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Title: Chess Rules of Thumb Author: Lev Alburt and Al Lawrence Publisher: Chess Information and Research Center Genre: Opening/Middlegame/Strategy/Tactics/Endings Level: All levels of chess players will find this book useless Contains:
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What is it good for? This is the book you want to skip, unless you are a member of one of the authors’ household. The book is just a long list of rules that will not help your chess in any way. Chess Rules of Thumb will, in the best case scenario, give you a limited form of entertainment. For example rule number one says “Castle when you will, or if you must, but not when you can” (John Collins). Does this rule improve your chess? Does it make you laugh? If it does then here is another one from the great Tigran Petrosian (rule #133) “It’s easier to win an equal rather than a worse position” Do you believe that somebody actually compiled a whole book of such quotes?
Maybe I should not be so judgmental and let you try the book for yourself. My opinion is only my opinion and every person has is or her own taste. In the spirit of open discourse let me just finish with one of my rules of thumb for buying chess books “It is better to invest your time and money in a well done, interesting and deep book than in a half-baked joke-of-a-book that looks as if it was written in 30 minutes”.
The Good Things:
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Rule #327 is interesting and even has an example to prove it!
The Bad Things:
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A set of rules without any order or organization
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The great majority of rules have no games, or excerpts of games to support or explain them to the reader
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Many of the rules, though true, are just chess clichés that you can find on the net by googling the expression “chess quotes”
Quote: “Rule # 241
’Snap off the buttons and the pants fall by themselves’
-Samuel Reshevsky
Another comment on the importance of pawns.”
The Bottom Line: A thumb down for “Chess Rules of Thumb”
Rating: 5/10
Review written by Chessbug.