This is a classic chess book explaining every move in easy to understand words. Just by repeating the basic principles one already memorizes and adapts them easily and I caught myself looking at a position on the chess board in a different way. The book is clearly for Beginners and suffers a little bit from using old example games (and I really mean old!) and allowing no exceptions to the rules. Modern chess is a little bit different and to understand why GMs break the rules could be interesting.I have 2 complaints. First, the analyses are sometimes not complete or contain slight errors. Already in the first game we are left with a position that is "winning for white". However, to find the winning way is far from trivial. I have started a computer chess engine tournament to fight it out and the surprising result was that Rybka won every game with black or white. This points to the fact that good positional knowledge is required to make use of the advantage. Considering that the books is written for Beginners it would have been helpful to at least outline the path or to choose a completely different game. My other complaint is variety. The open games in the first half are very entertaining, but the second half contains too many Queen Gambits. Maybe it's repetition by intention, but at the end it bored me down a little bit.Anyway, I found the teaching style very appealing and have learnt a lot. ( )

This is a classic chess book explaining every move in easy to understand words. Just by repeating the basic principles one already memorizes and adapts them easily and I caught myself looking at a position on the chess board in a different way. The book is clearly for Beginners and suffers a little bit from using old example games (and I really mean old!) and allowing no exceptions to the rules. Modern chess is a little bit different and to understand why GMs break the rules could be interesting.I have 2 complaints. First, the analyses are sometimes not complete or contain slight errors. Already in the first game we are left with a position that is "winning for white". However, to find the winning way is far from trivial. I have started a computer chess engine tournament to fight it out and the surprising result was that Rybka won every game with black or white. This points to the fact that good positional knowledge is required to make use of the advantage. Considering that the books is written for Beginners it would have been helpful to at least outline the path or to choose a completely different game. My other complaint is variety. The open games in the first half are very entertaining, but the second half contains too many Queen Gambits. Maybe it's repetition by intention, but at the end it bored me down a little bit.Anyway, I found the teaching style very appealing and have learnt a lot. ( )

Chess

The first chess book I ever read cover to cover, over and over. I couldn't put it down for days. I grant you I was suffering from insomnia at the time. This book is far from the most contemporary in theory and some of Chernev's claims are patently false or absurd. At the same time, however, it's simply one of the most enjoyable books you'll ever read. Nunn may be far more accurate, but Chernev is infinitely less snooty (in this case a good thing, readability-wise) and his passion for the game is far better communicated. So yes, my high regard for this work is sentimental, and yes there are far more informative and accurate books out there, but none of them are nearly as great a joy to read. And pleasure does inspire thought. ( )