Customer Reviews

Every Great Chess Player Was Once a Beginner

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When I was 14 years old (I am now 50) I read this book and, at a time when I was miserable, depressed, doing very badly in school & was almost kicked out of school, it changed everything for me. I read this book, then started playing chess, and over the course of a couple months realized I could do something better than any of my friends, or almost anyone at my school, for that matter. In one year, my life turned around. I joined the chess club, played in a few tournaments, and managed to pull my grades up in the last three years of high school to the point where I managed to scrape my way into Cornell. That - after almost having been kicked out of high school three years earlier - was all due to getting into chess. And this book was responsible for that.

I bought this book new [in 1974] and it has warmed a special place on my bookshelf ever since. This is one of the funniest, clearest written, best annotated books on chess there is. It sounds like it was written for children, and if you have a child....or ever WERE a child, you will see it's charm. However, adults will love this book too. It is both informative and very funny. The illustrations alone are enough reason to own this book, but the every day explanations, such as the one for Discovered Check which involves a little old lady selling flowers in a park.....with a revolver!!!....are enough to slay you.

Tired of dry-as-dirt chess books that lack humor and fail to show the glory of the game? Can't find a chess book that's actually FUN to read (without being dumbed down) and that is entertaining enough to attract both kids and adults alike to the game?

Well then, you just found your book. Run, don't walk, to order it. And the illustrations are excellent, and very funny, in a way that appeals to both adults and kids. Can't recommend this book highly enough.