How to Cheat at Chess: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Chess, but Were Afraid to Ask [Paperback]

William Roland Hartston (Author), Bill Tidy (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994

Expose of chess-players' manners tells you everything you wanted to know about the game but were afraid to ask - and perhaps a few things more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Cadogan Books (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857440994
• ISBN-13: 978-1857440997
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,407,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humor much needed by serious players, May 3, 2000

By 

Bill Smythe (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Cheat at Chess: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Chess, but Were Afraid to Ask (Paperback)

Chapter 1 is entitled But You Can't Cheat at Chess. Yet tournament players will recognize some of the dirty tricks recommended here, and practiced by occasional opponents, in competitions. Chapter 4, entitled Friendly Games, consists entirely of the admonition "There is no such thing as a friendly game of chess." The full-length Chapter 5, "Friendly" Games, sets the record straight. The book suggests playing in the center or on the wings, depending on whether your opponent's eyes are far apart or close together, and deep in your opponent's territory or close to home, depending on whether he has long or short arms. At one point the author recommends the move Pawn to King's Rook Three-and-Three-Fourths, so that it can be j'adoubed back to the third rank if it turns out to be vulnerable on the fourth. The penultimate chapter describes how to be a chess journalist, by applying such hackneyed annotations as "Note how naturally White's moves flow from the characteristics of the position" to a ridiculous move played in the middle of a ridiculous game. This book is not for serious competitors, but for those with a sense of humor. It's hilarious.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great deal of fun to read., March 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Cheat at Chess: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Chess, but Were Afraid to Ask (Paperback)

Loved it! This isn't really a chess book but a humor but a humor book about chess. Although it does teach something on how to cheat at chess, the most important thing in the book are the jokes, which might sometimes be a bit stupid but are always very funny. Read the chapter on friendly games

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo!, January 3, 2006

By 

Antony Witheyman (Classified) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Cheat at Chess: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Chess, but Were Afraid to Ask (Paperback)

Ideal for cowardly, dishonest chess players.