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Book Review of Complete Book of Chess Strategy: Grandmaster Techniques from A to Z

Complete Book of Chess Strategy: Grandmaster Techniques from A to Z
reviewed on + 12 more book reviews


This book as well as the famous Reassess your Chess,
and Turning Misconceptions into Mastery are the books
that made Jeremy Silman legitimately popular with amateurs(below master level) players. His endgame course is supposed to be equally good but I haven't read it myself to know.

Silman's style in this book is to illustrate with a
diagram each concept in this vast dictionary that stretches from the opening phase all the way to the endgame.

The openings are showcased well, instead of list of variations Silman provides smallish but succinct plans for both sides, and that includes some less main stream openings like Alekhine and Botvinnik Formation.
In the middle game, there are many concepts illustrated, minority attack is one example.
The endgame shows a few basic endgame concepts in a nutshell.
The book provides a brief summary for most ideas defined. It is not designed probably for advanced study but better suited for a quick reference for self study or even in conjunction with other books.
The main reason I am giving it up is that as a B level I define my own plans for self improvement and my main lack is in the tactical area with which this book, written by an author established clearly as positional, cannot help me a bit.
Instead I was forced to turn for help to greater authorities with tactics. If I saw this book as a D or C level it would probably help me progress faster since then I lacked the positional nuggets it teaches.