@Arab_Knight That book is a fantastic addition to any chess player's library.
In fact, you're lucky that you brought it up to the forums because there is actually a trick to that book.
Jeremy asks his readers to learn to never move without a plan, and then he also highlights many of the kinds of fundamental considerations that you need to be basing your reasons for moving upon.
Sounds good right? Yes and no.
When you're done with that book and you begin forcing yourself to find the plans the same way that you think Jeremy would, what you do is you introduce what I call a "ghost" into your head.
Classically, in chess, "ghost" means to worry about threats that aren't there, that aren't actually possible, or that aren't tactically justified.
But it also means when we have an imaginary titled player in our heads whom we consult and ask permission for before our every move.
"What would the masters play? What would the engine say?" < - - - These are ghosts because they produce all of the exact same problems that the classical definition of the word causes, and for all of the exact same reasons.
So if you take the information in that book, and study it with an extremely selfish mindset, you'll do very well.
The worst thing to do, however, is exactly what I did and what many others have done.
We finish the book, we get to the board, and we start trying to channel the book (ghost) into our game.
We try to make the book play for us, we try to apply the book to everything, and we introduce a ghost in the process.
In doing this you can:
-Expect move-paralysis.
-Expect plenty of "looking but not seeing".
-Expect to bang your head against the wall wondering what Jeremy would do.
-Expect to get frustrated with yourself for not being able figure it out yourself.
* It's the last point that deserves some focus. *
The reason that you can't apply the book, is because you've got a ghost that is blocking the mechanics needed in order for YOU to recognize, understand, and apply the information that the book shares with you.
You need to make sure that when you read that book, that you actually take it *LESS SERIOUSLY* than your instincts might be telling you to.
You need to simply read the ideas, think about the issues, imagine finding those issues in your own games, and then sit down at the board and very slowly, here and there, if you feel like it, try using one or two of the ideas that you read about in the book.
You'll know it when it happens, because you'll see what you would have played last month, but now you'll see a reason to play something else, you'll try it out, and it may or may not work to best effect. But keep trying those 'new ideas', and practice them, and just enjoy implementing them into your process, analyses, recognition, application and understanding, and eventually there will be a seamless incorporation of the fundamentals that that book teaches, and you'll be all the better for it.
For me, and anyone like me who bought that book, put it under a microscope, treated it like the holy grail, and zoomed into every word to where we could see only the tree and never the forest, that book is actually counter-productive.
Some of it is Jeremy's use of the word "plan", much of it is allowing ghosts to interfere with my learning and application of the ideas.
Just consider that when Jeremy says "plan", think of it as "idea" or "purpose" or "reason".
He's basically talking about making a move for any reason that doesn't have to do with an immediate forced tactical combination.
When he says "plan", he's just talking about injecting some benefit into your position. He is talking about creating a good move with good reasoning.
That book will help you to start creating moves for very good reasons.
"No obvious combos? No immediate tactical exchanges? What do you do now?"
That book will give you MANY ideas of 'what to you do now'.
You'll start to see that there are many many many different things to play for other than just material or forced tactical variations.
* * * So, in conclusion, DO NOT pick up that book with the idea that it is some kind of a "How To Play Chess" guide. * * *
This is the WORST thing that you can do, and it's pretty much everyone's default because the author basically says that exactly what it is.
(In fact, to a large extent, it actually is, but thinking about it that way will block almost all of it's effects. Thinking about it that way will corrupt your focus and introduce a ghost where you'll be forever consulting the book, *instead of yourself* for moves that can ONLY come from you having created them YOURSELF.)
So long as you're aware of this ironic little pseudo-paradox, you should be able to easily avoid it.
So instead, what you want to do is just take it as a list of different ideas that you may or may not have thought about, and just know that if you see one or two of them in your next games, and you're able to make a move that appreciates those ideas, that you're better off for it.
Just think about it as a "Book of Suggestions" that you'll have to, FOR YOURSELF, decide what is and isn't applicable in whatever board position you're currently analyzing, and then create YOUR OWN best moves for YOUR OWN best reasons.
As always, when you begin assigning very specific reasons for making a move, NOT "goals" NOT "plans", but REASONS, you can then look back and see if your reasons panned out as you intended, and begin to study why or why not.
This will facilitate growth and it will facilitate more accurate play.
So yes, that book can be excellent, very excellent, but it's absolutely got to be read with a casual grain of salt, and once you're finished with it, "What Would Jeremy Do" should NEVER be an idea that enters your mind.
So long as you read that book and NEVER have that thought, then you'll be A-OK.
No ghosts allowed!
* * * Think For Yourself. * * *
