It's Your Move (Everyman Chess)

Rating:
Summary: I love this book!
Review: Best book on strategy, bar none!!!

5 ten-problem quizzes. Only 50 problems. Seems like a rip-off for the money, right?

No! I just wish it were longer!

You see the puzzle, and then you get some ideas from 5 different patzers. (This is similar to Silman's "Amateur's Mind" and Euwe's "Chess Master v. Chess Amateur", which use patzer games for analysis of positions and instruction of principles.) The subjects range from spotting weaknesses in a complex position to finding the winning ideas in a simple endgame. These are not Mate-in-x or tactical combination puzzles (although there are tactics in some that you have to spot) but they all have clear solutions once you understand them.

What makes this book fun is debunking the bad ideas. I often cannot figure out the problem, but I always feel superior to at least one or two of Ward's colorful characters! And since that's the level of competition I play against, this book is perfect for me! I feel as if this book actually makes me a better player. (That's hard to prove, but I definitely view my own games more circumspectly now.) I am reading it cover to cover!

USCF 1200-1500 rating. If you're only 1200, you might not get ANY of these puzzles, but you will still understand the solutions and learn a tremendous amount.

Avoid the older blue-cover "It's Your Move" by the same author. It's not bad, but it's too hard (and at that level, Silman is better). The "Improvers" version is much easier.
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I've noticed that Amazon thinks these are different editions of the same book. No. The blue book "It's Your Move" and the red book "It's Your Move: Improvers" are completely different books. (And now there is an even more advanced book, yellow I think, which I have not looked at.)

The blue book is a two-star effort. It is basically 50 annotated games, with only one move of annotation for each game. As a positional chess quiz book, there are much better choices: e.g. by Kosten, Bellini, or Evans.

The problem with the blue book is stated in its introduction: The author does not want to waste his time explaining why the bad moves are bad. I ask, "Why not?" That would have made this book useful, especially if these games were club (rather than master) level.

How did one author compose two books of nearly identical look and feel but polar opposites in quality? It's a mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Very good Self Test on planning and strategy
Review: I find this book to be a fresh, appealing and useful tool for low rated player (U1600 USCF), who wants to do self test. I had recommended this book to many of my students and have it on my recommended list on my web site.

There are 5 separate tests. Each consist of 10 questions / diagrams. 5 fictional characters offer their ideas and recommendations. One of them offers the best recommendation and you are awarded 10 points if you were in agreement with him(her). However often other characters offer valid points, so you may get partial credit if you were going in the right direction, but "got lost in the fog."

Primarily, planning and strategic ideas are tested in this book. From my coaching experience, learning strategy is much more difficult than tactics. Tactics, primarily, requires knowledge of few typical tricks (double attack, deflection etc...) and ability to identify them in your game and do accurate calculation. Strategy, on the other hand, requires knowledge of HUGE number of typical ideas, ability to identify them, properly evaluate, formulate plan, find moves candidates and, finally, make move.

The book is very basic and fun to read, yet majority of positions are important and I wouldn't hesitate using them with my students. Another advantage is - you don't need a chess board while working on the questions. However, if it is not terribly inconvenient, I recommend always using one, to resemble real game.

This is how I would recommend using the book - use clock and limit yourself to 10-15 minutes per diagram. Evaluate position and answer questions BEFORE reading recommendations of the fictional characters. When finished your thinking, read what they say and find the best match. If you can't complete the test in one sitting, make sure you check the answers for the completed questions while your ideas are still fresh in your memory. Finally, if a particular position interesting and especially if you totally missed it, set it up against Fritz (or another chess playing monster) and practice a few times.

This book is a good read, but will not be a classic. I feel that themes can be better selected and some of the explanations a bit too shallow, thus I give this book 4 stars.

Good luck,
Copyrighted by me!

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I just finished this book; spending four weekends solving the puzzles. I would categorize this book as enjoyable, but not overly difficult (On last check I'm 1800 USCF). I scored 100 on three of the tests, a 92, and a 73(Avg score of 93). Each of the five tests have 10 questions with five choices (a-e).

What I enjoyed about solving the puzzles was not only finding the right answer (always a plus!) but finding out what was wrong with the other suggestions. Sometimes the suggestions were tactically flawed, or the assesment of the position was incorrect, or just flat out bizarre!

So, while only getting 50 puzzle questions may be of some concern, you could view it as an additional 200 puzzles because you have to refute the other four poor suggestions! However, as I mentioned before finding the refutation was usually not to difficult - but worth the effort in concrete analysis and visualization practice.

The puzzle selection is fairly balanced with selections from the opening, middlegame, and endings (quite a few King and pawn endings).

On the downside, the book is expensive, but I am a sucker for chess books. However, overall I think that the value was solid. I would agree with the other reviewers that the book is best used by B and C rated players (although they may do just as well or better than I did).

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book on planning
Review: I'm writing this review mostly to give a counterpoint to the review below. Unfortunately, Mr. Thompson missed the point. This is not meant to be a book on tactics, but rather on finding a plan in the middlegame. The positions you'll see here are positions that might even appear in our own games, rather than only those of GM's. The idea is to chose, from among five choices, the best plan of action. These plans won't neccessarily win the game outright, but they'll lead to an advantage. In that respect, the book is excellent, and as far as I'm concerned, essential for a player who's got a good grasp of tactics and wants to take the next step. Along with Bronstein's Zurich International '53, this is one of the best books on middlegame planning I've seen; practice makes perfect.

Rating:
Summary: What my students say:
Review: Several of my local students ... and quite a few of my Internet students ... have bought this book. NOT ONE has had anything bad to say about it. It seems to accomplish exactly what the author set out to do when he wrote this book. (See his introductory notes.)
I spent over an hour going over this book with one of my students who is 8 years old. I thought it was a fairly well written book.
(Maybe a four or five-star book for a beginner. But I try to give out that award - now - as little as possible.)

Rating:
Summary: It's Your Move!
Review: This book contains only 50 positions and that is my only complaint with this book...well that and the price. However this is a good book if you want to test your knowledge and you may even learn a thing or two! (this more than makes up for the cost i believe). The book is full of commonly seen positions which is a great bonus. Another great thing about this book is every 100 point rating jump you gain you should be able to go through the book quicker and get more correct, then when you get a full score...you can get the original "It's your move" which is apparently much harder. In conclusion get this book if you want to test yourself and make sure your knowledge is up to scratch.