Customer Reviews

Chess Openings: Traps And Zaps (Fireside Chess Library)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

The idea of chess traps books is absolutely great!!! You don't want to memorize a bunch of traps, you don't want to make "inferior" moves to set up a trap only to find your opponent sees through it and you end up with a rotten sitiuation. But learning tactics by seeing what is going on "before" the tactical trap and being able to avoid them and be able to execute them, as "sound" tactics considering both the tactics and positional situation is important.
Now you ask: why then just two stars for this book? Why does'n't this book tell you about the moves before the trap? It is limited to just one trap per page by design. And, the learning of the openings, explaining the ideas behind the opening moves is just not covered, when it could be. I would like my book to not just give a bunch of moves, then boom... a trap!!! - following a move with a ?? (but what should have been played? - simply not covered most of the time). This book lacks detail when it could have that. So, make each trap two pages! What a much better book that would be.
Also, this book is just plaged with errors in analysis and typos. To point just how fast it starts look at DIAGRAM 1. I was asking where the Black Knight on "f6" went - it disapeared from the board!! There should be a Knight on "f6" - how could a typo starting with the first diagram be missed? Then that leads you to wonder about the rest of the book.
I just got this book and now wonder: is there a book on chess traps that is well rounded as far as the openings it covers, explains the ideas behind moves before the traps, and is accurate? This one misses in all of these respects.

I just discovered you need to buy both "Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps" both number one and two to get all of the traps in both 1e4 and 1d4 openings covered. Then I found almost nothing is said about the moves before the trap, most often not where the blundering player went wrong, and even worse, what should have been done!
I think a book on traps should show cover the moves from the beinning to the end of the trap! That is telling you where someone went wrong and then what was correct in its place.
Another problem is lets say a trap happens on move 7 and then all of the same moves are used but the trap then happens on move 12, an entire page is taken up for each. Why not show within one or two pages both? It just uses up more space that is paid for with paper.
The only book I have found that takes my suggestions is "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors". It only has 64 traps shown, but has hundreds of traps when you add the traps on the side variations shown, and is all in one book instead of taking up two books.
I have bought all of the Opening Chess Traps Books. I also like "101 Opening Traps" to get a lot of 1 d4 openings not covered in any of the other books (so if you are a 1 d4 player then I also reocmment this trap book even if it doesn't cover ideas before the actual trap like I have suggested).
Learning Openings should be done by understanding the ideas behind the moves. Not set up "cheap traps", not "memorizing" moves. So books on traps should serve four purposes,

1. Learn the tactics in the openings you want to play.
2. Learn tactics and see how they are set up and used in the first place.
3. Learn when you can use a trap.
4. Learn when to avoid a trap.

Actually, to get it all, you should still actually get this book even though I just give it two stars along with it's "More" book and "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" and, "101 Opening traps". If for anything, every book on traps if FUN to go over!

Something is really lacking out there. A good book that covers in detail the ideas behind the most important themes found in chess traps. A book with a good number of diagrams that uses learning the opening with good quality accurate analysis.
This book, though ok, doesn't fit the bill - nor as of this date have I found such a book (Chernev's Winning Chess Traps is outdated and has limited explanations and lots of mistakes).
Pandolfini's attempt to fill the void here has mostly failed. Not enough explanation along with this being more of "here is the positions and solve it". You can get that from many simple tactics books.
However, nontheless this book does have its good points. It provides practical trap problems that occur in real games - a few forgivable inaccuracies and typos - but that is ok!

For starts I would like to say that CHESS OPENINGS: Traps and Zaps is one of two books you need by the same author before you get all the openings covered. This book only covers double king pawn openings, which in my opinion do have some of the most important opening tactics to learn from.

For a second point learning tactics in the opening is important. Learning the "typical" types of tactics that you will come across in the openings you use is an important part of learning the "ideas behind your openings". A CHESS TRAP book should assist you in learning your openings better and improving your tactics. The purpose of using a book on traps is not to learn to set up cheapo tricks that will get you into trouble if your opponent sees through it, but to learn how to avoid traps and to learn solid tactics.

