James Rizzitano's first book expounds upon a useful premise – players should deeply analyze their games – and he supports it with plenty of practical “been there, done that” tournament chess insight. This game collection and instructional manual should prove valuable to players wishing to better understand their chess and the chess of others.

Strong players and teachers have been advising their students to deeply analyze their own game for many, many years. Among world champions, Botvinnik was particularly insistent on incorporating this into a regular study regime. In the author's case, he notes in his forward that “many years ago I resolved never to go to sleep after a loss until I figured out what had gone wrong. If you are unable to determine why you are losing games, then it is pointless to continue competing in tournaments – you are wasting your time. Every game should be viewed as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and as a mental reminder to avoid repeating those errors in the future.” 

The book amply illustrates the author's willingness to carefully study his own games and flesh out errors for both sides. The book works because the reader will come to realize that tournament chess is a struggle where errors abound, winner and loser alike. The player who better deals with these changing tides will often come out on top.

I enjoyed this book, because it is a no holds barred look at (mostly) American tournament chess. In many cases, the games were played in Swiss system events with fast time controls. Many average players can better relate to these games than the latest by the “Super-K's” from Linares or similar tournaments. Indeed, how often do you see internationally titled players like IM Rizzitano trotting out their games from days gone by where they played the Morra Gambit (1.e4. c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3) against international grandmasters?

The general character of the book is highlighted by the first chapter, where the author as an underdog takes on (and sometimes wins against) the likes of grandmasters Pal Benko, Lev Alburt, Tony Miles, Bent Larsen, and Mikhail Tal. Here we encounter the typical battle between youth and experience, and these highlight the sorts of chess imbalances that should prove useful to most tournament players.

In later chapters, the author touches upon other important topics, including opening battles, the initiative, accumulating small advantages, and tactical skirmishes (read messy positions). Again, he addresses these in ways that are accessible to the average player – these are games that have many moments where, in general, both players miss the best continuations.

Most players will enjoy the brutally honest assessments the author provides.  It's rare that an international master so freely admits that his play (and those of his opponents) is full of errors. Of course, this is one of the redeeming qualities of the book and why I think it will be of value to most tournament players – perhaps this will help others accept and admit their mistakes and learn from them.

That said, there are some parts of this book that could stand improvement. First, most of the games are handled in just a couple of pages. While the author does a decent job of analyzing key points, these are often not the “what is going on” sorts of discussions that will most benefit the average player. Second, it would have been useful if the author had settled on a method for presenting the games. I enjoyed the games where the author spent a paragraph (or three) establishing what was to follow. Unfortunately, that pattern did not apply to all the games or game fragments. Finally, I found some of the game fragments (such as some studies) to generally fall outside the scope of the book's audience.

It would be wrong to focus on these aspects of the book, because this is an excellent hands-on discussion of modern tournament play. It will generally prove relevant to the average player, because the author focuses on games from standard American Swiss-style events. His tenaciousness in play and willingness to objectively analyze the alternatives for both sides are an excellent analytical standard that we should all seek to emulate. This is a wonderful example of how all players should study and learn from their games.