Customer Reviews

Chess the Easy Way

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

 

 

Fine's Chess the Easy Way is somewhat mis-named. Although the text starts from the rudiments and could be used for self-instruction by an individual who has never played the game before, the tone and point of view are no-nonsense and tell the reader immediately the book is intended for someone with much more than a casual interest in the game. I first was given this book when I was a child. It would probably be more appropriate for a serious high school player. Beginners should be warned that Fine's text takes no shortcuts. He starts at the beginning level but then educates the reader to the level of a confident club player. This presumes that the reader invests the time needed to play through all of Fine's examples. Sometimes it's hard going: Although Fine's writing is clear he does not spoon-feed the reader. Anyone willing to spend the time will be vastly rewarded. I agree with other reviews I have read in this space stating that his examples of openings and some of the illustrative games he chooses are badly out-dated. This is accurate but immaterial: The fundamental principles Fine communicates are timeless. A good re-printing of his book would of course have to change to modern chess notation and would benefit from larger diagrams. Otherwise I think the book could be re-issued unchanged. Those who especially need information about chess openings can seek it in other texts. This is a gem and deserves wider readership.

I have been coaching chess at the high school and middle school level for 13 years. The teams I have coached have between them 6 state championships and 2 runners up. Chess the Easy Way is THE book that I use as an outline for teaching my players how to play good chess. There is no book that is better! Ten essential rules are given for the opening, middle game and end game. These rules are illustrated and expanded with examples. Fine's logical treatment of all of the basic endings is superior! There are class A (1800-2000) players that could benefit from the information in the endings section. As far as strategy goes, Fine offers all of the essential plans for each kind of positional advantage. For example, "If the [opponent's] pawns are absolutely weak, head straight for the endgame." Or, "If the opponent's king is not safe, the plan will be to attack him." There are others, of course. These rules of strategy are simple enough, but to the typical player under 1400 or so they are essential guidelines and prevent the aimless wandering in hopes of finding the right course in a game. It was a revelation for me to read these ideas so many years ago and give logic and order to my games! Thank you to the late GM Fine. If you find a copy of this book and you are a beginner to an intermediate player (under 1600) buy this book and feel your confidence grow as does your understanding!

An enterprising chess author should attempt a thorough revision of this great book (Jeremy Silman, John Nunn, Andy Soltis; are you listening?) The descriptive notation would have to go, as would the old-fashioned diagrams. The openings section would have to be completely rewritten to bring it up-to-date. Fine's text gets a little wordy at times and the layout is dense and haphazard. These quibbles aside, the lessons to be learned here are outstanding! The syllabus for my summer chess camp for kids is almost entirely based on Fine's ten rules for the opening, middle game and endgame, respectively. Memorization of these thirty sentences (or short paragraphs) and the ideas behind them will cause a quantum leap in one's chess abilities. This is out of print now, but is still occasionally available used. If you are a rated between 1000 and 1600 and want to improve, this is the book for you.

There are simpler intros to chess. The Bill Robertie series is modern, easy to follow, and very effective, and eminently suited to the casual beginner. But nothing comes close to Fine's one-volume opus in terms of completeness, utility, and yes, depth.

This is *not* a book for the casual beginner or the dabbler. It is for someone who, from the outset, is going to be serious about chess, perhaps someone who has played a few games with serious players in informal settings and now wants to learn "real" chess.

The book is not easy. Information is densely packed and requires care and attention in study. There are some drawbacks; the age of the original edition (now approaching 65 years) means that the opening lines are very dated (though the principles are not), and the book uses descriptive notation (I don't see this as a problem, but the beginning reader will have to learn algebraic at some point from a different source).

Still, the presentation of ideas is in a class not to be found elsewhere. Fine gives 10 rules for the opening, mid-game, and ending; and practicing and following these rules, and the rest of the material in the book, if done diligently will over time probably lead the reader to the 1700 or better play class. That's pretty darn good for a single 185 page book which assumes no prior knowledge.

As expected from Fine, the endgame chapter is superb.

One especially useful feature is the presence of numerous practical problems to test mastery of the material.

The reader must take this book seriously and study diligently to benefit. This is no "royal road" to chess. It is a pathway to success paved with quality stepping stones composed of old-fashioned hard work. Not so amazingly, that method continues to pay off better than any other!

It is fortunate that this book is easily and inexpensively available on the used market, and you can have a copy delivered to your door for well under $10. It's a fantastic investment.

Four stars instead of five simply because, as mentioned above, the age of the book makes the opening lines very dated.

I consider this book my bible of chess.It includes ten rules for the opening game, ten rules for the middle game and ten for the end game.My copy of this bible is worn out. I urge a reprinting so that all levels of chess players will benefit. Remember chess is "the game of kings and the king of games."

I don't know what happened to my copy of this book but it disappeared many years ago. I've been waiting years in the hopes that it would be re-printed. Now I'm hoping that Amazon can find me another copy. It is unquestionably the best book for beginners and intermediate chess players. Mr. Fine presents the material in a simple, easy to understand method.

They GOTTA re-publish this book! Still one of the best for learning chess fundamentals. Mr. Fine arms the reader with easily understood objectives and techniques for each phase of the game: opening, middle, and end. If you know the moves but not much else, beg, borrow, or steal this book!

Just learned to play chess? Know how to move the pieces but not much more? Reuben Fine's ten priniciples for the opening, ten for the middle game, and ten for the end game make for a road map to the world of competitive chess. I highly recommend this book to the beginner to intermediate player. It's big on the key strategies and mild on the repetitive examples

As a tournament and club player for many years, this is the book I cut my chess teeth on in the late 60s. Playing up into the expert level(2000+USCF)for a time, this was THE BOOK that was mostly responsibile for getting me to that point. Is the book dated? Only in its formatting; i.e.- the diagrams need to be enlarged and pieces modernized(out of the antiquated Hastings style, but this is only a minor nuisance), and its need to be transcribed out of English descriptive notation(English descriptive is a dead chess language, and may it forever remain so!) into figurine algebraic. Fines principles on the opening, middlegame, and endgame, are superb. If your thinking of getting into chess seriously, there is no better introduction than this book.

If you're an early beguinner you can, very soon and with some training, become a consistant mid-player in chess. If you cannot buy it, stole it. I have lost "Chess the easy way", somewhere in the world, but I am still looking for another one, somewhere. I would like to translate it to the portuguese language.