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Like most endeavors that attract and excite enthusiasts, playing chess involves the solving of problems. Chess seems to have an almost endless program of obstacles to try to solve. Now that I have reached an extended point in my chess career, I have discerned that writing about chess is much more difficult than it would seem. Of the abundant available subjects in chess, it seems to me that writing about strategy is the most difficult. The reason for that is we all have our own conceptions of what constitutes strategy. So, what might seem like a tactical operation to one player is a piece of strategic magic to another. Still, we have to agree that there is some point at which we can all agree upon what is involved in strategy.
I must comment that I had read many of these books at a much younger age when many of the factors involved were far beyond my comprehension; that may have colored my feeling about those volumes. No matter, it is my opinion that Giants of Strategy belongs on the book shelf of any player working to improve. GM Neil McDonald is the author and he has taken a very interesting approach to the subject of chess strategy. Capablanca, Nimzowitsch, Petrosian, Karpov and Kramnik are certainly names associated with the deepest understanding of chess, and McDonald tapped into that to create this book. I have held the opinion for some time that bio books written by someone else (the Petrosian book for instance) are based on premiere level games annotated by someone who probably doesn't carry the same credentials, making it very uncertain how clear or accurate the notes are. My intention is not to demean any author or his efforts, but to point out that such a book has closer ties to the author than to the player of the game. As I read Giants, I found myself coming to a different point of view. Many of the games have been written up by the players in previous volumes which suggests that their concepts are readily at hand, plus, we get an added element of GM McDonald's interpretation of things to help guide us.
There are nine chapters, each dealing with a different strategic entity. Familiar terms like "Seventh rank", "Blockade", "Restraint" and "Outpost and Open File" are familiar terms that receive good coverage. These are the basic building blocks that we all refer to in our own games. McDonald does a fine job covering these. What really impressed me though was that he delved into a couple of ideas that have received much less press: "The Power of Pawn Breaks" and "Using the Pawn Ram" are important points that have been taken much too lightly in past literature. Philidor left us the insight "pawns are the soul of chess", yet the value of such knowledge has been somewhat neglected in the curricula of most chess players. The importance of pawn breaks has been particularly apparent to me in my studies and I eagerly moved to that chapter. To my mind, pawn breaks are important, as they are the tool used to create imbalances of force in a sector or open spaces for the pieces to maneuver through.
In fact, the whole book worked well for me. One point of the book seemed odd to me: the sequence of the chapters. Let's take a look:
My puzzlement comes from the possibility that a reader will get to "Planning on a Grand Scale" without the knowledge of the following work, and falter in finding those aspects involved in planning. Also, gaining the seventh rank or an outpost is usually the result of some change in the pawn structure which suggests that the pawn chapters should have come before the piece chapters. I want to make clear that this is a minor point, but I feel it relevant to readers who are new to strategy books or improving players who might not be as comfortable with such aspects. When I first got my hands on this book I wasn't sure what to expect; my inclination was to think that it was a bio comparison of five great players. It turned out that Giants is an effort to clarify the thoughts of five greats in the field on strategic concepts.
I would
recommend this book very highly to players who feel confident of their
tactics, but aren't certain how those possibilities come up. This book will
best serve aspiring players who too often find themselves facing situations
in which calculation simply will not achieve a positive result.
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Yes,
writing about strategy is probably harder than actually "using" strategy in
a game. Reading Chess Secrets: the Giants of Strategy, I was
impressed how easily the writing seemed to be. My experience in this
realm had revolved around "classics" like Masters of the Chessboard
by Reti, or player bios such as Tigran Petrosian: Life and Games by
Vassiliev, which gave ample direction in the pursuit of understanding the
elusive "strategy," but didn't satisfy my desire to be more enlightened.
McDonald
does an excellent job of bringing simple points to the surface to underscore
and build on the more complex concepts that the players have found. This
makes the material much more concrete for the aspiring player, which in turn
makes it more likely that the reader will be able to use the ideas that are
passed on. This aspect of the book is very appealing and genuine.
Reading
the pawn break chapter left me feeling more confident in my own
understanding as well as more aware of the nature of pawn breaks.
Personally I found it quite interesting that of ten game examples used in
this chapter, I had knowledge of five, and four were examples of the Advance
Caro Kann. I can only say that the chapters on pawn majorities and pawn
rams were equally well posed and provided more edification for this reader.
The
first two chapters deal with points of piece play, then large scale
strategy, three chapters on pawns, and the final three on the interaction
between pawns and pieces.
I
can't say it is a complete primer on strategy, it doesn't try to be. It is
the work of GM McDonald to bring forth the factors of strategic thinking
that the five "Giants" used and how they came to find said factors, as well
as how the factors were used. Not an easy task explaining other people's
thoughts, but McDonald's explanations are easy to understand and very clear
to a less accomplished player.
