Grandmaster vs Amateur edited by Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw

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Learn to think like a grandmaster

A multinational array of top grandmasters explain the differences in thinking between professional and amateur chess players, and how the amateur can bridge the gap. It usually takes at least a decade of sustained effort for even the most talented player to reach the grandmaster level and though this book cannot guarantee to make the reader a grandmaster, it is certainly a healthy nudge in the right direction.

The authors are:

GM Pavel Eljanov
GM Boris Avrukh
GM Mihail Marin
GM Peter Heine Nielsen
GM Tiger Hillarp Persson
GM Jacob Aagaard
GM John Shaw

ISBN 978-1-906552-84-8 - 200 pages - Published 11 November 2011

Reviews

"One of the nicest features of the book is that the amateur often becomes the star of the show, and not only when he scores a half-point or full-point upset... [They] are profiled and humanized, celebrated as individuals and chess lovers in their own right.

The book may help the amateurs who read it: there are around 35 full, well-annotated games and some additional fragments too. There's plenty of advice too, but the best reason to buy it is as a celebration of the game we all love, and of most – if not, ultimately, all – of the people who play it. As the great Mikhail Tal once commented, "We are all amateurs."

Dennis Monokroussos, Chess Today

"Quality Chess has launched a new book titled Grandmaster versus Amateur, which interestingly enough uses the same successful concept as two earlier publications (Experts on The Sicilian and Experts on the Anti-Sicilian): the book is a collection of essays by various grandmasters. Obviously, this time the grandmasters are no evident experts on a specific variation, but sure enough entertaining writers with ample experience on the subject: grandmaster against amateur.

All in all Grandmaster versus Amateur does not have Euwe’s methodical approach in Chess Master versus Chess Amateur, a title which was brought to the editors attention when the project was already up and running. Yet the book has become a highly entertaining compilation, with lots of interesting stuff to learn and to think about, suited for all kinds of chess players."

Arthur van de Oudeweetering, ChessVibes (full review)

Readers will enjoy the lighthearted approach, candor, and self-effacing humor that Danish-born grandmaster and co-editor Jacob Aagaard brings to the book's first chapter, titled Danes Eat Fish for Breakfast.

Of all the essays in this compendium of grandmasters, Shaw's seems the most heart-felt and poignant... This is the confessional side of chess, and his struggles may feel more like our own.

This is a jocular and lively collection, one that strives to address the reader's own capabilities, while not taking its own approach too seriously... Through its rollicking pages, Grandmaster Versus Amateur shows us that even though the road to the top is a minefield, struggle is noble, and playing itself can be fun where you find it.

John D. Warth, ChessCafe.com (full review)

"The seven authors in eight chapters (Aagaard wrote two) present games from different angles. Sometimes they were at the beginning of their career facing the GM, later they were in the opposite situation.

Certainly advice on how to beat GMs is interesting, but far more useful for most will be the way the authors dissect typical mistakes made by amateurs. This is very instructive stuff."

IM John Donaldson