Customer Reviews

50 Essential Chess Lessons

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Steve Giddins books seem to hit on some of the most important themes for players to learn and improve their ability to understand and play chess better. Gidden's two books, "50 Essential Chess Lessons" and "101 Chess Traps" being my two favorite Giddins books.
In Giddins "50 Essential Chess Lessons" he selects one or two important themes that he is trying to get across. There is exceptional clarity of thought brought onto paper! Mr. Giddins uses a lot of original games, not easy to find (or impossible to find) elsewhere. This is an excellent book for an intermediate player wanting to improve their overall understanding of chess.

<50 Essential Chess Lessons,> by Steve Giddins

When a friend suggested that I take a look at this book, I thought: "Oh great, yet another book aimed at the beginner." Yet this friend persisted - so I scanned the book at the local bookshop. I liked it so much that I purchased a copy for the local chess club. (We raffle off a free chess book at our local tournaments now.) I am also a chess master and teach chess for a living ... so I like to think that I know a thing or two about this subject.

First the basics. The publisher - Gambit Books - does nothing but chess. A solid book, flex cover, firm binding, acid-free pages with minimal 'bleed through,' excellent diagrams, (several per page); and top-notch editing. {You probably won't ever buy a real clunker from this publishing house.}

I thought that this was a good book, but when I got it home, I discovered that I was wrong. To quote Tony the Tiger, its GRRRRREAT!! (I gave it five stars, even though I had said I was not going to do this any more ... I try to save this for exceptional books. Well, maybe this is one of those cases.)

Why? Well let me explain. Most of the time when I recommend a book, some players will complain that "the book's subject matter is over my head," or that "it drowns me in a sea of variations." Not here, think of this as a "Nunn-LITE" book, the main emphasis is on teaching and explanation, and NOT on variations! (Much like Irving Chernev, although this book is in algebraic, of course!)

A Grand-Master once told me (many years ago) that there were only three proven ways to get better. One study method he said was to study COMPLETE master-level games, this book follows that edict to the letter. Fifty (50) nicely annotated games. (I had seen most of the games in this volume before, but the average player will not be familiar with the large percentage of these masterful struggles.)

I would say the main target group would be 1200 - 1799, although players on both ends of this spectrum should enjoy this volume. (I did, and my USCF rating is over 2200.)

There are 50 entries organized into five sections. (Attacking the King, Defence, Piece Power, Pawn Structure and End-Game themes.) All of these are highly instructional and annotated with lots of explanations and entertaining verbiage. For example, Game # 16, (Short-Timman, Tillburg; 1991); can be found on my website. But the player rated below 2000 will DEFINITELY want to review this game with Giddin's polished notes ... it will open many of the secret doors of chess knowledge for you. (Many of the themes and ideas that I commonly try to teach my students in the first 1-2 years are covered by Giddins in his analysis of these 50 instructive contests.)


I "fritzed" about five of these games with the computer, I found NO noticeable mistakes of any kind. I can offer no honest criticisms of this volume. ADVICE: I will note that the serious student will want to use a general reference work on the opening, (like MCO-14); when studying this book, just to see for themselves what the best lines are. (And to familiarize yourself with opening theory.) Additionally, the serious student should use a strong computer program to analyze these games, the author does not even try to examine every tactical possibility ... this would be impossible in a book of this size. (156 pages)

If you enjoy this book and get a lot out of it, then you may want to check out Neil McDonald's book, "Chess, The art of logical thinking," (from the first move to the last); by GM Neil McDonald.

In closing, this is a first-rate book, and I highly recommend it. I am certain that the average player will get a lot out of close study of this work, several of my on-line students recommend this volume to all of their friends. (The author is not one of the most well-known in the chess market, but perhaps this is about to change!)

This is one of the best books that uses games as lessons. As a couple of the reviews have pointed it it may not have every move analyzed, but then this is not a book for a lower rated chess player, so it not so critical here.
What is nice is that "50 ESSENTIAL CHESS LESSONS" selects many important themes and is clear and understandable. Among the numerous books using games as lessons, this book is one of the best!

I have another book authored by Steve Giddins in my library, How to build your chess opening repertoire. That book impressed me - Giddins clearly possesses both a fluent writing style, and a rare knowledge of Russian chess literature and training methods. In this latest book, based around fifty instructive annotated games, there is again a nice proportion of original material sourced from Russian origins.
The content is split into five categories - Attacking the King, Piece Power, Pawn Structure and so on. There is a good amount of prose explanation to each game, and the emphasis is very much focused on what practical lessons are to be learned. The selection of games is a mixture on contemporary classics and some fascinating older games that I would wager few enthusiasts have seen before.
I have to confess I do gain a great deal of pleasure playing through a well-annotated games collection like this one. You know you are working out on all aspects of your game - openings, middlegames and endings. I wholeheartedly recommend this book as a rich source of inspiration and fresh ideas.

