Invitation to Chess

If you are not yet an expert chess player, this is the book for you. I hesitate to say it is for beginners (though it is the best book for beginners) but it is also for anyone who is not yet an expert, or has not read (and understood) dozens of other chess books. I have played chess for years, but not in competitions or another serious environments - so I can beat any other bad player, but get crushed by experts. Looking for a chess book, I found two types: (1) one that explains how to move the pieces, and nothing more, or (2) so complex by chapter 2 that I could not understand it. This book is simply fantastic, and GREATLY improved my play before I was even halfway through the book. I can't recommend it enough for beginners and anyone who hasn't read (and understood) a bunch of "expert" level books.

I used "An Invitation to Chess" when I taught a grade school course in chess fundamentals. Of all the chess books I have seen geared purely toward the beginner, I found this to be the clearest, best organized, and, just as the subtitle claims, it is "A Picture Guide to The Royal Game."Lots of pictures help explain the moves and motions of a piece in the context of a larger strategy. Chernev and Harkness used photos of the board as well as standard board drawings. They require modernized, as the photos are a bit blurry, and the drawings have an old newspaper keyline look. The copy is succinct, but not dry. As a reader, I found it less clinical than many of the chess books with dozens of lines per opening.This is a long way from anything Lasker or Fischer wrote, but the audience intended here is looking to play the game effectively, unworried about becoming a grandmaster. At least, not yet.The content list breaks things down to subsections like "How the King Moves and Captures," and "How the Pawn Captures 'en passant.''" They provide a special section cautioning the new player of common mistakes, like "Premature Attacks," and "Pawn Grabbing with the Queen." This is invaluable because young players routinely shoot for point control over game control.I fully recommend "An Invitation to Chess" by Irving Chernev and Kenneth Harkness. Use this to teach your children, or use it to study up when they start to beat you.Anthony Trendl

Though this book is getting a bit old, a better beginners book has yet to be written. Getting into the habit of asking yourself "what does he threaten?" is crucial to the beginning player. They really should update it to algebraic.

When I first learned the rules of the game, I found this book to be of great value, if only for the simple advice of "always ask yourself why your opponent played a certain move. What does he attack?" and "before your make your move, ask yourself what your opponent's best reply would be." You can find more comprehensive books, but this is my choice for a useful, friendly, quick guide to better chess. I'd buy this for a younger player or newcomer in a heartbeat. Why intimidate someone with a huge tome when you can painlessly improve with this volume?

this book helped me go from a person not caring about chess to now being a very big part of my off duty time i take my magnetic set with me to all my appointments or anywhere i might have a waiting period,i get valuable time on my set and i also refer to the games in the book and try to learn from the great games illustrated in the book ,now i am trying to teach my family and friends how to play ,i am 30 yrs old if i had learned when i was younger i would be who knows,playing deep blue in a series :) ,i dream big . i also beat my friend i have been only playing for 1 year and he has been for 8years or more ,but he told me that i will never beat him in chess ,i love when someone tells me i am never going to do something i stayed with what i learned in the book and he underestimated my abilities and the day i beat him i will never forget the surprised look he had on his face. since then i have won matches 3 to be exact and counting i hope i can get more training from on line because i will be better than him or at least get to the point where we are splitting games, he has alot of chess books and he knows i am closing the gap real fast and i like the fact that he opened me up to this wonderful game.