I purchased it in 2015 while participating on a fide tournament and since then , I have been reading through (playing and solving should I say) this book and it is pure gold for anyone wishing to learn and master the game. Nevertheless, as someone who remembers the white-hot rivalry of their world championship matches, I was startled when I received the new translation of Ilya Maizelis’ The Soviet Chess Primer from Quality Chess.

The translation by John Sugden reads well, and – as one expects from Quality Chess – the production values are high. Following some of the sidelines might be a bit much if you’re really just starting out, but apart from that it’s very approachable and covers a lot of fundamental ideas. Closer scrutiny of The Soviet Chess Primer, however, leads me to question the title chosen by Quality Chess for this new translation. Logical Chess' writing seems a bit puerile, and I can flip through pages pretty easily, whereas I like the density of the Soviet Primer.Another neat feature is that new concepts are in many cases are introduced and the author then cites the diagram numbers from previous sections to point out that the new concepts exists in *those* positions as well. All about the game of chess, including discussions on professional tournaments, game analysis and theory. Yes, Black is in zugzwang, but surely there are much clearer and Elo-appropriate ways to illustrate the point than this?

If his name is recognized at all, it is as a co-author of the classic Pawn Endings with Yuri Averbakh, although in truth Maizelis was its primary author. The Soviet Chess Primer is a modern English translation of Maizelis’s witty introduction to the royal game. Though this book does begin with the basic rules of chess--and even teaches the reader how to read the book because it takes the time to explain algebraic chess notation right at the start--it quickly moves on to more advanced tactical and strategic ideas.Each chapter concludes with a whimsical set of “Entertainment Pages,” where miniatures and ‘fun exercises’ appear, and some of the original drawings are brought over from the Russian. However, where this book shines is that it provides enough examples (of increasing complexity) that reading the book will help the reader begin to recognize when those tactics might become relevant. If you are absolutely new to chess or under 1300 rating this may be a little advanced for you in which case I would recommend one of these three classic primers first: Siegbert Tarrasch's 'Game of Chess', Capablanca's 'Chess Fundamentals' or Lasker's 'Manual of Chess'.

Alekhine’s “my best games of chess” is a good start because games and notes are very clear and thorough.Ele cobre desde o movimento das peças até as três fases do jogo (abertura, meio jogo e finais), passando pelos elementos mais importantes (tática, estratégia e cálculo).

I suspect, however, that the particular affection felt for it by former Soviets may have another source.If you have a national chess federation ELO rating of 1300-1599 I highly recommend this fantastic book. If you are new to the game, check out /r/chessbeginners and before posting here please read our rules: https://www. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. There are certainly better primers in print today, but few books are more interesting than is The Soviet Chess Primer. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.