Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking: From the First Move to the Last

Even though I have not gone through all the games yet, I already feel that this is the kind of book that you don't want to let go, ever. A little bit about the book. It is sorted by the openings, not by some theme as in case of Nunn's "Move by move". A lot of very well known openings are covered, but Sicilian and English are predominant. There are comments that anyone can comprehend and minimal number of variations given. Strategical themes and tactics can be found in practically every game. When a main error occurs McDonald lets you know with a '?' and then explains what was wrong with the move and what a player should have done. In some reviews McDonald was accused of missing the point, that the "planning" area is where the book is not up to the par. I disagree. Many times after a certain move McDonald explains the purpose behind that move. Now that sounds like a plan to me. Maybe not one of those long-term plans, but a plan nevertheless. In fact, some of the moves intended to keep a long-term pressure. Now, I never read Chernev's "Move by move" and probably never will because I think McDonald's book is a nice alternative with more up to date games and likely moves were checked for accuracy with a computer program. The intended audience is probably someone with a rating range 1200-1600. I do believe, however, that even higher rated players will benefit. I say this because in most of the games a certain move that proved to be a key error was very much "non-grandmaster" like. This means that anyone outside of 1200-1600 range still has room for improvement. I have couple reservations about the book though. First, I did not like the author's choice for game 14 (Pirc Defense). Seirawan played with black pieces against Kovacevic. White in the 5th move played g4. I have never seen this and frankly don't think that this is the best way to keep the initiative. White is much better after playing f4 (The Austrian Attack). In fact, Black would have difficulties after this move if they don't play accurately. No '?' from McDonald for g4. Also, I wish that there were more games where Black wins. There are only 9 of them. I think the book would have benefited if the author for each opening selected a game won by white and then by black. There are also some minor editorial errors, but they don't ruin the book's value and quality.

This is an interesting book. It is done in the style of Chernev's classic 'Logical Chess Move By Move', with every single move commented on. Yes, there is only so much one can say about the first move of a game, so this is slightly gimmicky, but overall, this is a well done book. Unlike Chernev's book, though, the level of play is higher, with no basic mistakes leading to crushes, so this book is a bit more advanced. It could serve as your second book of annotated games after Chernev. Overall, the quality is actually better than in Chernev, as McDonald is a stronger player. But he keeps his notes fairly basic, with very copious verbal analysis and fairly light concrete analysis of moves. There are some quirks to the organization of this book that show some carelessness. For example, the first game in the 'Strategy Under the Microscope: 1.d4 d5' chapter starts out 1.d4 Nf6, with ...d5 not being played until move 7. Very odd, but this doesn't really detract from the instructional value. Overall, a valuable games collection, richly annotated by a top author at a fairly basic level. Of the many games collections available, this is one of the very best for developing players.

In reviewing this book, I wanted to cover it from several different angles. First, are the selection of the games effective in their instructional value. Second, was the annotation helpful in understanding the games. Finally, I will discuss who might want this book. Regarding the games, I think the choice of games were excellent. The book is divided into chapters based on the types of openings. So the book covers a wide variety of openings. Also, all of the games involved top level grandmasters. You will recognize nearly all of the players involved, including Kramnik, Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, etc. What I liked about the choice of games is clarity of the plans and moves that were made. I felt for the most part that the games were fairly "clean" - that although the loser of the game made some strategic or tactical error, the victory was a result of taking advantage of strategic matters (not just the loser blundering his queen or rook). The games were entertaining, illustrating various tactical or strategic themes inherent in their specific openings - for example, the importance of the square d5 is illustrated in the section on the Sicilian. Finally, there is a good variety of games - some with technical endgames, some showing a brilliant kingside attack, for example. The move by move commentary to the games were decent, but not great. First off, every single move is commented on. There are only so many ways to say that 1.d4 or 1.e4 is a good move because it controls the center and allows some pieces some freedom. I thought an approach like one taken in Nunn's Understanding Chess: Move by Move where he would refer to previous games for explanations of the openings helps to save space and prevent the author from trying to come up with something witty for 1.d4 for the 9th time. Similarly, I thought certain moves required a little more explanation than was given. That being said, there were times when the commentary was very useful and instructive, sometimes taking half a page to explain the specifics of a move at a key point in a game. All this being said, I thought it was a good book overall. I think players with USCF Ratings up to 2000 would benefit from studying the games within the book. I think the games themselves were beautiful and instructive, and some of the author's comments are also very helpful. If less "fluff" on the beginning moves and perhaps more commentary on other moves would have been given, I think this is definitely a 5 star book.

I am a beginner and with the help of analyses offered by Neil McDonald I could understand all the master games in the book from the first till the last move. Many new insights! The games analysed are instructive of different approaches and styles - classical, modern, positional, dynamic - , so that I got a feeling into which direction I tend. It is not immediately so obvious what I have learned through this book because there are no exercises to be solved but in my experience going through the games analysed in it is a tacit learning process in which the learning happens simply by immersion into the way of thinking applied in chess. Neil McDonald also mentions some general useful principles that should be observed while playing. His writing style is entertaining and very clear. My impression is that he really enjoys explaining chess, and this makes it easy to follow him.

if you've done logical chess, this one is the next book to get, written just like chernevs but for higher rated players { 1000 and up } also recommended by jeremy silman himself !

Pas mal. Donne des idees. Mais pas revolutionnaire.

When someone recommends Chernev's "Logical Chess: Move by Move" it's because they haven't read this book, which follows the same format but is better in every way: - far fewer analytical errors; - less dated and dogmatic advice; - games with a wider variety of openings and middlegames. None of that is a knock against Chernev, whose book was very good for 1957, but a LOT has been learned about chess in the past 60+ years: McDonald's books show it and his readers benefit.