Here is the main problem with CHESS OPENINGS: Traps and Zaps (including the second volume): It provides little analysis and often none at all before the trap (tactic) is reached. Then even after the trap (tactic) the analysis is still lacking in quantity and quality. Don't you find it irritating when a question mark is given to move, but it doesn't tell you why the move is bad, and it doesn't tell you what should have been done? As part of the learning process wouldn't you like a little information on the opening itself - though this isn't the main job of a Traps Book a few notes along the way would take little space.

The author FORCES each trap to fit onto one page with one diagram. I personally would prefer more diagrams. But, often an opening trap/tactic cannot be done justice by requiring it to all fit onto one page.

Now will a good opening trap book be helpful in improving your knowledge of tactics and openings? You bet it will be as long as you don't use inferior moves to set up those traps which are cheapo traps. However, there is a serious problem when the book doesn't tell you by giving solid analysis the moves early on in the opening, and where inferior moves are made and the alternate improvement.

First, a few points that one won't find included in the book description:
- The book only covers double king pawn openings.
- A large number of the 202 positions arise from questionable opening play by both sides.
- The book is riddled with printing errors.

I purchased this book a number of years ago when I first started studying chess. At that time, I didn't understand much about chess openings and the idea of setting traps appealed to me. Imagine - being able to dupe my opponent and obtain a winning position after only eight or nine moves! What I didn't understand was that this is not good chess. I was mislead by the glint and glitter of a quick knockout - and this book served as an all-too-willing enabler. What I didn't understand was that the opening is a prelude to the positional struggle of the middlegame. Hence, all opening moves should be orchestrated with one's middlegame plan in mind. Setting traps rarely fall into line with these plans - in fact they are often the equivalent of positional suicide. Of course, Pandolfini understands this and to his credit he constantly reminds the reader to adhere to the dogma of basic opening principles such as develop pieces toward the center, castle the king to safety, etc. He offers up some of these tips for playing the opening in the introduction. It's in his justification for writing this book - his "crime and punishment" approach - that Pandolfini begins to wander. He says that beginners often make elementary mistakes in the opening and it is important to recognize these mistakes and punish accordingly. This is all well and good for playing against your cousin at the family get together. But what happens if the opponent doesn't play the horrible chess illustrated in this book? It is with regard to this question that it can be concluded that a developing player's time is better spent understanding the ideas of the given opening rather than looking for ways to enact Pandolfini's "crime and punishment" methods. Armed with just this book as a guide against even a semi-conscious opponent one would be left to wander through a middlegame with slim prospects of obtaining an advantage since the important "why's" of the opening moves have not been understood. I believe that recognition of opening errors will increase if one attempts to understand the positional aspects of each opening - removing the need for studying such a book.

Taking the book as strictly a collection of tactical puzzles is a weak attempt at redemption - one could throw a dart into a bookstore and hit a better tactics book. The tactical themes which are represented have no accompanying description so the beginner will most likely be unsatisfied. For the more advanced player the fact that each position has a prompt for the tactical device to be employed reduces the realism of each "puzzle" and therefore its effectiveness at increasing tactical vision.

The number of errors in the book is completely unacceptable. Going through the book it became a game to count the mistakes in both diagrams and text - a quick scan of the first twenty positions revealed four mistakes. Now, I don't know what kind of editing staff Simon and Schuster are employing but a twelve year old who just learned the game could have caught most of these mistakes. Pandolfini should have at least reviewed his book before it went into full production. Personally, I would be embarrassed if a book bearing my name had an error in the very first diagram (!).

For the sake of not making this a completely negative review I would like to mention that the quotes which were occasionally included in the explanations accompanying each position added some color and stand out as one of the book's few positive points.

