Jeremy Silman Archives

If your rating is anywhere from 1000 to 1900 you can find some value in working through The Amateur’s Mind by IM Jeremy Silman for a guide to improving your play. The main ideas are much like his book Reassess Your Chess, but this work has more material dealing with some of the thought processes and emotions that the amateur deals with during a game.

He sets up several rules and has his usual list of 7 imbalances – Minor Piece, Pawn Structure, Space, Material, Files and Squares and Development. He also includes rules to exploit advantages that may arise out of those imbalances. What is interesting about this book is that Silman uses his knowledge and experience as a chess instructor/trainer and includes the thought process from annotations written by his students during their exposure to positions that have a specific theme or idea that he wants to make clear.

In this way the reader can question him/her-self as to what they think about the position before reading on to see if any misconceptions or incorrect thinking patterns will occur, maybe matching that of the amateur’s mind. Some common problems are unearthed and Silman tries to show a recurring theme. After every main example he includes some tips for the amateur player to help with the corrections to the thought process that lead to inaccuracies.

If I had to write a theoretical statement to expound Silman’s main point (aside from the idea that he wants you to recognize and use his list of imbalances), it would be “it seems that the amateur is plagued by mindless king attacks and reactions to the opponents ideas and this action is possibly caused by a mental dominance by the opposing party that is allowed instead of combated”. In other words, the main point that Silman strives to make with this book is to follow your own plans to the best of your ability (and have plans!!). Base these plans on concrete concepts that can be found within the position.

I find that many players out there are looking for a methodical checklist or approach to thinking about positions. I have been working on my personal method for several years now and Silman surely offers an integral idea that every player should include in his/her method. That fundamental principal is that every single move should aid in improving your position somehow making it better. If you have no method at all, follow these three tips in the least:

1. Ask yourself “what is the threat?” after every single move that your opponent has chosen and played. Be sure to do this every time you have the move.
2. Make every single move count as stated above in bold. Play as if this is the only time that you will ever get to play that particular game - because it is!
3. Blunder check to avoid big trouble before moving. This will save you many hardships over the board and sidestep many heartaches and headaches.

Here is an outline I drew up for myself when I was studying the Reassess Your Chess Workbook by Jeremy Silman. Silman writes in a very easy to understand style and provides information for players who long to escape the constraints of Class E - Expert. He is the author of other great books such as The Complete Book of Chess Strategy and The Amatuer's Mind. I highly recommend his books for anyone who is under the expert class.

1. Rules of the Combination

Open or weakened King position (stalemated King)
Undefended Pieces
Inadequately Defended Pieces (stretched/overloaded pieces)

2. Rules of the Minor pieces

Bishop: Good, Bad, Active – Bad Bishops must be solved by trading it, making it good by getting it outside the pawn chain or opening lines, or making it active and useful.
Bishops love open positions and are better in endgames with pawns on both sides of the board.

Knights: Need advanced support points to be effective. Knights are useful in closed positions. Knights are the best blockaders of passes pawns. Knights are usually superior to the bishop in an ending with pawns on one side of the board.

The Anti Knight Technique: Take away advanced support points for enemy Knights. Is the position open or closed and which piece will be superior? Are their support points for the minor pieces? Can his pieces get there? Does it matter if they do? Plan around these questions.

Two Bishops: The Bishop pair can be amazingly strong. To combat, create a blocked position, create advanced support points for your Knights to triumph, trade off one or both of the opponents Bishops to obtain a more manageable ending.

3. Rules of Space Advantage

The side with less space should initiate exchanges. The side with more space should avoid exchanges. If you have more space, find good outposts for your pieces, find a target and exploit it, or plan a possible breakthrough.

4. Rules of Pawn Structure

Doubled Pawns: Gives you an open file for Rooks, if they are central pawns you get central control, they can be used as backup control for squares, or can be battering rams against the enemy structure. These pawns have the tendency to be weak if they become targets.

Isolated Pawns: Gives you two open files for Rooks, the square in front of these pawns are most important, can be used as a post for pieces, can also be battering rams against the enemy structure, and can make pieces very active with open lines. These pawns also have the tendency to be weak if they become targets. Retain a Rook and a Queen to battle and win the pawn.

Backward Pawns: Is it on an open file? How well is it defended? Is the square in front of it defended? Is it serving a useful purpose (defending pawns, squares, pieces, etc.)? Can it successfully advance? These pawns also have the tendency to be weak if they become targets.

Passed Pawns: If it can be blockaded it is weak unless there is other play on the board. The most important square is the square directly in front of the passer. These pawns should be used as endgame insurance and should be pushed when possible! Knights are the best blockaders of these pawns.

5. Rules of Open Files

Is a penetration along the file possible for either player? Would it even be worth attempting to control or penetrate the file? Can I afford to take the time to control the file or is there more important play elsewhere? If I penetrate the open file does it work with the rest of my pieces and imbalances? Do certain factors in the position call for me to retain at least one Rook? If so, I might want to avoid the heavy exchanges and the file.

6. Rules of Material

Rule One: If you have a material advantage, find a plan that allows you to use the extra wood (trading, attacks, etc.). Don’t forget to play the rest of the game just because you won some material.

Rule Two: When you make a successful strike into the opponents camp and win material, you must often pull your forces back out towards the center reorganize. The reason is that after you fulfill a plan your pieces can often find themselves out of balance and no longer working together. If your pieces stay out of balance, the opponent may be able to launch a successful counter-attack. Material advantage usually proves decisive. Go to rule one.

Rule Three: Take material if you cannot see a reason not to. This puts pressure on your opponent to justify his sacrifice. This induces a certain element of panic sometimes that can send your opponents brain spinning!

Rule Four: When material up, you have the added defensive resource of giving it back if needed to stop an attack. While the opponent scrambles to get the material back, you can often quietly improve your position. You can equalize a difficult position this way, grab the initiative, or gain another advantage such positional plusses.

7. Three Keys to Success

1. Learn to recognize the imbalances and acquire a sense of which will be the dominant imbalance to hold.
2. Strive to prevent the enemy’s counter-play.
3. Never give up! Defend as if your life were hanging in the balance. Fight back with counter strikes!

By acknowledging these concepts and storing them in our long-term memory / subconscious its possible to find accurate plans. Imbalances can help our understanding of a majority of a position's key nuances and recognize the available options quicker. Candidate moves are the key to choosing our path in any given game and finding these moves to decide which is the optimal idea for our personal goal is where a players style can emerge. Silman has a systematic approach to finding each move. If you need a system of "thinking" about chess moves then I recommend his book Reassess Your Chess.