Yup I'm an adult improver who's pushing 2000 OTB. I saw the first level 2 position in the book, spent 15 minutes on it, saw just how much I missed in the given solution, and put the book away. I could instantly tell that this was created by someone who's average student is Gukesh or Pragg. Not for a mortal like me.
The worst part is that even you are in the 1 percentile. There are people who has played chess their whole life, and really tried to improve, yet are never anywhere near 1700-1800 ELO even. You being 2000 OTB is in fact quite rare. You are better rated than 99% of all people playing chess!
Hey Andras great book review as always and thanks for the disclaimer re who this is aimed at. Was wondering if you could recommend which of the following would be a good book for me. I have a pretty good grasp of fundamentals ie; material, space, time, pawn structure, occasional blunder here and there, OK with tactics, and play mostly KI setups. What I struggle with is calculation and planning in games. I have been looking at Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Chess for Zebras (Rowson), The Chessmasters Checklist, The Inner Game of Chess: How to Calculate and Win (Soltis), and The Amateur's Mind (Silman). Are you able to recommend any of these, over the others? Kind regards and thx for the straightforward and instructional content!
The book is reasonably priced (at least in India ) so I guess the book may not be very costly in US or Europe. I have a different take on this book. If one deals with exercises of this book, then real life chess positions that one would encounter could well seem to be easier to solve for chess players .
Thanks for the review, I had been intending to get this book, and I probably will at some point, but I think there's other areas of my game I need to improve before this!
Like a couple of other people, I'm curious about what you think of Jacob Aagaard's Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation, but also if you have any gentler than Ramesh recommendation for an adult in the USCF C or B class range who is serious about improving.
Even inserting the capture on e5 before trying to solve makes the puzzle a lot easier. It looks like you'd want to keep the bishop on the board x-raying mate and you'd spend a lot of time looking at moves like 1.Ne6
That example with level 2 is already GM stuff. Especially if it needs to be done in a few minutes. I'm 1500 fide classical and serious on improving, but this level of calculation is a bit to much. But I have to say that calculating AND evaluating is hard to do on your own. No people or engine tells me I evaluated all wrong. So perhaps I should give level 1 a go.
Dear Andras, thanks a lot for this review. It helped me to decide not to pick up the book too soon ;) Moreover, I have one suggestion for a further video: Could you do something about "Bad habits when training for chess". For example, how often to (not) play blitz during the week, avoiding bullet chess, not checking your mobile, getting enough sleep... and so on. I know the training depends on the time you have during a week, but I assume that everyone could improve faster when being more efficient and consequent with one's training schedule! Cheers and keep up the good work! Chris
First off, I want to emphasize that I love this channel. I wonder if in future vids you may want to look into getting a mic insulator so that your mic (which sounds great btw) doesn't boom every time you touch the desk (ie. 0:34 , etc ) . I mean, beggars can't be choosers, and I'll keep showing up either way, but just a delicate suggestion in the mean time. ;)
What would you recommend for a lowly 1000 who couldn't calculate his way out of a paper bag? I'm practicing visualization and naming moves, and I believe that will pay dividends, but if you have a specific resource in mind, I'd welcome it.
2033 USCF adult learner and improving here, I think this book is probably out of my league BUT I’m very serious about reaching FM one day (and have grand fantasies of pushing further if I achieve that). So I imagine this might be on the menu years from now. That said, what would be great ways to get my calculation to the level that I can dream of this book taking me to even further levels? A bridge training program?
I got the draw part of the "solution" in around 3 minutes. But no luck with the actual winning one. To be honest, I felt good just by finding that one, especially considering the speed.
hello sir, can you please review the book " Winning quickly at chess by John Nunn". we want to know about it and should we pick it up as beginner. thank you sir😊 Love you from Bangladesh 🇧🇩
Hi Andras! How do you compare this book with Aagaard's "GM Preparation: Calculation" one? I've had trouble finding good calculation exercise books to push through ~2100 ELO, and Aagaard's book feels like it's aimed at people somewhat above that. I was wondering if Ramesh's book would fill that gap in your opinion (or any other book you can think of, for that matter). Thanks!
If you were to compare this book with Aagaard's calculation? which one will you recommend to your student? based on extracting max value. say he is 1800- 2000fide.