I was very impressed with this book when I read it. It is very instructive for any player beyond the beginning stage and is written in a manner that is like having a master with you to explain what is going on in the game.The author avoids going into any detailed analysis in order to fully explain the ideas in the game.
The games are chosen for their instructive value in illustrating the theme under discussion. In a way, the book is reminiscent of Chernev's "The Most Instructive Chess Games Ever Played." But, I consider this book to be even better.
The serious student of the game cannot go wrong in purchasing this book and by reading it will gain greatly in understanding.

Giddins writes in a clear and accessible manner for players who know the basics of the game, and are familiar with basic opening strategy--the games begin their annotation after the 5th or 6th moves. The games are generally contemporary, so expect to find openings popular today (Sicilians, Kings Indians, and Nimzo-Indians for example). Also, Giddins worked hard to include games that are less well known (so you will most likely see something new), and he also included some real gems from little known (but incredibly strong) Soviet/Russian games. (This is an area in which Giddins has special knowledge.)

If you enjoy playing through annotated games, I just do not see you going wrong with this book. It is more advanced than Chernev's The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played, but definitely focuses on practical aspects of the game. My impression is that Giddins was interested in writing a book that contains insights that you can use, instead of just trying to get another chess book out.

The book is divided into five main sections: Attacking the King (3 games), Defence (4 games), Piece Power (10 Games), Pawn-Structure (25 games), Endgame Themes (8 Games). Additionally, this book is not simply list after list of variations; instead you will find that there is a good amount of explanations of the ideas behind key moves. His comments about middle-game pawn structures, for example, have opened my eyes, and I'm now avoiding some mistakes I had been making.

Giddins pays tribute to the work of Irving Chernev in his forward, clearly stating that the idea for this type of work came from his early exposure to Chernev. Like Chernev, Giddins is a joy to read, so if you like the works of Chernev, as do I, you will probably enjoy this book as well.

This book has 50 games with 50 lessons to boot. Mr Giddins annotates the games with minimal lines and a lot of verbal explanations explaining the strategies, and what the players are trying to do in the game. It follows chernevs 100 best games of chess, and contains more modern games. Since Mr. Giddins is an expert on unknown russian chess games, there are a lot of those annotated in the book as well. I preferred chernev's 100 games over this book as it had a lot nicer games and in larger quantity, but this book contains some hard to find russian games that I found nice. It is good for the improving player to go over these games as well as other books, such as Rubinsteins 100 chess games by kmoch and Capablanca's games by Reinfeld.

Steve Giddins has authored an exceptional games collection. First, the games themselves are obviously very carefully chosen for their instructive value. There is a great mix of older and newer games, a broad selection of openings, and a large number of important chess concepts covered. Secondly, the notes to the games are of consistently excellent quality. Giddins treads the fine line between overgeneralized advice and overly long and complex analysis brilliantly. Time and time again I was impressed by how clearly and simply he explained topics like how to play with and against hanging pawns, how to cope w/ other pawn structures, how to defend, how to attack, and many other basic strategies. As far as what strength of chess player would benefit most, I would say that this would be an excellent choice for someone beyond the beginner stage who has already worked through tactics primers and a more basic games book like "Logical Chess Move by Move" by Chernev. You would definitely get more out of more advanced collections like Nunn's "Understanding Chess Move by Move", or most biographical games collections if you went through a book or two at this level first. More advanced players, say from USCF 1400-1800 or so, would probably get their money's worth too, but for most players much above this, the analysis and opening theory will not be in depth enough. Are there any flaws? A few, no doubt, but nothing to really reduce the instructional value. For example, he will sometimes pass over a weak move by the defending side without comment, not pointing out how a stiffer or even saving defense could have been put up. And not all of his analysis will stand up to a computer's scrutiny. But these are just quibbles, not significant flaws, and I can highly recommend this collection to the improving chess player.

This was an excellent book to work through. As I stated in the review title this book was a just a bit over my head. But not enough over my head that I didn't enjoy it or get something from it. This is a book that I will definitely go to again in a year or so. I imagine I will pick up even more from it then.

I think it is okay to study a little bit of material that is just out of your grasp. It gives me something to aspire to anyway. If you study too much chess material that is a little out of bounds or that is all you study then you might be asking for trouble. Anyway, great book, great games, well written and well constructed. Highly recommended! Gambit really does turn out high quality books. I am talking about the construction of the book itself. They are meant to be used and built to last!

This book is very hard to read. It is also inaccurate and hard to follow. I want to get a refund on this book.