It is very important for the practical player to train his or her ability, understand when to rely on intuition, rules of thumb and more general positional considerations, when to try to solve the problems by calculating variations to the end, and how to manage time to avoid time pressure.
With these goals in mind, Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual delivers a lot of excellent, high quality training material and many exercises. The author discusses every problem from the perspective of the practical player, gives many general guidelines and investigates psychological aspects in depth.
Foreword
What is the point of an Analytical Manual in modern times, where computers using tablebases and the latest analysis engines seem to be capable of solving almost any question? The answer is easy to provide: There is a huge difference between the search for the objective truth, and a practical game with limited time as the great Mikhail Tal put it: "The hours of analysis and the few minutes of a practical game, they are absolutely not one and the same."
So it is very important for the practical player to train his or her ability, knowing when to rely on intuition, rules of thumb and more general positional considerations, and knowing when to try to solve problems by calculating variations to the end, all the while managing time to avoid time pressure.
In this new book respected trainer and author Mark Dvoretsky delivers plenty of excellent, high quality training material and many exercises. All the problems and issues are discussed from the view of the practical player, giving many general guidelines and investigating the psychological aspects in depth.
As perhaps the world's most famous chess trainer, Dvoretsky has profited from the suggestions of his high caliber students, who have discovered many mistakes and fresh ideas even in such well-analyzed games involving Tal and Botvinnik, Karpov and Kasparov and Kasparov and Korchnoi. Dvoretsky also makes full use of the comments of the combatants themselves, which results in very interesting psychological insights into the fight.
What grandmaster Artur Yusupov stated in his Foreword to Dvoretsky's excellent Endgame Manual is still true: "One of the secrets of the Russian chess school is now before you, dear reader!"
International Grandmaster Karsten Müller
