Mensa Guide to Chess: 30 Days to Great Chess

This book is about par for beginning chess books. It teaches the basics of the game as well as tactics and elementary strategy. A good addition to a chess library, but not a "must read" book.

This is an efficient way to learn quite a bit about chess. It will NOT make you a strong player (you need to do tons of tactics problems for that) but it will give you a thorough understanding of what chess is about.What's great about the book is that it is replete with WORDS! Imagine that: A chess book with words in it. What a novel concept.There are words to describe everything. But it is not a dry, pictureless read. There are also diagrams with arrows, diagrams with X's, partial-board diagrams, sets of successive-move diagrams, and standard single-position diagrams from named historical games. Don't worry. It's not a kid's book with nothing but diagrams and arrows. The moves are given in standard algebraic notation, and some have normal annotations.Basically, if you consider yourself an intelligent adult, but you would like to understand this game better, buy this book. To find something more accessible to a non-chess player, you'd have to look to Edward Lasker and his old descriptive-notation books.But please note: This is NOT for serious players. It teaches you the intellectual side of chess. It gives you the full vocabulary to sound as if you know what you are talking about -- not just the rules (which are explained extremely well with the arrows etc.) but also the tactical motifs, the openings, and the strategic concepts. However, it does not develop your talent. It is like a book on tennis: To get better, you need more than an intellectual understanding; you have to play the game, or at least practice exercises.