I have many chess books, some for beginner's, some way too advanced. This book is exactly what I needed for where I was in my chess learning. I could do good openings, but get to a point where I would get "locked" in a closed, balanced position and get confused on how to proceed; every option looked dangerous and there was no clear "right move". Seeing strings of all possible chess moves, like from chess software of advanced books, didnt help me. I needed to understand the thought processes of good chess play, and reading annotated games of Silman and his students helped me think like a "good" chess player and I saw immediate improvement in my game. This is not the first chess book you should buy, but if you find yourself getting lost in the midgame this book could help you.