John Nunn's Chess Course

I am using the Kindle edition, in which the size of diagrams and the page formatting are just about perfect -- enough so that even an amateur can study most of the main lines without a board. In a rather daring move, Nunn has based his general chess course on the games of Emanuel Lasker. His reasons for doing so are listed at the outset of the book, and make perfect sense. My reasons for agreeing are these: -- Lasker's games, being played against a wider range of openings and wider range of playing strengths than, say, the games of Anand, prove to be a rich source for training material suitable to the club player. We, too, tend to play outside the current main lines and see strategic as well as tactical errors, just as Lasker did before the information explosion and diffusion of chess knowledge. -- These games do not turn on opening analysis or knowing how to win the 2 pawns v 1 pawn on adjacent file ending. The games are "out of book" by move 7 or 8, and are chosen to illustrate how to play chess, not how to play openings. Likewise, the endings are complex, with a couple minor pieces and rook and several pawns, and are chosen to illustrate good endgame play. -- Lasker was not a perfectionist; he was a competitor. While he did not, as some have alleged, play inferior moves in order to mesmerize and deceive his opponents, he did play moves that were not objectively the best, because they gave him complex positions in which he trusted himself to find the right path better than his opponent. Modern equivalents of this approach are Korchnoi and (as Nunn points out) Carlsen. -- The games themselves are just plain fun. Nunn groups the games into chapters devoted to a single theme, such as attacking play. Within this, he presents a broad selection of games that illustrate how a strong player approaches this theme. I am impressed with the diversity of position types that appear in these games, and how nicely each illustrates various nuances within its chosen theme. It turns out that the games of Lasker alone are a pretty stable base on which to write such a book. And finally, Lasker gets somewhat ignored these days. His approach to chess is something that most players will benefit from studying. The book is suitable for novices up to about expert level, although stronger players are likely to benefit both from the enjoyment of the games, and Nunn's thorough if brief review of important ideas in the middlegame and beyond.

I am an enthusiastic, but not particularly good, chess player. To improve my game, I will devote 2015 to studying this book. Why? I enjoy playing through games of masters, and this book is a *course* on chess based on the games of Emanuel Lasker (1869-1941) who was a world chess champion for 27 years. It takes me a long time to play through a game. I record each game in a notebook; I write out the entire game without comments; I play through the game a few times, making my own notes as I go; then I read Nunn's commentary and compare it with my notes; finally, in my notebook, I write out a complete set of notes next to the game using Nunn's comments and my observations. Aided by www, I make notes about the life of each of Lasker's opponents, and learn a bit about chess history en route to becoming some sort of master. For each game, all this takes a few hours; one game/day is my limit. An inexpensive, enjoyable, way to spend a year.

Grandmaster John Nunn examines various aspects of chess through careful examination of the games of the 2nd Chess Champion of the World, Emanuel Lasker. Students of chess deserve the quality instruction provided by Nunn, and Lasker deserves the spotlight as closely read subject of the course.

I am not a particularly big fan of Nunn's. I only own two or three of his works. Most of his books that I've come across contain to much analysis for my taste. That being said I like this work very much. There is a lot of explanatory prose on top of the more constrained lines of analysis that I do not like to much of. As most other reviewers have noted, and I agree, that this is a very fine work of Mr. Nunn's. My reservations and the reason that I am giving it four rather than five stars is that it is an advanced "chess course." The subtitle says "a complete education..." That to me as well as the main title seem to imply that this is an introductory text/course. Which it is not. I am currently a 1800+ rated USCF chess player. And to me this text seems aimed at 1800-2100 ratings group that of class "A" (1800-1999) and "Expert" (2000-2199). Those serious tournament players who have their eyes set on achieving master. For those below that rating estimate of mine and those who are just casual players there are many works out there that are more specifically aimed at and assimilated more readily than this work of John Nunn. Some of those authors are Jeremy Silman, Fred Reinfeld, Bruce Pandolfini, Yasser Seirawan, Irving Chernev, Cecil J. Purdy, Lev Alburt and Dan Heisman. Also this book, even though I'm old fashioned would probably be more easily worked thru by purchasing the E-book which is available from/thru the publisher. I wish you all well on your chess journey.

John Nunn's Chess Course is very well presented based on Lasker. Easy to read and following the chess diagrams. Even though Lasker was world champion for 27 years, he made the game difficult for his opponents and took them into unknown territory so to speak. Lasker does matter and he was a genius. Playing through his games does teach you a lot. John Nunn has done this well and rightly so for picking Lasker. You will not be disappointed.

I really enjoyed working through this collection of games from the great Emanuel Lasker. The author has arranged the games as a series of unique chess lessons, focusing on many important facets of the game. Each game is thoroughly analysed from a modern perspective, in the author's own immaculate and entertaining style. He clearly has a deep admiration and respect for Lasker, one of the greatest players of all time. Lasker' games are a wonderful expression of the art, science and sport of chess.

