Canadian Chess, Eh

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I'm always interested to read books about chess psychology. So a book that is actually titled "Chess Psychology" was a must-read for me!

First, the stats. The book is a trade paperback, 204 pages with 20 games included. Published by Everyman Chess at a price of $30. It is written by William Stewart who at the time was a USCF National Master but has since earned his FIDE Master title. He is also only 27 years old so we will see if he publishes more books.

The book is written in an easy conversational style. Stewart focuses a lot on his four favourite players (Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov and Carlsen) and includes many quotations to back up his points, usually from these four.

Stewart quotes the often-stated theory that intense opening preparation can wait until you are a 2200-2300 player, and that at the lower levels it's best to simply develop three opening systems that you understand (he talks a lot about understanding vs. memorizing). He uses a little more than half of the book giving a set of three opening systems as suggestions, which I suppose might be useful to some but to others is a complete waste of space since Stewart himself writes that you should pick systems that suit your playing style.

He finishes up with a couple of chapters about how chess can help you in real life, which seems to have a different target (adults) than the rest of the book (teenagers).

The book is targeted at beginner to intermediate players. I feel it would have the most value for a player in the 1000-1200 range with a few tournaments under their belt.

On a whole, the book was an easy read, the few included games are easy enough to follow along with frequent diagrams so a board is not required, and the quotations are all interesting to read (although two of them repeat). That being said, this book can't really decide what it wants to be, flipping from psychology to opening theory to business applications of chess skills. If you are an adult beginner, this is a good book for you, otherwise look elsewhere (or read it at the library).