Are you able to see blindfold the path of a Knight located on b2 to check opponent's King on d4 without passing through the squares where it could be captured by the King?
And are you able to replay the game you just played without looking at your scoresheet?
A Candidate Master does that immediately, an expert can do it slowly, most intermediate players have great difficulties, a novice does not see anything.
This book could help you see more plies blindfold, if you can stand to do the exercises (all of them, in the given sequence). A correct board vision is important as the execution of a tactic, or setting a strategy, depends on correct assessment of piece position. Besides, visualization skills reduce the chances of blind spots and illusions.
Yasser Seirawan in his introduction to "Endings" states that even the most determined and enthusiastic players can be driven nearly to tears with the tedium of trying to study endings. But that's nothing compared to how boring a book about visualization can be, like this one.
If you are new to my books, better look first for Fundamental Chess Patterns.
If you already know some, please look inside before buying this one. Because this book is really very boring, it is not a leisure book to simply read, but it contains a series of exercises that must be done in the sequence shown.
Should visualization have no appeal to you, samples of more user friendly chess handbooks can be seen here: scacchi.vecchilibri.eu/biblioteca/books.htm , copying this link to your browser.
Rodolfo Pardi, librarian, instructor and arbiter of Italian Chess Federation.
P.S. As usual, I apologize for the grammar errors you might find in this translation from Italian, Look inside to verify that you will understand, and to preview the usual 10% made available by Amazon.
