Mastering Chess

Rating:
Summary: Best chess book I've ever read!
Review: From the first page you get the distinct impression that these guys who wrote this book know what they are talking about. I've never read a book that so profoundly affected my game on all fronts! Opening, middlegame, endgame have all been improved by my reading this book. The bibliography is filled with useful books that you can read to take you even further into the realms of chessdom. Guys if you want to improve your rating then this is THE book! I kid you not.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, just not as instructive as it seems
Review: I had been planning to purchase this book for months and finally borrowed a copy from a friend.

Well, I'm glad I didn't buy it. The book is not bad. It is certainly appropriate for the audience named in the intro (1450-1750 USCF). The problem is that it's all either too easy or too hard to learn from.

What I mean is that the lessons are either rudimentary reviews or terse introductions. Though the book is not formatted this way, it's really a series of very brief problems. If you have seen the problem before, it's a review. If you haven't, there is not enough information for you to get it from the book, so you'll have to work at it on your own. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is not what I'd call instructive.

There is a lot of information squeezed into 133 pages. The book is certainly not a waste of money. I think it's most appropriate to someone who was quite proficient several years ago, maybe even a tournament player, and recently returned to the game. If that describes you, this book might remind you of a lot of what you used to know.

For me, however, the book is a disappointment. The fonts, the lay-outs, the diagrams, the binding, the organization--it all feels as if it should be very enjoyable. But for each section I've attempted, I've glided past the problems with which I am already familiar and quickly become mired in details that are over my head.

Similarly, while the book is filled with a great deal of wisdom, very little of it is convincingly demonstrated for the skeptical.

The main benefits to me were in the 36 combinations exercises (few of which I was able to solve without turning to the solutions) and the 26 endgame problems (which were admittedly somewhat instructive).

I recommend Better Chess for Average Players instead of this book. Or if you're not yet ready for club-level play, try something much simpler, like Ron Curry's Win at Chess. And consider the Mammoth Book of Chess.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction to chess fundamentals!
Review: This book provides an "all-in-one" chess course aimed at students in the 1300 - 1750 rating range. It covers tactics, opening principles, strategic ideas (i.e. outposts, minority attack, weak squares, doubled pawns, isolated pawns, etc. etc), endgames, and practical playing tips (i.e. training, managing the clock, nerves, etc.).

All in all this is a pretty decent book. None of the 21 lessons goes into heavy detail, but rather provides a quick overview on each topic. The motivated student would probably then want to seek out other more advanced texts to further expand on the topics.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction to chess fundamentals!
Review: This book provides an "all-in-one" chess course aimed at students in the 1300 - 1750 rating range. It covers tactics, opening principles, strategic ideas (i.e. outposts, minority attack, weak squares, doubled pawns, isolated pawns, etc. etc), endgames, and practical playing tips (i.e. training, managing the clock, nerves, etc.).

All in all this is a pretty decent book. None of the 21 lessons goes into heavy detail, but rather provides a quick overview on each topic. The motivated student would probably then want to seek out other more advanced texts to further expand on the topics.

Rating:
Summary: good all-in-one book for intermediate players
Review: This book was written in 1985 and is a collection of 4 lessons each by 5 different British masters (20 lessons in total) covering all phases of the game- opening, endgame, tactics, positional play, and choosing candidate moves. This book bridges the gap betwen beginner and expert and is designed for players rated 1450-1750. After reading this book you would be ready for a book designed for 1750-2050 rated players such as 40 lessons for club player by Kostyev, another excellent self-instruction manual. There are also 80 test positions in total designed to test your understanding of the material in each lesson. This is a very nice work which only suffers from a slight lack of organization of the test materials, hence the 4 star rating it received.