Simple Chess

Excellent primer on chess strategy for those starting to explore the ideas. Thin and brief but contains much useful knowledge, great value for what it tries to do.

This is a great book on strategy. This was my first strategy book and it completely opened my eyes to strategy and connected a lot of dots of things I heard but had not learnt of their significance. I had always heard about things about key squares, space, dark square weaknesses, etc. but I never really understood what that meant. THis book breaks down the 7 most common strategies to take advantage of in your games. It is short but as a book that's usually more of a positive to me than a negative, you will fly through this book and if you enjoyed it as much as me you may even read it again. Definitely recommend for anyone looking to get into the world of strategy or anyone who has heard these complex strategic terms but doesn't understand them.

For players who aren't new or relatively new to chess strategy this is a book you can probably skip. Unless you are reaching a plateau around or below 1200 and you think basic strategy is a weakness of yours, then maybe this can help you get the strategic fundamentals. Otherwise players higher rated can probably handle a more in depth strategy book.

Recommended Rating 800-1200

“Simple Chess” by Michael Stean

Incredible book on chess strategy. Stean carefully weaves a masterpiece with perfect examples and clear explanations. He expertly introduces strategical concepts like Outposts, Weak Pawns, Open Files, Half-Open Files, Black Squares and White Squares and Space. If someone ask me to think of an opening trap then I will have one pop up in my head. In the same way, Stean's examples are so clear and perfect that they become your go to image on the topic. Sadly, the book is a bit light for my liking at 160 pages. However, every page of it is a gem. When should you read this book? I would start my positional journey with “Winning Chess Strategy for Kids” by Jeff Coakly then “Simple Chess” by Michael Stean at 1200-1400. At 1500 elo then you get to crack open “How to Reassess Your Chess” by Jeremy Silman.

Brilliant but frustratingly brief read, earning a solid four stars from me. Despite its short length, it did a better job than any other book at helping me spot weak square complexes and truly understand how to anchor pieces on outposts. The explanations and examples he provides are exceptionally clear, but the limited chapter count ultimately leaves you hungry for more repetitions. If Stean had included more examples to fully flesh out these positional concepts, this would be a perfect five-star masterpiece, but its odd brevity holds it just slightly back.