Customer Reviews

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

5 star:		(118)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(37)
1 star:		(60)

 

 

As a book that only covers how to checkmate it has so few problems compared to every other book I have seen that covers checkmates that it is a waste of time and money. The checkmates were so simple that as a beginner I went through about half of them in five minutes and stopped after that. Even for a beginner it is worthwhile to get a book with more examples and one that explains the different types of checkmates.

I thought this book was going to cover a lot of things in chess because is says Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess. Now after looking at it i didnot like it because it is very narrow minded and only sets up checkmates that are so easy and there are not a lot of them. I also got the book called How To Beat Your Dad at Chess. This book covers only checkmates too but does such a better job that Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess should be retired because it doesnot teach you much and also there are so much better books you can get that teaches you a whole lot more.
Look at How to Beat Your Dad at Chess book and if you want a book that teaches you the whole game with all parts covered get the book called Chess For Juniors instead because it teaches you more about everything and includes all the important checkmate positions anyway.

This book has the title that made me think there was covering of all points of chess. But when I got the book Bobby Fischer only sets up positions (and only one per page) where you must find a checkmate that is very, very easy to find. Every page is like this. I should have read the reviews on it so I could have spent the money on a top book that teaches beginners. If you are are reading this (like I should have read the reviews) then do not buy this book unless you want a bunch of easy to solve checkmate positions instead of a book that has real lessons to learn from. I have since gotten "Chess for Juniors" and "How to Beat your Dad at Chess". "Chess for Juniors" gives very good lessons and "How to Beat your Dad" has checkmate positions but tells you much more about them.

If you are looking for a good book on "How to Checkmate" get "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" or even Polgar's massive Puzzels Book. Fischer's book has very little material in it is is dated because of much better books of the same nature. Looking for a good instructional book: if a kid, adult or teacher get "Chess For Juniors". If a classroom teacher consider getting "Teaching Chess in the 21st Century" in addition to "Chess for Juniors".

This book has recently been clearly shown to not only have not been written by the famous Bobby Fischer, but to contain a bunch of cheaply put together simple to solve checkmate problems.
You want a good Beginner's book? Look at CHESS FOR JUNIORS for any age or IDIOT'S GUIDE TO CHESS if you are an adult level reader.

This is a book for the absolute beginner who has not learned any strategy yet. This book covers one thing only, "simple checkmates".

An entire simple checkmate takes up an entire page. The book also avoids any use of chess notation that is important to go on to learn from more advanced books that are needed to progress. It is not as much as this book is so bad. It is that there are books that cover checkmates, tactics and traps that are so much better now available. Tactics and traps are also important for the beginner to know, not just checkmates. If you really want a book just on checkmates alone then look at "Art of Checkmate" or "How to Beat your Dad at Chess". They are examples of two much better books.

Bobby Fischer never wrote this book but had his name added to it for $$$.
It contains so simple problems taking up so much space with no real contant. Do not buy this or you will be ripped off!!!!
I do like CHESS FOR JUNIORS if you want to learn basics, or if you really want the checkmate problmes that his book covers, but much, much more then get either HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS or ART OF THE CHECKMATE.

BOBBY FISCHER TEACHES CHESS was first published in 1966, when the great player was still a young man seen as a prodigy newcomer in professional chess circles. The first thing one has to realize about the book is that it is essentially ghostwritten--a long tradition in chess primers and accessories--so those hoping to understand something of Fischer's playing peculiarities will be quite disappointed. The book is the creation of Stuart Margulies and Donn Mosenfelder, two educators and chess aficionados who wanted to create a chess primer using the then-new concept of "Programmed Instruction". In spite of the fact that the book is an experimental teaching tool created by two academics, it is written as if Fischer himself were speaking, which makes for a rather incongruous style.

Enough about its origins. What readers should be most concerned about is what the book is and whether it will help their chess skills. BOBBY FISCHER TEACHES CHESS begins from the very beginning with a 13-page introduction to the rules of chess. This is probably redundant since many chess boards come with a sheet describing the rules. The real instruction really consists only of a series of example situations, which the reader is asked "Can white checkmate? If he can, draw an arrow." then one has to turn the page to find out. The amount of situations here are very limited, and one would encounter them and master them in one's first few games. This makes the book rather unnecessary. There is no discussion of openings, no use of algebraic notation (which pretty much all other chess titles use). All the strategy presented is short-term, there doesn't appear to be even general hints such as the importance of gaining control of the centre of the board.

The book is insubstantial, cheaply made, and has a weird choice of formatting: only the right-hand pages are used; upon reaching the end of the book, one has to flip the book over and work back through it again. I certainly wouldn't recommend BOBBY FISCHER TEACHES CHESS, it remains only a curiosity from a time when chess was of concern to all walks of society when the young prodigy was in the news.

Wow, so many reviews bashing this book for promising the moon and the stars and then not delivering! It's not a bad book!

If you are brand new to chess, want to learn to play relatively quickly, without getting bogged down with the more advanced stuff, and want something you can pick up and put down for short periods of time, this is a good book for you. You will learn the rules of the game and the basics of winning the game (checkmate, not long term strategy). It's pretty engaging because it doesn't spend a lot of time on explanations, instead most of its space is devoted to puzzles. Each page has a short one-move puzzle, with the answer on the next page. It's a pretty quick 'read', and it's pretty basic, probably anyone over 1300 should look for something more advanced.

I'm a little amused at all of the gripes:
"It wasn't written by Bobby Fischer." - OK, fine, but that doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. Many books supposedly by experts were really ghostwritten, doesn't make them worthless. And knowing Bobby's anti-social nature, I suspect he wouldn't be the greatest teacher himself, anyway ;)

"It doesn't teach chess." Sure it does. No, it doesn't teach *all* aspects of chess, but it does teach chess! It teaches everything you need to know to complete an entire game.

"Not enough written text." This is more of a learn-by-doing kind of book.

"Other books are better." Yep, there's lots of great books out there. This one has some good stuff in it, too.

I will be to the point! This book as written for a near absolute beginner using the name "Bobby Fischer" on the title when he wasn't the actual author.
A player just beyond learning the moves doesn't need a book of "just checkmate" positions to solve - another problem with this title "teach's chess" - teaching chess doesn't jut entail showing someone "how to checkmate - but more importantantly how to use concepts to get to the position where an easy checkmate is executed.
If you are at a beginning or advanced beginning level totally skip this book and get CHESS FOR JUNIORS - you will see what I mean!