Chess Player's Bible [Paperback]

James Eade (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2004

Master the art of chess, the game of kings. Learn the key techniques and classic moves of the Chess Master, Including basic and advanced tactics, combinations, sacrifices and pawn structures. This unique visual guide is arranged so that you can quickly identify your problem and locate the appropriate solution. Over 300 examples demonstrate attacking and defensive strategies for the opening, middle and end phase of the game. Each move is accompanied with annotated 3-D illustrations so you can easily follow the game, and the spiral-binding allows you to lay the book flat for ease of reference.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

back cover


* Master the ancient art of chess, the game of kings. Learn the key techniques and classic moves of the chess masters, including basic and advanced tactics, combinations, sacrifices, and pawn structures.



* This unique visual guide is arranged so that you can quickly identify your problem and locate the appropriate solution. Over 300 examples demonstrate attacking and defensive strategies for the opening, middle, and end phases of the game. Each move is accompanied with annotated 3-D illustrations so you can easily follow the moves, and the spiral-binding allows you to lay the book flat for ease of reference.



James Eade has written several books about chess, including the best selling Chess for Dummies. He has been the editor of two chess journals and is a former president of the Chess Journalists of America (CJA). He has won the CJA award for best instructional article, and an honorable mention for best state magazine. He was an executive board member of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) from 1996-1999, and of F.I.D.E. (the international chess organization) from 2000-2002. He is a trustee of the US Charitable Chess Trust. As a player, he was awarded the title of Chess Master by the USCF in 1981 and by F.I.D.E. in 1993. He lives with his wife in Menlo Park, California. --This text refers to the Spiral-bound edition.

About the Author

James Eade has written several books about chess, including the best-selling Chess for Dummies. He has been the editor of two chess journals and is a former president of the Chess Journalists of America (CJA). He has won the CJA award for best instructional article, and an honorable mention for best state magazine. He was an executive board member of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) from 1996-1999, and of FIDE (the international chess organization) from 2000-2002. He is a trustee of the US Charitable Chess Trust. As a player, he was awarded the title of Chess Master by the USCF in 1981 and by FIDE in 1993. He lives with his wife in Menio Park, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Batsford (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0713489251
• ISBN-13: 978-0713489255
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,774,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eade excells in this book!!, May 28, 2006

By 

Bruce Bain "Romans 9:33/Remember Jackie Robinson" (Englewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game (Spiral-bound)

"The Chess Players Bible" -James Eade

Author James Eade seems to be distancing himself from his earlier standard, "Chess For Dummies" and I'm very pleased to see him introduce another beginner's chess book. This one is better by far.

This is a different format from the majority of chess books, for a couple of different reasons. (1) It is spiral bound, so that once you fold the book open, it stays open, and will fold flat for easy study. (2) It is ILLUSTRATED throughout with clear, concise images of the chess board and piece positions, and in COLOR too!

The coverage of OPENINGS is excellent, from the Romantic Openings to the Queeen's Pawn games, etc This is really great material, in its presentation, for easy assimilation by beginners. Because of the novelty of the splendid illustrations, this book receives a special recommendation.

TACTICS: Eade gives good, basic coverage of tactics, and I believe his illustrations help clarify these for beginners.

***About the Author: James Eade***

James Eade is a very STAND UP guy, taking on the entire chess establishment in the USA with charges that the U.S. Chess Federation was being mismanaged and driven to bankruptcy (which it was at the time!). Notwithstanding, EADE was one of three individuals to bail out the USCF when, near financial ruin, USCF could not afford to send a chess team to the OLYMPIADS. EADE is a strong advocate for chess in the Olympics. By any standard, this is a STAND UP guy.

