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Would you focus on increasing clarity, demonstrating conviction and projecting energy? Would you brush up on your noun and verb agreement, adverb and adjective selection, and proper punctuation? Would you work on holding the pencil, scanning from left to right, and keeping your script on (not below or too far above) the lines? Improving your chess play involves similar considerations: where you put your effort depends upon what level of play you are currently at and what level you aspire to. It does no good to examine 15th move improvements in the Najdorf Sicilian, for example, if you are still trying to keep in your head how differently the horsie and the castle move. Grandmaster Maurice Ashley’s The Most Valuable Skills in Chess focuses on teaching (and then quizzing) the basics: how the pieces move, attack and capture; what their relative values are (and what makes a good trade); how to deal with attacks; and how to execute the basic checkmates. He finishes with a chapter with five “fabulous” chess games, annotated; the solutions to his quizzes; and a Glossary of chess terms.
For example, in the chapter “Homeland Security,” where the author introduces the acronym, TRIP (Trade, Run, Interpose, Protect), to help remember how to address attacks, he waxes about “Run”:
It is hard to place The Most Valuable Skills in Chess – well laid out and visually accessible, as can be expected from Gambit – in context with other introductory titles. Certainly it is for those new to the game, most probably (based on reading level) middle school or high school learners. Its cover is sufficiently sober – lacking cute little animals and references like beating your dad at chess – to be carried around by an adult wanting to be casually initiated into the ways of the Royal Game. In the book’s Introduction, Ashley admits that he was uneasy about being asked to write a primer, worrying that he might have “nothing to add to the numerous quality books already in print.” He decided to go ahead, because:
That, ultimately, would be the reason to pick up The Most Valuable Skills in Chess.
From the Publisher's website: Download a pdf file with a sample from the book. From Ashley's CD: The Secret To Chess:
Other titles by GM Ashley reviewed here at Chessville:
More about GM Ashley: Chessville - Interviews - 20 Questions - with GM Maurice Ashley
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Chess players familiar with GM Ashley know
that he gets excited about chess and he has a way of talking about the game
that engages his audience. (His CD Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess
is a hoot, and still a great value for introducing young people to the
game.) Even when he introduces new terms, or finds a different way of
addressing a common concept, it is in an accessible way (contrasted with,
say, the terminology Kmoch introduced in his good, but at times
self-stultifying, Pawn Power in Chess).
