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Rating: 
Summary: So, why should you buy this book....?
Review: GM Lev Alburt wants to introduce you to a system of assessing a given position, quantifing this assessment and plotting these values on a graph. This in itself is nothing new, so to make it a book, Mr. Alburt introduces his own invention: A "system of predicted results", which is basically the claim that a pattern exists for all chess positions, and if you can learn to recognize this pattern, you should be on your way to mastery.
"The ability to judge a position accurately is at the heart of good chess", as it says on the back cover. Problem is, the book doesn't teach you to do that. It assumes you are able to identify the relative strength (good or bad and how much so) of a given move and the resulting position - which Mr. Alburt then teaches you to evaulate numerically (a half-point advantage, say). For this reason alone, the back cover's "Whether you are a beginner or a master" should qualify as false declaration!
It is certainly not for beginners.
One cannot escape the feeling that this book was published more for the benefit of the bank accounts of the author and the editor than for any budding chess master.
Supporting this view is the downright silly placement on p.37 of a half-page ad(!) for the US Chess Federation, urging you to sign up a member.
A biography of Mr. Alburt is on p.199 and the editor, Mr.Lawrence, is presented on p.297. Why?
To round things off, an ad for Mr. Alburt's services as a tutor has been placed on p.347.
Together with Mr. Alburt's constant references to other works written by himself and the not so subtle pitching of Mr.Lawrence's marketing and publishing firm, leaves you wondering what this book is actually meant to be.
A book very smartly packaged and promoted but also a book very unable to live up to it's own hype.
I recommend you don't buy this book to avoid feeling cheated.
Rating: 
Summary: Stay away!
Review: This book sure looks flashy, and boy, there are a lot of pretty graphs and colors. However, this is nothing in here that is revolutionary. In fact, the only worthwhile part comes at the beginning of the book and that is nothing more than a rehash of Silman and Kotov.I enjoyed a couple of Alburt's earlier books (like Just the Facts!) but this book is a real downer. Not worth [money], let alone [money]!
Rating: 
Summary: Revamped book
Review: This is basically a reissue of Test and Improve Your Chess originally written in 1989. This book and Alburt's book on tactics are worthwhile, the rest of the series is junk.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent format and instruction
Review: While it is true that there is nothing revolutionary here, it is also true that this is another in a series of beautifully produced chess books that are designed to improve the chess of intermediate players. This book gives you many good tools, including methods of studying typical positions. Taken together with Alburt's other books, this is a worthy addition. It is a little xpensive, perhaps, but so are the rest of them. Anyway, I never paid near list for any of them. Check this out at a bookstore. it is a good book.
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