This Book will Boost your Brain Activity: “Chess Exam: You vs Bobby Fischer” by Igor Khmelnitsky

PRLog (Press Release) - Dec 30, 2009 -
An Entertaining Way to Boost Your Brain Activity – “Chess Exam - Matches against Chess Legends: You vs. Bobby Fischer” by Igor Khmelnitsky
New book offers chess fans of all levels a chance to match their wits with the legendary chess champion Bobby Fischer!

Would you like to play a virtual match against the 11th world Chess champion Robert James Fischer?
Best-selling and award-winning author Igor Khmelnitsky gathers examples from Bobby Fischer's games that are educational and entertaining, and can be studied without a board. In each of the examples the readers will take the seat of Fischer's opponent and be asked to come up with an assessment and a move. Based on their response they are assigned points towards their rating evaluation and a game score towards their “match.” Once finished, the readers will learn how well they have done in the “match,” have an estimate of their rating, and know what they need to work on to improve their game.

Khmelnitsky, who also wrote the 2005 Book-of-the-Year (Chess Journalists of America) title, Chess Exam and Training Guide: Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve, and its 2007 companion, Chess Exam and Training Guide: Tactics, feels that the new book offers several exciting new twists while keeping the familiar testing format which became very popular with his readers.

In this new book, the readers will discover:
•   60 diagrams with multiple-choice questions of varied complexity,
•   comprehensive answers with diagrams to make reviewing easier,
•   distributions of answers and other statistical reports by rating,
•   ratings assigned overall and by 13 distinct categories,
•   bonus material: warm-up, tie-breaker, tips and training suggestions, and more….

Practical and enjoyable, charged throughout with Igor Khmelnitsky’s inimitable style that resembles a personal conversation, Chess Exam - Matches against Chess Legends: You vs. Fischer puts fun, originality and challenge back into chess training.

International master Igor Khmelnitsky, winner of numerous chess tournaments in US and abroad, advocates an active learning approach. He says: “From my personal experience as top-ranked player (formerly top 14 in US) and an experienced coach, the best way to learn things is by doing them.” All three of his Chess Exam books fully utilize this approach.  According to Khmelnitsky, the readers are encouraged “to study each diagram thoroughly, then compare their answer and thoughts with the detailed answer provided in the book, and then practice the position against a friend or a computer.”

Chess is a fun and exciting game and Khmelnitsky’s objective is to make chess training a fun process. The new match format enables even novices to experience a competitive nature of chess. More experienced players will get their ranking and identity their weak areas while doing fun exercises. Hence the players of all levels will enjoy this new book!

Feedback from the readers and experts:
IM John Donaldson: According to the noted chess historian Edward Winter there are over 90 books written on Bobby Fischer. They cover his career from all angles – some emphasizing the biographical others sticking to the games he played - so the prospects of writing something new original might seem slim, but International Master Igor Khmelnitsky has succeeded with his new book You vs. Bobby Fischer. Aimed at all levels from near beginner to Master this work offers the reader a wonderful opportunity to become better acquainted with Fischer's games while also training. The student is offered sixty exercises to solve with detailed explanations and grading scales to evaluate one's success.  Highly Recommended

IM Greg Shahade: A great balance between chess instruction and entertainment. The learning process is usually accelerated when there is a specific task at hand, and this book gives you a goal in each chapter: To try to defeat Bobby Fischer. Igor Khmelnitsky has left no stone unturned, even including fun tiebreak problems in case one of your matches should end in a tie. In all, reading this book and following the scoring system will make your chess studying experience much more fun than usual!

GM Alex Fishbein: In his latest book, "Chess Exam: Matches against Chess Legends", renowned chess trainer and International Master Igor Khmelnitsky teaches one of the most important practical skills: evaluation of the position.  All examples are chosen from the games of perhaps the greatest positional player of all time, Bobby Fischer.  The reader is asked to evaluate the position and choose among four candidate moves -- in each case this requires very clear thinking, and Khmelnitsky's explanations are as lucid as the positional player's thinking process should be.  If you would like to improve your decision-making skills in chess, read this book.

FM Aviv Friedman: Once again IM Khmelnitsky manages to capture my chess curiosity with a hard-to-put-down book! His most recommended style and presentation captivate you, and intrigue into trying to really work on the positions. Thus, he is combining enrichment with pleasure, comparable maybe to enjoying foods which are actually also good for you! … It was a fun journey seeing famous and familiar Fischer games, alongside some I have forgotten and yet others I have never seen before. For the third time Igor manages to author a book which can be recommended to players ranging from the low rated and not so experienced, all the way to titled players.

Media: Contact author for interviews and review copies. Visit www.Iamcoach.com/chess/publishing

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