Thanks for the review. I find it very accurate. This book is not useful at 1700 FIDE level (2100 rapid lichess). Not useful at all. Not even Level 1 and Level 2 positions are useful for me. Even though I watched the review, I decided to try solving about 10 positions (Level 1 and 2, and one Level 3) from this book. I failed at majority of them. Some examples why this book is not a material for sub-2000 players. Game 5 (Level 1): says "Find a forced win for White", so I tried and I found the best continuation (actually both of them) but unless I am missing something, White is simply winning a pawn in both continuations? How is being a pawn up "a forced win"? Maybe at GM level, but on an amateur/club level, this is closer to equality than to a forced win :). Game 6 (Level 2): I failed this one and I should have seen why my candidate move was bad. But the first move in the solution is annotated with exclamation mark and no comment at all. I continued staring at this move with disbelief and I didn't understand it. Maybe an obvious thing for a stronger player, but for me unclear. Game 8 (Level 1): the task is to find a forced draw in 3 minutes. I managed to do this in 3 minutes, but my problem is that in a real game I would make an evaluation mistake and I would try to push for a win. Game 9 (Level 1): I calculated the first 3 correct moves for both sides and then couldn't see the continuation. After the first 3 full moves I am sensing that Black can be in a trouble but I am still not sure who is winning. The full solution is 9 moves deep for both sides. Calculating 9 moves deep is not typically necessary for 1700 FIDE players. I have checked how deeply should I calculate in most recent 15 calculation mistakes in my slow games (opponents varied between 1300 FIDE and two title players - FM and IM): three times 1 move deep, five times 2 moves deep, twice 3 moves deep, four times 4 moves deep and once 6 moves deep. Being able to calculate 9 moves deep is really not critical for a 1700 player. I would much more benefit if I could simply get all candidate moves correctly at 4 moves deep or if I could visualise the board correctly at 4 moves deep. One might argue that if I learn to calculate 9 moves deep, I would get calculating 4 moves deep 'for free'. But at what cost? Wouldn't doing a bigger number of still difficult but actually doable exercises be a more efficient way to learn?... Game 10 (Level 1): I failed this one and while I really should be able to solve this one, it is definitely not FIDE 1200-1600 material. Game 11 (Level 2): it is the exercise that Andras discuss in this review. I agree with everything said, but I'd like to add some unclear things for me. At 7:10 in the review two possible checks are shown. After Qb6+ White should react with Kh1 (not allowing queen exchange), but after Qa7+ rather with Qf2 (allowing queen exchange). I was puzzled with it: why Kh1 in one variation and Qf2 in the other. Not understandable without an engine at my level. Now let's say that I was able to calculate it all until Nxg7. Now I look at the final position after Nxg7 and think "oh, White has pawn up and more active pieces". But the book asked me to "find the forced winning continuation for White". A "pawn up and more active pieces" is not really "the forced winning continuation". So, puzzled, I continue thinking what I am missing in my evaluation. I give up after some time and I turn up an engine. Stockfish 15 at depth 20 says +0.78, so I keep it running and at depth it 50 says +0.55... How is +0.55 "the forced winning continuation"? Is it even a forced win at GM level? At club level this is just equal. Game 18 (Level 1): there is only one good move here. In my opinion this move is absolutely unthinkable at 1200-1600 level with which this puzzle is associated. Unthinkable also for me at FIDE 1700. And even if someone handed this move to me, I would have big difficulties calculating why it is good.
Great video, Coach! Your comments on this book confirm what I thought after playing through the preview of the book. I am ambitious but the level of this book seems very high, too high for where I am currently perhaps. Do any of these calculation books like Woodpecker method, Argard's book actually discuss how to improve visualization, how to visualize longer lines..or are they basically tactics/puzzle books with some commentary? I'm looking for something that will help me to visualize longer lines. I thought Ramesh's book was what I was looking for, but from reading the preview as well as your review here, I don't think so now.
I'm probably dumb but I don't see the mate at 7:52. It's black's turn, king to g8 and both of white's pieces are hanging, the best move is to save them by knight to g5. What am I missing?
This is the best book for any player between 1400-2400 ELO and even IMs can benefit from it although I don’t recommend it for GMs. After careful study of this book you will never need any fake chess app or money-wasting coach any more.
@@KeepChessSimple have you ripped yourself badly trying to improve? This book is not suitable for players below 1400 ELO and naturally you feel ripped and confused.
@@kevinwellwrought2024 No but the video says this book is clearly waaaaaay to difficult for 1400's so I can.imagine if you are going to study this at that level, you end up hating chess.
