[.ca] Just The Facts (ISBN 1889323063)

Too Much Clutter to be "Just the Facts" - not for beginners:
An earlier reviewer stated that the book's design and layout is distracting and that the colored diagrams are confusing. I completely agree. . . Mr. Alburt, with all due respect, has written a very confusing book, because all those "facts" and nothing but just those "facts" are buried under all the styling! In his forward "Note to the Reader" he explains that the blue diagrams illustrate "the most important positions and ideas". Well, I'm sure they are important, because he's a grandmaster and I'm not, so he ought to know, but my complaint is that he doesn't explain why these are "important positions and ideas". He just breaks them out for you to notice them, along with all the other flash and pizzazz! What about those special "analysis" diagrams that are presented to us in standard gray diagram form, but are labeled "analysis" in blue type. Because the author does not, are we the readers supposed to analyze these? Then there's all the other "blueness": the blue-boxed footnotes and headers on many of the pages. . . the occasional blue, full-page explanation of topics such as "Most Winnable Endgames" on Page 41, or "Fortress Building" on Page 235. . .the exercises in each chapter, presented in standard gray diagrams but labled "Exercise" in blue. . .the various blue cartoon drawings of chess pieces scattered throughout the book, and so on. It appears as though the author (and maybe the editors) decided initially to select the color of blue to highlight the important ideas, but then allowed their chosen color to get out of hand and become "prostituted" with overuse, to the point where the eyes get confused over just what's important and what's not. Quite frankly, Mr. Alburt wouldn't have to break all these diagrams out into color if he had followed the format of Bruce Pandolfini, in the latter's book, "Pandolfini's Endgame Course", because Mr. Pandolfini's book is the one that presents "just the facts", not Mr. Alburt. In Bruce's book, there's one important position on each page, with a concise explanation of exactly what to do and why to do it. . . each idea and line of moves is all on one page. Variations of these ideas are on the subsequent pages that follow; again, with the slightly-different-idea and its corresponding slightly-different-starting position all on one page. In fact, Bruce Pandolfini's book is the one that should be entitled "Just the Facts", not Lev Alburt's book. A better title for Lev's book would have been, "A Wonderful, Meandering Stroll Along the Road to Endgame Understanding", with maybe a subtitle such as "Stopping Along the Way to Appreciate Various and Sundry Assides", such as all the biographies of famous endgame masters, and all the other trivia contained in this book, which only serve to help clutter the mind of the average amateur trying to comprehend "just the facts." No, "Pandolfini Endgame Course" is the one you want to get for basic endgame understanding. A wonderful Lev Alburt book to purchase would be his "Pocket Training Book", containing those 300 positions you need to master. I highly recommend this book, which goes over the importance of pattern recognition as it's related to tactics. As a matter of fact, it's worth noting that in the introduction of this "Pocket Training Book, Mr. Alburt himself explains that you don't need to know hundreds of endgame positions to be a strong player . . . you only need to know about a dozen or so to be a strong tournament player, and about 50 or so to play at master strength! And all 50 are included in this pocket book. Just make sure that you disregard the cover of the sexy grandmaster himself posing with his fashion model/chess student. So there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth: you don't need "Just the Facts" after all! You don't need a 400 page volume of facts buried under clutter and wrapped up in trivia that you the readers have to sort out! Get yourself the following: Pandolfini's Endgame Course... and Lev's Pocket Training Book, for not much more than that, brand new, also here on Amazon.

