Horowitz's wit shines through all the notation making this a really enjoyable read. It is fairly basic, covering some of the same stuff as my last review, "Chess In a Nutshell", i.e. basic rules, reading notation, et cetera.. "Chess for beginners" goes a bit deeper and may even have a very small learning curve for absolute newbies. Stalemate is looked at in depth, as are Sacrifices, Attacks, Combinations, Traps in the Opening, Pins, Forks, Piece Development--all these Horowitz covers while retaining reader interest and purveying an intelligent humor, which adds tremendously to any book.

After covering all of this, some Illustrative Games are provided: Scheve & Teichmann, Berlin 1907; Morphy & Amateur, New Orleans, 1858 (an amazing example of Odds-giving that proves Morphy as a true great); Sackman & Ricard, Albany, 1950; and finally Reinfeld (author of Chess In a Nutshell and others) & Grossman, National Intercollegiate Championship, 1929.

"Chess for beginners" uses descriptive notation and has many diagrams. As with any chess book, I recommend a pocket chess set to play out the notations for yourself.

The last chapter contains an essay by Donald MacMurry (a promising master who died at a tragically early age). It is from the very 1st issue of "Chess Review". It is titled "The Gentle Art of Annoying" and it is an absolute wondrous shining gem that will have you laughing out loud! ( )