Learn from Bobby Fischer's Greatest Games [Paperback]

Eric Schiller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2003

The first book about the great AMerican chess champion Bobby Fischer written for the average player-90% of the chess playing audience- Schiller focuses on the lessons players can learn from his games. Packed with diagrams and easy-to-understand pointers showing what fischer was thinking and how players can apply these concepts and strategies to their own games, this great learning tools borrows from the wisdom and beauty of Fischer's greatest games and passes it on to new generations.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Schiller, widely considered one of the world's foremost chess analysts, writers, and teachers, is internationally recognized for his definitive works on chess. Schiller is a National and Life Master of the United States Chess Federation and hold titles of FIDE Master, International Arbiter and International Organzier from the World Chess Federation. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Cardoza (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580421202
• ISBN-13: 978-1580421201
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,903,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid at all costs, February 6, 2004

By 

DriveByKid (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn from Bobby Fischer's Greatest Games (Paperback)

Way too many errors in this book both analytically and historically. The author doesn't seem to know that Max Euwe was once World Champion. He refers to him as a "contender for the world championship." Schiller also writes that Petrosian became world champion in 1966 and lost the title after three years. In fact, Petrosian defeated Botvinnik in 1963 and was world champion for six years. He was the only champ to successfully defend his title (in 1966) since Alekhine.

And the concluding paragraph for one game actually belongs to a game in another chapter.

A very sloppy production.

The author put Bobby Fischer's name on the cover to sell the book and didn't care about content. There is nothing worthwhile here.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, horrible book, June 17, 2006

By 

John T. Adamo Jr. - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learn from Bobby Fischer's Greatest Games (Paperback)

Why doesn't Amazon have a zero star rating, or minus stars?

I have a chess library of close to 200 books, and I'm sure this is the most poorly put together book I've ever seen. It looks as though it had no editor or proof reader at all.

As just one egregious example, I'll address Game 12, The Case Of The Wrong Rook.

First of all, the chapter doesn't indicate who is White or Black. However, all chess publishing uses the convention of listing the player with the white pieces first, as the book properly does in other games. The problem here is that they list Fischer first, but in fact, he is Black in this game.

This mistake would be confusing enough, but the text goes on to treat the game as though Fischer is playing White, such as the following sentence after 7. e3: "This is not a particularly ambitious move. Bobby doesn't seem to be aiming for much in the opening."

It is so obviously wrong. The move was by Byrne, not Fischer. Aside from the fact that most serious chess players know this game well already, it becomes clear later in the game that Fischer is Black, but the writer/editor does not notice the discrepancy. Shortly thereafter, there is another major gaff. After the commentary at move 14. Rfd1, there is the following note: "The problem is that Fischer failed to consider the importance of the pin of the knight at c3 by the bishop at g7 ..."

This is the second instance in this game where Fischer is criticized for making a move Byrne made. If anyone was half awake during the editing, one would think they would start to wonder why this book about learning from Bobby Fischer was repeatedly criticizing his moves.

By move 15, the notes are properly praising Fischer's moves as Black. Still, the editor doesn't notice that he has switched the color of the players in the middle of the game.

It is beyond my comprehension how mistakes this gross could have gotten by. I stopped reading after about a third of the book, but it was riddled with typos, unclear language and other miscellaneous mistakes. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, most of Schiller's books that I've seen are filled with the same, although this is by far the worst. Only his books on the Tarrasch and Caro Kann are well done. The rest were churned out for a quick buck. This is tantamount to stealing the buyer's money.

I find it hard to believe that the few positive reviews on this book are not planted by Schiller and company. This book is absolutely awful. My specific criticisms here only scratch the surface. Let the serious chess student beware of any book by Schiller, or any chess book by Cardoza.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars CAVEAT EMPTOR!!, January 15, 2005

By 

Goodman Delver "slander27" (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn from Bobby Fischer's Greatest Games (Paperback)

The back-cover blurb of LEARN FROM BOBBY FISCHER'S GREATEST GAMES made me wonder what publicist was now working for Cardoza Publishing. Eric Schiller, it states, is "widely considered one of the world's foremost chess analysts, writers, and teachers." This wideness seems to inhabit some dimension apart from the normal three; at least nobody has yet to see anything but negative verdicts on Schiller's work. Edward Winter has noted Schiller's "peerless record for factual howlers, even on the simplest of matters," Carsten Hansen summed up a Schiller book with "I don't have any words to express the degree of disgust I feel," Glenn Budzinski called another "a book that goes beyond bad," while GM Tony Miles assessed still another in merely two words: "Utter junk." SAVE YOUR MONEY. Buy a real book on Fischer's amazing career like Soltis's BOBBY FISCHER REDISCOVERED instead!