Test, Evaluate and Improve Your Chess: A Knowledge-based Approach

I have no patience with conventional chess books where you have to go through lots of games over the board. I tend to learn a lot with problem solving and test positions. The tests in this book if taken seriously will do a lot to discover your weak points. I was able to understand more material from "Pawn Power in Chess" after reading about pawn levers in this book.

The problem with the diagrams not showing up has been fixed (first iteration of this book didn't have any chess diagrams in it), but the problem now is that the book is not formatted correctly for the Kindle. I've tried the preview on my Paperwhite and for the Kindle app on my iPad and neither looks good. A couple examples are that the font size seems to change from one part of the intro to another and the problem numbers are frequently on the page preceding the actual problem. Another issue is that there is an answer sheet to write down solutions to the problems at the beginning of each chapter. Can't write in my Kindle, so that's not going to work and is pretty much a waste of space. These issues seem to point to a half-hearted effort at porting the book to the Kindle. I have an older print version of this book and it's excellent, so I was looking forward to getting the Kindle version for portability, but will be getting the print version instead. If you are looking for a well formatted chess puzzle book for the Kindle, see "Practical Chess Exercises" by Ray Cheng instead.After reading Dr. Kopec's reply to my original post, I am updating the rating. I give content 5 stars and formatting 1 star. That averages out to 3 stars.

It is easy to see why this book is in its third edition, and becoming a classic. It has been expanded with new problems, so that even if you own a previous edition the book is still well worth buying . Presented as a quiz book, it differs from most of them in that all phases of the game are covered, and the problems are not posed along specific themes, avoiding the drawback to the usual format where knowing the theme allows one to hone one's search; instead, the approach is more akin to what one would have in a real game. In the answer section, however, the themes are broken out, so that after going through them the reader will have a better understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. In this way, besides learning from the text itself, he will also know where to go next to focus his learning needs. As a bonus, some of the quizzes allow the reader to get an idea of what his chess rating should be. Lastly, if, like me, you own earlier editions, retaking the tests and comparing your scores with previous ones will allow you to gauge your progress over time

There are many excellent chess books, but few are truly innovative. In "Test, Evaluate..." IM Kopec and NM Terrie have blazed a pioneering path. They have begun the process of introducing scientific rigor into the task of testing and evaluating a chess player's chess skills. And since they can't help being teachers, they use the testing process to teach a series of critical lessons. These lessons range from beginning to advanced, from essential memorized knowledge to tactics, strategy, and technique. The text is user-friendly, the many diagrams make it easy to follow, and the analysis of each test captures the proper length of explanation (short if the concept is simple, detailed if many subtleties need to be explored). This book is not for novices or grandmasters, but everyone in between cannot help but improve their game by reading and studying this book. And they'll enjoy the process.

There are many excellent chess books, but few are truly innovative. In "Test, Evaluate..." IM Kopec and NM Terrie have blazed a pioneering path. They have begun the process of introducing scientific rigor into the task of testing and evaluating a chess player's chess skills. And since they can't help being teachers, they use the testing process to teach a series of critical lessons. These lessons range from beginning to advanced, from essential memorized knowledge to tactics, strategy, and technique. The text is user-friendly, the many diagrams make it easy to follow, and the analysis of each test captures the proper length of explanation (short if the concept is simple, detailed if many subtleties need to be explored). This book is not for novices or grandmasters, but everyone in between cannot help but improve their game by reading and studying this book. And they'll enjoy the process.

Though not as meaty as Igor Khelmnitsky's Chess Rating Exam (Which I also highly recommend), I am quite satisfied with what it does - namely test your ability to handle positions of different levels of difficulty.Speaking as a USCF 1500 player striving to improve, It is my opinion that Test, Evaluate and Improve your Chess is one of those books you need to visit before you even think of approaching advanced texts like Silman's books or My System. I believe many adult players today are deluded into thinking they are way better than their rating suggests they might be, and immerse themselves in books way over their head. They then embarrass themselves in tourneys against stronger competition who don't have "missing holes" or "gaps" in their application of chess technique or knowledge. (Surprise, Surprise!) They then get into denial about it and buy more books useless for their level.This book however says "if you think you're this good you should certainly know how to play these kinds of positions in your sleep by now...and if you can't, well, put that opening book away and get to the real heart of the problem with your game".Some of you may disagree, but this is just my opinion and I fully believe Dr.Kopec's book is a good step towards chess-rehab. for those stuck at a ratings-plateau.

This book contains a series of tests designed to test your chess understanding and reveal weaknesses. The book takes a fairly scientific approach and is based on the research of many test groups over many years.Taking these tests (sets of test positions) will measure your strength, but far more importantly, the results of the tests will show you specifically which parts of your chess understanding are weakest. You can then use that information to work on those weaker areas of your game.My own experience serves as a good example of the merits of this book:I took the first test (Bratko-Kopec test) and found the 24 test positions challenging, especially trying to find the answer within the stated time limit for each position. I thought I'd found the right moves in almost all the positions, except maybe one or two, but to my surprise the results of the tests showed me that I had failed at least 6 test positions and struggled on a couple more. All of the tests I failed on concerned pawn levers. This was totally unexpected and revealed a genuine weakness in my understanding of pawns - valuable information.I highly recommended this book to all serious players wanting to improve their chess, especially stronger players trying to reach the next level.