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Summary: Chess Calculation
Review: "The Inner Game of Chess" is one of the few books I have read that was devoted to chess calculation! Kotov's "Think Like a Grandmaster" discusses calculation and the positional aspects of chess. Soltis goes much deeper into the process of calculation and has many more examples. Soltis shows you how to use your imagination to help you calculate successfully by combining ideas, changing the move order, understanding forced and un-forced variations, move counting and how visualize the winning position! "The Inner Game of Chess" will be a classic!
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Summary: Is this book 1950's Soviet research in Chess?
Review: As part of the propaganda campaign in the 1950's, the USSR devoted an enormous amount of energy to research in chess,
including psychological research in the lab, to make sure USSR
players dominated world chess. Soltis discusses the psychology
of chessplaying with a sophistication that would seem to be a
1990's rebirth of the old Soviet research. This book is both
unique and indispensible.
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Summary: Good chess reading
Review: Before reading this book I had read My System, and used that as a basis to start playing chess more seriously. However, I found that my tactics and my ability to plan ahead in the game were dismal, so it was difficult to put more than the basics of My System into place on the chess board. The Inner Game Of Chess helped a lot of different ideas I had about chess gel together, and has helped my to play a better co-ordinated game. I need to go through it again, and now also need a book of chess puzzles to work through to strengthen the knowledge gained from The Inner Game Of Chess.
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Summary: Great Book!, but ...
Review: Before you read my review, I ask that you read the majority of the other reviews. This may give you a better feel for what I'm about to say. This is a FANTASTIC book. It is destined to become a classic. But, after reading all the reviews, I have to make the following comment. This book may be written for a really strong player. (or players.) I think you should be at least 1600-1800 to grasp much of what goes on in this book. There are certainly many valuable insights which will make you a better thinker and "Calculator." But in the long run, your calculating powers will already have to be fairly well developed to really benefit from this book. I was already a Master when this book came out. I spent close to 6 weeks with this book, and it made me a better thinker. But two of my students who have bought and read this book felt it did NOT make them better at calculating. Sadly, it may be true. The average GM may not remember what it was like to struggle to see one move ahead. Because they do not understand [or remember] the problems, it is difficult for them to address them. If you think you are ready for this book, buy it. But if you have any doubts, get a couple of simple primers on tactics. Maybe "Logical Chess, Move by Move," by Chernev. Wait until your rating gets over 15-1600. Then buy this book. On the positive side, this book is beautifully written. The examples are mostly very carefully chosen. And the book is wonderfully and beautifully annotated. This was truly a work of love by the author. If you are just looking for many, many hours of enjoyment, then you want this book.
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Summary: Good but flawed
Review: Can't understand the unrestrained adulation some reviewers have given this book. Soltis can write very well - see for example 'Soviet Chess' which is a scholarly work, or see 'Confessions of a Chess Grandmaster'. The title being reviewed here is also one of his better efforts. The book explains the pragmatic realities of calculation very well indeed. A thoughtful reading of this book will enhance one's understanding of what to calculate, how to calculate, how far to calculate, and what positions deserve calculation. By implication, one's strength would improve. It's difficult to provide a synopsis of this book because, like Kotov, it's not coherently orgainised but is a compendium of practical wisdom concerning calculation. Chapters include 'Trees and how to build them', 'Rechecking' and 'The Practical Calculator' - all of importance to a player. I've given this four stars (and not five) for 3 reasons. The first is lack of organisation. The second, and more serious, is the sheer number of analytical mistakes. The very first example (Piket - Sosonko) has an error. The sacrifice 1.Rxh7 is actually unsound. 3....Bf5, which Soltis mentions in passing, holds the game for Black. Or examine the analysis to Ljubojevic - Stein, on page 58. 11.Qf4 works fine for White. Soltis hasn't done his spadework. The examples that are correct are frequently so because they've been pulled, with analysis, from other sources.This brings me to third criticism: many of the examples are hackneyed, and frequently don't exemplify the ideas well. But these caveats aside, I can recommend this book. There is material to ponder over here. A pity Soltis didn't give the book the time and energy it deserved; it would have been a sterling work.
