The Improving Chess Thinker

Revised and Expanded

Dan Heisman

• Publisher: Mongoose Press
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781936277544
• Edition: 2

Chessplayers wishing to improve their performance typically seek to deepen their middlegame understanding or to increase their endgame knowledge. Often, however, the real key to improvement lies not in learning additional ideas and positions, but in developing a more effective thinking process at the board.

In The Improving Chess Thinker, acclaimed chess instructor Dan Heisman compares how chessplayers of different strengths – ranging from beginner to International Master – approach analytical positions. From this, he draws lessons that will help players at each level to avoid typical flaws in their thought process and to move up to the next level.

Basing his work on more than four decades of testing volunteers, Heisman offers solutions to difficult practical issues such as deciding how much time to spend on a move; what to do while the opponent’s clock is running; and when to stop analyzing a line. In this book, ambitious players will find insight into what’s been holding them back, while coaches will find powerful new teaching tools.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Preface to the First Edition
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Introduction
• 1. The Exercise
• 2. Class F
• 3. Class E
• 4. Class D
• 5. Class C
• 6. Class B
• 7. Class A
• 8. Expert and Above
• 9. Thought Process Basics
• 10. The Thinking Cap
• 11. The Most Common Thought Process Mistakes
• 12. The Basics of Time Management
• 13. Beyond the Exercise
• 14. Additional Exercise and Lesson Tales
• Appendix A: Dr. Max Euwe Protocol of ‘de Groot A’
• Appendix B: Computer Analysis of the de Groot Positions
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• About the Author