Think Like a Super-GM

En innholdsrik, annerledes treningsbok med 40 interessante oppgaver å løse og høre tankene til super-GM Michael Adams, et par andre stormestere og spillere ned til amatørnivå. En unik mulighet til å prøve å tenke riktigere i sjakk!

Forlagets egen omtale:

Think Like a Super-GM is a unique collaboration combining the chess insights of an elite grandmaster with a scientific investigation into thinking at the chess board.

40 chess puzzles were shown to a panel of players ranging from occasional club players up to Super-GM and co-author Michael Adams. Researcher Philip Hurtado recorded not only the moves chosen, but also the detailed thought processes of every player in order to shed light on the mystery as to what exactly defines superior chess strength.

This book offers a unique opportunity for readers to not only solve the puzzles, but also compare their thinking to that of club players, strong amateurs, IMs, GMs and Michael Adams himself. With an additional Bonus Puzzle section and a fascinating Eyetracker experiment showing where different players focused their attention on the board, this is a chess improvement book like no other.

GM Michael Adams is a World Championship finalist and long-time British number one, with a peak ranking of 4th in the world.

Fra innledningen av bokas redaktør IM Andrew Greet:

Summing up, this is a remarkable book with many unique features. With Mickey’s superlative chess ability alongside Phil’s scientific and data-analysing acumen, we could hardly have wished for two more suitably qualified authors for this project. The ability to think like a Super-GM is something only a select few players will ever acquire, but this book does offer a number of unique insights which help to uncover the mystery of how such players perform as well as they do. I hope you will enjoy solving the puzzles and comparing your thoughts to those of Mickey and the other solvers. With the further insights gained from Phil’s data analysis and Mickey’s expert conclusions, I am quite sure you will find yourself thinking about chess in completely different ways from before – taking you, if not all the way to Super-GM level, then at least a healthy step in that direction.

Andrew Greet, Editor

Innholdsfortegnelsen:

Part I Introduction

010 1.1 Introduction by Philip Hurtado

015 1.2 Introduction by Michael Adams

017 1.3 Methodology & Data Analysis

021 1.4 What is a Super-GM?

023 1.5 How to Use this Book

027 1.6 Tips for Solving the Puzzles

Part II Puzzle Section

030 2.1 Solver Biographies

036 2.2 40 Positions and Solutions

315 2.3 Calculate your Performance

Part III Bonus Puzzles

318 3.1 8 Bonus Puzzles and Solutions

Part IV Conclusions from the Puzzles

372 4.1 The Candidate Move

374 4.2 The Art of Falsifying

379 4.3 Why Can’t I Play Like a Super-GM?

392 4.4 Pearson’s Correlation

395 4.5 How Many Moves Ahead Can a Super-GM See?

401 4.6 Grandmaster Secrets

Part V Eyetracker Experiment

418 5.1 Introduction by Michael Adams

419 5.2 Introduction by Philip Hurtado

420 5.3 Solver Biographies

421 5.4 Eyetracker Puzzles

423 5.5 Eyetracker Solutions

448 5.6 Michael’s Analysis of his Heat Maps

453 5.7 Eyetracker Conclusions

Philip Hurtado is an engineer, physicist, statistician and passionate amateur chess player.

Fra Michael Adams' innledning:

I didn’t know Phil before he sent an email via my website, enquiring if I would be interested in collaborating on a book. Having been intrigued by his idea, we had a long chat on the phone, and I was excited to join the project. Part of the initial appeal for me was that working with a co-author seemed less daunting than taking on an entire book project personally, but subsequently I became so interested in the subject that my input expanded considerably.

I was attracted to the book’s concept for a few reasons, such as the fact that the majority of the test positions to be solved in the book were chosen by Phil. I thought these examples would be more useful for most readers, as opposed to material that a stronger player would themselves judge instructive. I felt this aspect important, as when talking socially with lower-rated players about my games, or theirs, I am frequently surprised – both by the, to me, difficult concepts that they understand, and by other areas where their understanding seems surprisingly lacking from my point of view. There are lots of books where GMs give their views on what they think other players need to know, but these may not always ask the questions people want answered.

An additional attraction of this project was the way in which the puzzles were recorded, where you can observe participants’ thinking in real time, as they give their opinions, judgements and calculations about the position. I found these highly revealing, and subsequently enjoyed spending time reflecting on many of these comments.