Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors [McKay Chess Library for Kids] [Paperback]

Robert M. Snyder (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

In Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors, game master Robert M. Snyder takes games played by the world’s best players–including Bobby Fischer, Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky–and creates lessons designed for rapid game improvement. Targeted at 8-13-year-olds, this book explains the ideas behind every move in a format that both the advanced beginner can understand and the intermediate player can greatly benefit from. As he did in his best-selling Chess for Juniors, Snyder provides clear step-by-step instruction in clear language. He applies the lessons learned by the greats to the games that every student plays.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors, game master Robert M. Snyder takes games played by the world?s best players?including Bobby Fischer, Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky?and creates lessons designed for rapid game improvement. Targeted at 8-13-year-olds, this book explains the ideas behind every move in a format that both the advanced beginner can understand and the intermediate player can greatly benefit from. As he did in his best-selling Chess for Juniors, Snyder provides clear step-by-step instruction in clear language. He applies the lessons learned by the greats to the games that every student plays.

About the Author

ROBERT M. SNYDER is a highly regarded chess educator and well-known personality in scholastic chess circles. He has introduced chess to over 160,000 children through school presentations and his "Chess for Juniors" television show. His students have won first place 35 times in championship sections at National Scholastic Chess Championships. His school and club teams have won first place 10 times in championship sections at National Scholastic Chess Championships. His previous book, Chess for Juniors, is a bestseller in chess literature.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Random House Puzzles & Games (November 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081293511X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812935110
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,039,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

680 of 684 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning TECHNIQUE in complete games - Best way to improve!, November 6, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors [McKay Chess Library for Kids] (Paperback)

Mr. Snyder two books, "Unbeatable Chess Lessons For Juniors" and then the sequel "More Unbeatable Chess For Juniors" take you through 24 complete games per book. These are turned into excellent lessons (used by Mr. Snyder in his private lessons through the internet and face to face for many years) where each move is analyzed. A nice focus is the TECHNIQUE used to accomplish victory. When called for the actual plans are broken down in the analysis pointing out weakness and then a step by step analysis of the planning process. Lets take a look an a major example taken from an endgame in one of the games titled "Planning Ahead" - the author writes,

"White's plan consists of the following ideas (not necessarily in the exact order that they are caried out),"
1. Whie will make sure that his KIngside Pawns are secure against any threats by Black's Bishop. This may require placing the Kingside Pawns on the same color as his Bishop, which may be a drawback; however, it will prevent Black's Bishop from attacking then in the absence of White's King.
2. White will move his King towaard Black's weak isolated Queenside Pawns. The King can easily threatn them from the White squares and can aid in the creation and support of a White Queenside passed Pawn.
The author goes on with two more (3. & 4.) parts of his step by step ideas behind the planns as well. This is just a small example of the detail and quality of the lessons you will find in Mr. Snyder's books. Mr. Snyder is not one of these authors who has a new book coming out every couple of months. His recent books have only come out at the rate of about one a year, showing he puts in the time for a quality job.

Within the games you will be asked to "find the best move here". This forces the reader to get the old brain working and think! A nice aspect of the writing style.

Some of the themes in the games covered are:
ATTACK AND DEFENSE OF AN EXPOSED KING (the King Hunt!)
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A WEAK OPENING
OPENING UP LINES AGAINST THE CASTLED KING
PLANNING AHEAD (setting things up well in advance)
BUILDING A KINGSIDE ATTACK
UNDERSTANDING THE OPENING
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AN UNSOUND SACRIFICE
OPENING STUDY: RUY LOPEZ
AWESOME USE OF MINOR PIECES
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF BLUNDERS (MASTERS BLUNDER TOO!)
USE OF PINS
SACRIFICING AGAINST THE CASTLED KING
FISCHER-SPASSKY - WINNING IN THE ENDGAME
THE WRONG ROOK (a common mistake!)
USE OF THE OUTPOST, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF WEAK WHITE SQUARES, USE OF THE 7TH RANK, ARABIAN MATE, SMOTHERED MATE, OPENING UP AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AN EXPOSED KING - ALL IN ONE GAME!!!
MASSIVE PAWN CENTER
WEAK PAWNS
DEEP POSITIONAL SACRIFICE (for long term pressure)
QUEENSIDE PAWN MAJORITY
DOUBLE SACRIFICE (exposing a King)
EFFECTIVE USE OF THE BISHOP PAIR

You will learn how to plan ahead, learn improtant patterns both for tactical play and positional play and you will learn TECHNIQUE in chess!!! And, when you are done with "Unbeatable Chess Lessons For Juniors" you can then move on to the more advanced "More Unbeatable Chess For Juniors" to get more!

