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

Reviews (4)

Benko Gambit Nuts and Bolts
This book covers the strategies and middle game themes of the Benko Gambit. It shows how black has a better endgame in the Benko, and how to pressurize white even though you are a pawn down, but with better piece mobility. It is also good from the white side, as it shows strategies to counter the benko. This is a impartial book showing 80 well annotated games. Covers eacy key line in this opening and shows the major themes and key strategical and tactical motifs in each variation. A Good Book
One ofthe Good Books i've Come across the gambit Game.Both Decling & Accepting the Gambit & the Variation. A Good Book
One ofthe Good Books i've Come across the gambit Game.Both Decling & Accepting the Gambit & the Variation.Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Chess - Specific Strategies    4. Games    5. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    6. Sports    7. BG-MIND/BODY/SPIRIT - BG-NEW AGE/EASTN REL    8. Games / Chess   

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

Reviews (8)

Useful instruction on finding and playing combinations
This book talks intelligently about the ways a player can improve combinational ability, in many different types of position.
A feast of examples will inspire your game
This book is, quite simply, one of the best-value I have ever seen: a tactics book you will delight in reading for the next six months. LeMoir has selected hundreds of positions, from all eras in chess history, showing amazing combinations, sacrifices and tactical themes. Anyone who reads this material will be better placed to bewilder and defeat their opponents. As well as the impressive depth and breadth of the examples used, there is plenty of explanation in the form of words. With two or three diagrams on nearly every page, and the crisp production quality invariably associated with publisher Gambit, what one is there to ask? The book finishes with 35 pages of tests and solutions. This is a stimulating and meaty read - don't miss it.

A desert-island tactics book - hundreds of positions
In one of my other reviews I got my LeMoir books mixed up. I meant to refer to ESSENTIAL CHESS SACRIFICES, his awesome collection of modern sacrificial themes which I would urge any attacking player to read. But his earlier work HOW TO BECOME A DEADLY CHESS TACTICIAN is also a book I enjoyed and benefited from. So many positions from the master games were not familiar to me (and I own a lot of books), and his practical advice on finding combinations (or cunning swindles) is superb.
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Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. General    6. Reference    7. Study Guides    8. Chess   

Reviews (3)

Most Extensive History and Development of Early Chess
"H. J. Murray's" "HISTORY OF CHESS" is considered by all serious chess historians to be the classic work covering the early development and progression of chess. It is a very extensive and scholarly written work. This book is not intended to entertain the reader with "odd, but true" stories or myths about chess. It is an informative guide and reference book for the serious chess historian. The most extensive work on a more modern history of chess (1800s onward) is "THE CHESS KINGS" by Calvin Olson. However, in addition to being scholarly and accurate, it contains annotated games of historical importance while making the history of the world championship level chess entertaining. Together these books form comprehensive coverage of chess history from its beginnings traced back to around 600 a.d. to the turn of the 21st century.

More than you ever wanted to know about Chess
Murray has written a truly monumental description of the evolution of chess, filled with descriptions of ancient and oriental variations on the theme of chess.It can be a hard read in places, but it's well worth theeffort.The section on Shogi (Japanese Chess) gives an introduction to agame every bit as deep and satisfying as Western Chess.

Monumental book on the history of chess
This book is a reprint of Murrays monumental work, first published in 1913. Murray is a scientist, and his writing shows this: we have discussions about legibility of manuscripts, theories of the spreading of chess, etc. Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess    2. History of specific subjects   

Reviews (1)

An excellent introduction to the Najdorf Variation
Richard Palliser is to be congratulated on this excellent introductory book on the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defense, one of the more popular chess openings.It starts as follows: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6.
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Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Chess - Specific Strategies    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Chess    7. Games / Chess   

Reviews (2)

Learning from games of some of the greatest chess players
Romanian Grandmaster Marin takes from the games of eight of the world's best chess players over a large span of time and gives a solid analysis. It explains why and what is important about these players and their games. Such books (examples of others I liked: "Understanding Chess" and "Unbeatable Chess Lessons and More Unbeatable Chess Lessons") are very helpful in getting to understand important ideas and provide them from actual play. I also liked "The Chess Kings" that covers games and analysis and tells about the history of the great players. From Grandmaster Marin you get a good dose of great instruction along with some interesting background on the greats! I would have given this book five stars if it didn't have a lot of mistakes in typos where some moves couldn't be played and the position was wrong (I doubled checked to make sure it wasn't me). When the typos are cleaned up, then five stars!

