Beginning Chess Play, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Bill Robertie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2002

This first book in the new Road to Chess Mastery series provides beginners with a step-by-step approach to learning and playing chess. It explains the fundamentals of the game and provides drawings and diagrams that illustrate how it is played. Bill Robertie covers everything from setting up the board to thinking strategically.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Cardoza; Original edition (September 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580420443
• ISBN-13: 978-1580420440
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #581,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Robertie
(Poker, Backgammon, Chess)

When Bill Robertie started playing chess as a boy, he could have had no idea that his single-minded focus on that game would eventually lead to significant world-wide achievements in 3 games - chess, backgammon and poker.

As a young man, Robertie played chess for Arlington High School (where he met fellow Metropolitan league player from Christopher Columbus High School, Dan Harrington). Robertie was the captain of his chess team for 3 years at Harvard College. He won the U.S. Speed Chess Championship and tied for First in the Golden Knights, the U.S. postal chess championship. He also gave simultaneous blind-fold exhibitions on 8 boards. A lifelong devotee of the game, Bill Robertie has written extensively on chess (Master Checkmate Strategy; Easy Endgame Strategies) and is a chess book collector with a complete set of "Chess Life" going back to 1932, missing only 1991 and 1992, for which he is actively searching.

In 1976, Robertie switched to backgammon, where his years of studying and playing chess served him especially well. Robertie very quickly became a world-class backgammon player - winning multiple tournaments including the Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship twice, the Boston Black & White tournament, the Bahamas Pro-Am and the Istanbul World Cup. He is the author of 10 classic, best-selling backgammon books including Modern Backgammon, Advanced Backgammon V1, Advanced Backgammon V2 and 501 Essential Backgammon Problems.

In 2003, Robertie's remarkable game career took another important turn when he & Dan Harrington (now a poker player and World Series of Poker champion) co-authored their first poker book, Harrington on Hold'em/Strategic Play (published by Mason Malmuth's 2+2 Publishing). The first poker book that was written clearly so that players could easily get a sense of the true nuances of the game, Harrington on Hold'em/Strategic Play quickly became an instant classic, changing poker playing overnight and becoming a must-read for serious students of the game. They followed it up with Harrington on Hold'em/The Endgame, Harrington on Hold'em/The Workbook, Harrington on Cash Games V1 and Harrington on Cash Games V2, with other "Harrington" series books in the works.

Today, Bill Robertie still writes extensively on backgammon and poker. He moderates the Backgammon Forum at http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com. He also travels to backgammon and poker tournaments world-wide, and offers backgammon coaching (in person in Boston and New York City and via phone and special in-person arrangements world-wide). Details at thegammonpress.com.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't know how to play chess? Read this, fast and good!, January 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beginning Chess Play (Road to Chess Mastery) (Paperback)

This is a good first book. To be good at anything requires time,money, effort. This book condenses a solid beginning to about $7. Not bad! I'm rated at about 1460 and I find the reading easy, fast, clear and accurate! I recommend this as a first book. If you know how the pieces move, try a chess club, it doesn't cost anything and you might make a friend. If it's Bill Robertie, you hit the lottery.

3.0 out of 5 stars Am I Thick?, December 28, 2011

By 

Bronx Natasha - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Chess Play, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

In most ways I agree with the other reviews in that this is a 'good first book' on playing chess. However, it still eludes me!!! Perhaps I haven't the patience, or require medication to relax sufficiently to absorb a game in progress, but I truly had difficulty applying all but the most elementary aspects of the book to my game.

I admit I'm a 'newbie' in the strictest form, yet a university honors graduate and so felt I should be able to up my game significantly after reading this book. Alas, such was not the case. Is there a 'chess for dummies'? Although I loathe those books, reading this one has convinced me that perhaps I'm in over my head (and I know this was NOT the author's intention).

Either I need a pop-up book level starter on chess, or this one didn't do it's job. Still, I learned a great deal, so for that I thank Mr. Robertie.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Intro Book, October 4, 2009

By 

Edward J. Barton (Tukwila, WA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beginning Chess Play, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

This is a good intro book, with the basic rules, as well as two game illustrations/walk throughs. It is an easy read, and the two games illustrate solid principles of tactics and strategy. You will want a board next to you to get the most out of the book (like many chess tomes), but the illustrations are good enough that you can go without if necessary.