I have learned a lot and really improved my game from these two books.

706 of 714 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Work! Experience Speaks for Itself!, April 13, 2005

By 

Jon Hilton "Scholastic Chess Player" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors [McKay Chess Library for Kids] (Paperback)

I am an experienced scholastic chess player who has been playing and studying chess for some years now. I have a large collection of chess books (numbering in the hundreds) and have read every one of them from cover to cover (I must point out that I have a life outside of chess as well - though chess is my number one thing).
Out of every single book I can say that UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS is my absolute favorite. Now to why I rank it at the top of my list (I cannot wait for Robert Snyder's MORE UNBEATABLE CHESS FOR JUNIORS to be released):
#1) The games are selected for instructional purposes based on many years of teachings by the author (this is why there are no recent games in the book - which is just fine with me). Robert Snyder having produced a record number of national champions has a great insight into the mind of the player and consistantly answers questions on a "comment on every move" basis (he hits the spot much better than other books using the same concept such as "Logical Chess" and "Understanding Chess"). UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS avoids the unecessary repetion found in "Logical Chess" and the long complex analysis which loses the reader found in "Understanding Chess" which are supposed to be for the Intermediate Player.
#2) General Rules are outlined as they are applied in each game. Also, where the exceptions to the rules are pointed out as well.
#3) Find the best move! Robert Snyder challenges you to find the best move a critical junctures and many points throughout each game (making a game collection book have many of the advantages of a problem solving book!).
#4) Critical Opening Lines are covered throughout the book with some new improvements over previously published books on openings.
#5) Accurate Analysis - I haven't found a single analytical mistake in the book (a couple very small easy to figure out typos - but far less than most other chess books). Robert Snyder has a 2405 International Rating and 2306 USCF rating and has obviously put in the time to avoid inaccuracies often found in other chess books.
#6) Part of a great series - If you are a beginner Robert Snyder's CHESS FOR JUNIORS (the number one best selling chess book on amazon.com) will get your started. His "Winning Chess Tournaments for Juniors" is also an excellent book and a must read for anyone who is serious about doing well in chess. His next book "More Unbeatable Chess for Juniors" will be the follow-up to UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS.
#7) Planning in Chess - This book will tell you at critical points of the game what the plans are before they are executed!
#8) Robert Snyder is an awesome World Class Correspondence Player (games in this book were played before computers could be used to play correspondence games) and his games in this book are as good as if not better than many of the top players in the world today.
If you want to really improve your game and would like to learn to analyze and plan ahead and be a winner then get UNBEATABLE CHESS LESOSNS FOR JUNIORS.

214 of 214 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not hard at all for a kid to understand, November 25, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors [McKay Chess Library for Kids] (Paperback)

For a kid who already knows how to play chess this is a a very good book to learn more from. I can easily understand everything that it covers.
It has 24 complete games played by different players. The the author (Robert M. Snyder) tells you what is going on with each move. Here are some of the important things I learned from this book:

1. How to plan an attack using such things as manuvering your pieces to build it up, using open files and weak points for sacrificing to penetrate a castled position.

2. Setting up and using combinations in a variety of positions to accomplish different things like winning material or reaching a won endgame by leaving your opponent with Pawn weaknesses.

3. How different combinations of pieces are to be used as an advantage such as using the Bishop Pair and when to double Rooks and to nutralize your opponents rooks on open files.

4. Lots of examples of different openings. The important lines and variations with what is good and how to take advantage of weak openings. The games are arranged in the book by type of openings to help you learn them in a good order. The table of contents gives you the names of them to find an opening you might want to study.

5. I counted three games with good endgames to learn from. Not all the games are just on openings and middlegames.

6. Exposing and attacking a King before he has castled along with how to defend a difficult position (the first game is just like that and very helpful).

These are just a few examples of what I learned from this book. What I like about it over the other books with games is that when I go over them the author tells what is going on in a way that doesn't leaving me constantly asking, "well what if this was played, or that?". In other words the author knows the common questions that would be asked and answers them automatically. Very few books are good at that! I have played in some chess tournaments and a year ago when I got this book I was rated about 800 in the US Chess Federation. Now (1 year later after reading the book) I am rated over 1100. This book was the number 1 helper for me going up over 300 rating points quickly.
I really hope you get this book as long as you are not going to get it and then play me! But chances of us playing are very small out of thousands of kids that play chess in tournaments.