Customer Reviews

Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems for Players New to the Game

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

BEGINNING CHESS contains a fair number of the types of positions with simple tactical themes that the "just beyond" the very beginning stage player should learn. Not a lot but not a bad bang for the buck! There really isn't a lot of material here (i.e. like Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations or Winning Chess Traps), but it is just enough to make a satisfactory book worthy for the "advanced beginner". Not at the top of my list, but still a worthwhile work.

If you are past the stage of having learned the basic rules of chess then you are ready to enbark of the adventure of learning chess strategy. And, what is most likely to result in wins and losses for an advanced beginner is not having a deep knowledge of openings or endgames, but TACTICS!
If you were thinking of getting one of those 5,000 combination and tactics books you should hold off because you will be overwhelmed with a lot of postions that are not likely to come up in your games. Getting a book on basic chess tactics, containing the likely tactics you are going to see in play is most useful. Now there are a variety of ways and books to accomplish this. "Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems" is a good starting place. Then you might consider one of the dozens of more complicated tactics books (such as "Winning Chess Tactis") or even a book containing opening tactics by getting an opening trap book (such as "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" or "101 Opening Traps"). This is one of Mr. Pandolfini's best books.

The collection of tactical puzzles in this book are the easiest that I have ever seen. Most of the problems are 1 move tactics such moving a knight to fork two pieces. Some of the problems simply involve capturing a piece that is hanging. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but unless you have just learned the game it probably will be too simple for you. But if you have just learned how the pieces move, this will be a great start on the way to starting to solve tactical problems, which are a key to becoming a better player.

I am not familiar with many other tactics books that are this simple. A 1400 rated player could probably go through the whole book in an hour. It is probably even more simple than Bobby Fischer Teaches chess. But while that book focuses mostly on back rank checkmates, this covers different positions, with diagram after diagram for you to find the best move.

One nice thing is that in the end he doesn't just give the answer, he briefly explains why it is the answer. So instead of just saying "Nf6", he says "Nf6 forking the king and queen". Most tactics books, even for beginners just give the answer, and no explanation about why it is the answer, if you don't see it.

The 300 problems in this book give practice in the major chess tactics: fork, skewer, pin, discovery, mate in 1, etc. For each problem, there is one move which is clearly the best move for white, and the learner's task is to find it, the faster the better. The fact that the winning tactics are randomly arranged helps the learner not to get into a response set where for example a mate is expected from every position. The low difficulty level of the problems makes this book a pleasure -- you come to a quick solution and move on. But while doing so, you're improving your ability to find winning moves quickly, the sorts of winning moves that are missed over and over in games by players who are not just novices. Getting very fast at fairly elementary problems is a crucial learning technique, advocated by the "precision teaching" practitioners for good reason: this technique produces very positive competence outcomes.
Those who are put off by the word "Beginning" in the title should try finding the winning moves in these exercises in an average of ten seconds or less. If you can do this, you're way beyond the rank of beginner. I tend to agree with Pandolfini's classification for the ones who can do this: "You've been giving private lessons."
I think this book is useful not just for chess competitors, but also as an aid for youth who are learning problem-solving and thinking skills in general. Without having to become chess experts first, such learners can get lots of practice in planning ahead and experiencing the gratification of finding the winning move. They can take advantage of the problem-solving and spatial relations practice chess offers, through quick, instructive, and non-frustrating exercises.
This deceptively simple book is great teaching, fun to use, and a mind-stretcher. It ranks at the top of all the chess books I have seen.

I enjoyed this chess primer a great deal. I'd say it has more to offer beginners than "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess," by Bobby Fischer, though not as much as "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Chess," by Patrick Wolff. Still, I'd rank it close to my all-time favorite, "The Right Way To Play Chess" by D. Brine Pritchard.

As is the norm with chess primers, Mr. Pandolfini gives brief sections and descriptions of the board, the pawns and pieces, how they move and capture, how a game is won or drawn, etc. Then he engages in brief essays of chess tactics. He discusses the main tactics that beginners should know, including the pin, fork, skewer, discovered attack, and undermine. The section on rules, how to play, and tactics take up the first part of the book, written in 30 short sections. You'll breeze through them quickly.

