Chess Strategy

For the average player who wants to further his enjoyment of chess while learning the essential strategic principles of the game, Edward Lasker's "Chess Strategy" may well be the only chess book he will ever need. I recall fondly how this book enabled me and my brother to beat every kid in our high school. I'm now middle aged and am again reading the book, reviewing the various topics, and playing over the many fine example games. I find that I'm still very impressed by the author's clear, logical, and systematic approach to the game as well as his warm and personal style. If you've been playing chess for awhile, but haven't really studied the game, this book will boost your skill markedly, and with minimal effort. And even the more experienced player will find plenty of rewarding material in its many superbly chosen and annotated illustrative games taken from international grandmaster play. Edward Lasker is the product of an earlier time, and yet his style and method are hardly dated. There are perhaps a few who may disagree with this opinion, and for them there are always the "dummy" books. But for the rest of us, there is Edward Lasker's "Chess Strategy", a book worthy of a place on every chess player's shelf.

This book on strategy is one of the best and clearest texts ever written. Lasker claims that by following a few principles of strategy which he gives one can play chess very well. A large part of the book is devoted to illustrative games to show how these strategic principles have been applied by masters. These games show that by learning how to clear files, concentrating forces in the center of the board, and keeping pawn movement down to only the most needed ones, you can become a master. I improved by playing greatly by playing three of the illustrative games in back of the book, and learning everything I could from these three games. The book should be read and reread and the illustrative games played over and over again. You will learn something each time. With enough work and rereading and application of the principles in this book, one can become a strategic master.

This book was written around 1916, so obviously cannot be expected to be up-to-date on openings.However, it has a lot of nice material on end- games, including examples of "distant opposition" and Blackburne's win over Teichmann.Dover publishes old, cheap good stuff. Lasker later wrote MODERN CHESS STRATEGY (published by McKay). My sense is that the later book is a little bit "watered down."

This is a wonderful book that has taught two generations of players how to play with force. It has won Chess for Success's award for clarity of concepts in the opening and the endgame with full example games. Great with a notebook!