Customer Reviews

100 Awesome Chess Moves

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While I would not say outright that "almost anything written by Eric Schiller is rubbish," that statement is probably much closer to the truth than its opposite. Those I have seen are so sloppy that they almost seem to be deliberately mutilated. Missing moves, illegal moves, faulty diagrams, invalid assessments, suspect analysis, and ignorance of recent (or even old) ideas and discoveries, are all too frequent. Grammatically, Schiller fails in such simple tasks as subject-verb agreement and spelling of common words; apparently he does not even bother to use the automatic spell-check today's word processors offer. His work is thick with historical error and dogged by questions of fabrication, plagiarism, and other ethical issues.

Schiller may have written some worthwhile books, but on the whole he does a disservice to the chess public, keeping better books off the shelves by the sheer volume of his hackwork. Being a club level player I rely on the reviews of others I trust when I purchase a chess book. The lure of a quick buck is strong and I fear it is a temptation Mr. Schiller cannot resist.

Other people have said that they like this book. The material chosen is OK ... some of the world's greatest games are here. But the game analysis appears to have been done VERY quickly. There are many mistakes. And the index in the back is so rotten you may as well rip it out and throw it away.

I WILL say for certain that nearly everything Schiller publishes is rubbish. 100 Awesome Chess Moves--I wonder if it took even a whole 100 minutes to write this book. The only value such a book has is as an example of how NOT to write, unless you're willing to produce whatever garbage will sell.

This is an interesting interpretation of the familiar chess puzzle book: Schiller has chosen one instructive and illuminating chess problem from each year of the 20th century. The problems are more than just your tired "brilliant" examples of forced moves and queen sacrifices - they're examples of chess themes such as maintaining the initiative, converting a winning position into a won game, as well as illustrations of tactical motifs like pins, forks, etc. Some of the positions: 1949 Levenfish-Smyslov ("Smashing Finish"), 1934 Euwe-Thomas ("Prepared Brilliancy), 1999 Kasparov-Topalov. Worth taking a look at, this book will definitely entertain you and may even improve your game.

The Ls in the author's surname should be replaced with Ts to describe the product he spews forth. From the content of this and other of his books, it's evident that he's functionally illiterate, and has only had an able-minded relative explain the 'cut' and 'paste' features of a word processor, which seem to be the only tools used to create this nonsensical tripe. Certainly he was ignorant of the spellcheck feature, and that he was able to convince some nincompoop to publish his intellectual excrement is a defeat of logic ranging into the astronomical in magnitude.

In short, don't buy this garbage.

Eric Schiller is a masterful chess player and a prolific author of books for chess enthusiasts. In 100 Awesome Chess Moves, Schiller has assembled a brilliant collection of strategy and tactical ides drawn from real-life tournaments. These are moves of stunning originality and would enhance the game playing skill level of any reader. Through game positions and examples even the most novice of players will learn about the deep positional understanding and bold tactics of master chess play -- not just how to reach for the best move, but execute the truly inspired move. If you only have time to read one book on improving your chess play, make it Eric Schiller's 100 Awesome Chess Moves!