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.