Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual

“What is the most difficult chess book? Dvoretsky’s analytical manual.” - GM Jacob Aagaard "People cannot play chess at this level yet - in fact, I hardly think they will ever be capable of learning how." - IM Mark Dvoretsky This is a provisional review - I've only finished roughly 20% of this book and will update it once I finish the book. Despite this, I feel qualified to state an opinion, given that I've spent around 50-75 hours on it already. Dvoretsky's analytical manual is a masterpiece. Dvoretsky presents his material in annotated game format, where Dvoretsky switches between extremely intense analysis and throwing you into a puzzle from the game. The puzzles are exceptionally difficult and generally have been analyzed both by computers and numerous GMs who Dvoretsky already gave the exercise to. Whatever valuable ideas the GMs had were often analyzed and incorporated into the text. Computer analysis is at times overridden through extremely thorough searches for the truth. I can not emphasize this enough: the exercise quality is tremendously high and has gone through trials of fire in the quest for the truth. The training material is incredibly practical in terms of improving structure of calculation. What about the games? You will never find a Dvoretsky game copied from another source unless he had something new to say about it. The game quality is tremendously high and generally is archetypical in some way, either from the strategic concept point of view or for value in improving tactics and calculation. Dvoretsky makes you truly realize how deep chess is. "Before the 2018 candidates I went through some Dvoretsky stuff, which I really don't like doing, because it's hard!" - GM Fabiano Caruana When I go through this book, I know that it will be useful for me to improve my calculation and concentration. Full immersion into the position is absolutely necessary or else something of value will be lost. You know that it is worth diving all the way because Dvoretsky never compromises quality. Dvoretsky was known as the trainer for the world's elite for a reason - according to Aagaard, at one point around 50% of the top 100 players in the world had worked with Dvoretsky at some point. I find it likely that if prospective master students treat Dvoretsky's material lightly and do not give your absolute best, their maximum potential and ceiling might be reduced. You only get so many chances to work with Dvoretsky's puzzles, these chances should not be used lightly! There is a limited about of high-quality material and an abundance of low-quality training material available. If you need to develop the right calculation habits to become elite, my impressions are that failing to take Dvoretsky seriously risks permanently cutting off young and ambitious masters from reaching the absolute elite. Perhaps I'm wrong - I'm nowhere near there yet, but as someone with high long-term chess goals, these are my impressions. And Dvoretsky certainly has examples of this happening (as described in his excellent 'For friends and colleagues' volumes 1 and 2) - GMs who had a clear upward trajectory toward the elite when they followed Dvoretsky's advice and stagnated or fell after failing to continue following his advice. Dvoretsky's methods work - but they are not easy. Going through this book, I know that I will have to try my absolute best to get the most out of it - I fully expect it to take at least two hundred more hours to finish my first run through the analytic manual. It's reasonably likely that I will pause between some chapters to do deeper analysis on the content to go beyond what Dvoretsky covers in the book. The material is just that rich. "As a struggling young GM rated around 2550, I was able to spend twice a week training with Mark Dvoretsky. (...) These two sessions were career changing for me: I can't overstate the difference they made to my chess strength." - GM Matthew Saddler Who is the target audience for this book? Going through the first section of the book (immersion into the position), my impression is that this book was mostly written for GMs who are looking to become elite. Note - this book is supposed to be challenging for GMs! It was challenging for Caruana, do you expect an easy time? You do not buy Dvoretsky's books to feel good about your chess. You buy them to have a mental workout and to improve both your calculation and understanding of chess strategic concepts. For the aspiring professional player, you can not do better than Dvoretsky and Aagaard, and while a tremendous amount of work is needed, the time is certainly well spent. As for weaker players who wish to learn from Dvoretsky, it is clear that this is possible as you can tell from the other reviews and the fact that I (as a mere NM) am attempting this book, but you need to know what you are getting yourself into before you begin.

This book is not an instructional manual or really a "manual" of any kind. It annotates certain games that you may be already be familiar with depending on your level. Classically trained IMs and above will already be intimately familiar with every game here and, although I am not at that level, I am confident that even they will find ample new insights into those games. This is not a greatest games collection. You won't find Morphy v. Izouard/Brunswick or the famous Reti v. Alekhine game here, but the games that ARE here are well known to experts, and Dvoretsky includes, to the extent available, the published comments of each of the game's players, the annotations of really worthy annotators, computer analysis, and his own take. Having said that this is not an instructional manual or a greatest games collection, I want to say that this IS the most penetrating annotation of selected games I've ever seen. For example, the annotation of the third game of the Tal-Botvinnik first championship match, the Caro-Kan in which Tal recaptured on f3 with the g2 pawn, goes very deeply into the details of Botvinnik's failure to win this strategically won game by analyzing his battle-plan towards Tal and his resulting refusal (in that match) to engage in any calculational battles. If this all sounds a bit theoretical, once you see the analysis you'll see it's not, the analysis is Dvoretsky's, renowned as perhaps the greatest chess trainer ever, and he illustrates his psychological analyses about what the players might have done and why they didn't with very very concrete analysis. This is a fantastic book for advanced players or even for novices who are willing to spend the time going through positions on a board playing through variations and learning a whole lot in the process.

Although this is a very detailed manual of "How To" thought processes, you will learn to analyze chess through different stages of the game, It will teach you to analyze the game in ways you haven't thought about before. When you learn how to analyze better you can respond and attack better and better as you begin to practice these techniques! It's very well thought out, presented and the teachings are effective!

A well known Brazilian GM, and many times Brazilian national champion - Rafael Leitão - recommends calculation over any other aspect of chess studying if you have limited time to devote to chess. This book is one of the best out there. It's not an easy one and I would recommend to players with a FIDE rating of 2000 or above, but players 200 points less could start trying to have fun with it. Seriously, this book AND your discipline to do the exercises will greatly improve your chess. If you don't have much time to study chess, try it! You won't regret!

One of my top favorite chess writers. His format and explanations are brilliant! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Everyone can learn something but be prepared to study for hours and hours and fry your brain.

Food for chess thought and don't forget it ! Very good look into a chess player's eye, a sneak peak at a professional in slow motion.

If you're 2400+ sure. Jacking the abbreviations to be original is horrible. Socks and very hard to follow. The puzzles though pretty interesting but beyond most people