Jeremy Silman (born August 28, 1954) is an American

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

and writer. Silman was born in Del Rio,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He began playing chess at the age of 12. He has won the American Open, the National Open, and the U.S. Open, and was the

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of the US junior national chess team. He attained the IM title in 1988. Silman has written over 35 books, mostly on chess but also on casino gambling, and has written articles for chess magazines such as ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "most ...

'' and '' New in Chess''. He has also written many chess mentoring puzzles on the chess.com website. Silman is the professor in a video chess course produced by

The Teaching Company The Teaching Company, doing business as Wondrium, is a media production company that produces educational, video and audio content in the form of courses, documentaries, series under two content brands - Wondrium and The Great Courses. The comp ...

as part of its Great Courses series. Silman served as a chess consultant on the 2001 ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' film ''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers hi ...

'', ''Monk'', and ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunctional ...

''. However, Silman was uncredited for his work on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Silman is also said to have been involved in the

Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...

scene in the 1970s. The preface to his Endgame Course mentions this, and fellow chess players Daniel King and

Ronan Bennett Ronan Bennett (born 14 January 1956) is an Irish novelist and screenwriter. Background Bennett, the son of William H. and Geraldine Bennett, was born in England, but was raised in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, in a devout Roman Catholic Churc ...

allude to this in a newspaper column from 2007.

Strategy of imbalances

In his books, Silman evaluates positions according to the "imbalances", or differences, which exist in every position, and advocates that players plan their play according to these. A good plan according to Silman is one which highlights the positive imbalances in the position. The imbalances are, in rough descending order of importance according to Dana Mackenzie: *Superior

minor piece Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory * Minor chord ** Ba ...

, which refers to the relative strength of the

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s and

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

s *

Pawn structure In a game of chess, the pawn structure (sometimes known as the pawn skeleton) is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Because pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus plays a large ...

* Spatial control *

Material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologi ...

; in his Chess Life series ''The Art of Planning'', Silman called this the most important imbalance because it affected every phase of the game; *Control of open files, diagonals, and squares *

Development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

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; Silman notes that this (along with superior development) is a dynamic imbalance that must be used quickly if the advantage is not to fade away

Silman's thinking technique

Silman proposes in ''How to Reassess Your Chess'' a five-fold procedure that he recommends that players use. This procedure is to be followed after checking for tactical threats for both sides. # Figure out the positive and negative imbalances for both sides. # Figure out the side of the board you wish to play on. You can only play when a favourable imbalance or the possibility of creating a favourable imbalance exists. # Don't calculate! Instead, dream up various fantasy positions, i.e., the positions you would most like to achieve. # Once you find a fantasy position that makes you happy, you must figure out if you can reach it. If you find that your choice was not possible to implement, you must create another dream position that is easier to achieve. # Only now do you look at the moves you wish to calculate (called candidate moves). The candidate moves are all the moves that lead to our dream position.

Books

* ''Autobiography of a Goat'', 2013, 252 pages, Maelstrom Press, . * ''How to Reassess your Chess (4th edition): Chess Mastery through Chess Imbalances'', 2010, 658 pages, Siles Press, . * ''Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master'', 2007, 530 pages, Siles Press, . * ''Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions'', with

Pal Benko Pál C. Benkő ( hu, Benkő Pál; July 15, 1928 – August 26, 2019) was a Hungarian-American chess player, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. Early life Benko was born on July 15, 1928 in Amiens, France, where his ...

and

John L. Watson John Leonard Watson (born 1951) is an American chess International Master and author. In 2022, Watson was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame along with GM James Tarjan and the late Daniel Willard Fiske. Watson is also a recipient of the U ...

, 2004, 520 pages, Siles Press, . * ''Gambits in the Slav'' with

William John Donaldson William John Donaldson (born September 24, 1958), known as John Donaldson, is an American chess player, author, journalist and chess official. Like many of his contemporaries, he began playing in the aftermath of the World Chess Championship 19 ...

, 2003, 160 pages, Chess Enterprises, . * ''The Reassess your Chess Workbook: How to Master Chess Imbalances'', 2001, 400 pages, Siles Press, . * ''The Amateur's Mind (2nd edition): Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery'', 1999, 443 pages, Siles Press, . * ''Accelerated Dragons (2nd edition)'' with

, 1998, 320 pages, Everyman Chess, . * ''The Complete Book of Chess Strategy: Grandmaster Techniques from A to Z'', 1998, 360 pages, Siles Press, . * ''Winning with the Sicilian Defense (2nd edition): A Complete Repertoire against 1.e4'', 1998, 353 pages, Chess Digest, . * ''Essential Chess Endings Explained Move by Move Volume One: Novice thru Intermediate'', 1992, 223 pages, Chess Digest, . * ''The Dynamic Caro-Kann: The Bronstein Larsen and the Original Caro System'', 1990, 182 pages, Summit Publishing, . * ''A Complete Black Repertoire'', 1986, 126 pages, Chess Digest, .

Strategy of imbalances

Silman's thinking technique

Books

References

External links