Jeremy Silman

Who is Jeremy Silman?

Jeremy Silman is an American International Master of chess. He has won the US Open, the American Open, and the National Open, and was the coach of the US junior national chess team. Silman has authored over 35 books, mostly on chess but also on casino gambling, and served as a chess consultant on the 2001 Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He has given lessons to many top players of the game and has contributed to chess magazines such as New in Chess. Silman is known for his instructional books for lower-rated chess players. He has also authored many chess mentoring puzzles on the chess.com website.

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, which refers to the relative strength of the knights and bishops;

pawn structure;

spatial control;