Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

Just kidding. But this really helped my chess skills improve. I bought this book after learning chess, and after about a month, I went to a real life tournament. Keep in mind, I had NO chess skills, I had only been playing for about a month or so. I didn't plan on playing, only spectating, but my chess teacher told me I had to play since we were missing players (I'm in HS). After playing, I completed the game with an official elo of 768. Before this book, I was probably a 200 or 300. I'm not saying you'll get a 400+ elo boost, but this definitely changed the way I play games, and I am really good at chess now. I can easily compete with a 1500 elo player (might not win but I'll give them a hard time!), and I can also feel very confident when playing against 1000 elo or less players.I feel like to get the most out of this book, you really need to practice. I read this book while also implementing the things I learned into real life practice games with other players. I love this book so much, it is the only chess book I ever needed. I recommend you purchase this if you want to become better at chess, or challenge your brain for a little while. After reading this book, I didn't need advice from others; I began giving it.Good luck nerds.

At the outset it should be understood that (despite the title) the book is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject of chess. Its purpose is to teach the absolute beginner the basics of one aspect of chess, and that is - tactics. It is simply a beginner's introduction to basic chess tactics, and nothing more.The value of the book is that this is precisely what the beginner needs to focus on when first learning the game. It is essential to have a firm grasp of fundamental chess tactics before moving on to other aspects of the game. In that sense, this is an excellent book to begin your chess education.The format of the book is that of a structured learning course, using a series of exercises or puzzles to solve (one per page) which reinforce the concept under consideration. The exercises increase in complexity in order to enhance the reader's comprehension and level of tactical sophistication. The book is easy to read (it does not use chess notation) in the sense that it should take on average less than 60 seconds to complete an exercise (i.e., a page). It took my eight year old daughter only 3 or 4 hours (over several days) to complete the book. Because she was able to quickly and successfully absorb the concepts, it also increased her enthusiasm for playing the game.I have recommended this book to many players new to the game, and to a person they all agree that this was the best book to begin learning tactics.Bottom Line - It is said that the three most important of elements of chess to learn first are - Tactics, Tactics, Tactics! If you are a chess beginner who doesn't know a pin from a fork from a skewer from a double attack, then you need this book. Upon completing it, you should not only be able to employ effective tactics against your opponents, but also be able to quickly recognize the potential for tactical threats against you.

It's evident some people really just don't pay attention which makes you wonder sometimes. The book is purposely written like that. You go through it to the end, then flip it over and read back toward the front. It works very well because I do not have to cover up any answers with my hand or anything like that. It is a book that will take a brief section to teach you how the pieces move and the basic rules of capturing and how to win. So a beginner will be fine buying this book. In fact it is a very good book for a beginner instead of other books that have so much in them it's overwhelming for beginners.Anyone who has played chess competitively knows the importance of having your mind and eyes trained to see things, and tactics practicing is key to this. It does focus on mostly back rank mates but don't let that sway you. It still trains the mind to see moves, pins, forks, batteries, winning pieces, etc. A beginner wouldn't know what most of that means and they don't have to in order to dramatically improve. If you are a beginner who is buying this book, you will not learn how to open a game and play out a full game to get to the endgame. This book, however, does show you how to mate in mid to late "middle game" and by practicing these things you will begin to see things in a game that your basic "I know how to play chess" family members may not can even see. You may want to look into other beginner books after this one that can help you more with overall game play. So I say buy this book for beginner or just as practice for the beginner levels to intermediate levels of chess players.

I thought there would be more theory, but this is just puzzles.But this is much better than online puzzles. They are organized into topic chapters, and involve specific questions about the scenarios.Small book. Could be fun for long car trips and waiting rooms, as well as general study.