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Summary: Good book
Review: Easy to read layout, algebraic notation, Soltis writes very well. This book might be better than Tisdall's Improve Your Chess Now, and is probably at least as good as Nunn's Secrets of Practical Chess. After studying tactics and basic strategy and endings, this book is perfect.
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Summary: A veritable labor of love.
Review: I am assuming that Soltis worked extreamly hard on this book and that he profoundly enjoyed the work.It definitely shows.This potential classic has expanded my chess awareness exponentally.In my opinion that is the real path to chess improvement.A predominant theme in his book is that chess is a game of calculation and evaluation.He also accentuates the need to develope visualization ability to enhance the above mentioned.Essentially he describes the whole process as the inner or mental game of chess.Naturally he goes into detail about trees of variations involved with caculation along with typical mistakes in calculation. Different nanes are provided for errors of different types.In addition one also learns to distinguish between errors in calculation and evaluation.Soltis tries to dispell our sterotypic notion of positional strategic and tactical attacking player by claiming that positional and strategic players can be very precise caculators of tactics. He also espouses a notion that great attacking players can be intuiative.What an revelation. He also seems to imply the need for a universal chess vocabulary to create for less confusion of chess terminology.This can help us understand the mental process of other chess players and our own with a great deal more clarity.Maybe that just his dream. I would recomend this book to anyone who was really interested in expanding their understanding of what the game of chess is really all about. This book might even become a period piece.
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Summary: Tells "What" Calculation Is, Rather Than "How" To Calculate
Review: I am only a 1900-level player, so I can hardly be said to have an expert opinion, but I feel that this book is strong on "what" calculation is and weak on "how" to calculate. Of course, one looks at the board, gets ideas, selects candidate moves,and evaluates possible positions. And Soltis provides plenty of examples yet having studied the book, I can't honestly say I'm doing anything better. Not his fault, I know, still I wish these GM authors would remember that although THEY can look at a board and unconsciously, automatically, find a plan and possible move sequences, weaker players need more protection in the clinches. They need sometimes to work backwards: visualize the desired position first. Sometimes they need examples that explain WHY the author chose certain candidate moves, move orders, and so on. This book's intention are great, the introduction fantastic, the remaining chapters leave a great deal to be desired. Everyone else seems to find this a great help, but I actually feel my already shaky ability decreased after reading it. GMs should coach ordinary mortals first.
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Summary: Tells "What" Calculation Is, Rather Than "How" To Calculate
Review: I am only a 1900-level player, so I can hardly be said to have an expert opinion, but I feel that this book is strong on "what" calculation is and weak on "how" to calculate. Of course, one looks at the board, gets ideas, selects candidate moves,and evaluates possible positions. And Soltis provides plenty of examples yet having studied the book, I can't honestly say I'm doing anything better. Not his fault, I know, still I wish these GM authors would remember that although THEY can look at a board and unconsciously, automatically, find a plan and possible move sequences, weaker players need more protection in the clinches. They need sometimes to work backwards: visualize the desired position first. Sometimes they need examples that explain WHY the author chose certain candidate moves, move orders, and so on. This book's intention are great, the introduction fantastic, the remaining chapters leave a great deal to be desired. Everyone else seems to find this a great help, but I actually feel my already shaky ability decreased after reading it. GMs should coach ordinary mortals first.
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Summary: The right topics but not the right content
Review: i find this book way overrated. it does deals the right topics - it has the right appealing chapter names. But the content of those chapter is not well-developed. Who is this book for ? A beginner will love to read it - because the writing and the analysis is simple: but it is simple because there are not enough practical examples. Therefore i doubt the reader will be able to apply the tips given by Soltis in a real game. The expert player already knows most of such topics discussed in the book. What he needs is a discussion of the details of problems in the application of the calculation techniques. There are at least 5-6 books on the subject that are better than this- according to your strength. For advanced players: all the Dvoretski/Jusupov series and in particular "Attack and defense" which has at least 2 chapters specific on the calculation technique. For both advanced and beginners: "improve your chess now" by Tisdall is great and original (the title sounds awful but the book is good). For beginners and not only - the book "Practical chess analysis" by Buckley is really very good- certainly better than Soltis' one.
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