DEVELOPMENT OF A GRANDMASTER (ALL LEVELS)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: A wonderful and unique chess journey through Michael Adams career, as told by his father, with all the games annotated by Michael. Many of his first competitive games are here, and you see him make typical mistakes that we all make, when he was 8 and 9 years old. Then you see him improve steadily. It is a marvelous thing to see this type of progression in a book. Most game collections by GMS just have them destroying other GMs. This is the only book I can think of that shows a GMs early games, played when he was a mere mortal. This is not ony very instructive, but somewhere in the book is the transition in play from an intermediate club player to a GM. The lessons are there for you to absorb. It is a beautifully written and annotated book. I think it belongs on everyone's shelf, and that it, along with its sequel, Chess in the Fast Lane, have been seriously overlooked by the masses of chess players. Because of this, you can get each of them cheap used, and I suggest that you snatch them up while this book can still be found. Adams comes across very much as a normal guy, and this book, in addition to its inherent strengths, also gives hope to the aspiring player that with hard work, he can improve! Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: A wonderful and unique chess journey through Michael Adams career, as told by his father, with all the games annotated by Michael. Many of his first competitive games are here, and you see him make typical mistakes that we all make, when he was 8 and 9 years old. Then you see him improve steadily. It is a marvelous thing to see this type of progression in a book. Most game collections by GMS just have them destroying other GMs. This is the only book I can think of that shows a GMs early games, played when he was a mere mortal. This is not ony very instructive, but somewhere in the book is the transition in play from an intermediate club player to a GM. The lessons are there for you to absorb. It is a beautifully written and annotated book. I think it belongs on everyone's shelf, and that it, along with its sequel, Chess in the Fast Lane, have been seriously overlooked by the masses of chess players. Because of this, you can get each of them cheap used, and I suggest that you snatch them up while this book can still be found. Adams comes across very much as a normal guy, and this book, in addition to its inherent strengths, also gives hope to the aspiring player that with hard work, he can improve! Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Worst book in my chess library
Review: Don't take me wrong: I admire Adams' style. It reminds me of Capablanca and Karpov. He plays classical, good positional chess. However, this book is a failure. The prose is dry, almost soporific. The reader is left in the dark as how Adams became the exceptional player that he is. How many hours per week did he put studying chess when he was a boy? What books had the most influence on him? Did he spend more time studying openings, middle game positions or endings? What about strategy and tactics? This is what one would expect of a book called "Development of a Grand Master", especially when it was written by the grand master's father. But no, you will get no answers for such questions in this book. What you do get is a series of stories about young Adams playing this and that tournament, winning against this opponent, losing to the other one, and so on. These stories are intercalated with a couple of anecdotes and pictures, as well as some poorly annotated games. No wonder you can buy, as I did, a used copy of this book for less than US$5.00. This is a serious candidate for the title of worst book in my chess library.

Rating:
Summary: Simple, clear, exceeds expectations
Review: On paper, a chess bio of a grandmaster authored by the grandmaster's father with the grandmaster's help has all the sad rings of a "puff piece" about it. This book avoids falling into this trap through a simple, unadorned style that makes us feel as though Michael Adams is a person who became a grandmaster, rather than some monolithic genius of chess above common humanity. The book uses games and brief discussion to take us from Adams' childhood early folly at the game up until he breaks through into the GM ranks. We get a sense of prodigy, hard work, and of a supportive dad. Is there much more we need from this type of book?

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: The negative review from Moscow was, in my opinion, very unfair. This is one of my favorite chess books. It shows how Adams' play developed through his childhood through maturity. True, it does not address some of the points that the Moscow reviewer notes, but why do reviewers rate books so much based on the title? This is a games collection by a top GM, annotating his own games. Adams is succinct, instructive, blunt, and he plays a universal e4- repertoire that is woderful for the average player to emulate. I have over 500 chess books, and this and its sequel, "Chess in the Fast Lane" have emerged over time as two of my favorite games-collection books. They are very worth having, especially for the cheap used price you can find. I will not part with my copies. In fact, I have this book in my briefcase with me at work today!