Hello peeps, haven't posted in a while, though I still lurk (this place is kinda dead though). Hopefully I do get at least two responses, anything on top would be amazing

Anyway, to set the background, I am a 2392 FM with two IM norms. I have absolutely no opportunities to play currently, so the push for the IM is delayed for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, I figured that I might as well use this year, or two, or three, or whatever, to actually try to improve at this game so that when I become an IM I can say that I actually deserve it.

I might, of course, just luckbox in to some rating gain and an IM norm in my next tournament, which would make me an IM. However, I do feel that I am not "fully" IM strength. To explain - there are certain aspects of the game were I believe I am at a strong IM level, but there are also aspects of the game where I feel like I am probably 2200 at most.

The most obvious aspects are openings (some are at a very decent level, but I have major trouble selecting an opening vs. 1. d4) and endgames (2200 strength at best). I am working on those, and that is not what I have in mind at the moment.

What I am looking for are books for better understanding of chess in general. I realize that is broad, but hey, it is what it is. I feel that I often lack the "understanding", for a lack of a better word, on how to connect things one to another during the game, an ability to see a broader picture, to understand the game on a much more fundamental level than I currently do. Sort of like "glue guy" in team sports, that would connect the team together, if that makes sense

Additionally, the book of course would have to cater for around my playing strengths. There are many books of this around, but most of them cater to a bit weaker players and I do not really get much, if anything, out of them anymore.

With that in mind, I have noticed a couple books that have drawn my interest - "Chess structures" by Mauricio Flores and "Positional decision making in chess" by Gelfand. Has anyone read these and have any comments on whether they would fit the criteria I described above?

I will be eagerly awaiting for other suggestions as well, of course. The suggestions don't necessarily have to include books or other training material - if you have other ideas on how I can get where I want to get, I wanna hear that. Thank you, and let's wake up this place a little bit!

The Gelfand book has been recommended by Svidler, claiming that he he got stuff out of it. John Bartholomew (2450 IM) said the same thing about the Flores book. So, just go for it. If those two give you nothing new, its gonna be hard to find any book at all. To be honest, those are THE books Im aware of, that are great for 2000 rated players and most likely at least useful for 2300. Obviously most of the content will not be new to you, since your rating is not the key audience, but you should still benefit quite a bit.
I haven't worked through the books yet, but I absolutely trust Svidler and Bartholomew on that subject.

Johnny from the block has a 26 minute review of the Flores book:



I'm sure you can also just email him directly (or shoot him a FB message since you guys do know each other) if you want to know whether he thinks it's that valuable given your strength. It's hard to tell from his book recommendations what he'd actually recommend to someone within ~60 rating points of him given most of his viewers are nowhere near IM strength.

From what I understand of the Gelfand book (this is all similar to what Faustfan has already said, lol) is mainly from Svidler talking about it on banter blitz or something and also just seeing general reviews on it. It seems very good and definitely for stronger players.

My assumption is players of your strength get into the Aagaaaaaaaaard grandmaster prep type books or Dvoretsky type material. Several of which curtainz recommends on his blog: http://www.gregshahade.com. I also noticed that on a 90 second interview with Shankland (done by Daniel King) he mentioned his favorite book is Dvoretsky's endgame manual. I mean, if you view endgames as a weakness, I cannot imagine going through that book several times can be too inefficient given how often and how many strong players reference it. I guess at this point or some point it's almost surely overrated but I assume that's simply b/c it's the easiest (and often best) answer to stock/vague questions like "best endgame book" or "best book" or "most helpful book" or whatever.

It is very cool to see a new thread in this forum and also by such a strong chess player. But, I mean, don't you think you'd get even more useful responses just by posting this as a status update on your Facebook account?

Oh, and since I'm writing so much anyway I will add the following in terms of general advice. I read time and time again in interviews with strong chess players (let's say 26XX) when asked about getting to the next level (2700+) if they are going to do that, or IMs if they are going to try to be GMs (e.g. John B), it seems the answer is almost always something like:

"Well, I really would need to hunker down and spend much more time not just with chess but studying and improving chess in an organized manner."

I think the key for you could very well be:
1) Amount of time you can spend on chess, fully focused and concentrating, not just flipping through or casually interacting with chess
2) Spending this time in an organized manner - likely prioritizing parts of chess you find "icky" but finding some non-icky way to actually perform #1 on those areas
3) This is kind of a repeat of #2 but not really: having an actual plan that you track, review, and can self-regulate regularly.

For #3, as an analogy, getting stronger at lifting weights isn't just about being organized and trying hard when you lift them, at some point you will need to have a program you can then regulate on an ongoing basis, properly adding weight and forcing yourself to get stronger, while also being able to review this program and tweak it not only about how you feel that day but based on how things are going overall during a training phase. So it's not just about having an organized workout and not doing random stuff (#2) or spending that time well (#1).

Oh, and here are some helpful links I just stumbled across on Gelfand's book:

Q&A with Gelfand about the book:



Lecture (material not in the book but going to go out on a limb and say if this seems like what you're looking for, the book is what you're looking for):

Here is a fairly in-depth written review of Chess Structures by Julio Sadorra:

https://www.chessity.com//blog/804/A...nking_and_Play
https://www.chessity.com//blog/810/A...d_Play_Part_II

Thank you for the responses.

Sadly cannot watch videos on Youtube at work, but I completely trust Julio and John (probably Greg too!) which means that both of those books are great. (I find it funny that out of any random number of reviews for these books you guys chose the two guys I was teammates with for years - UTD POWER!). I am going to try to get both of these books then.

Any other suggestions?

P.S. Yugo, I did not necessarily wanna spread this to too broad an audience, there are people who probably think I should spend 24/7 on law related stuff

I don't think there are that many random reviews. Also, it seems everyone went to UTD anyway, lol.

I think the chess world is just that small.

I mean, anything by Quality Chess, right? Like, just browse through their books and pick one on some topic that you think you're deficient in. Seems like that actually may be almost as efficient as anything else imo.

Ahh, I had not considered that. I will make sure not to start posting daily updates on your timeline joking about how much time you spend studying chess instead of law.

P.S. I think you should spend all your time studying chess. Lol law.

Quality Chess books are indeed Quality.

AIMC - you play chess and/or used to play chess. I've heard you weren't a patzer.

Any specific books you'd recommend to OP?

I think it's decently more important to get a (highly) competent trainer at his level than to read some book that is probably more aimed for someone who's rated about 2000.

With that being said I think (with my preliminary knowledge of the book) the recent Gelfand book (Positional Decision Making in Chess by Boris Gelfand) is his best bet to improve in the ways YKW wants to.

The problem with this book like I say above though is that it may be more aimed at 2000-2200 players. However, I do think it would be very worthwhile to read the PDF look in at the quality chess website.

The PDF look in can be found here:
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/produc...boris_gelfand/

I of course have no real idea but it's gelfand interested in making books for low rating segments like that? Seems like the kind of guy who just goes hard in the paint even if he's playing versus 10 year olds.

You asked for my input and I gave it.

FIN