Game of Chess

Want to gain a deep insight into a book written by one of the better writers and players of all time? Tarrasch was a top notch tournament chess player. He wrote this book to help the intermediate player really learn about the game without just trying to make a buck off of a book! If you are an adult reader, who wants to gain an insight by an oldtime, but smartimer, then enjoy this book! I can certainly recomment "Understanding Chess" by Nunn, both "Unbeatable Chess Lesons for Juniors", "More Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" and "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" by Snyder, and "The Art of Checkmate" by Renaud, but this book is right up there with them as equals.

I'm 41 years old, and I'm a Portuguese lawyer. I became acquainted with the game of chess when I was a child, but I learned how to play it when I was already a law student. By then, my father offered me a copy of the (not very good) French translation of Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess». Before that, I read many, too many books and articles on the subject, without any pleasure or profit. After the careful study I did of this specific book, I ventured to play my first official tournament: it was a good enough one, and I did so well I got immediately over 1600 (portuguese) ELO! In spite of that, I never took Chess very seriously: while I was a student I seldom played official games, and after my graduation I virtually had to stop. Since my personal and professional life stabilized in the meantime, I decided to try it again a couple of years ago. For that purpose, I studied once more «The Game of Chess», never dreaming of what was really going to happen. The weekend before last, I played my very first international «Open»: five sessions with forty players, of which twenty-six with (high) ELO FIDE, two with FM titles and three with IM titles. Having just 1913 (national) ELO and looking at so strong a competition, I estimated the best I'd get would be something around 1,5 points. Surprise! I've finished 8th (3rd «ex aequo»), with 3,5 points (+3=2-1) (1,5 points against three international ranked players, of which one with IM and another with FM titles) and a performance of 2293 (!) (the second best in the tournament) which earned me the right to get my first ever ELO FIDE. The next player like me finished only 22nd, with 2 points. I left behind one player with a FM title and twenty players with ELO FIDE. I was flabbergasted: how could a simple amateur obtain such a good result?! The answer was: Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess»! Many critics consider this the finest all-round manual on the game: I think they're right. It had an outstanding success when it was first published in Germany in 1931 and in Great-Britain in 1934. Such a success was largely due to the apparently unorthodox but extremely effective teaching method the author used, one «analogous to that a mother uses to teach her child to talk»: «the intuitive method of instruction». After dealing with the elements, the author proceeds not to the opening but to the end-game, «since obviously it is easier for the beginner to deal with a few men than with the entire thirty-two». Dr. Tarrasch doesn't waste any time with «all those eng-games which do not occur in actual play»: he goes right through explaining the fundamental positions of this part of the game, doing it so simply and clearly that one finds himself quite able to understand some longer end-games (four in number) with which he concludes this part of his book. After the end-game comes the part dealing with the middle-game, «the most important part of the game». He not only traces back «to fixed and constantly recurr

Even though I've never wanted to become a serious chess player, I enjoy the game and I always wanted to be a decent player.Over the years, I had bought a number of books - e.g a classic by John Nunn, one about openings, a couple on strategy and theory, another "compilation" of grand master games). I had spent many an hour reading, thinking, and playing through the games in these books.Somehow I was stuck essentially at being just a "beginner". I knew the "rhetoric" of the game, but somehow I didn't understand things - I couldn't "see" the board!Whatever is published as "beginner" material is limited to the hopelessly trivial stuff. And, then all of a sudden there is a myriad of overwhelming material on openings, end-games, strategy, etc. It's like trying to read about advanced physics with your high school knowledge!Finally one fine day last summer I decided to face my frustration! So I embarked on a mission to find a "teacher"! It took some time before I came across Siegbert Tarrasch's book, but I knew I had found the book I was looking for!He uses an absolutely inspired and uniquely brilliant (and common sense, when you come right down to it!) approach. He starts by what he calls the "elements" of the game - only a few pieces at a time - i.e. the end game!Next, he teaches the building blocks of the middle game. This is where he carries you over the chasm that lies between a beginner and an intermediate player! Even some intermediate players are likely to learn something. The last part of the book, as he himself points out, is really just to send you off towards the more advanced material on openings and strategy.Finally, most remarkable of all, his passion for the game of chess and his knack for "teaching" it comes across each and every page!

This is quite possibly the best single volume on the game of chess for advanced beginners to early intermediate players. The book covers all three phases of the game - ending (first), middlegame (second), and openings (last).Tarrasch's writing style is very clear and easy to understand. The section on the endgame starts with basic mating patterns (most players could skip this assuming they already have them down) and works into the the "essential" endgame theory quickly; square of the pawn, philidor and lucena positions in rook endings, etc.The middlegame section leans heavily toward tactical ideas rather than strategic, but this is a good thing because tactics are the most important thing to study for an improving student. One major difference in his presentation is that some of the tactical devices are presented as larger ideas, not just mechanical executions. For example, instead of running through the usual pins, forks, skewers, etc. Tarrasch works through ideas such as the attack on the f7 square, the attack on the g7 square, the attack with the h-pawn down the rooks file, etc.The openings sections is excellent, but very dated. He begins with a nice discussion on time, space, and force. He then follows by examining most major opening systems and the associated ideaa. The weakness of this part of the book is that the specific lines are somewhat dated (improvements have been found since the book was written), and certain relatively recent systems such as the pirc/modern complex are not even discussed. Even with the limitations, most of the ideas he expresses still retain a great deal of relevance.The final part of the book walks the reader through some very good illustrative games with lots of notes to expalain what is going on.All in all, this is a really good book. Another bonus is the incredible price (this is the case with most Dover Books.The only downside to the book is that it is written in the older descriptive notation. I personally have no problem reading through the notation (I even slightly prefer it), but for younger readers it may make for more work.

A great book to be studied and restudied. The author has done an outstanding job in breaking chess into first principles, and then using these principles to illustrate how to play chess well. First principles are principles that cannot be refuted without incurring a contradiction. In chess, these first principles are force ie, material advantage, space which is the clearance of ranks and files and time which is the gaining of tempo or a time advantage over your opponents moves. A mastery of these principles is essential to chess mastery. Chess would be impossible without these principles in operation. The author then shows how by repeated practice over the examples given in the book, one can develop "chess vision" which is the ability to see strengths and weaknesses in an opponents position. The book shows how tactical manuevers such as double attack, destruction of the gaurd, etc. is using the principle of force. Similar examples are given to show how time and space are used also. This is a very deep and profound book, that needs to be carefully studied to mine its secrets. One can reach any level of chess mastery by applying and repeating the exercises in the book as the author suggests. Chess masters such as Capablanca, Fisher, Kasparov and others do not know some kind of secret information that gives them such mastery. They have simply become so good by repeated practice at basic principles as expounded in this book. This book tells you outright what this secret is. It is constant practice. A very good book that will take one from novice to the highest levels of mastery and beyond.