A final note - the opening line of the book description found on the back cover reads: "In the first completely instructional book ever written on chess openings, National Master Bruce Pandolfini teaches players how to take charge of the game's crucial opening phase." That's quite a tall claim - "first completely instructional book ever". Reuben Fine must be rolling over in his grave since his "Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" predates this book's weak attempt at "opening instruction" by over fifty years.

That Pandolfini is capable of quality work is evident by his monthly "Solitaire Chess" column in "Chess Life" magazine - in my opinion he just missed the mark with this book.

If you learn chess traps from the prospective of not trying to set up cheapo traps by using inferior moves then you are on the right track. Traps will teach you the tactical parts of the openings and help you learn the openings.

I was rather diapointed when there were moves that were played that were very weak and the book doesn't tell you why or show you what should have been done. There is little analysis in the book, and when it is given it is usually well into the game where the trap is being used - too late to know how to avoid it and where did the player go wrong and why is not covered!

There are some serious mistakes in the analysis in several traps. There one good point - there are a lot of traps covered, but you are largely on your own to figure things out.

This was one of the first books I purchased just after joining the Army many years ago. It will show you a few tricky openings but will do nothing to improve your understanding of the game. If you want a book that has the potential to advance your knowledge of the game then this is not what you are looking for. At least 90% of chess books don't teach you anything and were just thrown together to make money. This book was published by Fireside Chess Library. Fireside published many terrible chess books so buyer beware.

If you click on my name you will get my personal information and see a recommended study list. I put together this list of books and software with only one thing in mind...to improve your game without wasting your money. If you want to get better at chess this list will give you the most bang for your buck.

A lot of reviewers are unfairly criticizing this book. Okay, you have to understand what kind of a book this is and the purpose you bought it for before you start knocking it like so many reviewers have done. This is not a book that pretends to teach you in depth strategy or how to win in the middlegame or endgame, it simply gives you some tricks that could be helpful in king pawn openings. Double King Pawn openings occur a lot, so there are plenty of chances to use these tricks or the fundamental ideas behind them. It's just something to add in your chess arsenal that can make you a more dangerous player. And contrary to what other reviewers have been saying, a lot of these types of positions actually do come up during leisurely chess games. If they don't than you are probably a tournament chessplayer who shouldn't be reading this in the first place. Obviously if you want to get good at chess, you shouldn't be looking for all the answers in a book anyway, you have to play a lot and gain knowledge through experience. This book knows what it is and doesn't try to be any more.

My father (an avid fisherman) used to say to me "Son, there are two types of fishing lures - One type is designed to catch fish, the other type is designed to catch fishermen". This book is a near shameless attempt to market useless information at unsuspecting new players who don't really know what it is they need to learn. These 'traps and zaps' type books are designed more to separate you from your hard earned dollars with snazzy marketing promises than they are designed to teach you anything usefull.

Pandolfini gives really unlikely positions where your opponent would have had to commit a string of gross blunders, and then asks you to find the 'winning move'. I suppose that this book may have some small amount of tactical merit (emphais on small), but it does a poor job at that and really does almost nothing to teach the student about how to open a chess game.

If you are new to chess, study simple tactical patterns first, and then learn some introductory positional play and basic endings. Microsoft press publishes a fine 'winning chess' series that is well written and instructive - and will do far more for the novice player than anything that Pandalphini has ever published could.

The majority of Pandalphini's works should only be handled with a pair of 40 foot tongs and a radiation suit. He and Eric Schiller are chief contenders for the crown of 'Most Shameless, Misleading, and Least Value Providing Chess Instruction of the Decade'.

A number of the examples require your opponent to make such a bad move that the situation is unlikely to happen; or if he's that weak, you would likely win anyway without studying the book. Some of the examples are useful as real traps that can occur. The well known Petroff's Defence trap for instance. The examples are given 1 per page in classic Pandolfini style which makes each idea easy to study. One may find the attacking tactics, especially how to spot a weakness useful. This book involves an number of the most popular e pawn openings only.