Samurai Chess: Mastering Strategic Thinking

Michael J. Gelb andRaymond Keene, "Samurai Chess: Mastering Strategic Thinking Through the Martial Art of the Mind"

Walker & Company | English | ISBN: 0802713378 | 1998 | 256 pages | PDF | 5,5 Mb

An interesting book to a person how does Martial Arts and/or chess.

Comparing chess to martial arts is not new, but here it is done in a more comprehensive, appealing, and gripping manner. Gelb and Keene develop the idea of martial arts mindset and the seven Samurai principles to be applied to chess. The Seven Samurai principles are really an extended analogy to the game, but one can see immediately, even as a chess novice, how the seven principles might be applied:

1) Take the Initiative: Attack

2) Follow Through: Go for the Knockout

3) Impenetrable Defense: No Openings

4) Timing: Control the Tempo

5) Distance: Control the Position

6) Master Surprise and Deception

7) Yield to Win: The Art of Sacrifice

The book is in many ways designed for the beginning chess player (the more experienced player will be able to gloss over the second section, 'White Belt Chess', which develops basic movements and elementary middle-game and end-game ideas).