The best work about world champions
This chess book is one of the kind. Most people with expirience when reading a new chess book find a lot of familiar or well known subjects and themes in it. And when u buy some world champions biography book, esentially u buy a book about one person and one style of play, with lot of similary played games in it. Lets say u buy an excellent Shirov book "Fire on board". You know more or less exactly in what direction every game would lead. And you will have a lot of inspiring tactics training in it. Or u buy great Gligoric book "I Play Against Pieces", and suddenly feel like a great strategist.
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Reviews (1)

An in-depth chess guide to the Nimzo-Indian defense
Written by Grandmaster, former British Champion, and Nimzo-Indian expert Chris Ward, Offbeat Nimzo-Indian is an in-depth chess guide to the Nimzo-Indian defense, one of Black's most intractable means of fortifying itself against White. Offbeat Nimzo-Indian specifically examines three underrated ways of retaliating against the Nimzo: the Samisch, the Leningrad and the 4 f3 variation. Each technique can be used to heavily pressure one's opponent from the very beginning of the game. A wealth of examples and sample games expertly illustrate this focused supplementary guide for intermediate to advanced chess players.
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Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Games / Chess   

Reviews (13)

Great General Book By A General of Chess!
Want to gain a deep insight into a book written by one of the better writers and players of all time? Tarrasch was a top notch tournament chess player. He wrote this book to help the intermediate player really learn about the game without just trying to make a buck off of a book! If you are an adult reader, who wants to gain an insight by an oldtime, but smartimer, then enjoy this book! I can certainly recomment "Understanding Chess" by Nunn, both "Unbeatable Chess Lesons for Juniors", "More Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" and "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" by Snyder, and "The Art of Checkmate" by Renaud, but this book is right up there with them as equals.
Steer Clear of the Algebreic Version
The older editions of this book are wonderful. Tarrash's teaching methods are both unique and powerful. Unfotunately the "amatuers" that tried to reformat the new algebreic version essentially trashed it! Juxtaposition a Dover copy with the "new" version and see for yourself. If only they would have solicited some advice from John Nunn with respect to typesetting, or failing that, just convert the descriptive notation to algebreic. An opportunity missed.

For those who liked "Chess Fundamentals"
I read this book after Chess Fundamentals, and found it was very similar in its layout.The difference is that this bookis much longer, because of its smaller type, and it answers many of the questions that Chess Fundamentals left unanswered; for example, from Chess Fundamentals I learned a few openings, the Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit, Petroff, French Defence, and a couple others, but The Game of Chess discusses 28 openings.Part 3, on the middle game, covers a few details not found in other books, like illusory protection and the point QB6 as a target for attack.This book was very helpful to me, a player who finished reading Chess Fundamentals and wanted a more thourough lesson.
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Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles   

Reviews (10)

Good old time book on tactics
Really, all combinatiions involve some type of tactics. And, and combination in particular involves piece capturing. For the novice or mid-level chess player knowledge of all tactics at all phases of the game (books on traps cover tactics in the openings - important to know, books on checkmates cover yet another type of tactic) - all important to know. Though an old book, using descriptive chess notation (which is akward for many), this is still a worthwhile book to consider. The ideas are clearly pointed out and will be helpful for improving your game! Just because a book was written many years ago does not necessarily mean that it will not be very useful!