***The Price***

The price is fair, and not excessive, because AMAZON reduces the full retail to $14.95. Even the full retail price of $21.95 is not necessarily excessive, because spiral-bound books are more expensive to produce. In my opinion, most beginner books priced over $20.00, are a rip-off, but that is for 2 specific reasons. Paperbound books are not that expensive to make, so that $21.95 is a "padded" price for a plain paperback. That is not the case here. The second reason a $20.00 book is a rip-off generally, is that paperbacks that are EXCELLENT beginning instruction have been around for years, and often sell for around $9.95, so that many new books are merely endless and mindless REPETITIONS of the same teachings that have been around for over a hundred years.

However, I am recommending Eade's "Chess-Player's Bible" as a fine book, if you are waiting for the next edition. The reason you should wait is that there are some obvious PROOFREADING errors that require correction; for example, this crazy mix up on the endgame study from page 190 where White is supposed to promote the rearward pawn to a Queen:

White K at f4, white pawns at f3 & f2
Black K at f6, WHITE TO MOVE:

1.Ke4 Ke6
2.f4 Kg6??? (only if Black's K moves 2 squares at a time!?)
3.f5 Kf7
4.Ke5 Ke7
5.f6+ Kf7
6.Ke6??? (violates the Rule that says KINGS must stay one square apart. Here, the White K moves right next to Black K, an obvious ILLEGAL move!)
continuing, Black King plays 6. ...Kf8

I don't know the solution to the problem, but the 2 major errors here indicate that the proofreader did not do his work. Please do not mistake the criticism here, because the book is still worth having. Even some of the great classics of chess literature, such as REUBEN FINE's books, contain errors.


The ILLUSTRATIONS are a superb feature, far exceeding most paperbacks, and Eade may be setting a new standard. This book is highly recommended. ---Bruce R. Bain, President, Denver Chess Club

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suitable for about a USCF 1600 rated player too!, April 24, 2005

By 

An improving USCF 1600 Player (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game (Spiral-bound)

I'm about a USCF 1600 (Class B player) and I'm improving from this book because it is suitable for me.

This is why l like this James Eade chess book.
1. This book relies on the chess diagrams, not the chess notation, so learning from this book is easier because it's less confusing. Easy to follow diagrams!
2. I love the spiral form because the book holds flat by itself on a table! It is much better than paper back and hard back form!
3. There are 3D diagrams on key positions on almost every page, so I can easily follow through learning new strategy.
4. This book covers all aspects of the game clearly, TACTICS such as the fork, deflection, pin, overloading, discovery etc, endgame such as opposition, triangulation, basic king pawn endgames, queen vs rook endgame etc. , MIDDLEGAME/ STRATEGY such as making a luft, bad bishop, good bishop, how to make use of your rooks, knights, outposts, pawn islands, pawn chains etc. OPENING it shows you different kinds of opening such as the Silican, Ruy Lopez, French Defense, Queen Pawn opening, how to play the opening such as development, timing, etc.) so I can improve my all around game!

This is why I don't like this book.
1. There are no chess excercises/problems to test your knowledge in the book. This is key to improve and I hope James Eade can add chess excercises/problems to another edition of this book if he writes another edition of this book.
2. There are no 'winning game pointers', such in the other book, The Idiot's Guide for Chess. (Patrick Pointer's) I hope James Eade can add 'winning game pointers' in an another edition if he writes one.


Overall, This book is good.
Why?
1. It has helped me gain about 100 points, (1500 to 1600) in about 4 months.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My dreams of perfect beginner book have become true!, May 7, 2005

By 

Woodpusher (Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game (Spiral-bound)

I thought that a comprehensive book explaining all basic stuff in a lively way would be an impossible task. But Mr. Eade has really made it!

Firstly, I love the 3-D diagrams, the layout of book is more visual as in usual chess books and I must admit it really works! There are first of all all the elementary stuff, rules etc but after that you get ao overview of opening principles, not forgetting the hypermodern approach. There's a section describing openings and their general ideas, there's a section for tactics and strategy.

I'm just overwhelmed of this superb book. James Eade explains some fundamental pawn structures which are typical for specific openings - that's something most beginner books don't do. There's some nice guide for essential endgame stuff, this book is simply the best beginner book availible I think players up to 1800 can benefit most of this book.