16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better the second time through, October 24, 2004
This review is from: Chinese Chess for Beginners (Paperback)
This book was not only an excellent introduction to the game, but after playing a number of games (and even winning some!) I found that I learned almost as much the second time through. The chief value of the book is the annotated games, but there are also some basic mating exercises that are helpful as well. It is also helpful if you have played Int'l Chess before as Mr. Sloan addresses some of the issues those players might have making the transition (e.g. the relative weight of material superiority). Even if you splurge for David Li's "Syllabi" down the road, this is still a worthwhile investment for the absolute beginner.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent introduction to an interesting game, April 14, 2008
This review is from: Chinese Chess for Beginners (Paperback)
Chinese Chess or Xiangqi is an interesting, fast-paced variant of Chess: similar enough to be fairly easy to learn, yet different enough to be interesting even to those thoroughly bored by Western Chess. It's clearly a game worth exploring, but books on the game are rather rare and hard to come by. Sloan's book is from 1980s and slightly dated, but the game hasn't changed, of course, so the lessons contained are still valid.
To be honest, the book could certainly be better. It does cover everything necessary: it introduces the pieces, explains the rules, explains strategy, has sample games... All good and well, yet the presentation could be clearer, the text a tad more captivating and I would really prefer if the sample games were included in their entirety. Still, it works, and to those who prefer reading books to reading web pages, this is still worth considering.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sam Sloan's unfairly neglected "Chinese Chess for Beginners", March 15, 2010
This review is from: Chinese Chess for Beginners (Paperback)
This is an indispensable book for all wishing to learn Chinese Chess or to improve their game. There are so few books on Xiangqi (also romanized as Xiang Qi or Hsiang-K'i)available in English that any serious American player will end up purchasing all of them eventually, but I'll bet none will subsequently discard their copy of "Chinese Chess for Beginners" by Sam Sloan. I was already an experienced player of Xiangqi when I came across a copy of Sloan's book, but there were enough eye-opening tidbits that I went through it again immediately--then promptly bought a second copy so I could lend "Chinese Chess for Beginners" to friends interested in learning to play Xiangqi, but keep a copy on hand for ready reference.
I notice that "Chinese Chess for Beginners" has received a couple of unfair, negative and uninformed reviews, which might discourage interested readers--readers who might really benefit from Sloan's book before they proceeded to one of the more comprehensive introductions to the game by H. T. Lau, David H. Li, or another overview such as Tony Hosking's. Rather than add to the book's already detailed positive reviews, let me address the most patently unfair criticisms.
First, even though it will be necessary for continuing players to learn the Chinese characters used on the pieces, most especially if they plan to play online, Sloan does NOT employ any Chinese characters, but uses standard Western abbreviations throughout--such as R for rook, K for king--in all his diagrams. The reviewer who was "not impressed" that "Chinese Chess for Beginners" demanded "a knowledge of the symbols used in Chinese Chess" was clearly confusing Sloan's book with another.
Secondly, the reviewer who complained about Sloan's "use of a notation system that relies on relative data" clearly has not pursued his study of Xiangqi beyond Sloan's book. It might seem regrettable, but actually most other books in English--and ALL books in Chinese--use the descriptive system disparaged here. Such an assessment is all the more unfair, since Sloan does discuss the relative merits of each notation system, and makes clear at the outset why he is embarking on a choice which might at first seem difficult, but is in fact the only way to prepare a beginner for future study of Xiangqi.
In the abstract I'd give it 4 stars, because the book does have its faults, which in my opinion are inconsequential weighed in the balance of its many merits. But I'm giving "Chinese Chess for Beginners" by Sam Sloan 5 stars here, to compensate for the mistaken or malicious ratings given to it on Amazon by other reviewers.
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