INSIDE THE CHESS MIND
Author: Jacob Aagaard
157 pages
Price: $24.95
Everyman Chess (paperback, 2004)

Reviewed by Randy Bauer

Randy’s Rating: 6.5

It’s not entirely clear from the title, but this book seeks to bolster one’s chess understanding by inviting the reader to analyze 10 positions and compare their thoughts and decisions with those of nine other players, ranging from a near beginner to a world class grandmaster, with a silicon monster thrown in for good measure. While there are some interesting moments, I’m not sure I learned all that much from this fairly small set of examples. The book is probably better viewed as a general interest work than a chess improvement manual.

The players assembled for the exercise are grandmasters Artur Yusupov and Peter Heine Nielsen, international master Jesper Hall, national master Dr. Ivo Timmermans, experts Tom Skovgaard and Peter Skovgaard (a father-son tandem), C-player Sidsel Hoeg, and relative newcomer Sten Vesterli. Finally, Fritz 8, test version 15, rounded out the field.  Each player was to analyze a position with time constraints, which varied from exercise to exercise (5 minutes in two exercises, between 6 and 8 in three others, 10-12 in another three, 30 minutes in one, unlimited time in one, and 30 minutes to play out a position to conclusion in another). The player was asked to talk out his analysis, which the author recorded and put into words and moves. 

The exercises are all interesting and fairly difficult positions. In most cases, the majority of the players did not come up with the correct solutions. It is fairly interesting to view just how players went about their analysis, but there was almost a haphazard sense as players struggled to figure out what was going on. I was struck by the first example, where even relatively strong players began analyzing without figuring out that there was a significant material imbalance in the position. I suspect that this relates somewhat to the players approaching the positions “cold” without the benefit of having played through the moves leading up to the specific position.

As can be expected, the grandmasters tended to get closer to the truth more often. Here, one can see first hand the general concept that very strong players have at their disposal an understanding of a greater number of positions and ideas than other players. In fact, there are several instances where the strongest players were able to cite the game or a similar game where the position (or a close approximation) arose. This ties in with the idea that pattern recognition is an important indicator of chess strength.

While most of the positions are complex and double-edged middlegames, there is also a position out of the opening and another from the endgame. In general, however, this is devoted to middlegame concepts and methods of calculation.

The book closes with a chapter that mostly discusses how each player fared and what we can learn from this. While this is interesting, some of it is pretty obvious and other parts don’t help the reader learn all that much. 

In conclusion, this is a novel attempt to involve the reader in a discussion of ten chess positions, both as a participant and an observer. While it is an interesting concept and exercise, the small number of examples and difficulty in translating players’ thoughts into text and moves makes it less effective in practice.