Winning with Chess Psychology

by Pal Benko and Burt Hochberg

What's the best move? One that will disturb your opponant the most. Regardless of your playing strength, chess psychology will help you maximise your playing strength--and win more games.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812918665
• ISBN13: 9780812918663
• Release Date: March 1991
• Publisher: Random House Puzzles & Games
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Good, off beat chess book!

This is a very nice book which addresses a big underrated factor in chess... psychology. This should not be someone's first or second chess book, but a good 5th-6th book for a tournament player. It's also a fun book to read. Instead of just going over routine diagrams and analysis, it's off beat topic allows for some learning in a non-tactical aspect of chess. This book will not be useful to a beginner or as useful to someone who just plays casually on the internet. However, if you play over the board, in games that matter, psychology comes into play. It gives lots of history and examples on the application of psychology, then it describes certain aspects such as:The opening, endgame, drawing, time pressure, and playing women or computers. A few of the tips are only applicable to people who play each other regularly, such as changing openings. However, much of the rest applies... such as if your opponent tries some surprise lines in the opening? What really is chess psychology? For example:It can be tough on adults to get outsmarted by a 10 year old who can't even do long division, but the fact is that it happens often. Adults get nervous and then a loss is a big blow to their egos. However, children's weakness are they play quickly, impatient, like to avoid complicated positions, and generally have weak endgame skills. So what to do? Play slow (they don't have the patience to sit still), stay complicated (they don't have the patience to analyze many options), and look forward to the endgame. This is pyschology. My ego is happy to report that I haven't lost to a kid yet. It is creatively written by GM Pal Benko, a 8 time US Open Champion and one of the most prominent American players in the 2nd half of the 20th century.