Reviews (11)

Chess is ultimately a game of human interaction and human drama.
The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, or How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our Understanding of War, Art, Science and the Human Brain by David Shenk is more than just a book about 32 pices, it's an exceptional human drama and also a great resource on the fundamentals of chess. When you begin reading chess history, you'll know almost immediately that David Shenk wanted to convey its astonishing intellectual and cultural breadth and also to pay a lasting tribute to the game of chess. It earned a four rating due impart that this book is not targeted at the masters of chess, indeed, expert players will not find any lessons on how the game works or why it's so great. But, rather, the millions of others who are more casually interested in the game is its intended audience. Dave sought to write a book that would hold the attention of the most serious player but also never confuse or bore the complete neophyte. The history of chess is a great source on the history of civilization over the last 1500 years. Dave sought to balance an appreciation for the game itself with an exploration for how the game has influenced ideas over so many centuries. In many ways, it's impossible to understand the evolution of modern thought without chess as a crucial tool. The first thing, Dave does, is to help people understand the allure of the game. That's one of the main missions in the book. Chess is a rich combination of art and science, of intellect, intuition and stamina. It's not just a brainy game--it's also a human game. It's also a very accessible one. Chess is ultimately a game of human interaction and human drama.

Psychological, historical and culture review by novice chess player
I liked this book because it was an excellent story written in the spirit of great fiction. It was well-organized and wove together many different threads from a variety of areas including psychology, history and culture.
Amazing book...quick, brilliant read.
You do not have to be a chess player to enjoy this book. In my case, however, I am a chess player and enjoyed it immensly. I read this book cover to cover in about six hours...I have never read another book so fast in my life. The story was enthralling, the writing was captivating, and the points made about Chess and its impact on our world's culture and history were quite well made. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. General    7. History    8. History - General History    9. World - General    10. History / General   

Reviews (70)

EVERY MOVE ANALYZED ===== Complete Games Made into chess lessons for the advanced Novice
"LOGICAL CHESS, MOVE BY MOVE" by Erving Chernev is was the first book (to my knowledge) that uses complete games with every move analyzed. It has remained a well read and one of the top selling chess books for good reasons:
Learn Chess By Osmosis!
I've been buying and reading chess books for a year now, and I have to say that this is the book I read more than any other and feel I have learned the most from.It's relaxing to sit down with a board, pieces and a book and go through a game played between two great players, with move by move commentary included.You might think you're learning very little, but you'll be amazed at what sticks with you, and how you will start thinking more about what your opponents are planning when they make their moves, and how you will start calculating more deeply when it comes to your own.
Move by Move Analysis - Great way to learn chess!!
"Logical Chess" is a logical way to teach chess. Games taken from play by strong players are used to provide neat lessons. To make sure everything that is important is covered one or more comments (and sometimes other move suggestions and comments) is made on all of the moves. This teaching method has become very popular among some of the top authors such as in "Unbeatable Chess Lessons" and "Understanding Chess" which are other good books using this same structure and also are recommeded that don't have the drawback of repeating themselves on same opening moves found in "Logical Chess" and are more up to date on the opening analysis. But that doesn't change the fact that "Logical Chess" is a classic and very good book to consider once beyond the beginner stage. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Chess - Specific Strategies    4. Games    5. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    6. Games/Puzzles    7. Games / Chess    8. STUDY NOTES - SparkCharts   

Reviews (4)

Interesting opening suggestion system
The Sicilian with an early f4 with white as a way to play against the Sicilian is very good. Not only are the moves given but the ideas behind the moves and the general opening system are told. I personally like playing the Ruy Lopez as white instead of the scotch that they suggest with any early d4. So you can take what you like and leave what you do not like with the suggestions. Books that cover opening ideas and the traps in the openings are the best way to learn your openings and understand them. After this book you can get the one for playing black by Alburt.

good but could be better
The first openings book I read was Winning Chess Openings by Seriwan which reccomended basically the KIA / KID for everything.While this was fun for a while, after diversifying my openings with this book I feel I get can get an edge in the opening in many games.However, the binding is horrible and if you actually use the book as it is intended "your single openings reference" it will come apart in quite a short time.I plan to fix this with glue.. Also every once in a while i will run into something the book simply missed.For instance in the Two Knights Defence the move 6. ... Ng4 is not mentioned as a possibility only Nxe5, however fritz always prefers Ng4 and evaluates the following position as +/=, higher than what Nxe5 leads to.Anyway I just pencil in some stuff or put in a sticky note and go on.So all in all, its a good book for those in need of a repertoir!

