Bishop Versus Knight

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT book for intermediate level players!!
Review: "Bishop v Knight: The Verdict" is an excellent book for intermediate level players. I am amazed at how different I look at the minor pieces now compared to how I looked at them before I ever cracked open the book. Definitely a recommendation for those that intend to take chess seriously, and that hope to reach expert or master level. Before reading this book, I always said "Bishops are always better than knights" and yet someone else I know, who hasn't read the book, always thought, and still thinks, that knights are always better for him. Today, I beat him at least 90% of the time because this book has really helped me manage my minor pieces better. Also, when given the choice to trade a knight or bishop away for a minor piece of his, I make the better decision more often now than I did before reading the book. Anyone who has even the slightest bit of trouble managing their minor pieces, either in a middlegame, an endgame, or both, needs to get this book. I can't say there is another book of it's type.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT book for intermediate level players!!
Review: I can't recall a chess book that I've found so instructive (okay, maybe Dvoretsky) and funny (well...Soltis might have him beat). Mayer takes on all the authorites...Steinitz, Chigorin, Tarrasch, Botvinnik, etc. Sometimes he agrees, sometimes he disagrees, but he always left me seeing things in a new way. And his command of the nuances of strategy and tactics is incredible...I don't know why he isn't a Grandmaster, because he sure writes better than 99.9% of them. Maybe it's time that we gave him a special award for "hardest working man in chess"! Okay, I guess Nunn beats him in that department, but still, this book is a blast and I give it my highest rating...you *will* learn boatloads from it and have a great time while you do it!

Rating:
Summary: An instructive, entertaining read on chess
Review: I can't recall a chess book that I've found so instructive (okay, maybe Dvoretsky) and funny (well...Soltis might have him beat). Mayer takes on all the authorites...Steinitz, Chigorin, Tarrasch, Botvinnik, etc. Sometimes he agrees, sometimes he disagrees, but he always left me seeing things in a new way. And his command of the nuances of strategy and tactics is incredible...I don't know why he isn't a Grandmaster, because he sure writes better than 99.9% of them. Maybe it's time that we gave him a special award for "hardest working man in chess"! Okay, I guess Nunn beats him in that department, but still, this book is a blast and I give it my highest rating...you *will* learn boatloads from it and have a great time while you do it!