Who needs engines when you have a fully armed and operational John Nunn? But kidding aside, yes, I like having the engine and miss it in the Gambit app. Also it would be nice to be able to resize the board, and the buttons are too small for smartphones. 

But -- to tell the truth, I find I absorb the material less well with an app, probably because of the invitation to passivity inherent in the medium, which makes it hard to get yourself to sit and puzzle over a situation for a long time.

I remember reading advanced math books, and sometimes the author just makes a casual statement in a proof and you go "what??" and it takes you two hours to figure out why it's true. This is very valuable work.

When I first learned to play chess I played relatively easily, given my level, for position and material-winning tactics--but I just could not understand the idea of a mating attack on the king. It was a mysterious process wherein I lost horribly whichever side I was on. So I went through Vukovic, and he delighted me by explaining it all scientifically! A godsend. But I had no computer, so whenever I couldn't understand why a defense didn't work I explored it on the board for a long time and annotated the book in writing, recording my questions and answers. And it was probably this work which caused the biggest increase in my strength--building confidence in the ability to solve analytic attacking problems in harmony with the principles. 

Now, however, I have Vukovic in e-book form, and looking over it after all these years, it's difficult to get myself to pay that much attention, with those convenient buttons and kibitzing computers available!

ReneDescartes wrote on 01/14/16 at 00:55:08:

Good point. I've really jumped on the "App book" bandwagon lately (paper books take up so much space), but how safe are these purchases? I guess we'll have to absorb the knowledge in these books as fast as we can, while we have the chance!

Hi all, 

So I see gambit has a chess app now. I was thinking of getting some of there middle game books. Any recommendations? I know modern chess strategy and road to chess improvement seem to be recommended. Thanks.