A slight disappointment
First, I wasn't sure whether to give it 3 stars or 4 stars, I was leaning towards the former out of disappointment and 4 out of more blanked objectivity.I will say that I was anticipating this book for months after enjoying the completeness of their first book and it really didn't live up to my expectations. (Note: I enjoyed the first book very much and don't play a single one of their recommended lines!)
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. General   

Reviews (80)

BestEver
This book really improved my chess skills. I know much more than before.

Positional Play for the Advanced Player
After you have grasped the materials I have recommended in the CHESS FOR JUNIORS series, HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS and ART OF ATTACK, then MY SYSTEM is the classic all time work on improving your positional play.
The Best Book on Positional Play
This is an invaluable book for a serious chess student.I would higly recommend it for improving one's game and understanding chess at a deeper level.By all means, study the brilliant combinations of Tal's and Fischer's games and study all the current chess theory.But if you want to learn the foundations of positional play, this is the book to start with.It's a timeless classic.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    3. Games/Puzzles    4. Chess    5. Dictionaries   

Reviews (25)

Chess Tactics, Traps and Combination books - the best way to get better
When you are a beginner there is nothing better than studying books on Tactics, Traps and Combinations in chess. This is because the mind of a beginner can certainly understand 1 + 1 = 2. The value of the pieces is clear and coming out ahead can be calculated. This is a point that is a first step in learning chess! Tactics, at any point of the game are important to learn. Knowing what they are, how they work and recognizing them at a glance is necessary if you are going to become a good chess player. "CHESS TACTICS FOR KIDS" works on the most important starting tactics by showing you what they are and giving brief examples. This is not a tactics workbook where you will find hundreds of examples (a good book to get after this) or a traps book (a book also good to get) where you can see the tactics arise from the first move of the game. It is a book where you will learn the "mechanics" of the tactics. The brief chapter on each tactic is a great way to get started!

Another awesome book for fast improvement
A few years ago the author of this title wrote his How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, an original and popular book which taught checkmating patterns. In Chess Tactics for Kids the lessons are all about learning chess tactics which win material, for example winning a pawn or a piece.
Aimed at children but good for adults too
This is Murray Chandler's follow up to his highly successful "How To Beat Your Dad At Chess". The book presents 50 common tactical ideas - pins, skewers, forks, stalemate and many more - each one explained and illustrated in a double page spread. Only themes which occur fairly commonly in practice are included, and there are six diagrams per double page. The explanations are in simple language, and each diagram is accompanied by a brief commentary pointing out the salient features of the position. The continuations are very short (usually only one or two moves) so they can be followed easily without the need for a board.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. Chess    6. Hobbies, Quizzes & Games   

Reviews (2)

Excellent Book
I just finished both volumes and feel I know chess a lot better.
A tremendous instructional book!
The last guy to review this book down below apparently meant to give it 5 stars, but instead gave it zero.Oops!Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Chess - Specific Strategies    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Chess   

Reviews (3)

Great mix of annotated games and frank discussion of chess
This book is fun and valuable.Read Suba's articles, play through his games.You will learn and be entertained.Read this first, then go to John Watson's Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy.It will help you enjoy chess more, and play a bit better!

Over-rated
This is on my list of the most over-rated chess books, along with Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games, Watson's Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, and Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals.

