Book Review: Thinking with Chess

You can find another one of my book reviews at Chesscafe.com. (Previously, I reviewed Walter Browne's "The Stress of Chess".)

This time around, I took a look at "Thinking With Chess", by Dr. Alexey Root. This book is more or less a teaching guide for chess coaches or parents. My review is entitled "Teaching with Challenges", named because the most interesting and valuable part of Dr. Root's book are the challenges. These are essentially mini-games used to exercise a particular chess skill.

Image taken from www.brooklyncastle.com

The book is put together nicely, but unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to give it a great rating because of the limited amount of material (the size of the book). This is reflected in the concise nature of the review; there was simply not a whole lot to talk about! (My apologies to Dr. Root for any offense, but I'm just trying to deliver an honest opinion.)

Did you read this book? If so, what did you think? What is your favorite book on chess instruction?

Opening Lanes looks at the ...e5 Anti-Anti-Sicilian

International Master Gary Lane runs a very informative, interesting, and entertaining column at ChessCafe.com called Opening Lanes, in which he answers reader questions about various chess opening variations. 

In this month's column, he answered a question I posed, about the variations 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e5 and 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e5. I was excited to see a titled player look at these variations, especially a Bishop Opening's specialist like IM Lane (Since 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 c5 transposes).

You can read his analysis in PDF format.

I have been posting analysis on meeting Anti-Sicilians with ..e5. There were not many games to be found featuring this move, and very little freely available analysis. I already have surveyed 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e5, and will return to this line in more depth in the future. I am also going into more depth with 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e5 (which could also arise from the Bishops Opening).

I may eventually pen a larger response to IM Lane's analysis, although I doubt there is much to be critical of (after all, he's hundreds of rating points stronger than I, and probably has more time and resources to boot!). That being said, after 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e5 3.f4, the only third move he analyzed for White, I would prefer 3…exf4 over either 3…d6 or 3…Nc6 (the options he covered in his article).

My analysis on 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e5 3.f4 will be posted in the near future, since it is anyway the next option in my series of 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e5 (It will be line D).

Please check out IM Lane's column, and let me know what you think!

(The pictures above are from Chesscafe.com; I claim no right on them, providing them only for aesthetic pleasure.)

My Book Review at Chesscafe.com

I have recently reviewed a book, Walter Browne's "The Stress of Chess", for the excellent chesscafe.com website. You can check out my review, which I titled "A sometimes stressful read" at their site (now archived; 11/12/12).

Since I live on the East Coast, hurricane Sandy has interrupted my blogging efforts. Now, I am up against a deadline for a very important meeting with my thesis committee on November 6th (after which I will exercise my civic duty and vote). So, dear reader, please excuse the dearth of posts in the coming week.