Pawn Power in Chess

Rating:
Summary: A "must" book for any player looking to improve!
Review: "The pawn is the soul of chess." - Philidor, over 200 years ago. One learns about duos, the ram, chains, levers, fork tricks, pawn structure and more. The structure of pawns actually dictate the placement of all other pieces. Quite a lot of power for the little foot soldier, as pawns are often called. Master players win many games because of weak pawn play by the opponent. This would be on my list of the first 5 books one should study

Rating:
Summary: A "must" book for any player looking to improve!
Review: "The pawn is the soul of chess." - Philidor, over 200 years ago. One learns about duos, the ram, chains, levers, fork tricks, pawn structure and more. The structure of pawns actually dictate the placement of all other pieces. Quite a lot of power for the little foot soldier, as pawns are often called. Master players win many games because of weak pawn play by the opponent. This would be on my list of the first 5 books one should study

Rating:
Summary: A very interesting book
Review: First a word of warning: I only own the (original) german version of this book, there may be some differences to the English edition. This book is an outstanding description on how to use your pawns in a chess game. Intermediate chessplayers will improve considerably by working through it. However, it has one big drawback: Kmoch uses his very own, pretty weired names for some pawn constellations. Getting used to this names is necessary for working through this book, but hardly of any use for your further career as a chess player. All in all a great book with a disturbing flaw. I suggest first to work through Soltis "Pawn structure chess" and then through this book.

Rating:
Summary: Classic is too mild a word
Review: First, I have to get something off my chest: why do people have trouble with descriptive notation? It takes like what, 45 seconds to learn? Chess players are normally pretty smart people, and they have trouble learning descriptive notation? Perhaps chess isn't for you if you have trouble with that. Maybe take up basket weaving, which is very challenging in its own right, but does not use language. This book is one of a treasured few that makes my "desert island" list. I often felt before reading this book that chess was like a foreign language to me. I heard with envy that Reti said about Capablanca that "chess was his mother tongue." I wanted that so badly, but I still felt, no matter how much I studied, that I was missing something essential about chess. This book, Pawn Power in Chess, changed that for me. The more I study this book (which has been off and on for about 5 years), the more I learn about chess, and the more I "feel" chess on an intuitive level. Kmoch uses the device of creating his own vocabulary to bring concepts to life for you, and I always found this useful, though some readers do not like it. The examples are brilliantly annotated and selected. My only complaint about this book is that I wish it were ten times longer. I wish Kmoch had written about all of the openings, explaining them in light of the principles he sets out in this book. A major part of this book is the incredible conviction that he brings to his work. He brings enthusiasm, which is key, but many writers (Motwani, Silman, Seirawan, Alburt, Watson, Yermolinsky) bring enthusiasm. That in itself is not enough. Great conviction is also required. This is what impressed Petrosian so much about Nimzowitsch: the almost religious conviction with which Nimzo presented his ideas, his system. Kmoch is, to me, on a similar level. In fact, I think this book makes a perfect companion to My System. On top of that, work through Kmoch's earlier works, Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces and World Championship in Battle Royale (about the 1948 championship tournament), for lots of great games to flesh things out. He annotates those works more conventionally, but those works become more interesting after reading Pawn Power. I cannot say enough good about this book. It can be obtained cheaply, and it should be treasured.

Rating:
Summary: Pawn Power helps. Need to understand descriptive notation
Review: I found the book very useful at once, however, its usefulness greatly improved as I learned descriptive notation. A book based on algebraic notation would be easier.

Rating:
Summary: OK in its time however better books are out there now
Review: OK In life its necessary to be honest even if it's not popular. So here goes my 5 cents. In its time this was one of the few if not the only book on pawn structures. A lot of veteran masters used this book so it's well known. However it's still using an obsolete notation (You are going to go crazy! its like reading old time English). Kmoch also uses phrases and names pawns using proprietary words/names that no one else uses. Many of the openings reviewed are not popular or obsolete so much of the material is of little practical use over 60 pages are devoted to Benoni formations, have you ever played that opening? The dynamic isolated pawn structure, defensive value of the doubled pawn, rigid pawn structure versus piece mobility, white and black square control, compensation and how to meet the minority attack. All these concepts came out after this book was written. In a simplistic and historical way this is a classic book. It's just not correct to think that a 1940s book is going to give you modern practical knowledge. Its tough to read, tough to understand and takes a long time to go through. Use one of the modern books, Soltis's Pawn structure chess or one of the other modern books on pawn power will get you there faster and better. However if you have a lot of time and want to experience an historically important book that most players of the 40s, 50s and 60s would have read on their way to the master level then this book is fine. You will still have to read one of the modern pawn structure books to understand how modern masters view pawn structures. A little about me, I am close to IM level so know a thing or two about chess books.I enjoy playing on ICC and my computer. May start to take part in tourneys again. I have limited time so take a practical approach to maximising the use of my study time. Have over 200 books not 1000 lol.