Estrategia de primer nivel
El libro presenta una nueva forma de ver la estrategia ajedrecista, sus comentarios en el medio juego y final son excelentes pero el GM Suba parece asumir que el conocimiento de las aperturas es muy bueno por parte del quelea el libro; en general los comentarios son adecuados para el jugador de1800-2100 puntos de rating, los jugadores por debajo tendr�n problemas paraentender las ideas. El libro presenta combinaciones impresionantes y si serealiza el esfuerzo suficiente sentir� notable mejor�a en su juego. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Chess - Specific Strategies    4. Games    5. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    6. Games/Puzzles   

Reviews (4)

More Chess Puzzles than any other book I have ever seen!
The word is WOW! Gigantic collection of chess puzzles. So many I have only just gotten started after a month!!! Question is which ones are going to help me improve my results in actual play. There are so many, and so many don't seem to be from real games and are filler. I have actually enjoyed "Winning Chess Traps" and " Winning Chess Tactics" more because the Traps book helps me in the opening and the tactics book focuses on what is most important. But you get a lot of problems in this book and if you want everything probably ever made into a problem this is the book!

Great piece cooperation manual!
I am a scholastic chess coach, teaching kids from how the pieces move all the way up to about 1500-rated. I now require every student to have his or her own copy of this book! This school year, my students (cumulatively) completed more than 5000 of these puzzles, some more than 500 individually.
Real Understanding
To become a virtuoso in anything, the key is practice.Scarlatti wrote piano studies that were challenging, taught the basics of music theory through the composition, and sounded beautiful at the same time.Not all of the puzzles in this book are beautiful, but then neither are the positions I sometimes seem to find myself in when playing a 1300+ player.The thing I noticed about these puzzles is that they are very carefully organized, showing you every way a particular piece can mate with just a pawn companion, for example.In other words, variations.I have found myself beginning to understand the power and limitations of the pieces and pawns in a much deeper way.My latest tournament games were 30 minute games lost only because my opponents were able to avoid the inevitable mate by playing for time instead of any real equality.I need to speed up my calculation a bit, but my tactics are sound.This book will remain within reach as long as I am playing competitve chess. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Chess - Specific Strategies    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Sale Adult - Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    7. Chess    8. Games / Chess   

Reviews (1)

Tactics: Calculation and Evaluation for the Intermediate Player
A wonderful and different kind of tactics book for the Intermediate or even somewhat Advanced chess player. This is not a tactics workbook (that has lots of problems to solve - useful in its own way) nor a book on chess traps (useful for learning chess tactics during the opening stage - also useful in its way) but a book that:
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles   

Reviews (7)

REALLY UNDERSTAND OPENINGS!
If you are a beginner or Intermediate player and want to understandand openings there ae just two books you want to get, UNDERSANDING THE OPENINGS and WINNING CHESS TRAPS: Opening Tactics to get a full feel for what you need to know for any opening system you wnat to learn and play. Don't Understand? Well, you need a general overview of the openings with the ideas behind the moves, what you must come across and daa---the typical tactics/typical traps to be found in the openings you want to play. Therefore, no one book does it all, 2 or 3 books will give you a good feel for what you are getting into!
Best first chess book to get on the openings
Once a player has completed a beginner's book and is ready to move on, one of the most important types of books is to get a book on the openings that gives the ideas behind the moves and the strategies of the openings.
BEST FIRST OPENING BOOK
If you have already read a comprehensive book to get your started on the basics of chess, you may well be interested in a variety of openings. You need to prepare an opening system to get get you going.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. Chess   

Reviews (6)

CHESS
This book is outstanding if you want to get better at chess,
Very instructive
These are wonderfully instructive books. Full games are used to illustrate specific points. If enjoy Euwe and Meidens's Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur, let these be your next books on strategy. (I suggest sticking with an author you like.) These are probably most helpful for someone rated between 1600 and 1800 USCF. (Never waste time on chess books that are over your head.)
Good Content - Terrible Binding
I bought this book, published by Hays Publishing, in the late 90's.Max Euwe was a great chess player, and with real insight into what separates masters from the rest of us.Unfortunately, within a few weeks, the pages all started to come unglued from the binding.It's impossible to read the book without pages falling onto the floor.Don't know if all Hays books have this problem, or if I just got a bad copy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games    3. Games/Puzzles    4. Chess   

Reviews (219)

A Book With A Purpose
The book was purchased for me when "Bobby Fischer Mania" ripped through the United States after he defeated Boris Spassky in the Match of the Century.
Good starter book.
I bought this book when I was in grammer school, and recently purchased it for my wife.The book does not hold together, however, it is inexpensive and it provides a good introduction for a new player.

