Chesser at his finest!!!
920207
Read it. Today. All of it. It's almost all totally awesome. Almost. Shawn...Shawn...Shawn.... these endings are killers. Why do you do this to us? I need you to write faster!

OK, for others... It's pure Shawn Chesser. Great action, believable action, lovable characters, developing characters, who are very human. It's the package. All the characters we love and hate for all the reasons we love and hate them. Totally solid plot line. It's Cade doing his thing with his team. If you liked the others, you will love this one too.
2144545
Having played in chess tournaments in the seventies when Fischer left and Karpov became the dominant play, it was with great interest I began reading this book. It brought back nostalgic memories of many of the highlights of Karpovs' lengthy career.  While I quite liked the arrows on the diagrams of the first book in the series -"Win Like Kasparov", the tremendously increased content (a whopping 372 pages) and plentiful diagrams (731) combined with 90+ photos really make this a most pleasurable and easy to read chess book.  With as many as four diagrams per page, one can practically play thru whole games without a set. I also like the breakdown with a 35 page biography section, a 12 page opening section, followed by 12 classic Karpov games. The two selected games on the bishop pair are quite excellent.

The Karpov combinations are enjoyable, but for a young player hoping to attain the rank of Master the most important part of the book is the 80 pages devoted to Karpov Endgames. I still remember from my youth how it almost seemed magical the way Karpov could "make something out of nothing" and win crucial games. I was not aware how many times he won the famous Rook + Bishop of opposite color ending, which Grandmaster Henley shows 8 examples, stretching from 1971 to 2010!

All in all I found this to be a wonderful trip down memory lane for me and labor of love by Grandmaster Henley. Also it appears that Karpov himself annotated about 9 of the key games from their period of collaboration in the 90s. Without hesitation I recommend this book for anyone looking to appreciate one of the all time greats of chess. I think anyone 1600+ can learn quite easily and will gain immense enjoyment!

Ervin Middleton, FIDE Master
1728531
I met the author briefly recently (he lives not far from my apartment in Brooklyn), and he gave me a copy of this book. I have to admit that I hadn't played chess in years until I started reading The Immortal Game. I really appreciated David's mix of personal anecdotes (his grandmother's grandfather, Samuel Rosenthal, was one of the greatest players of the late 19th century), history, and technical commentary. His move-by-move rendition of the famous "immortal game" that gives the title to the book is anything but boring, and it ain't easy to make the recounting of a chess game a page turner! You definitely don't need to be an aficionado to appreciate this book, or the game itself.
454085
My husband, the Chess King, absolutely loved these chessmen. Right weight, size and feel. I know very little about chess and had no clue that weight, size and feel were important factors. Just lucky that I made the right choice!!
4309743
I love this book and have given it away many a time to beginning chess players of all ages. I'm not a chess literarian so maybe it's not the "best" chess book on the market, however, it is very readable. In the begining I bought a number of books on chess that were supposed to be "great" and they all put me to sleep. I could barely get through the first few pages. Maybe it was because it was written by or co-authored by the great "Bobby Fischer", that helped me read my first chess book. But, the fact that he had a hand in its development encouraged me to buy it and read it. I found it very helpful and educational. This book made it easier for me to read the next one! Yes, and I have read, "How to beat your Dad at chess. Until I read this book it had been stuck in a drawer. From experience I can tell you that chess books do no good unless they are read and studied. You have to start small and add complexity. This book is very fun to read for all ages and I highly recomend it for anyone, who like me, found chess books very borring to read. They do work well for insomnia however. I am finally getting to where I can read one, but it started with this book. Looks like an entire chess club has decided to write negative reviews on the advise of their GM.. This is not necessary, the American public is smart. We know what the book is and what it is not. It's a beginner interactive chess workbook, written in 1972! and for its day it was way! ahead of its time. Bobby Fischer may have helped write it because he certainly did not have anything like this to read or encourage his friends to read. Studying the old Russian written books of games must have been difficult and only suited for one of his intellect. Personally, I needed this book to get me started. I continue to enjoy it and its attachment to Bobby Fischer. Thanks
2438343
Can't wait to see more of Mr. Chesser's books, love the series that this character is from and he is one of the best characters, always waiting to see what he will pull next.
3675916
I got my review copy a couple days ago and, after spending the afternoon looking it over, I experienced a strange sensation: I retired from tournaments long ago, but Lakdawala's THE FOUR KNIGHTS made me want to quit my usual 1.d4, take up 1.e4 just so I could play the Four Knights, and leap into chess combat once again! Fortunately, thoughts of giving tournaments another go wisely subsided as sanity slowly returned.

