- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Hamlyn; First Edition edition (15 Oct 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0600608042
- ISBN-13: 978-0600608042
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16.5 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 840,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Chess is the world's most popular board game--and now anyone can play, with this straightforward, jargon-free introduction. Written especially for beginners, it's the most comprehensive manual available and includes everything from explanations of each piece to orchestrating endgames. In addition to expert advice, simple instructions, and more than 200 easy-to-follow diagrams, novices will find aggressive openings, the top-ten traps and attacks, basic tactical principles, specimen games to learn and crib from, and a test your chess IQ section. And, to keep the momentum going, there's guidance on how to practice-including playing computer chess and joining a club.
About the Author
David Levens is a Professional Chess Coach whose pupils include members of the English Junior Squad. He is Marketing Director of the British Chess Federation and an author of child fiction.
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent price and content, dreadful font,
By therationalist (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Basic Chess (Hamlyn Reference S.) (Paperback)
This is an excellent first chess book which takes the beginner from how the pieces move to all the fundamental aims of the opening, middlegame and endgame, including reasonably advanced concepts such as zugzwang. Variations are kept to a minimum, and the price is very reasonable.
However, the choice of font for the chess set diagrams is dreadful! It's extremely difficult to distinguish between bishops and pawns, and sometimes even between some black and white pieces. To solve some of the problems I found it necessary to set the pieces up on my own board first. This is also virtually essential in order to play through the various games. If it hadn't been for this, I'd have definitely given it 5 stars.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
2.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD ... BUT TONS OF ERRORS,
By yvonne - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Basic Chess (Hamlyn Reference S.) (Paperback)
I just began reading BASIC CHESS by DAVID LEVENS and have gotten far enough to feel it is definitely more than a two-star book. It is a very informative book, more thorough than many of the others that I have seen so far, but the main flaw I find is the poor editing. The structure of this book is the most common for books of this type: after introducing the basics - how the chessmen move, notation, etc., it introduces sections on chess tactics, openings, the middlegame, endgames, a section to test yourself on various skills already covered and a final section on additional resources. What I like most about it so far is the interesting and informative detail that comes along for the ride with everything said. For instance, the chessmen are not just introduced but we are immediately told what their strengths and weaknesses are. Interestingly, though I do agree with the previous reviewer that there is a problem with the diagrams, the only problem that I see with the diagrams is that the chessmen are too small and this is compounded by the fact that someone decided to go for a 3-D effect and have them cast a shadow. I have books with smaller chessboards but clearer chessmen and so do not think it is the chessboard that is the problem but the decision to fill those small squares with a replication of a whole piece rather an enlarged partial replica as is most commonly done. The real problem for me so far is that it was not properly edited. These editing problems usually affect the meanings of what is being said, include just about every type of error possible, can occur several times on a single page, probably will continue throughout the book and requires REALLY CAREFUL reading. I understand that editing carelessness is a common problem with many chess books but the extent of the errors here is extremely challenging. It seems an excellent book otherwise. Unfortunately, most may find struggling with this many errors simply not worth the effort. I must admit, though I like what this book has to say, I may never get to the end of it myself for this reason!! Other books for beginners include COMPREHENSIVE CHESS COURSE VOLUMES I & II by Roman Pelts and Lev Alburt, ALPHA TEACH YOURSELF CHESS IN 24 HOURS by Zsuzsa Polgar, THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO CHESS by Patrick Wolff, GUIDE TO GOOD CHESS by CJS Purdy, THE RIGHT WAY TO PLAY CHESS by D. Brine Pritchard, PLAY WINNING CHESS by Yasser Seirawan, PORTABLE CHESS COACH by Judee Shipman, LASKER'S MANUAL OF CHESS by Emanuel Lasker and PANDOLFINI'S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CHESS by Bruce Pandolfini. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Poor editing? Try no editing!,
By Werthkew - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Basic Chess (Hamlyn Reference S.) (Paperback)
This book has a great format for learning, and the commentary is entertaining and informative. It's just the complete lack of editing that drives me crazy! I got a used copy for $5, and I'm glad I didn't pay $10 for a new copy. I will still use this book. It has good content if you can get past the errors on every page. I'm hardly exaggerating either. There are errors on nearly every single page of the book. Spelling errors, move annotation errors, illustration errors, grammar errors, you name it. It's EVERYWHERE! As the title of my review suggests, I don't think this book was poorly edited. I think they skipped the editing process altogether. I think the publishing company took the first rough draft from the author and started printing it. The other problem that was mentioned by others about the board and pieces being illustrated way too small didn't really bother me. In fact, I didn't even notice they were small until I read the other reviews here. So, if you can enjoy it and learn from it in spite of the errors, then I would say go ahead and purchase this book. But I wouldn't spend more than a few dollars on it!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very poor illustrations,
By Dick Marti - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Basic Chess (Hamlyn Reference S.) (Paperback)
I was in the market for a chess book, but it will not be this one. The position illustrations are very poorly done. First, the boards are blue and white, an unnecessary cutesy. Second, all the pieces are shaded, which makes them difficult to distinguish. Third, the boards, and thus the pieces, are too small. Fourth, some of the pieces are very odd, particularly the knights. And the queen looks like an upside-down torch. None of this helps the reader. What is wrong with a simple board and piece design such as that found in most other chess books, such as David Shenk's "The Immortal Game"? I could not get past the illustrations, and thus have no opinion of the text.
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