Understanding Your Chess

James Rizzitano, an experienced international master, has reassessed games from the whole of his career, and in this book presents the lessons from them that will be most relevant to club and tournament players.

A common problem for the typical weekend competitor or club player is that his time available for studying chess is very limited. What should he study? Grandmasters from Botvinnik to Yermolinsky have stressed the importance of reviewing and annotating your own games. Rizzitano shows how by doing that you can gain a greater understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and drawing upon his own experiences, explains how to shape your approach to chess to make the most of your own abilities.

Major topics include:
--Developing a reliable and coherent opening repertoire
--The importance of understanding opening theory rather than simply memorizing it
--Theoretical novelties: finding your own and facing the opponent's
--Opening selection depending upon the nature of the game and event
--Risk management and "playing for a win"
--Competing successfully against higher-rated opposition
--Accumulating small advantages: a safe method when the opponent plays for a draw
--The power of the initiative: lighting a fire and keeping it burning

The book contains more than 60 deeply annotated games.

James Rizzitano is a strong international master who dominated chess in teh New England region during a 14-year period from 1976 to 1989 - he won 157 out of 336 events in which he competed. His career highlights include victories over Alburt, Benjamin, Benko, Christiansen, Dlugy, I. Gurevich and Wolff, and exciting draws with de Firmian, Larsen, Speelman, and the legendary former world champion Tal.