Looks at Books / Reviews
A Fairly Decent
Chess Player? Read GM Soltis’ latest book to find out for certain.
By DR. ALEXEY ROOT, WIM
chapter quizzes in What It Takes to Become a Chess Master, I asked my husband, International Master Doug Root, to take a quiz. He did not read the related “Little Tactics” chapter. One of the quiz’s four questions was “How does White improve his position?” with White to play, from Botvin- nik-Tal, World Championship 1961.
Fritz 6 prefers 1. Bxe6 slightly to 1. Ra3. The Chandler-McNab position is at the
end of an opening. Several different moves are good that early in a game. As Doug mentioned, masters have different styles. Doug’s other three quiz answers matched the answer key. Like the quizzes, the chapters have
Doug liked 1. h4 and if 1. ... h6 then 2.
What It Takes to Become a Chess Master by Andrew Soltis, 208 pages, Batsford (2012), $19.95 from
uscfsales.com (B0111BT)
points of them are “fairly decent chess play- ers.” Grandmaster Andrew Soltis quotes expert (and former USCF official) Ed Edmondson, “It depends on your point of view. The top players quite rightly consider me [Edmondson] a ‘weakie’—even though I have an expert rating and am in the top 10 percent.” The cover of What It Takes to Become a Chess Master describes its ideal reader as a “fairly decent chess player.” Though inactive and near my 2000 floor,
M
I was 2265 USCF two decades ago. Frus- trated with my 50% score on the end-of-
10 August 2012 | Chess Life
ost chess players think that those rated within a couple hundred
h5. He also gave the line of 1. h4 h5 2. Nce4 where the black pawn on h5 is a target. Soltis gave the game continuation, 1. Ne6, after which it took Botvinnik 29 more moves to win. Fritz 6 likes 1. 0-0 and 1. Ne6 equally well. 1. h4 ranked not quite as well but was still playable. I then asked Doug to try a diagram from
Chandler-McNab (British Championship, 1988), which is one of 15 questions in the “Habits” chapter’s quiz. Soltis asks, “How can White prove he has more than equal- ity?” White to play. (See diagram top of next column). Doug liked 1. Bg5, which Fritz 6 ranks as 7/100ths of a pawn below the game continuation (also Soltis’ answer) of 1. Ra3 with the idea of 2. Rb3, targeting Black’s b7-pawn. Remembering the “Habits” chapter’s instruction on finding a target, I had chosen 1. f3 with the idea of 2. Na4 and 3. Nc5. Like Chandler’s rook lift, my plan also targeted b7 but less efficiently.
many diagrams. So a set and a board are not necessary. Within each chapter, Soltis offers explanations about why certain plans work. Here’s an example, from the aforementioned section about targets in the “Habits” chapter: “Chess can be a sim- ple game if we forget about positional subtleties and just look for targets. A few pages ago we saw how a plan was just a matter of figuring out how White could get his pieces to attack g7. In the same way, an initiative can be nothing more than a series of threats to different targets.” Soltis writes, “When two 1700 players
meet over the board, one will typically self-destruct.” If that quote describes your games, then you don’t need this book. Soltis adds, “Many players reach 1900 by not blundering.” When avoiding blun- ders is no longer enough to win, or when your local master describes you as a “fairly decent chess player,” then con- sider buying What It Takes to Become a Chess Master.
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