How
is it possible to judge the true value of an original
idea emanating from an experienced (and very strong)
teacher? This question knocked around my mind
as I read through IM Ziatdinov's book, GM-RAM.
My first reaction, to be brutally
honest, was disdain. It all seemed pretty silly
to me. However, as I looked through the diagrams,
stepped off my high horse and thought about his
concept, I had to admit that he might be right;
or he might be wrong; or he might be insane; or
he might be a genius. Who knows?
Let's take a closer look at the
contents of this highly original book and then...well,
you'll have to make up your own mind.
The author's preface got my attention
when I.M. Ziatdinov said that very strong players
"see a few reasonable moves immediately,
from which he will pick one, often without considering
variations." He then went on to say that
"all calculation which he [the strong player]
is doing is happening automatically--he doesn't
even realize it."
The point of all this is that certain
knowledge must be acquired if you want to be a
really good player, and getting this knowledge
isn't as hard as many people suppose. The author
says, "My research into what is most important
to know has led me to identify what I consider
to be the essential knowledge of a Grandmaster."
He then gives you 256 positions and 59 whole games,
saying that anyone who understands all the positions
and memorizes all the games should be able to
reach grandmaster level.
My reservations are as follows:
- Is this premise true? Quite
honestly, I don't have a clue.
- The positions in the diagrams
don't have any written solutions. If you can't
figure it out, a major attack of frustration
might set in. I found this rather bizarre, but
the logic is that you can't try for a moment,
cop out and turn to the solutions page (which
doesn't exist!) for a quick and easy fix. Well,
I'm not sure I agree with this, but Rashid's
been teaching far longer than I have.
- The games are not annotated.
That's right, just a bunch of bare game scores
(as well as all those lonely diagrams).
This isn't to say that there's
nothing to read. His preface is interesting, as
is the material in chapter one (The Language of
Chess). I also enjoyed the author's attempts at
merging Eastern wisdom (from Sun Tzu's book, The
Art of War) with chess
strategy (in Chapter Two). His brief discussions
of the endgame and middlegame more or less push
his learning theories and don't try to teach you
anything in particular
. I found his Opening discussion
in Chapter Five to be out of touch with the rest
of the book. GM-RAM is clearly for strong players,
so when he advises that you get your Rooks out
by the 10th move he's either addressing weak players
(which is at odds with the projected audience)
or talking down to his peers (which I'm sure wasn't
his intention; I've met the author and he seems
to be a very nice man).
In the end, I must applaud Mr.
Ziatdinov for offering a system that he believes
will improve any strong player's game. If this
system works then everyone will be grateful. However,
this brings me back to square one. I don't know
if he's offering a revolutionary new training
method or something that ultimately can't stand
up to his many promises.
YOU
CAN FIND THIS BOOK AT
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