What's the Best Move?: The Classic Chess Quiz Book That Teaches You Openings with No...

No, it is not an opening treatise; but What's the Best Move just might teach you more about openings than any other general openings work in the whole literature of chess. I found this book in my favorite used/overstock store, misplaced in the sports section instead of in the chess section. Several times I looked through it, and foolishly put it aside because it only dealt with 1. e4 openings, and most of these were things like the Ponziani, the Kings's Gambit, the Two Knights, etc. I figured that if I wasn't playing these openings, I wouldn't get anything out of this book. Finally, however, upon seeing the good review here and seeing favorable mentions elsewhere, I took a chance on this book, and going through it has been an eye-popping experience. Evans brings you through several moves of an opening, giving you choices of three moves to pick at various spots. In the back are detailed explanations of why certain moves were wrong, and of which one was right. The explanations are incredible. They are lucid, poingnant, and highly instructive. The next diagram will show the same opening a little further on, and ask you to pick a move. White or black may not have played the right continuation up to that point, and you know this from reading the answers to the previous quiz. Thus, you start to recognize the appropriate setup in these various openings. What is even better is that the answers ulitmately have little do with the opening in question; that is, the thinking process you go through is applicable to any opening at all, and this book changes the way you look at openings. Plus, the positions selected will inevitably occur frequently in your games. It is ultimately the unique and effective instruction technique that Evans uses here that makes the book so wonderful. I thought I was reasonably proficient at openings until I went through this book. I since have realized that I frequently chose the second or third best move. Evans has opened my eyes and re-dedicated me to the opening. I consider this book absolutely essential to the intermediate player who really wishes to improve not only his openings, but his analytical abilities. Finally, the book is incredibly enjoyable to go through. Working through it I got the same feeling I had going through The Amateur's Mind by Silman; that is, that the instructor was right there with me giving me personal lessons. You will be very grateful that you bought this book.

This book is a wonderful collection of problems taken from early stages of chess games (they are grouped by the openings in which they arise). You try to pick which of three options is the best move under the circumstances. Unlike most problem books, this one tests and teaches not just tactics but strategic/positional considerations. Evans's explanations and analyses of the right and wrong moves are superb. It's ridiculous that the book is out of print, but at this writing Chess Digest apparently still has a few copies in stock.