Compared to what is available this is not a very good book
This is a book for the absolute beginner who has not learned any strategy yet. This book covers one thing only, "simple checkmates".
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Chess - Specific Strategies    4. Games    5. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    6. Games/Puzzles    7. Programmed instruction    8. Games / Chess   

Reviews (9)

Great Lessons using Games for the Intermediate Chess Player
This is one of the best books that uses games as lessons. As a couple of the reviews have pointed it it may not have every move analyzed, but then this is not a book for a lower rated chess player, so it not so critical here.
Lessons: Unbeatable Chess Lesson Books
I have got all the "Unbteatable Chess Lessons" books and this is a good one. This when I got I got it was not by the same author, but it "almost" have a move by move analysis! And it was good. My favorite "Unbeatable Chess Lessons" every move commented on was not this book when it arrived. But I was soon to discoer that I still liked it, not-the-less! GOOD GAMES and good explanation witout every move being covered, but still good, not Snyder or Chernev - the best two lesson type of books - but still very good. Recommened!

Good ideas covered using games
"50 Essential Chess Lessons" is will give an intermediate streanth player some very good study material. This along with "Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Jrs" are the two very best books for the "advanced beginning through Intermediate player" to consider getting and use a rather simular approach - use instructive games for lessons. I help out at my middle school chess club and these are the text books used for the non-beginners.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. Chess   

Reviews (14)

Perfect follow up to WC's Guide to Chess
The first book I read was World Champion's Guide to Chess. I learned a lot from it. This is an excellent follow up to that one. The format is very similar. There're plenty of excellent examples. Just about any tactical motif is in the book. I think this book is good for anyone from about 700-1400.

Thanks for the referral - this is the other good book!
Amazon.com shows a suggested book with the one you are looking at. This has helped me get my dad to buy several good books on chess. After getting and really liking "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" (five stars and great) it had this book suggested and I got it (five stars and great). I want to thank thes authors for writing such great books on tactics and chess traps (actually books along the same line in many ways) and amazon.com for making good referrals!!!!

Excellent Tactics Book: Good Balance between Explanation and Number of Examples
This is an excellent tactics book for the "advanced beginner" or even low-end "intermediate" chess player who wants a good general book on important tactical themes. In my personal opinion I fee tactics books and opening chess trap books are the two best ways to improve your tactical abilities all around. Improve pattern recognition! The key to doing well from beginner to intermediate ability!
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Chess - Specific Strategies    4. Chess problems    5. Games    6. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    7. Games/Puzzles    8. Games / Chess   

Reviews (20)

Openings for White is better.
I bought both this and the repertoire for white book, which I reviewed with 4 stars.This one I feel a bit sceptical about.Basically I have found i don't really like playing the sicilian - accelerated dragon or the Bogo/Nimzo Indian.The positions resulting from these openings are completely foreign to me and seem like they are taking too long to adjust to.If you really want to play the accelerated dragon or bogo/nimzo indian you will have to buy another openings book specifically about it.To that end I have ordered other books on the KID and the accelerated dragon!

