn structure, bishops vs. knigths, rook power, that are the bread-and-butter of every chess player. I am a researcher in Computer Science, retired from competitive chess, but I am still a strong club player (best rating: 2250 ELO). I read Pachman on my teens, and it had a very positive influence on me. Therefore, the earlier in your carrer you read Pachman, the better. When you advance to the ELO 2000 level, you should also read John Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy" which is a very nice complement to Pachman's classic book.