The last position of the winning position looks unclear to me. You are just one pawn up and your king still looks vulnerable to back rank checks and diagonal checks. In short, I don't see a clear plan to win. Making a passed pawn on the queen side is one plan. Black king also looks vulnerable. But black will try to eliminate that pawn.
Hi, I'm a beginner in chess. I don't have any formal training. Calculation is my weakest areas. Can anyone recommend me a book that is focused on chess calculation training for beginners?🥲
Yup I'm an adult improver who's pushing 2000 OTB. I saw the first level 2 position in the book, spent 15 minutes on it, saw just how much I missed in the given solution, and put the book away. I could instantly tell that this was created by someone who's average student is Gukesh or Pragg. Not for a mortal like me.
The worst part is that even you are in the 1 percentile. There are people who has played chess their whole life, and really tried to improve, yet are never anywhere near 1700-1800 ELO even. You being 2000 OTB is in fact quite rare. You are better rated than 99% of all people playing chess!
@@Hypercube1729 I've been trying for slightly over a year now, I need about 166 more to get 2000 OTB classical in fide rating! it's really hard!
May I know how old are you sir?, or how old were you when you started playing chess?
@@NON_biodegradable 4 days ago I turned 17, I started playing August 2021
@@hellopleychess3190 I'm actually asking the guy who wrote the main comment, btw thanks mate 👍
Looking forward for more book reviews by you. They all are absolutely brilliant!
Hey Andras great book review as always and thanks for the disclaimer re who this is aimed at. Was wondering if you could recommend which of the following would be a good book for me. I have a pretty good grasp of fundamentals ie; material, space, time, pawn structure, occasional blunder here and there, OK with tactics, and play mostly KI setups. What I struggle with is calculation and planning in games. I have been looking at Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Chess for Zebras (Rowson), The Chessmasters Checklist, The Inner Game of Chess: How to Calculate and Win (Soltis), and The Amateur's Mind (Silman). Are you able to recommend any of these, over the others? Kind regards and thx for the straightforward and instructional content!
I love the book reviews!
The book is reasonably priced (at least in India ) so I guess the book may not be very costly in US or Europe.
I have a different take on this book. If one deals with exercises of this book, then real life chess positions that one would encounter could well seem to be easier to solve for chess players .
Thanks for the review, I had been intending to get this book, and I probably will at some point, but I think there's other areas of my game I need to improve before this!
the idea is not to find the correct moves, the idea its to try and think about it, i think even someone can learn something by just doing that
Welcome back. I hope you had a great time.
wow that tactic was incredible and deep. I totally missed the check and everything after was just as mind blowing.
Like a couple of other people, I'm curious about what you think of Jacob Aagaard's Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation, but also if you have any gentler than Ramesh recommendation for an adult in the USCF C or B class range who is serious about improving.
Even inserting the capture on e5 before trying to solve makes the puzzle a lot easier. It looks like you'd want to keep the bishop on the board x-raying mate and you'd spend a lot of time looking at moves like 1.Ne6
That example with level 2 is already GM stuff. Especially if it needs to be done in a few minutes. I'm 1500 fide classical and serious on improving, but this level of calculation is a bit to much. But I have to say that calculating AND evaluating is hard to do on your own. No people or engine tells me I evaluated all wrong. So perhaps I should give level 1 a go.
Dear Andras, thanks a lot for this review. It helped me to decide not to pick up the book too soon ;) Moreover, I have one suggestion for a further video: Could you do something about "Bad habits when training for chess". For example, how often to (not) play blitz during the week, avoiding bullet chess, not checking your mobile, getting enough sleep... and so on. I know the training depends on the time you have during a week, but I assume that everyone could improve faster when being more efficient and consequent with one's training schedule! Cheers and keep up the good work! Chris
Good idea about the video, will definitely think about it!
@@ChessCoachAndras Great! In addition: why/how can GMs afford to play (hyper) bullet so often, without becoming worse in OTB games…?!
@@Chris-zf5jz Because they already put an insane amount of time in proper training, playing long OTB games and analyzing their games.
First off, I want to emphasize that I love this channel. I wonder if in future vids you may want to look into getting a mic insulator so that your mic (which sounds great btw) doesn't boom every time you touch the desk (ie. 0:34 , etc ) . I mean, beggars can't be choosers, and I'll keep showing up either way, but just a delicate suggestion in the mean time. ;)
Nice example, I missed Qf2 in that line and therefore considered the line bad for white. I have to train on my calculation and candidate moves.
