English Chess Forum

It’s been out a while now, so maybe it’s possible to get some feedback. Has anyone done Yusupov’s 9-book course from start to finish? Or at least a good chunk of it? How long did it take, did it improve your chess (ratings), your enjoyment of chess (getting more out of the game) etc?

Or is it a waste of time and there are better ways to improve?

Niall Doran wrote:It’s been out a while now, so maybe it’s possible to get some feedback. Has anyone done Yusupov’s 9-book course from start to finish? Or at least a good chunk of it? How long did it take, did it improve your chess (ratings), your enjoyment of chess (getting more out of the game) etc?

Or is it a waste of time and there are better ways to improve?

I'm going through the books at present. But I haven't done all 9 yet.

They look very good to me, from what I have done so far. I fully intend to do all 9.

They take quite a while, as they are not easy.

Yusupov made me stop buying chess books, but in a good way.

Basically he says that each chapter in his series takes 4 hours, 2 hours going through the examples and 2 doing the problems at the end of each chapter. There are roughly 25 chapters per book. So 100 hours x 9 = 900 hours, although I'd imagine the later books probably need a lot more than 4 hours per chapter.

I reckon I can probably spend, on a good week, 4 hours working on chess. So at that rate, one book would take me 6 months, and the whole series 4.5 years.

Having calculated that, I realised that I already have enough books for the rest of my life.

Niall Doran wrote: Having calculated that, I realised that I already have enough books for the rest of my life.

No doubt that’s true - but since when was that a reason not to buy chess books??

Jonathan Bryant wrote:

Niall Doran wrote: Having calculated that, I realised that I already have enough books for the rest of my life.

No doubt that’s true - but since when was that a reason not to buy chess books??

Indeed, every true chess enthusiast has quite a few books they have never read properly and never will

Matt Mackenzie wrote:

Jonathan Bryant wrote:

Niall Doran wrote: Having calculated that, I realised that I already have enough books for the rest of my life.

No doubt that’s true - but since when was that a reason not to buy chess books??

Indeed, every true chess enthusiast has quite a few books they have never read properly and never will

I would suggest it’s more likely that every chess enthusiast has a book or two that they’ve read properly.

I'm finding the Yusupov orange (ie lowest grade) books very easy in some chapters, and quite challenging in others.

Any chance you could say which chapters? Or which type of chapter?

In the very first orange book I scored something like 4 out of 20 on Chapter 8: Centralizing the Pieces, and also found Chapter 3 : Basic Opening Principles tough to solve. Whereas on the more tactical type chapters I tend to do better. I'm guessing the level for strategy/planning type chapters is higher than for the rest.

Niall Doran wrote:Any chance you could say which chapters? Or which type of chapter?

In the very first orange book I scored something like 4 out of 20 on Chapter 8: Centralizing the Pieces, and also found Chapter 3 : Basic Opening Principles tough to solve. Whereas on the more tactical type chapters I tend to do better. I'm guessing the level for strategy/planning type chapters is higher than for the rest.

Chapter 8 Centralising pieces was difficult (for me, anyway).

And also chapter 2 (Pawn weaknesses) and chapter 4 (exploiting weaknesses) of the Boost 1 book.

And also the Queen v Rook endgames in Evolution 1

I would suggest it’s more likely that every chess enthusiast has a book or two that they’ve read properly.

So I’m not the only one, really should get round to having an ebay sale - will be able to afford more chess books

stevencarr wrote:

Niall Doran wrote:Any chance you could say which chapters? Or which type of chapter?

In the very first orange book I scored something like 4 out of 20 on Chapter 8: Centralizing the Pieces, and also found Chapter 3 : Basic Opening Principles tough to solve. Whereas on the more tactical type chapters I tend to do better. I'm guessing the level for strategy/planning type chapters is higher than for the rest.

Chapter 8 Centralising pieces was difficult (for me, anyway).

And also chapter 2 (Pawn weaknesses) and chapter 4 (exploiting weaknesses) of the Boost 1 book.

And also the Queen v Rook endgames in Evolution 1

So you've done at least two books, and at least some of the third. Have you noticed any improvement in your play?

Niall Doran wrote:

stevencarr wrote:

Niall Doran wrote:Any chance you could say which chapters? Or which type of chapter?

In the very first orange book I scored something like 4 out of 20 on Chapter 8: Centralizing the Pieces, and also found Chapter 3 : Basic Opening Principles tough to solve. Whereas on the more tactical type chapters I tend to do better. I'm guessing the level for strategy/planning type chapters is higher than for the rest.

Chapter 8 Centralising pieces was difficult (for me, anyway).

And also chapter 2 (Pawn weaknesses) and chapter 4 (exploiting weaknesses) of the Boost 1 book.

And also the Queen v Rook endgames in Evolution 1

So you've done at least two books, and at least some of the third. Have you noticed any improvement in your play?

I've done 1 book, and 8 chapters each of the other two. I would say that I am playing better. They do seem very useful books.