101 Winning Chess Strategies

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have grown to expect more than this from GAMBIT. This book book presents one example of a different strategic theme per page. There is no overall cohesion or theme to this book. The book was a total fabrication that did not have to be made. The publisher wanted to put out a series of "101 ...." books and so decided one would be made on strategy. Dunnington should not have done this. I admire his book on the King's Indian Attack; but this book harms his reputation. It has a "Cardozo Publishing" Eric Schiller feel to it. It also ranks "down there" with much junk by Pandolfini, Keene, and a few others. Please do not buy this book. It is a shame to waste money on it, when there is so much good stuff out there.

Rating:
Summary: Useful And Entertaining Strategies
Review: This book has certain obvious strengths and weaknesses. It's very strong in presenting to the intermediate player numerous interesting and useful strategic examples: attack against the castled king, nurture your space advantage, opposite side castling, attack the base of a pawn chain, etc. The author generally uses a mix of new and classic examples. I've found the large number (101) of examples perfect for training purposes on my computer wherein I play the game positions trying to employ the book strategies. The weakness of the book is in the relatively superficial treatment of the strategies, no clear linkage between strategies, and sometimes unclear writing. I've enjoyed this book although I wouldn't say it was "essential" as you can generally find in your own books examples to practice using. Still, 101 mini-lessons collected in one volume? Worth buying.