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I have to admit some things prior to talking about the book: I am a chess player, and a chess enthusiast. I was quite good when I was a kid, reaching nationals in my country when I was ten and eleven, but I left chess back then. Now, a couple of years back, when I was entering my thirties (I´m 32 now), I wanted to come back and played my first ELO valid tournament, and entered the ELO System at 1800. That´s about my current level I guess. And that´s when and why I started to read this book and study it a bit in order to try and improve my game.
So, now in my review, I´ll talk about my journey through it.
Amateur to IM Proven Ideas and Training Methods from Jonathan Hawkins book review
I started the book, not knowing about IM Hawkins, then I checked him out and saw he is an International Master, and stands at 2503 in ELO, well into the top 1,000 world players and ranked #18 in England. So this player has nearly 700 ELO points over my rating. I can probably learn a lot about him.
What this book is about? Endgames, with some theory on engames and some exercises.
You will need to take your time on the book as to grow your ratings with it, and you will probably need to accompany it with an openings repertoire and openings study, and some tactics and mid-game studies.
But it´s well worth the try on this book. I managed to get a lot out of it.
And right after studying it I had the chance to test my advancements on the field, as I went on to play a local big tournament to qualify for the Close Tournament that features the five best rated players of the city and the five that qualify on this tournament. The Major for the city I play for.
I, rated low as I am, would not be one of the top five players, so I had to earn my spot via qualifying tournament, and managed to obtain the second place in that one and get my spot for the Closed Tournament that will name the “Best Player in the City”. The number one rated player is over 400 points over me in ELO, so I will probably not end up with the title in that one, but I am quite positive I will not embarrass myself and I have Amateur to IM to thank for that.
Perhaps its premise of going from Amateur to IM is a bit much to expect from it, but it will certainly help you raise through the ratings.
I will study more books from now on, but I have mixed a bit my book study with some blitz, some thought tournaments and some tactics exercises to improve.
I would recommend to add this book to your studying plan, just as long as you don´t rely on only the book to take you to your Master title.
How to buy Amateur to IM Proven Ideas and Training Methods from Jonathan Hawkins?
Visit this link to the publisher´s webpage.
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