"The Art of Planning in Chess: Move by Move" by Neil McDonald review?

Question

I am reading the "Move by Move" books and was curious if anyone had read "The Art of Planning in Chess: Move by Move" by Neil McDonald? If so, can you write a simple review on it?

I currently have "Logical Chess: Move By Move: Every Move Explained" by Irving Chernev and "Understanding Chess Move by Move" by John Nunn. How does McDonald's book relate to Chernev's and Nunn's

Answer 1

I haven't read it, so I can't review it. But since nobody else is replying, I'll just note that

• There is a review by Jeremy Silman here: http://wp.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_js/js_art_of_planning_in_chess.html
• You can browse through the first pages on Amazon.com (and random pages with the "Surprise Me!" button)

in case you hadn't found those yourself.

Answer 2

McDonald's "Art of Logical Thinking" is similar to the Chernev book since it has verbal explanation of pretty much every move, and is light on long variations.

The "Planning" book is more typical of chess books generally in that McDonald doesn't bother explaining many of the moves, figuring that his higher-rated audience would find the extra verbiage tedious and distracting. Also, long variations are sometimes provided.

Personally, I always prefer more verbal explanations, but those kind of books are relatively rare.

The Nunn book is for higher-rated players and is heavy on long variations, requiring a lot of work on the part of the reader.