Customer Reviews

Chess Fundamentals, Revised

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

 

 

Chess Fundamentals will help you help the advanced beginner learn numerous fundamental principles with a nice focus on endgame and middle games skills. It will not replace books on getting a "Chess Guide for the Beginner", Tactics, Opening Traps or openings. I did not particularly like the way the Random House edition was done, because it changed some of the meaning of what the author way trying to get across. The "Everyman Press" Alebraic Edition is much better and comes across more clearly with the original intent of Mr. Capablanca.

Appalling. Aside from converting the notation to algebraic, de Firmian's main "contributions" to this new edition are (1) to completely rewrite the chapter on the opening and (2) delete more than half of the games that Capablanca included in HIS book and replace them with games that can be obtained in dozens of other contemporary sources. Is he kidding?

If I wanted to read those games, I would buy a modern book. I bought a book by Capablanca (first published in 1921) because I wanted to read what Capa had to say. Shame on de Firmian for replacing his writing for that of Capa. If he wants to annotate modern games, he should write his own book, not butcher a classic. I recommend the reader interested in Chess Fundamentals to buy the Cadogan Chess edition (ISBN 1857440730) instead.

Editor GM Nick DeFirmian butchered Capablanca's classic chess book--rewritten on page after page with De Firmian's ideas, not Capablanca's. Do not under any circumstances buy this edition: get the edition listed at Amazon as "Chess Fundamentals (Algebraic)". This preserves Capablanca's original text, but with algebraic notation.

I was in a local bookstore and happened across this book. I bought it not paying enough attention to the fact that it was a revised edition. Mr. deFirmian should have written his own book rather than use the name of the great Capablanca in this manner. Both Mr. deFirmian and the publisher should be ashamed.

This is a superbly condensed, logical instruction book that will take your play beyond that of beginner and onto intermediate level. Capablanca was obviously an amzing endgame practitioner, and he rightly illustrates how practice and eventual mastery of simple endgame patterns trains your chess mind in the fundamentals of visualization and calculation--the two skills central to matering tactics and therefore evolving into an effective chess player. Three of the book's seven chapters focus on the endgame, and if you work closely with these chapters, setting out pieces on the board and going through the examples move by move, you'll almost immediately be able to turn any middle game advantage you've accrued into a decisive endgame victory. Just think how many potential victories you've squandered because your opponent either forced a stalemate draw or you blew a chance to queen a pawn because you didn't calculate far enough ahead or know the right technique, and you'll know how important endgame mastery is.

The two chapters on the middlegame aren't as detailed as the chapters on the endgame, but again the foundational principles are laid out in a concise and easily digestible form. They concentrate more on the fundamentals of strategy and positional play than outright material-winning tactics--strategies such as seizing the initiative in a game and gathering your pieces to attack en masse. So I think you'd want to supplement this book with a book that specializes on tactics and has a bunch of puzzles to reinforce the examples.

The chapter on openings has been completely re-written by Nick De Firmian, since this aspect of the game has changed so much sine Capablanca's time. This chapter quite wisely sticks to the basics, going through all the most widely-known and used traditional and modern openings without beoming bogged down in details and variations. This is entirely appropriate for the level this book is pitched at, because it's foolish for a beginning-intermediate player to become too involved in openings and the kind of memorization needed to play through variations. Throughout the book, both Capablanca and De Firmian make it clear that when it comes to openings, stick to what you hopefully already know: develop your pieces and try to seize control of the center of the board.

The twelve illustrative games have again been edited by De Firmian to recognize changes in play since Capablanca's time. Therefore, De Firmian has kept five of the games originally included and commented on by Capablanca, but removed another seven and added seven choices of his own. Again, De Fimian's material reflects modern times; for instance, there's one Fischer-Spassky game and one classic Kasparov-Karpov confrontation. While not quite up to the depth of Chernev's "Logical Chess" as far as move-by-move commentary is concerned, the games are highly instructive and it's not too difficult to follow their genral direction and strategy.