There are a lot of books on attacking chess. Start with this CLASSIC.
Znosko-Borovsky is a brilliant chess teacher; this and his How to Play the Chess Endings are his two best works. For the beginning tournament player, The Art of Chess Combination gives a wonderful, concise introduction to important motifs in attacking (and in some cases, defensive) play. Vukovic's Art of Attack in Chess is a good book, but after reading Znosko-Borovsky's shorter work felt it did not add that much extra.
This is just a fantastic book
The art of calculation and execution of chess combinations isexplained lucidly in this book.I enjoyed seeing that almost all flashy combinations can be grouped and categorized by geometrical patterns that repeat themselves over and over again.This book is a masterpiece from a good writer and a pedagogue.Rarely do we find both qualities in chess writers. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ballet    2. Ballets    3. Chess - Specific Strategies    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Stories, plots, etc    6. Chess    7. Games / Chess   

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. BG-JUVENILE PROP - BG-JUVY PRESCHOOL    6. Games / Chess   

Reviews (138)

Silman Is a Gifted Teacher
This is a superb book!Well written, clear, well organized.I've seen quite a few chess instruction books over the last 40 years -- including some of the classics -- and this is the first book I've seen that really teaches you how to think about the chess board.I recommend this highly to people, at any level, who feel they need to learn more about understanding the current position on the board -- at any stage of the game.Silman is a truly gifted teacher who knows how to state clearly what those of us who are (still) learning need to know.

Highly recommended !!
The'' How To Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman is one of the best chess books on midlegame that i have read.
Warning: Not very good.
It's hard for me to understand why this book is so popular. Maybe it is because this was one of the first imbalances chess books? The book is well written including the part with the first imbalance - minor pieces, where Silman lay out a set of guidelines for the minor pieces. But in the rest of the book Silman does not do this. That's confusing, it's seems like Silman got lazy. Silman "game-comments" are very often not very good and it is often not related to the subject (imbalance) discussed.Often Silman manage to confuse the reader instead of guiding him. An example is the chapter about doubled pawns. Silman tells us that one advantage with doubled pawns is the possibility to attack in the open file, and he gives us some examples. In diagram 109, in the chapter about doubled pawns, this is not a subject at all, Silman tells us that white only could attack on the queenside only if white's pawn-structure on that side was intact. Silman never explain why white couldn't attack in the open b-file (because of the doubled pawns).
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Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles   

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Chess - Specific Strategies    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Chess    7. Games / Chess    8. JUVY-NON FICTION - JUVY-ACTIVITY NON FI   

Reviews (2)

Minor pieces
Anyone who plays chess in tournaments generally has acquired some knowledge of endgames.But how much?
Getting to the Next Level
Having been stuck at 1765 uscf for quite some time, I wondered what it would take to crash through to the A class level. More opening knowledge? (couldn't hurt) Better tactics? (no doubt!) However, it finally dawned on me that I had a very poor understanding of how to utilize Knights and Bishops. I guess I just never realized how much there was to know about these two little guys. Luckily, I came across this new book by GM Emms, and have found it both enlightening and enjoyable to read. I simply set up each position on Chessbase 8, and then holding the book, click through his lines. I find that after going through 3 or 4 examples, I gain a new insight into just exactly what I'm suppose to be doing in these types of positions, where before I was simply clueless. As you can tell, I highly recommend this book to the struggling class player who wants to break through to the next level. ... Read more

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

Reviews (16)

Pachman's classic work....
This book is a compact version of three-volume set of Pachman's original work. For many decades after WW II, he was known as one of the leading chess theorists. For this set of books, there are:
How to improve your chess fast
In my chess development there have been three books which each caused a step change improvement in my game, this one on chess strategy, Averbakh's Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge and oddly enough a small book on combinations entitled "The Penguin Book of Chess Positions".Each of these books provides a compete introduction to an essential part of the game.I immersed myself into each of these books and emerged a much better player after each reading one. Nimzowitsch made easy
This is one of the first books any aspiring chess player should read. The book is basically a compilation of the classic texts by Nimzowitsch and Euwe, in a clear and readable style. It covers issues such as pawn structure, bishops vs. knigths, rook power, that are the bread-and-butter of every chess player. I am a researcher in Computer Science, retired from competitive chess, but I am still a strong club player (best rating: 2250 ELO). I read Pachman on my teens, and it had a very positive influence on me. Therefore, the earlier in your carrer you read Pachman, the better. When you advance to the ELO 2000 level, you should also read John Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy" which is a very nice complement to Pachman's classic book. ... Read more

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

Reviews (11)

