Book review: Improve Your Chess at Any Age by Andres D. Hortillosa

James McCarty, Brian Wall and Andres ( Andy ) Hortillosa were 2000 Denver Open Co-Champions.

In 2009 Andy launched his first Chess book, Improve Your Chess at Any Age.

After a long stint in the army, acquiring an MBA and several other degrees, Andy now felt he had the time to devote to Chess that he always longed for. Mr. Hortillosa decided to use the education methods he had learned to improve his Chess, honing his ideas into a Chess Improvement system.

The best part is the painful honesty with which Andy describes how the system fails him or he fails the system as he goes against much higher rated players. Andy meticulously describes why he won or lost each game, leaving kernels of Chess wisdom on each page as he does so.

Of the 37 games he chooses, 30 are very recent 2008-2009 games - the emotions are raw and fresh. Any improving player can relate to the agony of botching a winning position against a better player or the exhilaration of a well earned victory.

Not only does Andy bring all his Chess and education knowledge to bear on theproblem at hand, he also brings in another whole culture. Born in the rising Chess nation of the Philippines it is fascinating to hear Mr. Hortillosa describe the "start-at-the-end" Asian method of solving Chess problems.

Most Chess writers hide their errors as much as possible when annotating their games, Andy revels in them as teaching tools. The games were not selected to stroke Grandmaster egos but for maximum educational benefit. This separates the book from the vast majority of games collections.

I believe it is likely any Chessplayer will improve after reading this book even if you don't diligently employ all of Hortillosa's methods. The reader will inevitably race through the book's first reading, transporting himself through the diagrams onto the battlefield. After the initial rush, the reader then has the rest of his life to settle down and study the book seriously. Highly recommended.