So what do you have all-in-all? An absolutely essential chess instruction book you will not regret buying.

This book seems to have gotten a bad rap from the chess hotshot crowd. I think they are missing the point. This is a great book for a player who doesn't collect chess books, and just wants a little help in playing with friends, family or classmates. Yes, this is something of a collaboration between the great Capablanca and GM De Firmian, but that's OK. They complement each other very well. Capablanca on the endgame is without peer. He has an original and understandable way to describe the middlegame.

De Firmian has done a good job annotating the games in back, giving the reader an overview of some of the greatest games of recent decades. I like the clear way the book is laid out (as can be expected from McKay Chess Library), the small size and nice price. If you only want to own a single chess book, to help you understand what the heck is going on, this would be a good one. Of course if you really want to improve, you need to study tactics by supplementing this with a decent book of chess puzzles, but that's another story.

I second Y Xie's review and would add that there are cases where the descriptive notation is simply wrong. Chapter 3, #17 "Attacking without the Aid of Knights" gives an example of a series of moves resulting in a checkmate, when, in fact, no checkmate results.

The publisher McKay Chess Library deserves its reputation for sloppy work and slipshod editing.

This book is a poor value. It is irksome enough for a student to move through a series of moves line-by-line. Lazy editing does not help matters.

It only gets 2 stars bc of the legend Capablanca. This review doesn't reflect poorly on Capablanca, but on his publishers.

Legendary Grandmaster Jose Capablanca demonstrates his genius by explaining the complexities of chess with the use of exceptionally simple yet practical principles. Updated by 3-Time US Champion Nick de Firmian, this book is a terrific primer for any club level player.

Capablanca and Firmian cover all aspects of the game, yet Capablanca's original content represents the true value. Many chess books provide insight into moves yet when pressed to make the same decisions in your own games, it is often difficult to arrive at the same conclusions, making the strategies often very complicated to duplicate. Capablanca emphasizes principles among the illustrated positions that provide a tangible idea that you can readily utilize in your own games. For example, he explains that in pawn & king end game positions it is important, unless under immediate threat, to always advance the pawn that is free from opposition. Many players unaware of such a principle might sit and study such positions for long lengths of time trying to determine the optimal combinations, yet Capablanca, with such a simple principle, gives you guidance that will immediately improve your foresight.

A significant amount of chess study is required to become successful in club play or beyond, yet few books enhance progress as quick as Chess Fundamentals. I recommend this book to all club level players either as a qualified primer from one of the greatest to ever play or an enhanced understanding to raise the level of your game.

Someone got this for me for my Birthday,as I had just started playing chess,and an actual chess player had recommended it to her. I have tried reading through it three times at this point,and still haven't gotten to the end yet because it's quite confusing to read.
I have learned a few things from this book,but plenty more from just playing chess on my own. If someone can recommend a book that is better written and good for beginners please tell me.

First of all, I bought this book 2 years ago with the intentions of improving my chess game. I was saw it at a local book store, flipped through the pages briefly and glanced at the "chess level meter" on the back cover, which indicated a beginner level.

This is simply not for beginners. I understood the opening principals and the few mating patterns. I memorized how to checkmate with 2 bishops and bishop and knight, which I really thought was neat. The section on when a knight is better than a bishop and when a bishop is better than a knight was good. Also there are a few pawn endings in the beginning of the book worth memorizing.

So why 3 stars?

The book gets too hard. I remember looking at these games with almost useless rook moves and asking myself what is he doing? There was alot I didn't understand, esp in the illistrative games section even with the annotations. The middlegame section was a little incomplete too. I just think that it covers too many topics with not enough material to supplement them. BUT! it is cheap, and after looking over it again (2 years later) it's bang on. So I wouldn't say don't buy it, because for the price, you get alot of good games, with principals for the game itself. If you have 10 bucks to waste, and you're around 1200-1300 rated( not beginner), I'd buy it.