Rating: 
Summary: Made me fee like an idiot
Review: Well, I feel like an idiot since I feel I could have done a better job writing this book. My issue is that it is written with an assumption that you with a minimual amount of information you can grasp everything - then move on to the next step without sufficient explanation. So what did I do, get another book on the basics. And boom! It did the job - Chess For Dummies wasn't it - it was Learn Chess Volumes One and Two by Alexander and Beach. These British chaps knew how to teach beginners with a reasonable IQ.
Rating:
Summary: A Plethora of Mistakes
Review: What a disappointment!! I thought I was the dummy until I read this book. It turned out that I knew more than the author, or at least his editor. There are no less than nine mistakes in the first twenty-six pages. We're not talking about errors in judgement; we're talking about very basic, rudimentary rules. For example, The black pawns take their opening position at the seventh rank, not the second rank, as described on page 14. By page 26,I would have been totally confused and frustrated if I did not already know the basic rules of chess.An author who undertakes to write a book for complete idiots has a responsibility to be especially accurate in setting forth the rules of the game.
Rating: 
Summary: Better design needed!
Review: While GM Wolff does a very good job of explaining concepts, the layout of the book leaves alot to be desired. A lot of times the examples he was referring were on the next page, AFTER the text describing them. It would have been better to have the diagrams before the text describing the concept at hand. I found it very difficult to have to continually flip pages to find the diagram being discussed.This is probably not a flaw of GM Wolff's design but the Complete Idiot's folks. Other than that, I thought it was a very good read and did an outstanding job of reinforcing and refreshing my skills. I purchased based on recommendation for adult beginners/novices. An excellent book to continue with is Heisman's "Everybody's 2nd Chess Book."
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