Chess for Dummies

I read through this book after having read the numerous negative reviews on this page. I'm a c.1400 player looking for something on chess that would help my nieces and nephews. I thought the book was excellent: clear, easy to understand, well-written, and interesting. NEGATIVES: only real negative was two chess diagrams that contained errors. Some reviewers had difficulties with the organization, but I thought it was a quite well-organized intro. POSITIVES: #1. The many diagrams make it possible for even beginners to understand about 90% of the book without pulling out a chess set. One should use a chess set, of course, but I think few readers will, and they will scarcely ever need to: virtually every sequence of moves is illustrated by a diagram for each move. The diagrams are often enhanced with Xs showing threatened checks or captures that beginners might not easily see. This extensive use of diagrams helps make even very difficult points easy for beginners. #2. The book is very comprehensive, and yet concise. The author is skilled at covering a lot of ground in a very short space, and yet making it all look natural and easy: for example, it's not every beginner's book that covers the Lucena position in rook endings, and makes it look easy. Fred Reinfeld was one of the best at writing chess books for beginners, but Eades (at least in this book) is every bit as good; and in many ways better. #3. The book has a vivid, yet conversational writing style that keeps the reader interested in the text. Introductions can be a dreadfully dreary thing to either write or read, but this book does a very good job at holding the reader's attention. I give it five stars in part to counterbalance some negative reviews elsewhere here that I regard as excessive. But I think the content is well worth five stars: the only thing I would dock a star for is the poor proofreading on two diagrams (embarrassing in a second edition!). The editors should show higher standards of professionalism for their third edition, but this is not enough to reduce it to a four star book.

James Eade is a chess master and understands the game and explains it well. I read two chess books before this one and looked through a few more. Because he explains each move with a picture of the board it is easy to understand. All other authors seem to show the initial picture of the setup then go to algebraic notation to explain the moves. I don't think I like the name. "Dummies" implies it is for stupid people, which it is not. Get the Oxford Chess Companion if you want to impress your friends. Get Chess for Dummies if you want an excellent reference for all parts of the game. Eade doesn't try to snow you with complex terms like adjudication, Zwischenzug, and fianchetto, but does explain them and does have a nice glossary of chess terms in the back of the book. If you don't buy it, check it out at the library. I think you will find it useful, unless you are already an accomplished player and have read and understood more advanced books.

Well, I started playing chess this summer when my parents came to visit us from England. Well, I got a bit fed up with always losing to my dad, but quickly fell in love with the game, so I went out and bought this book. There are other books on playing chess, but to me, this one is the best. It is very easy to follow, written in a way that anyone can understand, and lavishly illustrated with diagrams of various chess situations. It also has a lot of humour in it too, which makes it an enjoyable read as well as very interesting with it's various points of interest scattered throughout, like 'Chess Talk' and 'Rule of Thumb' and 'Warnings'. I highly recommend this book to anyone just starting out or wanting to improve their game.

Mr. Eade's book has helped my chess game evolve to a new level. As someone who just started playing chess in November, I found the book to help me see the board better. I highly recommend that this book should be read by every beginner who wants to improve their game.

The book is a very easy read. When I read it (earlier this month) I felt I was pretty good at chess, but I learned a lot about the game and a lot of the basic principles to success. My wife, who is a total novice, has also been reading it and is already reasonably competent after only a few games. Highly recommended.