Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This is the 120th Novice Nook, so happy anniversary! Technically though, the
tenth anniversary comes with the 121st Novice Nook, but I won't tell.
The principal Novice Nooks that offer an overview of the last decade are as
follows:
Novice Nook
Dan Heisman
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Also, my five most underrated columns (in alphabetical order) are as follows:
A potential buyer who does not wish to navigate 120 columns benefits from
my "selection process" and is presented with what I consider only the most
helpful topics. Despite my long hours revising the material, the book is still a
whopping 381 pages!
3) Each column's information was also updated, if possible. For example, a
helpful tactics book that did not exist when a column on learning tactics was
written in 2002 was now added to the list of recommended books. Newer
recommended websites were also included to bring suggestions up to date. All
references (and the occasional web URL) were checked and, where necessary,
updated. In addition, ideas that I fleshed out and clarified in subsequent years
were added where appropriate and reorganized whenever helpful. This made
material like the fundamental An Improvement Plan, originally written eight
years ago, noticeably different than in its first incarnation.
4) All analysis was checked by Mike Montgomery using Rybka. I owe Mike a
big thanks he found errors in the published material that no other reader had
ever mentioned! Most egregious was one case where there were less than
seven pieces on the board chess has been solved at that level via tablebases
and Mike easily identified that I had mistyped moves. Unfortunately, that
was not the only place where Mike's work spotted analytical issues, so readers
are getting the cleanest version Mike's extensive time could generate!
Not including Mike's contribution, I put in more than a hundred hours
rearranging, adding, updating, and correcting the material.
I hope that listing these extensive changes shows that the book is much more
than just a mirror of the online columns you will not be disappointed! When
I received my copy, I could not help browsing through the book over a period
of weeks, because I had not seen all the new material present in one place.
Mike said that he experienced the same compulsion.
To give a taste of the book and provide background about the origins of the
column you are reading you can read the entire introduction online at the
ChessCafe.com shop, along with an excerpt from the "Thought Process"
section.
I was able to exclude some material from A Guide to Chess Improvement
because it had been covered in three of my earlier books:
Nevertheless, thought process, tactics, and handling threats are three of the
An Improvement Program
The Four Homeworks
The Improvement Feedback Loop
The Theory Of Chess Improvement
Incidentally, all of the above were updated for A Guide to Chess Improvement.
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