Then you get to the second part, in which you have a chance to put the theory into practice by trying to figure out the best move to 300 puzzles, divided into 30 tests of ten puzzles each. 300 may sound like a lot, but each puzzle has just a few pieces and/or pawns on the diagrams. The idea is to build your tactical awareness and peripheral vision, if I may. If you have time to do one test a day, you can finish in a month.

I had to dock this book one star because only a handful of the puzzles have checkmate as the objective. I agree with Bobby Fischer's notion that, since checkmate is the object of the game, it seems the most natural and logical place to start. Had Mr. Pandolfini provided more mating--not just tactical--puzzles to solve, this could have been a truly great chess primer. Alas, it's merely good.

For a more thorough study of how to checkmate, I recommend A.J. Gillam's "Simple Checkmates." It complements Mr. Pandolfini's book nicely.

Ignore any review that puts this book down. It's a must have! I've read many books on chess and this book was the one that resulted in my playing better chess immediately! Even before I finished half the book, I began seeing better opportunities in my games. This book will be a literal 'eye opener' because you won't believe the things you're missing in your games! Bruce Pandolfini really does a masterful job in training your eye to see things you would otherwise overlook. And you don't even need a chess board in front of you! This book is a must have for anyone whether they've just started learning the game, or have been playing for years as I have. Time flies while working through this book because it is challenging and most of all FUN! It would be a great travel companion! I recommend this book highly along with BOBBY FISCHER TEACHES CHESS. Both are easy to understand and follow, and perfect whether you're a beginner or not. It will be money well spent! YOUR GAME WILL IMPROVE!

Bruce Pandolfini has written one of the best chess tactics books I have ever bought. The book contains basic tactical themes such as pin, removing the guard, discovery and so on. There are eleven such themes plus mating attacks. The solutions to the problems are given in back. What makes this book unique is the authors excellent teaching style. He gives advice on mastering these tactics by telling the reader to try to solve them a little quicker each time he does them. This trains your "chess vision" to a high level. At the end of the book he gives some tips on how to improve your tactics, which is some of the best advice I have ever read about chess. The value in this book is its simplicity. The illustrations show no more than ten pieces on the board, making it easier to understand the tactical themes being demonstrated. Although the book is written for beginners,it can be used by all skill levels. The author writes in this book that the great grandmaster Mikhail Tal used to look through beginners books looking for ideas. He did this probably because beginner books boil down chess to basic ideas that show up even in the most advanced chess. Also even the knowledge in beginners books can constantly be perfected, which can make for a very powerful player. This is a tactics book that should be turned to again and again.

If you know the rules of chess, but would like to know some basic tactics, then this book is perfect. It goes over some lesser-known rules and moves, covers chess strategy, and gives 300 good problems to solve.

This book contains 300 simple tactical puzzles. The solution to each puzzle is only one move long. For the great majority of these puzzles (297 out of the 300) there is only one correct idea, which is given in a separate solution section. Solutions are accompanied by the name of the tactic used as well as a short verbal explanation of the situation. Not only do the puzzles involve single move tactics, there are fewer than ten pieces on the board in each position. This should help those new to the game see the main idea and not "miss the forest for the trees".

Problems are not grouped thematically. The 300 problems are divided into thirty tests, with each test containing ten problems. Many themes are represented in each test. Some recurring ideas include pins, piling up on pinned pieces, forks, skewers, checkmates, discovered attacks, and en prise captures.

Many players might feel the positions given in this book are too easy, especially since en prise captures are included. The problems may be easy, but practicing these simple motifs builds "chess vision". Also, novice players often miss these moves in games. The tactics in this book are things players need to spot without thinking. The only way to get to this stage is practice.

Look at some of your recent games and be honest with yourself. Did you lose any of these games because you hung a piece? Did you lose an exchange to a pin or a knight fork? Did you opponent blunder, only to escape punishment because you couldn't spot the chance to win material? If your answer was yes to any of these, seriously consider purchasing this book. More importantly, thoughtfully work through all the problems at least three times.

I bought several (very cheap!) copies of this book when my son was learning to play around age 3, because he was also just learning to write at that time. He would simply solve the VERY SIMPLE TACTICS and practice writing various letters and numbers, e.g. "Bxc6" or "Rh8#" until he finished the book, then started again with another copy. If you understand that this book is for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS, then you can appreciate its value. My son got his start in tactics with this book, and went on to win the national kindergarten championship. It is a great book for STARTING OUT in tactics, before moving on to more difficult material.