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.
Rating: 
Summary: A no-nonsense introduction to improving one's skill
Review: Play Winning Chess by International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan, is a no-nonsense introduction to improving one's skill at the classic game of chess. Basic tactics, the rules of play, question-and-answer sections, black-and-white photographs and chess diagrams, and much, much more make Play Winning Chess an excellent introduction to using clever attacks and deceptive defenses. ...
Rating:
Summary: Great explanation of chess fundamentals
Review: Spurred by the reviews of one of my Amazon Friends I decided to start from scratch after a quarter century's absence from the checkered board. Based on the reviews, I thought that Seirawan's and Silman's book would be a good choice. After reading and working my way through the book twice, I give it a full endorsement. To paraphrase a title common among scientific textbook, this book could be called "Fundamental Chess". Indeed it is a well conceived and appropriately paced introduction for the beginner, yet even those that consider themselves beyond the beginner's stage will benefit from re-acquaintance with the principles that form the fundament of chess playing at any level. Furthermore, the inclusion of a set of problems helps the reader to see whether she/he got the message. Highly recommended
Rating: 
Summary: Play Winning Chess (Great Book)
Review: These books are a must have for any intermediate chess player to better themselves. These books by Seirawan and Silman are both creative and intellectual. I have turned my game around 100 percent after purchasing just 1 book of theirs. I recommend their books to everyone who is serious about improving their game.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but steep learning curve
Review: This book aims to take the reader from beginner, possibly not knowing how the pieces move, to a player able to think and develop their game without getting wiped off the board quickly. We start with the obligatory rules of the game. Yasser doesn't waste time, they are taught quickly and then boom, you are thrown into chess playing. After learning the rules of the game, we are introduced to two basic checkmates, King + Queen vs. King, and King + Rook vs. King. No King + Bishop + Bishop vs. King, or the dreaded King + Bishop + Knight vs. King but that's ok as they are of greater difficulty. A beginner will do well to just learn the methods for these two mates. All well and good, but nothing any other beginners book hasn't done before. Yasser now throttles up the pace and exposes the reader to 4 ideas, at least one of which isn't typically exposed to beginners. Force(material inequality), Time(piece development), Space(control of the board) and Pawn Structure. These will be tough to move onto for someone who has just picked up the pieces in my opinion but they are the next necessary steps. Finally we have a collection of several short games where Yasser annotates the typical beginner mistakes that were made and why they are losing. This is probably the best part of the book and it does a good job of tieing together the four chapters on the concepts he taught. A glossary of chess terms, many not used in the book is also included. As a foundation, this would be a good book for someone who really knows very little or nothing at all, but despite Yasser's easy style it moves fast and will require work from the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but steep learning curve
Review: This book aims to take the reader from beginner, possibly not knowing how the pieces move, to a player able to think and develop their game without getting wiped off the board quickly. We start with the obligatory rules of the game. Yasser doesn't waste time, they are taught quickly and then boom, you are thrown into chess playing. After learning the rules of the game, we are introduced to two basic checkmates, King + Queen vs. King, and King + Rook vs. King. No King + Bishop + Bishop vs. King, or the dreaded King + Bishop + Knight vs. King but that's ok as they are of greater difficulty. A beginner will do well to just learn the methods for these two mates. All well and good, but nothing any other beginners book hasn't done before. Yasser now throttles up the pace and exposes the reader to 4 ideas, at least one of which isn't typically exposed to beginners. Force(material inequality), Time(piece development), Space(control of the board) and Pawn Structure. These will be tough to move onto for someone who has just picked up the pieces in my opinion but they are the next necessary steps. Finally we have a collection of several short games where Yasser annotates the typical beginner mistakes that were made and why they are losing. This is probably the best part of the book and it does a good job of tieing together the four chapters on the concepts he taught. A glossary of chess terms, many not used in the book is also included. As a foundation, this would be a good book for someone who really knows very little or nothing at all, but despite Yasser's easy style it moves fast and will require work from the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Fundamentals
Review: This book helped me greatly with refreshing the fundamentals of the game. In everything I do, I always review the fundaments periodically, and this is the book I will use for chess basics. It is very basic, but it is a good start.
Rating:
Summary: Sierawan has the best beginner chess books available!
Review: This book is outstanding! If studied carefully, this book will improve your play ten fold easily, if you're a beginner that is. If you're just an occasional player then this book will open you up to the whole complex world of chess. Along with this book, Sierawan's other Winning Chess books are just as good.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: this book is soooo helpful to someone who wants to start to play serious chess, kind of a beginner book, but with a lot of helpful info. I am dissapointed I can only give 5 start because I really like and value this book
Rating:
Summary: Teaches the principles in easy to understand chapters.
Review: This book is the best book that I have seen on an introduction to chess. It brought me from a 1050 to a 1400. He gives you the rules a wonderful history and provides you with many illistrated examples and annotated games. In addition he teach you to think with his personal tests and quizzes.
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