Customer Reviews

Chess Player's Bible

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

 

 

"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

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.

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.

The best thing about this book is the pictures. If you have ever tried to read a chess book filled with notation, you will appreciate the pictures in this book. Each set of plays is shown with real pieces on a chess board. The notation is very minimal, but the number of games is amazing. It covers openings, development, endgame, and lots of "how to checkmate" with different pieces. I bought it for my 9-year-old daughter, who has read it cover to cover. She has improved dramatically since she read this book, and both my husband and I have to think HARD to beat her now. (He has actually lost a few, and she stalemated me once.) None of us are true chess experts, but certainly for improving from total beginner to an adequate/good player, this is a very, very nice book.

My problem with this book is that it tries to do too much. Almost every page really requires something like a chapter in a book, if not a whole book. For example, Rook King endings, simple right? I am a beginner and it took me a few hours to get a good feel for how to execute a checkmate properly, and I expect there would be a similar situation for most other beginners. The section with openings also, for example, going through one line as shown really won't do much to increase ones chess knowledge, each of these probably will take someone smart at least an hour, and studying several lines to begin to get a grasp on. There is for all purposes an almost infinite complexity in chess, anyd any book that tries to cover most of the dimensions in a page is not going to succeed. To be fair I can imagine how the book could be utilized effectively by a stronger tournament player, I just think it tries to do the impossible, there isn't enough space or time.

Bought as a gift for someone who just started playing the game. Good starting guide and reference book for the future.

A very informative book on how to play chess and well illustrated. Two Thumbs Up!