Product Description: Now even beginners can reap the rewards of Pandolfini's acclaimed teaching system. Over 300 problems, tailored to beginning players, encompass everything a player needs to learn, from the basic rules and vocabulary to the moves of various chessmen to sophisticated strategies. 300 line drawings.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - For the license
I bought this book for copyright reasons. A friend gave me an electronic copy of this book for ChessBase, so wanted to make sure I owned a copy before using it. I have never actually cracked the book open, but I've worked through most of the problems and it is fantastic! I'm really new to chess and it's really helped me see patterns and improve my speed. I won a game just the other day simply because I saw a checkmate that my opponent missed.
Rating: - Disappointed
I was somewhat disappointed with the book as I expected more discussion about how to implement chess strategy.
Rating: - Very very helpful
For someone who already has a good handle on the basic rules, this book moves on and teaches some basic moves and tactics. I found it quite helpful and would recommend it if Chess is not the most importnat thing in your life.
Rating: - ok
The book is hard to navigate through when you want to learn a solution to the problem.
Rating: - Be Honest...
This book contains 300 simple tactical puzzles. The solution to each puzzle is only one move long. For the great majority of these puzzles (297 out of the 300) there is only one correct idea, which is given in a separate solution section. Solutions are accompanied by the name of the tactic used as well as a short verbal explanation of the situation. Not only do the puzzles involve single move tactics, there are fewer than ten pieces on the board in each position. This should help those new to the game see the main idea and not "miss the forest for the trees".
Problems are not grouped thematically. The 300 problems are divided into thirty tests, with each test containing ten problems. Many themes are represented in each test. Some recurring ideas include pins, piling up on pinned pieces, forks, skewers, checkmates, discovered attacks, and en prise captures.
Many players might feel the positions given in this book are too easy, especially since en prise captures are included. The problems may be easy, but practicing these simple motifs builds "chess vision". Also, novice players often miss these moves in games. The tactics in this book are things players need to spot without thinking. The only way to get to this stage is practice.
Look at some of your recent games and be honest with yourself. Did you lose any of these games because you hung a piece? Did you lose an exchange to a pin or a knight fork? Did you opponent blunder, only to escape punishment because you couldn't spot the chance to win material? If your answer was yes to any of these, seriously consider purchasing this book. More importantly, thoughtfully work through all the problems at least three times.
- For the license
- Disappointed
- ok
