The House of Staunton 21st Century Edition

"'My System' is of course one of the great masterpieces of chess literature..." - International Master John Watson. Initially published in 1925, perhaps no other chess book has had as profound an influence on how chess was played throughout the 20th century. This was the first book to systematize and consolidate into a single volume the principles of positional chess, all of which are still valid today as evidenced by the many thousands of chess books written over subsequent decades reiterating those very same principles. While there are several excellent editions of the title available, the Lou Hays 21st Century Edition may be the easiest English translation to read.

It's been written long time ago, yet the idea is interesting and worth of reading it.

This classic book teaches fundamental concepts in chess which every player must know. Other chess books assume that these concepts are understood prior to reading their books. Most likely other authors learned these fundamental concepts from this book and therefore assume everyone's learning has followed a similar path, which is why they never explain the concepts in depth. This book addresses the level of information I need to understand the game better.My System teaches the amateur player using small examples to make the concepts clear. This 1930 book has been translated, both in language and chess notation. Adult readers will fare better understanding the explanations than young readers because the expressions used in some paragraphs reflect the writing style of a century ago. At times the reader will be called upon to perform their own contextual translation of a concept because of the older style description. Added to this there are a few typographical errors so it can be difficult to discern a typo from an uncommon expression or failure to understand the point being explained.The book covers the elements of the Center and Development, Open Files, the Seventh and Eighth Ranks, the Passed Pawns, Exchanges, Endgame Strategy, the Pin, the Discovered Check, the Pawn Chain, and then Positional Play is covered in several chapters. The book ends with 50 games that emphasize the points taught in the book.

Good to find this out of print book and in good condtion. Very useful for a serious chess player.

Don't advance too far before reading this book. The reason I say this is that although this book is not for the beginner, it should be read before your chess thinking is developed much further than that of a beginner. I've been playing chess for 40 years and if I had read this on the road to becoming an intermediate player I would be a lot stronger today. There are a lot of beginner books for rules, tactics, basic strategy, but I haven't found nearly as many to properly address what happens at the next stage of a players development. This book succeeds on several levels. Having grown up without a teacher, 'My System' straightened out a lot of wrong thinking that I had developed in my game. I can now see more possibilities in a position. Also it is an excellent book on positional play that shows that you never have to lack for a plan because there is nearly always some vital improvement that you can make to a position. The algebraic '21st Century' keeps this important book alive, and there are some updates to the language to make the early 1900's, European Nimzovitch with his colorful descriptions a little easier to understand.