The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: November 2016

Welcome one and all to the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a cozy gathering of book lovers, meeting to discuss their thoughts regarding the works they enjoyed most over the previous month.  Pull up a chair, order your cappuccino and join in the fun.  If you wish to add your own review to the conversation, please sign on to the link list at the end of my post.

Title: Play Winning Chess
Author: Yasser Seirawan

via Goodreads

I have written before of my love for chess (see here).  It has been years, however, since I devoted much time to playing or studying the game.  I first discovered Yasser Seirawan's books while we were living in New York City in the late '90s.  New York is, of course, one of the great chess cities of the world - the city that spawned Bobby Fischer.  We lived within a short walk of Washington Square Park where one can marvel over the speed chess fiends at any hour of the day.  Born in Syria, Seirawan grew up in Seattle.  In the chess world, he rose to the rank of grandmaster and was US champion four times.  His books are delightful.

One can learn a lot from chess books, obviously, but most are dry and/or unforgiving of mistakes.  I make loads of mistakes when I play.  Seirawan's message to the reader is "Yes, of course you make mistakes.  So do I.  Here's what I have learned from mine."  He presents simple principles in an engaging, accessible style with lots of concrete demonstrations.  In particular, he emphasizes force, time, space and pawn structures.  Interwoven in this first book are historical tidbits including the game's earliest known origins and profiles of great champions.

I learn a lot about myself through chess.  In order to improve my game, I've had to push myself our of my own comfort zones.  A naturally cautious person, I tend to play defensively.  While that is a strength to a point, I need to be more aggressive to convert not losing into winning.  I also have a compulsive need for dependable systems in my world.  In game play, I often get so caught up in what I'm doing that I miss small details in my opponent's position and suffer the consequences.

I'm trying to play more now, too.  All of my games are online right now, though I may seek out some real world competition soon, too.  Up for a game?  Come find me at Chess.com.  I am ikaspiel.

Please join us and share your own review of your best read from the past month.  This month's link list is below.  I'll keep it open until the end of the day.  I'll post December's tomorrow.  Meetings are the last Friday of each month.  Next gathering is December 30th.