Rating: 
Summary: Second best beginning book out there
Review: I like this book as it does a good job of giving a basic introduction to the game. Written so any adult can understand basic strategy and basic rules of the game.
However, without a doubt CHESS FOR JUNIORS is a superior book for a kid or teen, and perhaps even for the adult reader. If you are an adult I would only give Chess For Juniors a slight nudge over this one. For a younger reader Chess For Juniors is best.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine starting point for someone who knows the basics
Review: I purchased this book after reading the many reviews here, but noticed that a lot of the reviewers are fairly strong players already. Not that I don't appreciate their judgement, but it's probably more appropriate to see what a novice thinks of this book.I learned how to play chess at an early age, but never played much. I knew the rules, and how to move pieces, but had no idea how to really play. This book took me from the post Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess stage (that's the only other book I had at the time) to a level where I feel comfortable playing the game. While this book starts out at a very low level, don't let it fool you; it skips a lot and gets heavy pretty fast. So it's not ideal for a total beginner, but requires a good deal of attention and is best for someone who can grasp the basics quickly, since the author skips over them in just one chapter. Beyond that, this is an excellent book, and I have already ordered others in the series. The author neither talks down to the reader, nor does he patronize them. It's a relaxed tone, and that helps a lot. The only negative point is that the diagrams don't have coordinates, which makes it a little difficult to get used to spotting the right squares.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining read - improved my game to boot!
Review: I stumbled onto this book by accident and before I read it, chess was a total mystery to me. Now, I can play a game of chess with a sense of (albeit limited) purpose; I am able to evaluate if I am in a good or bad position and I actually win sometimes! Mr. Seirawan states his intention as wanting to make chess accesible to the common man. He can rest assured in his successful education of the absolute worst chess moron. I've now bought all the other books in the series. Mr. Seirawan has made me a fan of chess. In addition to being an easy read, it is witty and does a great job of giving one a sense of the history, the whys and the hows of chess. Excellent for a beginner.
Rating:
Summary: Great starting place.
Review: I've recently started playing chess again, after 15 years off. Seirawan's book is an EXCELLENT starting place! It really teaches the basics everyone needs to know, and the chapter on pawn structure is absolutely INSPIRED -- a work of genius.
Rating:
Summary: Great starting place.
Review: I've recently started playing chess again, after 15 years off. Seirawan's book is an EXCELLENT starting place! It really teaches the basics everyone needs to know, and the chapter on pawn structure is absolutely INSPIRED -- a work of genius.
Rating: 
Summary: Do Not Buy This Book
Review: If you are even wondering whether to buy this book, I can tell that you must be a beginner at chess. I can also tell you another thing: Do not. I too am a beginner and was baited and reeled in by the words "Winning" and "International Grandmaster". But resist. For the following reasons I appeal to you to desist:
-I.M. Yasseir cannot write, he can play chess, but he cannot write even with the help of I.M. Jeremy Silman. He might have beaten Kasparov and Karpov but writing he should stop. Sincerely, it's a waste of good paper. To make me think how many trees were used to make trash like this, how many green martyrs there must have been, it makes me tear with sorrow. -The topics he covers: space, time, force, and pawn structure are all noble and worthwhile subjects. I do not and cannot even argue against Seirawan on that. However because he cannot write he cannot communicate these ideas and why they matter, why they work, and how to play them. If he wrote about why pawns are more valuable than the Queen, why garbage smells so bad, or why the hell Ricki Lake is still on the air, the book would have only slightly less value as an introduction to chess.
-The layout of the book is disagreeable. The size of the typeface is too large. Is the target group children below 13 and people with bad eyesight? And for what reason is the spacing between the lines so wide? Are we still in middle school so we have to double space our book reports? The borders of the page are gigantic (1-1/4" on the sides and 1-1/2" on the top and bottom). Clearly, this was either meant for the juvenile section in the library or Microsoft was just covering up for the fact that this book had no substance.
- A waste of money. Go buy a bottle of cheap wine or some flowers for somebody. Better yet scrounge up a few more dollars and get 'My System' by Aron Nimzovich. It's not really easier to read (it doesn't use the algebraic notation), but it's worth the trouble.
Rating:
Summary: Best Introductory Chess Book!
Review: If you have not had any kind of chess instruction, this book is a wonderful first book. Covering concepts essential to playing good chess, it is well written and very clear in its ideas. This is definitely a book for beginners, but for beginners it is great!
Rating:
Summary: Great for absolute beginner
Review: If you've always wanted to learn how to play chess, but just never got around to it, then this is a great book for you. If you already know the rules, how the pieces move, and maybe even some very basic strategy, then you're well beyond the scope of this book already. Of the many books available that teach the absolute beginner how to play, this is one of the better ones.
Rating:
Summary: BEGINNERS!!! START HERE!!!
Review: Mr Seirawan and Mr. Silman! Congratulations! Terrific book! This is by FAR the best book for the beginner that I've read (and I've read a few). I am a beginner, well, used to be. After reading both Mr. Seirawan's & Mr Silman's books. I'm addicted! Chess is a wonderful game, and both authors have really done a great job of illustrating it. Not only do they touch upon the colorful history and personalities of the game, but chess is broken down into the elemental forms a novice can understand. Material, Space, Time, and Pawn Stucture are the ELEMENTS of the game the reader is enlightened to. Each, carefully explained and beautifully illustrated through the annotated games the authors present.
If you're a beginner, and you're reading this review. Don't hesitate. This is the book!
Rating: 
Summary: Some really great material, but the quality of the copy ...
Review: My Review of: "The Winning Chess Series," by GM Yasser Seirawan. (If you need to know, I am a LifeMaster of Chess.) This series was originally published by Microsoft Press, and unfortunately it was allowed to go out of print. This was a shame, as it was simply one of the finest series ever written. Now another publisher, Everyman Press, is bringing this series back. This is good, as a series of chess books this good comes along VERY rarely. The bad part about it is that EveryMan has not taken the care and the time to do things right. A local student came to me recently and said that they wanted to learn chess. I told them to purchase this entire series, which they did. I also own the original series by MSP. I sat down and did a "side-by-side" comparison of the two different versions. I came to the conclusion that they were nearly exact copies, but for the following problems:
# 1.) The paper is grainy and has a strange feel to it.
# 2.) Many of the diagrams look just like a really bad photocopy. (black and white - with a great degree of variance)
# 3.) The volume on "Winning Chess Openings," uses the most bizarre-looking font for the diagrams I have ever seen in a chess book. (It's just plain ugly.) The original series earned my HIGHEST recommendation. The words here are the same, even if the quality of the printing job is not. The material in here is some of the best instructional material ever printed, if you can get by the defects of the publisher.
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