Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: As far as chess is consider i was a complete idiot before reading this book. Its layout is fanastic, the author is easy to understand and very entertaining. The examples contain a mix of basic and complicated exercises, when I felt out of my depth the explanations to the examples were very clear. My game has benifited significantly from reading this book.Thanks Patrick
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for moving from casual to serious player
Review: Despite its unfortunate title, this is one of the best chess books I have ever seen, and a bargain for its price considering how much there is in it. Having been a casual player forever, but only recently getting (somewhat) serious, I found that this book massively helped me. Wolff does an excellent job explaining key concepts and they quickly become obvious and intuitive once you grasp them. The exercises at the end of each chapter are very helpful, and there are a lot of them. The book is easy to read and not technically overwhelming, there are a lot of useful diagrams, and the book can be useful from anyone ranging from a talented beginner to a moderately good player.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the "Dummies" Chess book
Review: Excellent for beginners or those who are not really beginners but don't feel ready for tournaments. Helped me a lot on the ending! Not as funny as the Dummies chess book, but if you know any algebraic chess notation, this will do you more good
Rating:
Summary: A guide for all idiots, beginner and advanced.
Review: Given the vast graveyard of beginning chess books authored by
the game's grandmasters, including those written by their ghosts
(e.g., "Lessons in Chess," by Garry Kasparov and the Kasparov
Chess Academy), these most accomplished of players would be
well advised to heed the adage "those who can do, those who
can't teach" -- with the exception of Patrick Wolff.
This book not only educates and entertains the aspiring player,
but relates enough of the International Grandmaster's personal
experience and candid opinions to make it an interesting read
for the more accomplished player. Over a lifetime of playing
chess and reading dry and mistake-ridden chess books, this is
not only the best beginner-type book I've come across, but one
of the better chess books, period.
Tim Sweeney (tnsweeney@aol.com)
Rating:
Summary: GM Wolff - a friendly and enthusiastic player and writer!
Review: GM Wolff's book shows a passion for chess and an enthusiasm to bring it to the masses. I think he has divided up the subject matter very well. As a FIDE 2170 titled player, I think the sections on Tactics and Strategy are particularly good. He brings in humour and down-to-earthness with chapters entitled "Tricks of the tactical trade" and "Dirtier Tricks". I have had the pleasure of corresponding with Wolff, and because of this great book, I selected this United States Grandmaster above all others to play in a rest of the world match at letsplaychess.com. He is very friendly and enthusiastic in the discussions of this match, and my hunch from his book has proven completely correct. I thoroughly recommend both newcomers to chess, and real chess enthusiasts to obtain this book without any hesitation! If you don't believe how friendly Patrick is in real life, then come and chat to him in our forums at letsplaychess.com in the Rest of World match game he is currently playing! And I'm sure he will answer your questions about this book if you are still hesitant!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent value for money
Review: I am a dabbler in chess. However I tremendously enjoyed this book. Yesterday I even beat my computer (albeit at a low setting) by using some of the techniques described here.For a good understanding of chess basics, tactics and strategy you cannot go wrong with this book.I also like the author's style. No manufactured humor, no condescencion. He genuinely wants to teach you a game he obviously loves.Give this to a chess novice or to yourself if you are one. This is a good investment and an inexpensive one at that.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book
Review: I am at 1300+ (yahoo) and I found this book extremely useful.
Although, I do not believe this will help real beginners
much.
I like the way he explains things. The simplicity is
rare in chess books.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor format destroys all good content
Review: I am currently working through the electronic version of this book. Don't buy it! The content is great, however the formatting is so confusing that you'll be frustrated and won't get it. The diagrams are poorly colored so it is often difficult to see the pieces on the boards and they are also too far from the pages on which they are described. For example, I just clicked 4 pages to see the first diagram of a 5 move example. The other five moves are described in the in between pages so I am having to click forward and back to follow the teaching. The same goes for the exercises at the end of each chapter. My suggestion, if you want to use this book, buy the printed edition! The only reason I give two stars here is that I think the content is worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Wow, I can play chess!
Review: I bought a glass chess set a bit ago, which lead me to want to actually learn chess (beyond the typical "hey, the horsey moves like an L"). While this book hasn't turned me into an expert, I can play much better than I used to. It teaches you what to look for before you move, along with how to move to your advantage. If you need to learn chess, this is where to go.
Rating:
Summary: OK beginning book
Review: I hadn't played chess since I was in gradeschool, about 15 years ago. I found this book on sale and picked it up. I wasn't a total beginner, and I don't really think I'm a complete idiot, but I never knew any of the theory behind the game. After reading Mr. Wolff's book off and on for 6 months, I have to say it has helped more than any other in my effort to become a competetive player. This book got me back into chess. I read through the first few chapters and refreshed my basic understanding. In my excitement to learn more, I moved on from this book quickly and bought other, more advanced books. Most were written for experienced players and were of limited value to a novice/intermediate player. I have since come back to this book and still find parts of it to be educational and useful. While this book is marketed at people just starting out in chess, it contains enough information to benefit players. Like any good introduction, it remains useful as a general reference long after you move to more specific topics. I keep it in my backpack and work through some of the chapter exercises when I have time. There are about 300 exercises at various levels of difficulty. It should keep you busy for a while. Once you grasp the material of this book, you will be in a good position to study games and other more advanced material. I would recommend getting How to Reassess Your Chess, by Jeremy Silman, when you think you are ready to move on from this book. There are a lot of books out there, but whichever one you get, GET THIS BOOK FIRST.
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