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A step in redefining some of the concepts has been taken by GM Viktor Moskalenko in his book Revolutionize Your Chess: A Brand-new System to Become a Better Player published by New in Chess. Moskalenko starts out by offering the opinion that chess has not been viewed correctly. Yes, that’s right. A whole new set of things to understand. But, not really. Moskalenko takes the position that the famous teachers of the past Steinitz, Nimzovich, Morphy, etc. all had parts of it right, yet none of them had the whole picture, failing to understand the “dynamic” element of chess. There follows a description of the “Moskalenko test for chess players”, which works to indicate a players ability and level of learning. The criteria for the test turn out to be two sets of “skills” that the author finds are important for a player; chess skills and personal skills. Chess skills include opening, middlegame, endgame, strategy, tactics and chess rules. Personal skills are comprised of intuition/memory, disposition, psychology, physical condition, discipline and concentration. Some consideration is given to the value of each personal skill, but they are not the focus of the book. That remains for the chess skills. Before delving into aspects of the “chess skills” the author provides his reader with a set of tools he refers to as his “touchstones”. These are the factors to keep in mind when evaluating a position or attempting to determine a proper course. With this in hand Moskalenko then ventures out to the endgame, middlegame and opening. Endings work well, ironically, as a place to start. It becomes apparent how the author uses his “touchstones” to draw conclusions and work forward in positions. Endgames also help to illustrate how the pieces can work together. Next in sequence is the middlegame where material is divided based on features arising from the opening such as isolated queen pawn or bishop sortie to f4/g5. Finally we have sections on openings that Moskalenko plays, including the Samisch Nimzo Indian, Stonewall Dutch and Four Pawns Kings Indian. At first it seems odd that strategy and tactics are listed as chess skills, but do not receive their own chapters. Working through the material it becomes quite apparent that those skills are part and parcel for the ending, middlegame and opening. GM Moskalenko has written a couple of very fine books on the openings and now has gone a step outside of that. “Revolutionize Your Chess” is his explanation of how to approach and possibly develop an understanding of chess. I appreciate how the use of the “touchstones” was worked into the material, as a way to incorporate thinking about elements into the overall situation at the board. GM Moskalenko has a writing style that I like a lot, offering material that comes from his experience without prejudice to result (he gives himself quite a few question marks). I do think that he omitted the ability to calculate in his personal skills and this strikes me as a fair-sized oversight. One other thing is that there is a foundation of knowledge or understanding that is necessary for this book. Obviously there would have to be or else it becomes a beginner’s primer. So, where is that level? I don’t know. Moskalenko takes steps to diminish that problem, the touchstones work as something of a remedy, but it still remains. I don’t know what that level is. I am about 2200 USCF and the book was great for me. I would recommend it to players down to 1900 USCF with the caveat that they know they will likely have to read it again to get a full understanding.
With
all that cleared up, let me just say that this book could be the most
complete approach to teaching improving players I have seen. The format
works great to demonstrate how the odd bits of chess work together. I just
wish that I could have gotten this book when I was 1900!
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