CHESS SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Author: Zenon Franco

240 pages

$28.95

Gambit Publishing (2005)

www.gambitbooks.com

Reviewed by John Donaldson

CHESS SELF-IMPROVEMENT continues Gambit Publishing’s successful trend of publishing new authors for the English language market. Franco, who learned his chess in Argentina – a country with a rich chess heritage – was particularly fond of the “guessing of moves” competitions that were popular in his youth. Good memories of these encouraged him to write columns along the lines of solitaire chess in El Rey, Jaque and Torre & Cavallo Scacco! This book is based on the best of these columns.

Solitaire chess is nothing new. I.A. Horowitz made it a long running feature in Chess Review. What makes CHESS SELF-IMPROVEMENT go well beyond this is the quality of the material. Typically solitaire chess columns give the reader an opportunity to guess the moves for one side, with correct answers scoring points. When the game is completed the points are tallied and the student is able to compare their final score with that of others.  CHESS SELF-IMPROVEMENT offers much more. Franco presents fifty heavily annotated games divided into three chapters: Position Play, Tactical and/or Attacking Games, and Endgames. Each game has plenty of instructive prose and concrete variations as required – often quite in depth. Unlike most solitaire columns Franco has readers guess moves for both players. Also one doesn’t just guess the move, typically there is a choice of three seemingly plausible candidate moves. The Paraguayan GM goes to the trouble of explaining why the wrong moves are incorrect.

One advantage of running a solitaire chess column for a long time is the author develops a good feel for how players of varying strengths should score. Franco’s scoring charts seem pretty objective.

Like other Gambit books, CHESS SELF-IMPROVEMENT has a very spacious layout with a generous two-column format. The diagrams are large, clear and sprinkled throughout each game. An ambitious, fairly strong student could go through the games without a board.

CHESS SELF-IMPROVEMENT has at least two audiences. Ambitious players will find it contains plenty of training material. Add a clock to time each game and a pen and notepad to keep score, and one has a readymade “chess gym.” Those who just like to play over well-annotated games from strong players will also enjoy it.

Recommended.

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