Most Important Book which Covers Pawn Sturctures
Rarely have I found a book reviewing pawn structures as they relate to actual tournament experience. Alexander Baburin has written, what has clearly been recognized already, as a classic! The ideas are developed around the typical pawn structures arising from many opening leading to the isolated queen pawn (IQP) and it's derivatives (pawn couples, hanging pawns, etc.) which occur in most openings like the Queens Gambit, Caro Kann, etc.. He develops his concepts and teaches ideas and plans with examples from very well annotated full length games from actual competition. Reading this book, is almost as good as having a private coach!
If you understand this work, you can crush Class players inIQP positions
The quality of Baburin's work is off the charts. This book opened my eyes to the Isolated Queen's Pawn structure, which I try to get in as many games as I possibly can because this book showed me how to demolish people with it (at my level, Class "A," and even somewhat above my level).
Great book on Isolani Pawn!
If you like to learn how to handle chess positions with the isolated Queen's Pawn ("Isolani") this is the book!Baburin explains the methods to play the isolated pawn positions clearly.This book would be very beneficial for players between USCF 1700-2000.While learning about the isolated pawn positions your middle game technique will improve in general as well. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chess - General    2. Chess - Specific Strategies    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Chess    7. FICTION - LITERARY FICT TRD PB    8. Games / Chess   

Reviews (15)

Not stand alone, but a must for the Zukertort Player
I am an expert on the Colle-Zukertort system. It is the only system on White I play [unless I am giving lessons to students]. In fact, I am currently writing a book on this opening.
On what to do after the opening...
I found this book from Mr.Summerscale while searching for something more aggressive as white with respect to the Queen's Gambit (I know this seems strange, but let me explain). I used to play the QG simply for 2. c4 ... is generally considered the best follow-up to 1. d4 .... The most of the times I exited the opening phase with an advantage (I have a good memory :-) but at the very beginning of the middlegame ... well ... I simply didn't know what to do! My opponents defended very calmly and very well, waiting for the right moment to counterattack and eventually win the game.
This book has some great ides in it, butttttt
The home work was not done 100% for this book.
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Subjects:  1. Board    2. Chess - Specific Strategies    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Chess    7. Games / Chess   

Reviews (8)

Complete US Rules of Chess
You will find a very good index and table of contents making everything you are looking for easy to find. This book is a must for very serious tournament player, chess coach and required for tournament directors who run tournaments under the United States Chess Federation.
Difficult Understanding for the Newcomer to Chess
I got this book just before going into my first rated chess tournament. It was hard for me to make heads or tails from what was important to learn and what wasn't. I also found some of the explanations to be long and difficult to understand. This book is not very beginner friendly. Is there another book out there that makes things more clear for a newcomer?

SERIOUSLY: something more easy for a new comer to chess needs to be written
Whereas, "THE USCF OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS" is written for tournament directors and experienced tournament players to understand, a book for the newcomer to chess is needed that covers:
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Subjects:  1. Chess    2. Chess - General    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Rules    7. United States Chess Federation    8. Games / Chess   

Reviews (3)

A solid intro book, but not comprehensive or unique.
The Nimzo-Indian can be played in conservative solid fashion or in a more aggressive, unbalancing manner in which black plays for the win early in the middlegame. This book is designed to introduce the basic ideas, themes, and philosophy of the Nimzo.It is not loaded with the latest theory nor will it help titled players learn something they didn't already know.
Watch out for errors!
Like most chess books, you need to keep an eye out for errors. Chris Ward actually highlights a special warning - "don't trust the analysis in chess books, even this one!" Uses carefully worded text and easy-to-follow diagrams
Starting Out: The Nimzo-Indian by chess grandmaster Chris Ward is an extensive instructional manual describing the uses and advantages of the Nimzo-Indian and its variations in chess. The Nimzo-Indian tactic is an excellent defense against 1 d4, allowing Black the chance to play for a win at minimal risk. A very highly recommended addition to any personal chess library, Starting Out: The Nimzo-Indian uses carefully worded text and easy-to-follow diagrams to train both novice chess players and experienced long-term players alike in this practical, fascinating technique. ... Read more

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