Customer Reviews

Danger in Chess: How to Avoid Making Blunders (Dover Chess)

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I like this book, and at its new Dover edition price, it is a good buy (a very real consideration given the ridiculous price of most chess books). But I am not sure it adds anything important to chess literature. I could say that about any chess book (and my wife certainly would!), but my point is this: it is one of the many chess books that tries to make its point negatively. That is, its examples say, "look, here he didn't see the danger, and lost, etc." There is not corresponding (positive) instruction on how to avoid the danger. Another way of saying this. Say it was a book on war, called "Danger in War." It is full of examples showing, for instance, a soldier standing up instead of crouching in his foxhole. He thus gets wounded or killed. This book says, by using examples in this way, "see, that was dangerous." This is interesting, but I can easily look at my own games and find plenty of examples of me succumbing in dangerous positions. So, why do I need this book? That said, the examples are good, the writing is good, and the chapter titles (thought-related factors, position-related factors) are interesting, but I can't help but wonder why a book like this does not have more instructional content.