Thank you, Lev and Nikolay, for CHESS has truly NEEDED this!:
First of all, if things haven't changed that much by the time Amazon.com releases my review, and if this paucity of reviewers is any indicator of chesslovers interested in studying the endgame, I find it rather alarming that there are only FIVE reviews of this book!! With that said, and since I have carefully studied this book at TWO different periods in the past 365 days (May-August, 2000 \o3 months\c and January-March, 2001 \o2 months\c) I feel it necessary to present to Amazon.com my review of "Just The Facts". In the time before May, 2000, I spent at least two and half years straight studying the middlegame. My skill and knowledge increased, but not as much as when I studied this book!! Endgame knowledge is very necessary!!! What made it so easy for me to become eager to read this book was that I saw one phrase in the description on the back of the book: "endgame knowledge is IMMUTABLE." It's unchangeable!! That means that for all the volatility of the opening (which is where the majority of chessplayers direct their study attention) and the middlegame, \oif and\c when that chess game you're playing reaches the endgame, a great amount of guesswork concerning what plan and moves should be made has been eliminated (due to the immutability of the endgame principles). The key is that you have to know the principles. Once that word "immutable" sinks in, that should tell you that you don't have to go searching for any other endgame books to read to try to further enhance and improve your endgame skill; the way you tend to do when you study the middlegame and the openings. I really enjoyed studying through this book and I'll probably do it again at some time in the next three years. Going over this book again and again doesn't at all mean that it's difficult. This book is very easy and very enjoyable to study through. It is even attractive to the eye. You should keep a notebook on the endgame patterns and their page numbers while studying this book. You should also keep notes on the endgame material classifications (such as a "rook-and-knight-versus-rook-and-bishop" endgame) and their page numbers. My only complaint (and I'll admit it is trifling) is that there's no page number reference to the "blue bullets" (Alburt calls them "breakouts") of endgame tips; once you've read the whole book, it would be helpful to "review-at-a-glance" these tidbits of information just to help keep these tips fresh in your memory. (so I've taped my own page reference to the back inside cover of my book!) I have great confidence that using the knowledge of THIS endgame book (the "end-all" of all other endgame books) will increase your chess rating by a massive percentage. The only other thing I can think of to enhance your endgame play after reading this book is to see such APPLICATIONS of these principles in master games such as in "Extreme Chess" (Alekhine and Euwe-1935 and 1937 and Fischer and Spassky-1972)and in Pal Benko's "Endgame Lab" which appears in the monthly magazine, "Chess Life". ...And of course actually playing chess over the board over and over again, notating your whole game so you can review it (whether you win or lose).

Perhaps not the final word on endgame play:
I found the design and layout to be distracting as there are certain diagrams highlighted with color shading that are merely confusing. Alburt does explain most fundamental endgame techniques as clearly as can be done from a book, but uses a few too many examples for my taste, making the mastery of the material more difficult due to its sheer volume. There are many ways to explain the same technique and I found Capablanca in his Chess Fundamentals to be one of the clearest presenters of basic endgame strategy. My original review of another one of Lev Alburt's books, "King in Jeopardy" was a little rash as I have found that title to actually be one of the best books of its type, with clear detailed explanations. Perhaps I will also change my opinion of this endgame book with time, as there are certainly a few techniques not found in other books. The problem is that some of these positions may not come up often enough in actual play to justify the enormous expenditure in time it takes to master them. The critical positions must be reviewed often in order for them to really become part of your playing technique- as Lev Alburt states- chess mastery is built up mostly through repetition of material.

Good enough:
Let's get one thing straght about this series by Alburt et al: it's not stellar in any way and certainly contains no scintillating discovery of a new method. There is one thing which does shine through these books: the hype is unsurpassed! The authors cannot contain themselves long enough in the pages before splashing someone's biography complete with their availability for lessons, their rates, their 'phone numbers and what they had for dinner last night! (just keeeedink!;-). People, I already BOUGHT the book, I don't require commercials while reading it. This was a disconcerting aspect of reading it. On the other hand, it does contain the necessary material for the student to play the endgame at a reasonably high level of understanding. The layout is good and color is used to good effect to highlight important points. It would have received a fourth start but I don't think it's worth the price they're asking. A better book at a better price for beginners would be Silman's Endgame book, check it out.

A remarkable achievement:
I've read several endgame books, but none have the outstanding clarity and wit of this entertaining volume. Alburt starts with fundamental concepts of king and pawn endgames (opposition, triangulation, zugzwang, etc) and proceeds to more complex endgame situations. One gets the feeling this will become a classic endgame text. After reading the section on rook and pawn endgames I was in a game with a complex endgame where all the relevant principles applied. The clarity of presentation meant that it was easy to recall under combat conditions!