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Title: Simple Chess: Mastering the Basic Principles Author: John Emms Publisher: Everyman Chess Genre: advanced chess course on positional elements |
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Level: Advanced [in spite of the title!] Contains: Annotated master games that illustrate complex themes: outposts, exploiting the isolated Queen pawn, the minority attack etc. There are also abstract explanations of positional chess such as diagrams with only the thematic pawns present. Who is it good for? Advanced players who already have a grasp of positional and tactical basics; Emms assumes that files, ranks, two move mates are already in the reader’s repertoire and often does not explain any of these things. An ELO of at least 1600 is advisable to grasp the complex ideas contained. |
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The good things:
- In only 144 pages Emms covers an incredible variety of positional themes while doing justice to most.
- Frequent diagrams break up the text nicely, making the book easy on the eye.
- Emms provides lengthy commentary, both positional and tactical, on each game.
The bad things:
- I feel that Emms goes a bit overboard with his statistics such as white scoring 59% with the bishop pair.
- There are no exercises with answers; just annotated games.
Quote: “This book is aimed as an introduction to positional chess; what to do when you reach a level where the phrase ‘chess is 99% tactics’ is no longer applicable; what to think about when your opponents see your traps even before you’ve set them; how to exploit a minute advantage such as a better pawn structure or a badly placed piece.” [p 5, introduction]
The bottom line: Despite the word “introduction” in the above quote, this is not an introduction to positional chess! Rather, it is an advanced work that should be read after the basic ones. After you read positional books by Abrahams and Love, read this one to complete your positional understanding. Emms considers the “ifs” and “buts” of positional stuff such as doubled pawns being strong in certain cases. If worked through, this book should increase someone’s ELO from about 1800 to 2000.
Rating: excellent, but only for the advanced and ambitious player – 9/10
Review written by Capamantis.
