Customer Reviews

Basic Endgame Strategy: Queens & Rooks (Road to Chess Mastery)

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4 star:		(2)
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Cardoza is the "McDonalds" of chess publishing. And like McDonald's there is something appealing about it, even when you know there is much better food out there. This book is like a Lev Alburt book in that it is a "page turner"; that is, you will go through one example and realize you ave finished 10 pages. This is a good feeling if you are sometimes frustrated by spending a week on one page of Dvoretsky. And Robertie is concerned about giving you useful practical advice. This is a good book, because the topic fits the bill: for endings, most of us want to remember a few vivid examples to get the idea. This book accomplishes its goal pretty nicely.

The book is very brief. The fist example basic, but the other examples are moderate to very good especially the queen examples (first 80 pages). I only paid $2 plus $3.49 S&H. If you dislike notation and like explanation, this is the book for you. It uses paragraph style of writing explaining every little move, thus very few examples, but covers the title "queens and rooks" well. I'm uscf 1600 and think this is a good book for anyone 1700 or below. Its very reader friendly so even beginners should be able to follow along. I however would not pay more than $7 for this book total only because of its size not because of its content. Its 138 pages and can be read through very quickly. Based on the price I paid I would have given it 5 stars, the games on queens and pawns,, and,,, two rooks vs queen with pawns on the board was worth the $5.50 total I paid. which are covered in pages 80-138, other than the rooks and pawns pages, the other 80 pages are probably something you would find in a more complete endgame chess book. Such as, another endgame book I bought "improve your endgame play" Glenn Flear is more bang for the buck which has just as many or more queens and pawns endings and rooks and pawns endings, but with much less text explaining and doesn't have two rooks & pawns vs queen & pawns section. Rooks and Queens are common to be the last pieces on the board, so this book should quickly cover and improve your game. I'm sure there are better books out there, but not at this price. I'm guessing a good read for 1200-1600 USCF, and even lower rated due to its easy read.

This Book has helped me get better at chess in so many ways! I cant beleive it. BUY THIS BOOK!!! its worth it.