Evaluate Like a Grandmaster Paperback – October 7, 2022

I am a chess club instructor, and I obtained a few copies of this book for my chess club, which includes players who range from beginners to 1500 and above. The expectation was that the experienced players would benefit from GM Perelshteyn and FM Solon's new approach to teaching evaluation, which they did. But I was shocked to discover that the beginners were also getting some of the answers right!It turns out that evaluation needed to be taught from the beginning all along. Once the students learned how to look at the fundamental elements of evaluation in Chapter 2, they were like fish in water. They just needed to know what to look for.That said, the book is a special delight for the advanced players because they can learn from the tougher puzzle sections, like Visualization and Quartets.Bravo to the authors for pushing chess education into a new era of comprehensive learning. Knowledge of openings, strategic concepts, and tactics has been required for a long time, but this work makes it clear that we have been missing something critical. The faster we incorporate swift evaluation into every student's instinct, the sooner we will see the emergence of balanced, relaxed, and complete chess players.Thank you for this gift.

I'm really enjoying this book, and in particular I really like that in each chapter there is some instruction, and then just pages of positions to evaluate. The answers for each position, at the end of the chapter where you aren't likely to accidentally see any spoilers, are succinct, but informative.A couple of minor annoyances:1. The reader is encouraged to evaluate the position and write down an overall evaluation, as well as evaluation of Material, King Safety, Piece Activity, and Pawn Structure, and especially encouraged to use the standard symbols (=, +-, -+, etc). It would be nice to see the authors' evaluations so that we could compare to our own.2. Even for evaluation positions, the reader is encouraged to suggest a move for the active side to play. Often there is no move suggested in the answer, especially if the active side is worse.

This book contains roughly 200 chess training positions. It's not a "find the winning move" type of book, but a set of positions that ask the reader to come up with a verbal assessment of the strategic factors (i.e., which side has the advantage and why).Isolating evaluation from calculation is useful as a teaching methodology for beginner and intermediate players since it simplifies the learning material in a way that fosters comprehension. However, for more advanced players who plan to use this book more as a refresher of basic strategic concepts (e.g., those rated above 1800 USCF), this approach has serious limitations.I've played tournament chess for over 40 years and attained a peak USCF rating of 2190. With age and less time for serious chess training, my current rating is in the 1900s. It's well known that evaluation ability (a subset of "crystallized intelligence") remains at peak level regardless of age or amount of training, while a deterioration of calculation skills (a subset of "fluid intelligence")and accuracy of move selection are the primary reasons for a decrease in rating over the long term.I'm halfway through this book and have been "keeping score". I've correctly evaluated 95% of the positions, but in 30% of the positions I actually chose a poor move (i.e., one not among the top five choices of Stockfish 15, the strongest chess engine currently available to the general public). My point here is that strong evaluation skills are no guarantee of playing the best moves, especially in a tournament game with the clock ticking and an opponent sitting across from us who is out for blood!Being able to evaluate positions accurately can give a fail sense of security. As another reviewer noted, this book is "fun and almost effortless ... all words and only very short variations". It's fun and effortless because evaluation is like "talking" about exercising and having the right intentions, while calculation is actually putting on your running shoes, working up a serious sweat on the treadmill, and getting measurable results (i.e., actually playing good moves, regardless of which player has the better position).There are two other minor issues worth mentioning. The first is the author's inclusion of a chapter about the four chess coaches who have contributed to his success. In such a short book, I would have preferred more training exercises instead of these "eulogies" that have nothing to do with the core topic of the book. Secondly, all of the positions are printed from the perspective of the white player (i.e., white at the bottom of the board), even those where it's black's turn to move. Authors and publishers do this for their own convenience. My own chess book ("Defending Under Pressure") took a more reader-friendly approach by displaying all positions from the perspective of the player making the next move.In sum, this book provides solid instruction for players who have limited experience in evaluating positions. This is a good foundation for chess improvement, but has severe limitations if not accompanied by lots of work on the treadmill (i.e., calculation training). I would have given it five stars if the authors had graded readers on their choice of moves in each position.

Very good price and fast shipping.

This is a fantastic book for everyone 1400-2400. It has an innovative and instructive format: it asks you to evaluate positions and then explains what's important in each position. It's the explanations of how to understand a position and what factors are important and why.The authors think of lots of fun ways to do that. One section gives you four positions with a similar pawn structure and asks you to evaluate them. The factors in each position vary (which pieces are traded, which squares are controlled, how far along an attack is), and you use that to figure out which side is better.It's really fun and almost effortless to read, because it's all words and only very short variations. When I read it, I feel smart and good at chess.Highly recommend!

There are not many books concentrating on chess position understanding. This book is a good one telling readers what a master sees behind a chess position. Each page takes me a long time to speculate deeply.A book cannot increase the IQ of anyone, and nobody can. But at least, this book tells a reader how a grand master thinks and how to evaluate from a man's view, not from a computer's view. This book cannot make anyone smart, but it can teach how to enjoy watching the sports played by masters.