Some good analysis and opening suggestions for Playing Black
Personally, I take most chess books that offer a suggested opening system with a grain of salt. They tend to be biased in favor of what they suggest. But this book is one of the best I have seen that doesn't become overly biased to to point of recommending moves that are less than sound.
Focus on ideas instead of memorization
To say that this book is unique in its presentation of material may be an overstatement.However, few opening books I have read have put forth such an effort to convey an understanding of ideas over concrete variations.The authors' reasoning behind this approach being that with a knowledge of the plans for each side in a given position the correct moves will flow naturally, eliminating the need for rote memorization.This is truly a solid way of learning how to play the opening - for it is only once the ideas are understood that the "book moves" make sense.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. General   

Reviews (14)

Excellent Material -Poorly Printed and a waste
Mark Dvoretsky is the ultimate teacher and trainer. I had previously bought the 1st Edition of this book. I had high expectations for the expanded 2nd Edition, however, the publisher really messed up and used such a light shade of blue ink, which highlights the key critical sections in each chapter, that is makes it impossible to read even in the best light conditions.
Light blue print is very difficult to read
I totally agree with the bulk of the positive reviews regarding content. However no one has mentioned the extreme difficulty of reading the portions in light blue text. My vision is perfect but I can only read these sections in the best lighting (forget about carrying it with you to read in less than optimal conditons). The binding is also less than a book of this quality deserves and will not hold up over time with extensive use (as compared to other great classics such as the Dover publication of the Zurich 1953 tournament).
One of the best chess books ever
I read through all the reviews on this book, and I have one comment: People who is not really seriously interested in playing the lovely game of chess on an advanced level, should never buy a Dvoretsky book (or be allowed to review his books giving it only 2 or 3 stars). Dvoretsky trains chess masters and grandmasters to be the best players they can be (in other words: people that are way beyond the basics in terms of chess technique and skill). He's the best chess trainer in the opinion of many grandmasters and his books is recommended by the best - Kasparov, Kramnik, etc. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles   

Reviews (2)

A review of the book *AFTER* it's been released!
Let me start with the obvious question:Should I buy this book.
Kasparov tackles Korchnoi and Karpov
The fifth in Kasparov's series on the world champions (and their greatest rivals) focuses on Anatoly Karpov, Kasparov's immediate predecessor and greatest rival, and Karpov's own bete noire, the great defector, Viktor Korchnoi.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. Chess    6. Games / Chess   

Reviews (6)

Another ground-breaking work - easily 5 stars
As an amateur enthusiast who plays chess only for enjoyment (I do not even possess a current rating) I feel almost itimidated in trying to review this book. However, as there are many other amateur players out there, I thought it would be worth sharing my views on why this is such a great work.
Inspiring Chess Book
This is one of the chessbooks that can inspire you to play differently. I already had that experience once with Watson's book on the Chigorin Defence which indeed taught me that "offbeat" does not have to be bad.
Somewhat difficult to understand
I think this book had some very good pointers. However, for an advanced beginner, or lower end intermediate player the way it explains things is difficult to understand in several areas. If you are advanced this book would be good, but it doesn't make it clear in the advertizing that this book is for advanced players only. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Collections of games    4. Games    5. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    6. Games/Puzzles   

Reviews (14)

Good Beginner's Book to Practice Checkmates
This is like a workbook of checkmates. It is a perfect book for a beginner and has hundreds of simple (very basic) checkmate positions to find the checkmate in. I like this a lot better than "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" because it has a lot more problems. There are not a lot of books that teach basic checkmates in a workbook form so get this book if you are a real beginner before going to the next step where I recommend "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate" and "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors".
Improve your chess
Yes, it's simple and basic. But for a weak or new player, the drills are invaluable. I've seen mates that I never would have noticed except for what I learned in this book.
Excellent book for the beginner
I bought this book a long time ago and kept it around because I felt it would be useful later. It has proven to be. My son is just starting to learn chess and for his individual study I have him working through the book. The progressively harder problems have proven a challenge for him exactly as I intended. Many of the other books out there on checkmating are above his level and he would quickly get discouraged. This one is just right: challenging enough where he doesn't get bored but not so hard he just gives up.

Subjects:  1. Checkmate (Chess)    2. Chess    3. Chess - General    4. Chess - Specific Strategies    5. Games    6. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    7. Games/Puzzles    8. Games / Chess   

Reviews (13)

This book is surely a handsome gift for a chess player.
Chess Endings are very important, as Lasker, Capablanca and modern chess teachers say.