Winning Chess

by Fred Reinfeld, Irving Chernev, Fred Chernev Irving and Reinfeld

Book Overview

Winning Chess is a truly classic chess book, beloved of chess-mad teenagers since it was first published in 1970, updated and repackaged in algebraic format. Written in lively, conversational style by... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671211145
• ISBN13: 9780671211141
• Release Date: April 1971
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Winning Chess and beyond!

This is one of the best introductions to chess tactics ever written. For clarity, wit, and instructional value, it has few rivals. The following quote, from the authors' chapter on the skewer, is a case in point: "The skewer is a piercing attack which menaces two hostile pieces placed on the same line. As the piece directly attacked moves away, the piece behind it is transfixed on the skewer. B. H. Wood, who credits the invention of this term to Edgar Pennell, contrasts the skewer with another common kitchen utensil: 'Just as a fork is something with more than one prong which can stick into two lumps of meat on your plate at the same time, so the skewer is something that pushes right through a lump of meat, and out the other side.'" You are then shown the basic pattern for the skewer. This is followed by several pages of examples. The chapter then ends with a brief quiz. What makes this book outstanding, and sets it apart, is the thoroughness with which each example is explained. You are left with the feeling, at the end of each chapter, that you have mastered the concept (pin, knight fork, skewer, etc.) under discussion. No wonder this book is held in such high esteem. A brief overview: This 231 page book, published in 1948 in descriptive notation, has twenty-one chapters. [1] The first three chapters are by way of an introduction, then the authors cover various tactical motifs beginning with the pin, knight fork, double attack, and so forth. Each of these chapters follows the format outlined in the preceeding paragraph. The last chapter contains six illustrated games; there are approximately 700 diagrams (most diagrams are setup in pairs: the first diagram sets the stage for the execution of a particular motif and the second diagram describes the execution of that motif); chapters are arranged according to the importance of the tactical motif being covered (for example, the pin is considered the most important motif, followed by the knight fork, double attack, etc.); the book ends with a five page "Solutions to Quiz Problems." Recommended follow-up: When you finish this book, you will want to complete the exercises in Fred Reinfeld's "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations." This book further illustrates the tactical motifs covered in "Winning Chess." I also highly recommend Renaud and Kahn's "The Art of the Checkmate." This book classifies various mating patterns and is indispensable! Now, if you really want a tactical workout, try the software program CT-ART 3.0. This program is based on Maxim Blokh's book, "Combinational Motifs," and is without doubt one of the best software programs on tactics. Unquestionably, software is the best way to study tactics, but, in order to optimize the benefits gained from this type of software, you should first read the aforementioned books. As a general rule: The lower your chess rating, the more time you should spend on tactics. [2] Michael de la Maza, author of "Rapid Chess Improvement," claims

My first chess book, and still the best

Everyone has praised this book, and rightly so. I thought I'd give an anecdote on my chess in school and this magic little book.About 15 years ago, my brother-in-law gave this book to me. He explained that it helped him improve more than other book when he was in the chess club during high school. I remember him saying he played board 2 for his team. He didn't have a rating, but I suspect it to be around 1500.It was the only chess book I had. I read the book several times, amazed how much I learned from it because it was 'just ahead' of where I was and allowed me to reach that next step.I got much better at chess, and in high school I played board 1 my Junior and Senior year going undefeated in our regional competitions. I had lent this book out to several people on our team, so much that it became quite tattered! I remember lending it to our board 4 player, whom I consistantly beat every practice game we played. Some weeks later, I saw a noticeable improvement in his play to where I was losing much more often against him in practice. My studying of Reinfeld's "The Complete Chess Course" helped my positional play, and studying my favorite MCO-12 lines gave me a good opening start, but I would at times falter in our practice games, often in the middlegame. Having been awhile since I had seen my book after lending it out, I kept reminding that I wanted it back!I lent this book to our board 2 player, with good results. But after lending him my MCO-12, his game seemed to suffer. MCO seemed to contribute to our team's chess 'illnesses.'After mastering Winning Chess, I began studying the 1001 combinations book, but never quite got into that as I was graduating and left the chess scene for awhile. Now after a 11-year absence from chess, Winning Chess is the book I started back with again (still tattered) and now am studying CT-ART 3.0, ala Rapid Chess Improvement, in an effort to bring myself back to a respectable level of play and return to competition.Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics is a fine book. Bain's Chess Tactics for Students is quite good. But this one, 55 years since introduced, is still the best. If you only had 1 book on chess, this should be it.

Want to know what's in it?

I agree with the reviews here, but they say nothing about the contents. If you're thinking of ordering it used, you'll want to know what's in it.The lessons are arranged in some logical order, by the frequency with which a given pattern is seen is practical play, as well as in order of necessity, according to the authors. Later combinations use tactics described earlier in the book.For each lesson, the authors explain the basic idea, then they show you a dozen or so examples. What's great about this book is that each combination includes TWO diagrams. The subtitle of the book is "How to See Three Moves Ahead", and the 2 diagrams are what make this possible. Without the extra diagram, it would be difficult for a player rated around 1200-1400 USCF, the target audience, to visualize the entire combination. These are not, afterall, just simple tactics. They are "combinations" of tactics, and they can be pretty difficult to spot. But because of the extra diagram, you have a real chance of solving the tactic from the 2nd one, and then you can compare that position to the initial one to see what was necessary for the combo. This is just incredibly helpful. Your pattern recognition grows by leaps and bounds.At the end of each lesson is a quiz with for problems. These are always much easier than the earlier examples, so they really just make you feel good. The way to convince yourself that you know what you're doing is to re-read the whole book, which is a joy anyway.After the lessons you'll find a bunch of elementary checkmate patterns, which you can run through quickly several times to pound them into your brain. Then there are some relatively simple checkmates. I'm not sure why they're there, but they don't hurt. Then there are some examples of how to AVOID tactics, called "The Manly Art of Self-Defense".Then there are 6 fully annotate tactical games with sundry openings. The winners are Chernev, Nimzovich, Berlin, Marshall, Sargeant, and Reinfeld. Only 6, but they're fun games.Finally, no index. Just the answers to the simple quizzes.It's all in Descriptive Notation, which is explained at the beginning, along with a few bits of advice.The chapters are:The PinThe Knight ForkDouble AttackDiscovered AttackDouble CheckThe Overworked PieceRemoving the GuardNo RetreatThe SkewerQueeningThe Vulnerable First Rank (Isn't this the most common?)Breaking CommunicationThe Surprise MoveCombined Operations (the most difficult chapter)Then Design for Checkmate, The Manly Art of Self-Defense, and Illustrative Games.So there you have it: The contents of my favorite chess book of all time, and I own nearly a hundred. I just love this book!

best book on chess tactics ever written

Without question this is the best book on chess tactics ever written. It clearly explains devastating chess tactics such as pins, skewers, and a host of others, from simple to complex positions that occur in master play. The authors also give advice on how to improve and how to use repetition to increase chess mastery. I have a master rating in chess-2250-and I have never come across a better book on tactics anywhere. Its just shameful that this book is out of print. Bring it back!

The single most valuable book on chess I have read

Just a casual, occasional player, so take my opinion as you will...but this book probably taught me more than every other book I have consulted on chess, _combined_. It is utterly invaluable for teaching the application of the critical chess tactics: from pins and forks to double check. I can't believe it's listed as out of print--a great loss to beginning players everywhere. Find this book!