The Power Chess Program: Book 1: A Unique Training Course to Improve Your Chess

Rating:
Summary: Aspiring Player
Review: Although the content is there. The book has a dry quality to it that makes it hard to read. The book as a stand alone set of exercises has some attraction because there is a fundamental set of classic motifs and examples broken into individual set of lessons which is valuable. It's just a dry read, but if you take it a bit at a time it has value. FYI The second volume is out for a complete set.

Rating:
Summary: A Strong Middlegame Guide: Well-Organized
Review: I've read and studied "Power Chess" and I think it is an effective and well-organized course for improving your chess results. You should be aware that opening theory and endgames are not particularly or specifically covered by "Power Chess" except in so far as they are related to other themes like "attacking the uncastled king" and so on. The book also assumes that you're not a complete novice and know some basic principles,maxims, etc., so probably an advanced beginner/weak intermediate player is best suited for the text. I enjoyed this book, used it, improved a bit, and recommend it. No book will teach you everything but I think "Power Chess" has no serious omissions and plenty of valuable info.

Rating:
Summary: A Strong Middlegame Guide: Well-Organized
Review: I've read and studied "Power Chess" and I think it is an effective and well-organized course for improving your chess results. You should be aware that opening theory and endgames are not particularly or specifically covered by "Power Chess" except in so far as they are related to other themes like "attacking the uncastled king" and so on. The book also assumes that you're not a complete novice and know some basic principles,maxims, etc., so probably an advanced beginner/weak intermediate player is best suited for the text. I enjoyed this book, used it, improved a bit, and recommend it. No book will teach you everything but I think "Power Chess" has no serious omissions and plenty of valuable info.

Rating:
Summary: Better as a Supplement. Not the Main Course
Review: If you are looking for a true "Chess Program" buy Jeremey Silman's "How to Reasses your Chess." This book, "THE POWER CHESS PROGRAM" delves to explore the integral part a piece, from minor to major pieces, contributes to one's positioal structure; however, it doesn't really get "The Job Done." One of the most striking reason I find for this book's failure is that there is little reinforcement with the chess idea it supposedly teaches. You are given a paragraph or 2 of the very basic idea "almost cliche'" then after, an array of annotated games. It doesn't really give you the tool as to how to provoke nor exploit these weaknesses. It simply tells that there's a weakness. A typical case would be, "Hey! his King is in the center too long, hmmm that's a weakness" and you are suddenly stuck with the idea that here's a weakness, but don't have a darn clue nor been given the proper training as to how to develop a plan to take advantage of it!

Rating:
Summary: A Strong Middlegame Guide: Well-Organized
Review: If you are looking for a true "Chess Program" buy Jeremey Silman's "How to Reasses your Chess." This book, "THE POWER CHESS PROGRAM" delves to explore the integral part a piece, from minor to major pieces, contributes to one's positioal structure; however, it doesn't really get "The Job Done." One of the most striking reason I find for this book's failure is that there is little reinforcement with the chess idea it supposedly teaches. You are given a paragraph or 2 of the very basic idea "almost cliche'" then after, an array of annotated games. It doesn't really give you the tool as to how to provoke nor exploit these weaknesses. It simply tells that there's a weakness. A typical case would be, "Hey! his King is in the center too long, hmmm that's a weakness" and you are suddenly stuck with the idea that here's a weakness, but don't have a darn clue nor been given the proper training as to how to develop a plan to take advantage of it!

Rating:
Summary: Better as a Supplement. Not the Main Course
Review: If you are looking for a true "Chess Program" buy Jeremey Silman's "How to Reasses your Chess." This book, "THE POWER CHESS PROGRAM" delves to explore the integral part a piece, from minor to major pieces, contributes to one's positioal structure; however, it doesn't really get "The Job Done." One of the most striking reason I find for this book's failure is that there is little reinforcement with the chess idea it supposedly teaches. You are given a paragraph or 2 of the very basic idea "almost cliche'" then after, an array of annotated games. It doesn't really give you the tool as to how to provoke nor exploit these weaknesses. It simply tells that there's a weakness. A typical case would be, "Hey! his King is in the center too long, hmmm that's a weakness" and you are suddenly stuck with the idea that here's a weakness, but don't have a darn clue nor been given the proper training as to how to develop a plan to take advantage of it!