Rating:
Summary: THe Most thorough Chess Book Ever Written!!!
Review: Study it, use it, study it again,practice and your game will improve by 500 points! Mine did-to 2650.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, but be warned...
Review: The standard line that you hear about this book is that it is excellent despite it's odd jargon. This book is aimed at a player who is already familiar with more basic ideas in chess such as tactics. I have talked with one person who was rated 1800 and his rating jumped to over 2000 almost overnight after reading this book.

Here's the truth about this book. This book will give you a firm grasp of how to play the pawns in chess, and it will give you ideas about what your plan should be based on the pawn structure. The bad reviews that other people have given this book is because they weren't serious about digging into this book and finding the treasures that are in this book. Having said that, that is the main drawback of this book. It is a little bit advanced. If you are a beginner you would be MUCH better off buying a book about tactics and doing tactical problems.

The other knock on this book is that Kmoch invents some of his own names for variuos themes (such as calling doubled pawns 'twins') which was a little bit annoying to me, but it isn't too bad once you get used to it.

Overall this is a very good book. It's not an easy read, but if you are past the basics in chess, but not yet a master, and you seriously want to improve your chess, then get this book, sit down, dig through the material, and STUDY this book. If you study this book and really understand what it's saying about pawn play, it will improve your game dramatically. I know exactly how some of the other posters here feel, because I felt that way the first time I read this book. I felt that this book was a waste of my time, but then I asked another strong chess player what he thought about it, and he said this book helped his chess game more than any other, so I sat down and made myself read it and understand it, and sure enough, he was right.

So bottom line, this is a good book, but it's not really fun to read. If you want to read a chess book for enjoyment, read Searching for Bobby Fischer. If you are serious about improving your game and you are willing to do a little hard work, then this book is for you.

Also, Soltis's book, Pawn Structure Chess, covers much of the same material, but it classifies typical plans based on pawn structures, and you will get a lot more out of that book if you read this one first.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, but be warned...
Review: The standard line that you hear about this book is that it is excellent despite it's odd jargon. This book is aimed at a player who is already familiar with more basic ideas in chess such as tactics. I have talked with one person who was rated 1800 and his rating jumped to over 2000 almost overnight after reading this book.

Here's the truth about this book. This book will give you a firm grasp of how to play the pawns in chess, and it will give you ideas about what your plan should be based on the pawn structure. The bad reviews that other people have given this book is because they weren't serious about digging into this book and finding the treasures that are in this book. Having said that, that is the main drawback of this book. It is a little bit advanced. If you are a beginner you would be MUCH better off buying a book about tactics and doing tactical problems.

The other knock on this book is that Kmoch invents some of his own names for variuos themes (such as calling doubled pawns 'twins') which was a little bit annoying to me, but it isn't too bad once you get used to it.

Overall this is a very good book. It's not an easy read, but if you are past the basics in chess, but not yet a master, and you seriously want to improve your chess, then get this book, sit down, dig through the material, and STUDY this book. If you study this book and really understand what it's saying about pawn play, it will improve your game dramatically. I know exactly how some of the other posters here feel, because I felt that way the first time I read this book. I felt that this book was a waste of my time, but then I asked another strong chess player what he thought about it, and he said this book helped his chess game more than any other, so I sat down and made myself read it and understand it, and sure enough, he was right.

So bottom line, this is a good book, but it's not really fun to read. If you want to read a chess book for enjoyment, read Searching for Bobby Fischer. If you are serious about improving your game and you are willing to do a little hard work, then this book is for you.

Also, Soltis's book, Pawn Structure Chess, covers much of the same material, but it classifies typical plans based on pawn structures, and you will get a lot more out of that book if you read this one first.

Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: This book is essential for serious understanding of chess, of the 16 pieces in your army 8 are pawns. Knowing how to use them and how they can help you achieve victory is useful for any serious chess player. Get this book and improve your game. Recommended for 1600+ rated players.