The Four Knights is a quiet opening that often leads to positional situations, but can also take you down rather violent paths. A big bonus is that it's not nearly as theory intensive as many openings are. Also great is the fact that after 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 White can avoid mainstream Petroff theory with 3. Nc3 when 3...Nc6 is, once again, our Four Knights, while the more aggressive 3...Bb4 (the Three Knights) is a bit better for White. Lakdawala covers all this in great detail. He also explores virtually everything black can throw at White after 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3, and tosses in the Four Knights Scotch, the Belgrade Gambit, and much more.

As with all his opening books, his theory is up-to-the-second fresh and detailed, while his prose is calming, funny, very personal, and extremely informative. To be honest, after his books on 1...d6, the Caro-Kann, and the Four Knights, Cyrus Lakdawala has become one of my favorite chess authors. He's right up there with other top American writers like Donaldson and Watson. All I can say is, "Cyrus, write MORE stuff!"
4935159
OK here is the scoop from an experienced chess coach. There is no better book on checkmate patterns than this one, and the thing is, it's not just for kids! Each of the 50 checkmate lessons shows an important concept and it is amazing how clear and easy the positions are to follow. If you are a chess teacher or taking a class of kids you will love this book as training material. Either use it to set up positions, or as a text-book kids can take home - a totally enjoyable way to learn.

This book has helped the scholastic students I work with in several ways.

a) Improved combinational ability. They can now find combinations quickly by recognizing the familiar patterns around the enemy king.

b) Inspiration. A wonderful feature of this book is how the puzzles are graduated in difficulty in each section. The simple puzzles anyone can follow, and the tough ones inspire the students by challenging them.

c) Knowing when to analyze. The puzzles teach the students when it is likely there is a combination to be found, even without them being aware of it!

d) Motivation. Because the material is presented in such a fun format, even including the test puzzles at the end, the students find it easy to read.

This book, together with the author's companion volume CHESS TACTICS FOR KIDS, provides enough material to keep a class going forward for several months.

Since this book first came out a number of other authors have tried to copy the idea, but no-one has come close. HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD is pitched at just the right level, and is the most original chess training book that has been published for years. It teaches tactical pattern recognition in a fun and challenging way. No wonder it is said to be the best-selling chess book in the United States.
4710570
If you want to be a serious chess player, you have to master the art of chess tactics especially chess tactics that support a successful attack of the king in either the uncastled or castled positions.
STOP LOOKING NOW! You've found the right book!  Buy it, read it, understand it and watch your winning percentage soar into the stratosphere!
1991096
okay, so let me get the one negative aspect out of the way (mainly to the younger readers) before I gush about the book. The book is written in descriptive notation which will surely put off many would be readers of this fine work.

However, there are a great number of absolutely excellent works written in descriptive and you would be doing yourself a great service to bite the bullet and learn it.

Now on to the real review-

I have seen this book many times over the years, but never really looked at it seriously. This was not for any good reason other than I had a long list of other titles to digest first. I finally got around to reading this and WOW! I love this book. I think this book is actually more useful than the very popular and famous "The art of attack in chess" by Vukovic.

The book has a good balance between written verbiage explaining what the author was thinking, versus hard core analysis and variations.

After reading this book, I have found myself pausing while playing certain positions - while a number of ideas start bouncing around in my head whereas previously I would have just played a "safe" but uninspired move. This book has really opened my eyes to the idea of sacrificing material for a large number of motives - attack, initiative, blockade, preventing the opponent from castling, and many more, etc.

It has brought a new level of fire, and aggressiveness to my game that has paid off most of the time.

I remember many years ago reading in a Northwest Chess magazine article where they were interviewing the person who had just won the club championship. He made a comment that I now understand approximately 20 years later. He was asked what had made a large jump in his rating level over the last couple of years. His response was that previously when confronted with a number of move choices where he couldn't totally figure out what was going on, he would make the safe move. Nowadays, he said he took the attitude that if he could not figure it all out, his opponent probably could not either - so he would now opt for the somewhat riskier albiet more aggressive move - and that he was usually rewarded with a much better position.

