HOW GOOD IS YOUR CHESS: Rate Yourself in 100 Positions
Author: Larry Evans
$9.95
144 pages
Cardoza Publishing Co. (2004)

Reviewed by Donald K. McKim

There are many books to help one improve chess play through the study of positions with the reader deciding on the best move or plan of attack. This book must be one of the better ones.
   
It was originally published as Test Your Chess I.Q. (Cardoza, 2001) and is here formatted slightly differently. No new material appears to have been added. 
   
The approach is simple. One hundred positions from actual games are presented. Under each diagram there are three possible moves. The goal is to choose the best move from the three. At the back of the book, there is the answer for each diagram with the eventual scenario spun out to see how the game progressed. The alternative moves are also explored, to see what the implica-tions of each of these are, as well. This approach shows why each of the three potential moves may be plausible, but also why only one is the "best move." It also makes for ease of use.
   
Evans indicates that you can calculate your chess rating (ELO) by using this book. The quiz ap-proach helps one measure chess strength. Evans suggests that a right answer earns 2500 points. When you ve worked through the book, you can add up your score and find your approximate rating on the USCF chart at the front of the book. This is an "all or nothing" approach to points--you either find the best move and get the twenty-five points, or you get nothing. Evans also sug-gests you work out your solutions in your head and not on a chessboard, to imitate actual chess play. The way Evans figures it, "A 2500 rated grandmaster, for example, is expected to beat a 2200 master 84% of the time. If you get 12 wrong (88%) it means you have master skills (deduct 300 from 2500). Scoring 50% translates into a rating of 1250 which is roughly equivalent to an average member of the United States Chess Federation (www.uschesslive.org)." Evans also comments: "What's the difference between a master and a grandmaster? Someone once quipped that a master works hard to find the right square for a knight while a grandmaster tosses a knight into the air and it lands on the right square!"
   
But one does not have to be a grandmaster or a master to enjoy this book. Even without using it as a rating tool, one's game will be enhanced by the careful consideration of the best move. The fine-tuning is sharpened when one is presented with three options--all of which, on the surface, do appear to be good possibilities. One's learning is developed to see, then, in the "answer" why the best move is the best move; and why the others are not. This form of guidance is a strong pedagogical tool as well as a way to hone one's skills.

Even the casual player will find this an intriguing method and will be attracted to dipping into the book at different times to find a stimulating mental challenge.

Evan's credentials are well known and superb. He is rightly regarded as "one of America s most celebrated chess authorities" by virtue of his being a five-time USA champion and author of more than twenty chess books. He has also beaten or drawn games against six World Champions, as well as having represented the USA on eight Olympic teams. As a member of the chess Hall of Fame, he is sometimes named "the dean of American chess."

The re-launch of this easy-to-use resource, accompanied by Evan's superb analysis will benefit players on all levels, as we find a way to answer the question we continually ask ourselves: "How Good is My Chess?"