Lessons with a Grandmaster III

Lessons with a Grandmaster III: Strategic and tactical ideas in modern chess is the third volume featuring a collaboration between Grandmaster Boris Gulko and his student Dr. Joel Sneed. This book features 30 games which are carefully annotated by Gulko, with prose explanation predominating. Nothing new there, but what makes this book unique is that it also includes the Grandmaster’s answers to questions posed by Dr. Snead. It is the latter which makes this book especially valuable to club players although even those higher rated will also learn new something new.

One legitimate question a potential purchaser of this series might have is whether reading them will actually improve their practical results. Judging from Dr. Sneed’’s experience the answer is likely yes. The first of trilogy came out in 2011. If we make the presumption that the authors first started work in early 2010, it means Dr. Sneed has improved his rating from 1600 USCF to 1944 in August 2015. That’s a 344 point jump which is quite impressive for an adult around 40 years of age with a busy life outside chess. Of course there is no perfect substitute for one on one training with a strong Grandmaster, but the Lessons with a Grandmaster series should be helpful to those rated 1600 to 2200.

Everyman Chess has been a pioneer in providing digital options. These include Chess eBooks for the Everyman Chess Viewer in pgn format and ChessBase viewers in cbv format plus Kindle and ePub books for readers.