The Game of Chess [Facsimile] [Paperback]

I'm 44 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. In January 2005, 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 recurring types the manifold combinations of chess», but also gives the standard positional concepts of the game: through the «study of the typical combinations and attacks», one makes himself familiarized more than enough «with the raw material» for «the conduct of the middle game, as regards both tactics and strategy». Finally, Dr. Tarrasch comes to the opening, «the most difficult part of the game». After presenting a general theory of the opening, he deals «with the important lines of practically all the openings», though not pretending to be «exhaustive». (More than seventy years after the first edition of this book, the section on the various openings is somewhat dated, particularly on the Indian Defenses; but, to my mind, not as dramatically dated as critics say). A few games (seven in the german edition, twelve in the English edition), «very fully annotated», form the concluding part of the manual.
Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess» is «A Systematic Text-book for Beginners and More Experienced Players». To me, it's more than that: it's the true Chess Bible. Besides, it's the culminating point of the literary production of the greatest chess teacher of all times: the «Praeceptor Germaniae seu Mundi», as he is known even today. «Naturally, for further progress the study of master games is most important - but only those games which are accompanied by the most complete and apposite notes.» In my case, I decided to study Fred Reinfeld's «Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess»: there were no other Dr. Tarrasch's books translated to English when I finished reading his manual. Again I made great progresses: in fact, I learned more and more about the game with the same teacher, since Reinfeld in many cases merely follows Dr. Tarrasch's own analyses and comments. Now, at long last, «Three Hundred Chess Games», «Montecarlo 1903» and «St. Petersburg 1914» are available in English (not yet «Die moderne Schachpartie», which is a pity): once read both «The Game of Chess» and «Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess», these are the next books to study, preferably by this order. After this (and, if I may say so, only after this), one may go on to other authors - above all Alekhine. But don't you forget to start with the Chess Bible: Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess»...

When I began to learn chess, I wish that someone had given me this book, instead of Nimzowitsch's my System. Everyone said, and still does today that MY System is the book to read.
And they are right, if you are already a Candidate MASTER or above.
This is the book for the rest of us. Master this and you will rise above the 2000 mark. What is more important, you will have FUN. Tarrasch is witty, objective (unlike Nimzowitsch), and he shows you how to finish an opponent off.
It is true that he was a bit catholic/pedantic about 'how' too play chess, but the good Doktor makes you think constantly about the CENTRE until it is HARD-Wired into your ROM.
If you Master the diagrams 99-330, and remember his advise about not 'playing-to-lose.' You will turn all your 'current' opponents into tactical dust. Unfortunately, or fortunately, you will have to find new and better opponents because your current friends & 'enemies' will no longer want to play with you.
As I said, I wish that I had been given this book first. Then I would not have had to re-learn chess from the bottom up.
Good luck & have fun.