Great review. I like Livshitz's Test Your Chess IQ although the quality of the printed diagrams can be very poor.
Great Review!! Can you do a review on the book titled Cognitive Chess by Konstantin Chernyshov?
What would you recommend for a lowly 1000 who couldn't calculate his way out of a paper bag? I'm practicing visualization and naming moves, and I believe that will pay dividends, but if you have a specific resource in mind, I'd welcome it.
2033 USCF adult learner and improving here, I think this book is probably out of my league BUT I’m very serious about reaching FM one day (and have grand fantasies of pushing further if I achieve that). So I imagine this might be on the menu years from now. That said, what would be great ways to get my calculation to the level that I can dream of this book taking me to even further levels? A bridge training program?
Hi Andras! Would you recommend this book to an ambitious and young(teen) 1950 FIDE player? Or there are more suitable books for my level?
Calculation over everything (James Canty III).
I got the draw part of the "solution" in around 3 minutes. But no luck with the actual winning one. To be honest, I felt good just by finding that one, especially considering the speed.
I'm actually curious, if you would have seen that draw, would you have gone for it?
"Imagination in chess" by Paata Gaprindashvilli is one of the toughest puzzle book I have seen. That book is a nightmare, it's that good.
Yea, I know that one. Ramesh's book makes that look like a beginners guide....:)
@@ChessCoachAndras coach, I did an e mail to you. But i think you didn't checked your mail recently. Please check and reply if possible.
And Paata has another one Critical Moments in Chess, very though.
this example My first thought was Qxg7 doesnt work. and then i was trying to make Ng6 and or Qg6 work.
If that book is still too hard, what material world be good for 1600-2000?
hello sir, can you please review the book " Winning quickly at chess by John Nunn".
we want to know about it and should we pick it up as beginner.
thank you sir😊
Love you from Bangladesh 🇧🇩
Hi Andras!
How do you compare this book with Aagaard's "GM Preparation: Calculation" one? I've had trouble finding good calculation exercise books to push through ~2100 ELO, and Aagaard's book feels like it's aimed at people somewhat above that. I was wondering if Ramesh's book would fill that gap in your opinion (or any other book you can think of, for that matter).
Thanks!
Excelling at combinational Play and excelling at chess calculation by Jacob Aagaard is for 1700 to 2100.
If you were to compare this book with Aagaard's calculation? which one will you recommend to your student? based on extracting max value. say he is 1800- 2000fide.
I have both books and they're amazing food for thought!!! One complement the other!!
amazing video as always :D
Great book I have it!
Get the chess book if you want to become super gm basically
I only saw up to Ne6 😅 I stopped at the fork as if it was a lichess puzzle, I can feel already that my level in calculation is terrible.
Thanks for the review. I find it very accurate. This book is not useful at 1700 FIDE level (2100 rapid lichess). Not useful at all. Not even Level 1 and Level 2 positions are useful for me.
Even though I watched the review, I decided to try solving about 10 positions (Level 1 and 2, and one Level 3) from this book. I failed at majority of them.
Some examples why this book is not a material for sub-2000 players.
Game 5 (Level 1): says "Find a forced win for White", so I tried and I found the best continuation (actually both of them) but unless I am missing something, White is simply winning a pawn in both continuations? How is being a pawn up "a forced win"? Maybe at GM level, but on an amateur/club level, this is closer to equality than to a forced win :).
Game 6 (Level 2): I failed this one and I should have seen why my candidate move was bad. But the first move in the solution is annotated with exclamation mark and no comment at all. I continued staring at this move with disbelief and I didn't understand it. Maybe an obvious thing for a stronger player, but for me unclear.
Game 8 (Level 1): the task is to find a forced draw in 3 minutes. I managed to do this in 3 minutes, but my problem is that in a real game I would make an evaluation mistake and I would try to push for a win.
Game 9 (Level 1): I calculated the first 3 correct moves for both sides and then couldn't see the continuation. After the first 3 full moves I am sensing that Black can be in a trouble but I am still not sure who is winning. The full solution is 9 moves deep for both sides. Calculating 9 moves deep is not typically necessary for 1700 FIDE players. I have checked how deeply should I calculate in most recent 15 calculation mistakes in my slow games (opponents varied between 1300 FIDE and two title players - FM and IM): three times 1 move deep, five times 2 moves deep, twice 3 moves deep, four times 4 moves deep and once 6 moves deep. Being able to calculate 9 moves deep is really not critical for a 1700 player. I would much more benefit if I could simply get all candidate moves correctly at 4 moves deep or if I could visualise the board correctly at 4 moves deep. One might argue that if I learn to calculate 9 moves deep, I would get calculating 4 moves deep 'for free'. But at what cost? Wouldn't doing a bigger number of still difficult but actually doable exercises be a more efficient way to learn?...
