With more than 100 books to his credit, Andrew Soltis stands as one of the most prolific and widely read chess writers alive. Not only does he churn out a book or two a year (of very high quality), he also finds time to write a very entertaining column for Chess Life magazine which has been running since 1979. With that said, it is fair to say I am a fan of his work, and today I have chosen to review his book David vs Goliath Chess.
As chess books go, this one is of middling length with 231 pages of content. The idea of the book is to instruct lower players on how to manage an upset against a much higher player – hence the title. A 2000 rated player versus a GM is indeed a David vs Goliath situation.
But do not despair! This book offers very good (and sound) advice on how to upset the applecart. But this is not just a textbook of instruction. He shows fifty illustrative (and inspiring) games where some of the greatest players in history are defeated by largely unknown players.
I agree with the majority of his points. Stronger players are very prone to declining a draw in slightly worse positions, hoping for a win. And as I have learned myself, the cardinal sin a stronger player can make is to be overconfident. In this state he is more likely to be upset, and deservedly so.
I also agree with his point that a lower player should, for the most part, play actively and encourage complications. And it is a well known rule that in the first round of major swisses the stronger player is most vulnerable to an upset result. But I am less certain about some of his other advice.
For instance, he states that in one game a certain variation may have been good but it would have been too difficult for the underdog to calculate. I entirely disagree with this statement. It is very possible that the stronger player miscalculated something. In fact, this goes against one of his main principles: encourage chaos!
The tiny miscues aside, I must say that this is a book of very high quality. David vs Goliath Chess could be extremely useful in helping you forget your fears against higher players. Indeed, for the most part I find his strategies very sound. Admittedly, the actual chess analysis is quite sparse, but even so there is a lot of knowledge packed into this book. And besides, it can always serve as a very entertaining collection of upset victories!
I would very much recommend this book for instructive purposes if you have psychological problems against higher players. For the most part players above 2000 USCF will not benefit so much. I think by that point one realizes that anything can happen in one game! But it is a great read nonetheless.
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