IGX

I've been reading this for over a month and I'm still only half-way through a book of only 260 pages.

EDIT: Finally finished it, terrific book.

Josh is the kid from "Searching for Bobby Fischer", a chess genius and 8-time national champion who has gone on to become a Tai Chi Push-Hands World Champion and now a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training under Marcelo Garcia.

His insights into the learning process, at least for myself, are great. I have pages and pages of notes, that I see parallels in my various pursuits (I'm a hyper-competitive video game player, surfer and Jiu-Jitsu student). Due to his book I've also started playing chess and really enjoying it -- I hated it as a kid, but I'm enjoying trying to make sense of the game.

I don't know if someone who isn't competitive would derive much from this book, but I'm very thankful it was written -- a guide to the mindset and attitude necessary to win and improve.

Have you read Mastery and how does it compare?

I liked it too but mainly because he went so in depth about his push hands tourneys. I felt he had some good insights otherwise, but the books later emphasis on push hands will probably not be appreciated by everyone.

He never made Grandmaster. I guess they over-hyped him.

I enjoyed his dad's book and the movie though.

Grandpa's Spells wrote:Have you read Mastery and how does it compare?

I haven't. Haven't ready any other chess books either.

Would you recommend it?

vern wrote:He never made Grandmaster. I guess they over-hyped him.

I enjoyed his dad's book and the movie though.

I was wondering if he ever achieved Grandmaster status.

Bram wrote:

vern wrote:He never made Grandmaster. I guess they over-hyped him.

I enjoyed his dad's book and the movie though.

I was wondering if he ever achieved Grandmaster status.

He got close, International Master IIRC. (Victor Korchnoi once said that no sane person could ever become a Grandmaster.)

You can check out some of Josh's best games here...

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=17030

That's okay. I saw a magazine refer to him as a grandmaster in taichi the other day.

Best book ever?

Bram wrote:

Grandpa's Spells wrote:Have you read Mastery and how does it compare?

I haven't. Haven't ready any other chess books either.

Would you recommend it?

Very much so. I suspect the author is less of a virtuoso than the book suggests (not a lot of guys take up an MA late in life and get really good), but he taught for a long time and his insights into the learning process are legit.

I think I'll pick up his book then. I read Yasser Seirawan's "Play Winning Chess" and liked it:



But haven't read any other chess books yet.

Since his recent death Bobby's book is available now for the first time in years. (In algebraic notation too.)



I also really enjoyed Tal's book.



White King and Red Queen is a really interesting book about chess and the Cold War. (You don't even have to know how to play chess to enjoy it.) I thought it was just going to be about the Fischer/Spassky match, but it covers a whole bunch of history that I had never even heard of. Highly recommended.