Game 10 (Level 1): I failed this one and while I really should be able to solve this one, it is definitely not FIDE 1200-1600 material.
Game 11 (Level 2): it is the exercise that Andras discuss in this review. I agree with everything said, but I'd like to add some unclear things for me. At 7:10 in the review two possible checks are shown. After Qb6+ White should react with Kh1 (not allowing queen exchange), but after Qa7+ rather with Qf2 (allowing queen exchange). I was puzzled with it: why Kh1 in one variation and Qf2 in the other. Not understandable without an engine at my level. Now let's say that I was able to calculate it all until Nxg7. Now I look at the final position after Nxg7 and think "oh, White has pawn up and more active pieces". But the book asked me to "find the forced winning continuation for White". A "pawn up and more active pieces" is not really "the forced winning continuation". So, puzzled, I continue thinking what I am missing in my evaluation. I give up after some time and I turn up an engine. Stockfish 15 at depth 20 says +0.78, so I keep it running and at depth it 50 says +0.55... How is +0.55 "the forced winning continuation"? Is it even a forced win at GM level? At club level this is just equal.
Game 18 (Level 1): there is only one good move here. In my opinion this move is absolutely unthinkable at 1200-1600 level with which this puzzle is associated. Unthinkable also for me at FIDE 1700. And even if someone handed this move to me, I would have big difficulties calculating why it is good.
Man im 2150 rapid lichess and only 1450 FIde I wonder what is my issue haha
Great video, Coach! Your comments on this book confirm what I thought after playing through the preview of the book. I am ambitious but the level of this book seems very high, too high for where I am currently perhaps. Do any of these calculation books like Woodpecker method, Argard's book actually discuss how to improve visualization, how to visualize longer lines..or are they basically tactics/puzzle books with some commentary? I'm looking for something that will help me to visualize longer lines. I thought Ramesh's book was what I was looking for, but from reading the preview as well as your review here, I don't think so now.
Wow, that looks super tough.. do you think, the difficulty of the excercises is comparable with "perfect your chess"?
Yes that would be a comperable book. Both are for masters trying to get to IM/GM
Lets put it this way: The examples of this book are in the league of their own. Some positions and their analysis run through 6-8 pages....
It's for an (A)niche (Giri) audience
Clearly, I got a lot to learn, because I can't see why Rxd6 doesn't work
I saw the tactics but didn't see qa7 or qb6 dedence
I was thinking that Ng6+ line was winning but failed to see ...hxg6
Rxd6i starting position
I'm probably dumb but I don't see the mate at 7:52. It's black's turn, king to g8 and both of white's pieces are hanging, the best move is to save them by knight to g5. What am I missing?
😍😍
The first puzzle in the book has a mistake.
First!! ♥️
Smash the like 👍 button
This is the best book for any player between 1400-2400 ELO and even IMs can benefit from it although I don’t recommend it for GMs. After careful study of this book you will never need any fake chess app or money-wasting coach any more.
Because you smashed your head against the wall and died?
@@KeepChessSimple have you ripped yourself badly trying to improve? This book is not suitable for players below 1400 ELO and naturally you feel ripped and confused.
@@kevinwellwrought2024 No but the video says this book is clearly waaaaaay to difficult for 1400's so I can.imagine if you are going to study this at that level, you end up hating chess.
Computer engines make it too easy to get click happy. Give it a year and Andras will call it garbage.
I have that book is awesome. I've got the paper book and the chessable version love them!!
For what rating people would you say this book for ?
Starting at 1500
The last position of the winning position looks unclear to me. You are just one pawn up and your king still looks vulnerable to back rank checks and diagonal checks. In short, I don't see a clear plan to win. Making a passed pawn on the queen side is one plan. Black king also looks vulnerable. But black will try to eliminate that pawn.
Hi, I'm a beginner in chess. I don't have any formal training. Calculation is my weakest areas. Can anyone recommend me a book that is focused on chess calculation training for beginners?🥲
Check out my video for book recommendations here: czcams.com/video/Eg-u_HlZKco/video.html
and here : czcams.com/video/lCwQyNLblm0/video.html
@@ChessCoachAndras Thank you!