Customer Reviews

The King in Jeopardy (Comprehensive Chess Course Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is clearly written, and covers many of the fundamental ideas behind successfully launching an attack against an enemy king. The Author has selected many classic games that do a good job of illustrating the basic principles that set an attack up for success instead of failure (how to open up the center to get at un uncastled king, sacrificing plays to open up a castled king with few or poor defenders, etc...).

At just over 200 pages, using reasonably large font, this book is a managable size for someone seeking an introduction to the mysteries of systematically attacking the king. The drawback to this is that, while the games often beautifully illustrate the ideas and principles for conducting an attack, this book really is an introduction. For the best treatment of attacking the king, ART OF ATTACK by Vladimir Vulkovic (everyman chess publishing) it the undisputed source for becoming a master of the kingside attack. As it is much larger, it more thouroughly covers what THE KING IN JEOPARDY does, and touches on many additional, important issues. However, THE KING IN JEOPARDY is a fine book to jump in with and start adding some really exciting battles to your chess game. Last thought: Both these books require a good introductory knowledge of tactics in order to reap their rewards. If you are new to tactics in chess then I would suggest either CHESS TACTICS FOR THE TOURNAMENT PLAYER (same author) or WINNING CHESS TACTICS by Yasser Sierrawan, before launching into this book.

This book is better than its predecessor in the series, Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player, which I reviewed previously. However, given the particularly low bar set by Chess Tactics, that still means King in Jeopardy is still a pretty weak book. Some observations:

* The collection of games and positions was HIGHLY unoriginal. In fact, in 247 pages, there were only FIVE games which I had not seen previously.

* The book in general consists of a series of vague generalities. For example, on p99, the authors pose all of the following incredibly interesting questions, "When should the attack involve pawns, and when should it be led without them? Can we determine the proper role of pawns in an attack with kings castled on the same side? Is there a strategic basis for determining correct attacking methods?" Their reply to all of these questions - and I am quoting IN FULL here - "The character of an attack is determined by the nature of the position." They even italicize this sentence for emphasis; apparently they think this is some brilliant insight. Duh! Very helpful, thanks.

* Comments are still ridiculously scarce for many of the games. Concrete variations are even more scarce. Several of the games lack even ONE variation or alternative move.

* Analysis is always superficial, and sometimes incorrect. For example, in Alekhine-Asztalos (p175), we are told "42.Nxf7! 1-0 (42....Qxf7 43.Bd3+ Qg6 44.Qf8!)." Well, that evaluation appears to have been uncritically copied from Alekhine's Best Games book. But in fact, this analysis is incorrect. Chess Life (May 1993) showed that the correct move is 42.Nf3! and 42.Nxf7 merits a ? not a !.

* In some cases essential analysis is missing altogether. One of the most debated moves in chess (17....Rxf2 in Bird-Morphy, p198) is given a !? without comment or analysis.

* Commentary when provided is as vague as the rest of the writing. Page 128 rambles on for three paragraphs about the position after White's 28th move in the game Euwe-Keres. The three paragraphs contain absolutely nothing of value. The three questions to take away from the position are: who stands better? (Black) why? (The square e4 is weak, Black can quickly mass all his pieces for an attack, and the White queen is out of play on c4) what should he do about it? (improve the position of his pieces to go on the attack). The authors attempt to answer only the third question, and don't answer even that one particularly clearly.

Conclusion: You will not learn very much from this book.

I love this whole series. (I ignore the first two books of the series, which are for rank beginners to learn the moves. Start with the Tactics book, then Attacking the King, then Chess Strategy, and Endgame Facts.) A simple four volume course to play chess at the expert (1700) level. Listen, I am not the most talented chess player, and was 1100 on the ICC for months, losing to my friends. I decided to study or to stop playing. I read Silman, Nimzovitch, others and none helped; it was too hard for a dummy like me. This was my last-ditch effort (I figured it worked for school kids in Russia, and I was OK at homework.) It worked. By the time I was through volume 2, I was 1600+. I am in volume 3, so the full impact should go to 1700, as promised in the ads :) A simple effective chess intro. This, and Fred Reinfeld's combo books for practice are all you need to get pretty good at chess, then move on to other skills -- leaving a good chess game in your back pocket for fun now and then :) I only gave this book 4 stars because, of the series, its the most dull, and kind of meanders on the point sometimes. Less like a scheduled lesson, and more like a collage of king-attack examples. I found myself drifting off at times. But its an invaluable part of a GREAT course.

For someone looking for a good book on tactics, this one is clear and direct. It talks about one thing: attacking and defending the king. The specifics, though, are easily applied to broader chess situations.

I didn't go through the rest of Alburt's CCC Series books (though I read and liked his 300 Positions). I'm right around 1600 USCF. I don't expect King in Jeopardy to be as comprehensive as Vukovic's book, but it's still pretty disappointing. The advice given is very basic (e.g., try not to move pawns in front of your king); the analysis, variations and quizzes are at a much higher level. You can argue that that's how chess is -- it's all about calculation -- but then, why not get a book on problems?

THIS BOOK IS VERY GOOD, AND PROBLEM WITH YOUR KING.AND ITS A EASY BOOK FOR BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDATE.