How Good Is Your Chess? (Cadogan Chess Books) [Paperback]

Daniel King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1994 | Series: Cadogan Chess Books

Grandmaster Daniel King invites the reader to play through 20 annotated chess master games, guessing the winning side's moves as they go along. Points are awarded or deducted depending on the accuracy of your choice so you can assess your strength of play.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Cadogan Books (May 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857440471
• ISBN-13: 978-1857440478
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,080,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very effective book, July 6, 2003

By 

C. Dunn "independent thinker" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Good Is Your Chess? (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

When I look over a grandmaster game, I don't ask, "Why'd he do that?" Anybody can wave his hands and answer something incontrovertible like, "This move supports the piece on x and prepares for an attack." How helpful is that?

Instead, I ask, "Why didn't he do this other move?" This book makes an effort to answer that question for moves in about 20 master games of the 1990s.

The format is simple and consistent. After each move by the losing side, you are asked to choose your own move. Then you are graded. You get an amount of credit proportional to the strength of your move. If it's a blunder, that is often pointed out as well.

This helps you to learn from your own mistakes. It's far more instructive than most books of annotated games. It's simpler than Nunn's move-by-move book, deeper than Chernev's, and more like actually playing a game since you are only thinking about the moves made by one side.

In a way, the book is similar to Chris Ward's 'It's Your Move', but vastly superior, as this book discusses more alternative moves and far more positions. (Ward's 'Improvers' version, however, is quite good.)

Highly recommend for anyone with a rating between 1500-1700. I have no idea how accurate the rating predictions of the book are, but who cares?

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn Through Enjoyment, September 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: How Good Is Your Chess? (Cadogan Chess Books) (Paperback)

This book contains twenty games played in the 1990s by world-class players (like Shirov, Anand and Kramnik) with questions and points awarded at critical move decisions. GM Daniel King's commentary is entertaining and insightful. In Christiansen-Browne 1990, game 4 entitled "Roll of the Dice," for example, he notes after move 17 "if by some brainstorm you came up with this move, take two points, a couple of tranquilizers, and rest of the week off work" before pointing out the positional considerations involved "the bishop on f4 is the one worth preserving as it is settled on such a good square." I am not claiming, however, this is a comprehensive chess self-improvement course. There is a didactic quality throughout the book but it is not in the style of Nunn's Understanding Chess or Chernev's Logical Chess. Just enjoy the games, watch how the pros do it, and take the rest of the week off work.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars REPRINT HEADSUP !, June 28, 2005

By 

C. Wise "chuck" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Good Is Your Chess? (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

This is indeed an excellent book but it is not NEW. It is a REPRINT of the 1993 CADOGAN book by the same title. I really feel IT SHOULD BE ADVERTISED AS SUCH.