[[[ This will be the container for Chess-related subject matter such as interesting games, thoughts, reviews of books, etc. (scacci = Latin for "Chess"... pronounced, "SCHAW-tchee") ]]]

I wanted to take a moment to talk, very briefly, about a book that I’ve found very helpful.

Now, first, I’ll tell you that taking a games compendium and placing a piece of paper over the moves and trying to figure out what the text move is, is easy to do. I do that often and find it very useful. So investing $22-$30 in a book that does somewhat the same thing, better be an important improvement. I believe this one is.

Second, the idea behind this book is not new. Larry Evans was publishing books based on this idea decades ago. What makes this book worth looking at is the way Señor Franco picks the places to question the move, what he chooses as your choices, and how he writes the opinions… yes, even the games themselves are excellent.

And the score card at the end of each game is nice too.

My first trepidation at getting this book was that fact that you can really go through it only once. And although that still holds true, generally-speaking, I find it useful in helping me put together lessons. And, honestly, I’ve re-treaded some games and still found it useful.

The real way to benefit from this book is to approach it as if sitting down OTB. This really is not a book to breeze through on the bus or while waiting for the train. But that goes with anything if you really want to self-improve. Franco adds a nice feature by giving you more than one move that you will get credit for (unlike Evans for instance), so if you pay attention and truly attempt your best game, you will definitely find it rewarding. And the answers that give negative scores are even graded… there’s no one-size fits all to the scoring method, which is a very encouraging element.

Gambit, of course, is the crême-de-la-crême of chess publishing and the binding and quality of this book is typical of them. One caveat, though, I also have Sam Collins’ Gambit published book, Understanding the Chess Openings, and it seems that the more you use them, the glue comes undone in the binding. Collin’s book is brand new and it’s in pieces, but Franco’s book should not prove to be a problem in this regard as it won’t be used quite as often as a book on openings.

I said this was going to be a very brief review, so I’ll stop here. If you’re looking for a book that truly delivers what it’s title represents, I believe you will not be disappointed in investing in this book if you are truly willing to take your time with it.