That is partly what this book is about. sometimes making speculative sacrifices even if you cannot totally figure out all the variations with complete certainty. Normally your opponent cannot either, and will falter under the obligation of defending against an unrelenting onslaught.

Simply playing over the games in the book will add aggression, fire, and many ideas to your attacking repertoire.

You will not regret adding this title to your collection. I have a very large assortment of chess books, and I am very glad I decided to pick this one up.

Happy Hunting!
3487285
The Chess Team is back!!!! What a rush I got reading this book, the book has more action then you can handle war, special ops, dinosaurs & a NUKE! Once you start reading you will not want to stop. Jeremy and Sean hit the gas in this thiller and did not let up, the team travels the globe and ends up in Africa saving the day again. Pick up this book.
2788689
I'll tell you - there are few things that have given me such enjoyment in my life as the Josh Waitzkin tutorials in the Chessmaster series.  The game is worth the investment (probably twice the investment) for these alone.  He talks through hours and hours of his games, revealing his thinking and psychology.  Very entertaining; very informative; very educational.

I think this is also a value relative to the former release (Chessmaster 10k).  It includes some more of his games, including his game vs. Jeff Sarwer, on which the conclusion of both the book and movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer" was based (although the actual gameplay in the movie is fiction, as is its result).  This is quite fascinating to watch.  He also annotates other famous games in a lucid and understandable fashion - he is a great teacher of chess.

I am a good chess player, as in, I beat my friends, but really nothing more.  I also would consider myself a fan of chess.  I've looked for similar type tutorials and found nothing that suits the average chess fan in such an entertaining and accessible way.  I very highly recommend this product for people like me.
4411303
I have read at least 2,000 chess books over the last twenty years, and I say without hyperbole that this advanced manual is the single best chess text of its sort ever written! It is out of print, to my understanding, not because there isn't a heavy desire for copies, but because its original publisher went out of business.
This is not one of those manuals that promises chess tyros a brilliant future with the game if they will only learn ten magical maxims. Instead, the book consists of several hundred positions, mostly (if I recall correctly) from the games of Vlastimil Hort and co-author Vlastimil Jansa. The problems range in difficulty from moderately-difficult to virtually unsolvable under over-the-board conditions, but the amount of chess understanding that a player will gain from working through this book is extraordinary, though extraordinary dedication is necessary to analyze these positions. Readers are graded numerically based on their answers to the problems, with occasional bonus points for great perception and penalties for patzer play.
I wish to God I still owned my original copy of this book, with my hand-written notes of analysis written in every spare bit of blank page! Unfortunately, that copy, held together by two large rubber bands because of the cheapness of the original book's binding, was last made use of by a rat while the book was in storage. Somewhere there is a rat capable now of playing 2700 ELO-rated chess, based on the thoroughness with which he digested that copy! So, if you see this book, buy it! If you are like me, you may discover that it is the only copy of it you will see in twenty years.
4661767
The reviewer Randy Bauer awards this book a sensational 10/10 and I have to agree. 30 great games with insightful notes by a top grandmaster, combined with quality production. What is there not to like? Unlike some of his advanced books, here  Nunn limits the variations he gives in favour of words... lots and lots of great words! Modern chess lucidly explained for the layman. Enthusiastic players of all strengths will love this book, and learn loads from it.
255665
Reading this book was a major milestone in my "chess life"! I immediately started zapping my opponents. It shows you the basic tactical tools(Pins, forks, skewers, x-rays etc). It shows you mating patterns, back rank weaknesses, queening philosophy to mention but a few. Reading this small book is equivalent to reading ten or more chess books.
When I played people after reading this book I felt as if I was cheating! My question is why nobody is printing the book at the moment. I have owned two copies before(no doubt stolen by my opponents) and am looking forward to own my third copy which I will guard jealously.
2625142
I highly recomend this book. As an intermediate player (1700-1800), I found myself usually getting behind in the beggining against more advanced players. This will teach you just about every opening (along with "More Basic Chess Openings") and ensure your confidence at the  start of a game. If you have never picked up a chess book, like myself,  this is where you should start.
304761
This is the best book on a world championship match ever produced. The notes to the games are fantastic, with a nice mixture of verbal description of appropriate plans and concrete analysis at the critical points. The insights from GM Kramnik scattered throughout each game sets this book apart from others of its kind. His insights into the psychology of the players, along with their match strategy and why they chose certain lines of play are fascinating. This book should be in every chess lovers library.