Der hervorragenden Rezension von Kreuzer Klaus braucht man eigentlich nichts hinzuzufügen; John Nunn gehört mit Sicherheit zu den besten Schachbuchautoren (ich besitze ein gutes halbes Dutzend seiner Werke). Dennoch möchte ich zwei weitere positive Aspekte aufführen: 1.) Für ein Schachbuch ist es günstig. 2.) Es ist auch auf Deutsch erhältlich (John Nunns Schachkurs). Wie spielte Lasker? Warum war er 30(!) Jahre lang - von 1894 bis 1924 - der erfolgreichste Schachspieler der Welt? - Er legte nicht viel Wert auf Eröffnungsfinessen, sondern strebte gesunde und solide Stellungen an, ohne das Spiel zu sehr zu vereinfachen. - Dank seines universellen Stils glänzte er im Mittelspiel: ob taktisch oder strategisch, ob dynamisch oder statisch, Lasker konnte alle Stellungen gut behandeln. - Auch im Endspiel überragte er. - Ausgeprägter Siegeswille ohne zu viel Risiko einzugehen. - Die Fähigkeit, den Gegner immer wieder vor Probleme zu stellen, d.h. ihn konstant unter Druck zu setzen und zu Fehlern zu verleiten. - Er behielt einen kühlen Kopf: Auch wenn er nach einem schlechten Zug seinen Vorteil eingebüβt hatte oder in Schwierigkeiten geraten war, brach er nicht ein, sondern schaffte es immer wieder, das Maximum aus seiner Stellung herauszuholen. Genauso kann man das Spiel des heutigen Weltmeisters Magnus Carlsen beschreiben, den man in meinen Augen als den "Lasker des 21. Jahrhunderts" bezeichnen könnte. Laskers Spielweise ist immer noch aktuell und wird es auch bleiben. Wie John Nunn betont, ist dieses Buch keine Partiensammlung (in der Art "Lasker's Best Games"), aber der universelle Stil des Protagonisten erlaubt es dem Autoren, die verschiedensten schachlichen Themen klar und verständlich zu vermitteln. Allerdings sind die bekanntesten Partien Laskers enthalten. Eine weitere Stärke des Buches besteht darin, dass John Nunn nicht nur wichtige, allgemeine Themen vermittelt (z.B. Angriff und Verteidigung, Figurenaktivität, Bauernstruktur), sondern auch sehr praxisbezogene, welche ich in dieser Art in keinem anderen Lehrbuch vorgefunden habe und die bei richtiger Anwendung die Spielstärke und die Ergebnisse enorm verbessern: - Schlechtere Stellungen (erfolgreich) verteidigen - Manövrieren - Endspiele: Aus Nichts Etwas machen, d.h. Gegner in ausgeglichenen Stellungen überspielen - Auf Gewinn spielen - Kurzfristige, vergängliche Chancen, die man nicht verpassen sollte - Der kritische Moment - Typische Fehler Selbst Lasker unterliefen gelegentlich Fehler, doch bei seiner Spielstärke glänzte er insgesamt auch auf diesen Gebieten, was ihm eine Unzahl an Punkten einbrachte. Die Übungsaufgaben aus Laskers Praxis, mit denen das Buch endet, sind ein weiterer Pluspunkt. "John Nunn's Chess Course" ist das beste Schachlehrbuch, das ich kenne, und ich kann es nur uneingeschränkt empfehlen; alle Schachspieler, egal welcher Spielstärke, können von diesem Meisterwerk nur profitieren.

(Written by Brenda's husband who has been a life long chess addict!) I read somewhere recently that John Nunn went up to Oxford to read Mathematics when he was only 15! So saying, such a rare and exalted being is despite this still able to write books which are accessible and highly informative to the common man. This title covers many topics through the games of Emanuel Lasker. It is sufficiently deep as would be expected from such a master of the game. However, by- in-large it explains the points that Mr Nunn is teaching provided that you hold your nerve and don't panic at the first hurdle!! John Nunn's Chess Course is not for the faint hearted dilettante who wants to learn chess from scratch to grandmaster level in a week. If you already have a fair amount of intermediate chess under your belt then this is an extremely good read and is to be recommended.

Otro gran libro de John Nunn. Un completo curso sobre muchos temas del medio juego, basado en las partidas de Lasker, con temas que normalmente no suelen aparecer en otros libros (con capítulos como "Playing for the win"). Realmente muy bueno e instructivo.

Dr/GM Nunn uses about one hundred games from former world champion Emanuel Lasker's games to explain, in increasing order of complexity, the most practical concepts of middle game (and some endgame) play. The book concludes with about twenty - five exercises to solve. In this book the reader is treated to lessons from the games of the man who defeated Steinitz -- one of the most profound thinkers in chess.