Love anything Silman. HTRYC maybe a bit advanced for me though. I think of it as taking you to the next level after Amateur's Mind. I've gone through that so I am well acquainted with the imbalances. I think most of all, Silman teaches you to think and to fight which is the opposite of what your instinct wants to do as the "typical adult improver". Secretly, myself included, many of us just want to checkmate with some cheesy opening trap (Fried Liver, anyone?!) And when the going gets tough on the board, we are too quick to hit the resign button. If you can really make Silman your Jedi trainer, you should be proving to your opponent that your Botez Gambit is actually a NvsQ imbalance, and in a time scramble those tricky f**kers are worth at least 8 points!!
Love anything Silman. HTRYC maybe a bit advanced for me though. I think of it as taking you to the next level after Amateur's Mind. I've gone through that so I am well acquainted with the imbalances. I think most of all, Silman teaches you to think and to fight which is the opposite of what your instinct wants to do as the "typical adult improver". Secretly, myself included, many of us just want to checkmate with some cheesy opening trap (Fried Liver, anyone?!) And when the going gets tough on the board, we are too quick to hit the resign button. If you can really make Silman your Jedi trainer, you should be proving to your opponent that your Botez Gambit is actually a NvsQ imbalance, and in a time scramble those tricky f**kers are worth at least 8 points!!