Let's Play Chess: A Step-By-Step Guide for New Players

An enjoyable read even for players familiar with most of the rules. Its a very refreshing succinct presentation in note form of the rules & principles of Chess. Short, concise, enjoyable and easy to consume. Highly recommend.

Renewing acquaintances with chess.

This is a wonderful primer on how to play Chess, which is intended for the beginning Chess player! It presents all, of the entire game of Chess! Every single aspect, of the entire game, and how, to play it, and how to learn, how to begin to learn, how to play it! Also, how and why it is played in various ways, and exactly what, it is all about; in the very greatest of, very clear detail! Bruce Pandolfini is one of the most talented, and gifted Chess authors, and instructors, there is in the world today! He is the best at presenting material in a perfectly logical, orderly, smooth, learn able, and easy to follow, format! This is a book, that anyone could read, and learn exactly, how to play good Chess! Bruce is a gifted, and highly skilled instructor, and he shines in this small but densely packed book! It is set up throughout, in a question and answer format: an excellent question is posed, with each question coming in the right order, and the chapters in the right order also, and with his superlative, and masterly, yet so easily understood, answers, following each of the questions, at the right length, to cover each right, and to teach you, all that you need to learn, regarding that individual point, or concept! This is a book which is easy to read, and to follow, yet it does cover material, which is significant, and it is not simply juvenile, whatsoever! I have many Chess books, and I strongly recommend this book to any learner.

Wanted to start over from many, many years ago. Bruce Pandolfini's introduction and explanations are a great place to begin exploring chess once again. Would recommend tis book for beginners or re-starters. (Brief anecdote; many years ago rode the Long Island railroad to and from Manhattan. These were the old nasty diesel trains (called the rattler) with wicker seats but where the seat backs could be moved. On the trips home one fellow would, with his back to four or five players behind him, play them all at once and even, remarkably back track to correct errors that a player had made. It was very impressive and the car would be packed with onlookers. I'll be happy if I can learn the piece moves again ;-)

It's alright if you are a beginner, but it is way too short for the price. It's only about 120 pages of useful stuff, excluding the book's conclusion. If you account for diagrams and how the book is formatted, you wind up wondering if you haven't been scammed. I can't believe the cover says it's the second edition is an "enlarged version," the first one must have been a pamphlet or a cheat sheet. If it was cheaper I would give it a pass, but for the money I would say skip it and read online about the basic rules of the game and spend your 20 bucks in a more advanced topic in chess like strategies or something useful you can't get online for free.