Book Recap #27 - GM Yasser Seirawan's Play Winning Chess

Chess Books Recaptured returns to discuss the beginner-oriented chess book, Play Winning Chess, by legendary GM, Yasser Seirawan. I am joined by Sam Robinson, who is a 28 year old, Chicago-based chess enthusiast. Sam got into chess in recent years, and this was one of the first chess books that he read. For him, it was the book that really started to demystify the subtler parts of the game. It was also my first time reading Play Winning Chess, and I found it to be a solid choice for newer chess players or for chess trainers looking to sprinkle some good anecdotes and instructive games into their lessons with newer players. Tune in to hear our conversation about the pros and cons of GM Seirawan’s landmark book. Timestamps and links can be found below. 

0:00- Sam delves into his background and what got him into chess. 

05:00- What resonated with Sam about Play Winning Chess to the extent that he wanted to discuss it? 

Mentioned: 

Book Recap #11- Yasser Seirawan’s Winning Chess Strategies with Neal Bruce 

08:00- Which Formats are Available - 

Book- Play Winning Chess (Everyman Chess)

Ebook- ttps://everymanchess.com/products/winning-chess-strategies-revised-edtion?variant=17966519943230

Chessable- https://www.chessable.com/play-winning-chess/course/89222/

09:00- Yasser’s bio and chess origins 

11:00- What rating range would find this book most useful? 

13:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out what’s new from them here:

https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/

15:00- How useful is Yasser’s construct of the four principles of chess: Force, Time, Space and Pawn Structure 

19:00- Likes, dislikes and memorable quotes from Play Winning Chess 

26:00- Does the difficulty of the material escalate too quickly? 

32:00- How useful is Yasser’s concept of a “space count”? 

36:00- We briefly discuss some YouTube videos that are great for beginners.

Mentioned: IM John Bartholomew’s Chess Fundamentals, Naroditsky’s Speed Run, Hanging Pawns

39:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com 

Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Aimchess’ algorithm reviews your games and gives you actionable advice on how to improve your game. Check it out for free, and if you choose to subscribe you can use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.

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40:00- Improvement takeaways from this book

49:00- What grade would we give this book? What similar books might I recommend? 

Mentioned: Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss, Winning Chess Strategy for Kids, First Book of Morphy, Chess Steps, Chess by Laszlo Polgar, My First Chess Opening Repertoire 

51:00- Thanks so Sam for helping out! 

Follow him on Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/sam_robs

Or on Chess.com here:

https://www.chess.com/member/samrobs

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