50 Essential Chess Lessons

Is there a bridge between the popular Irving Chernev book "Logical Chess: Move by Move" and John Nunn's excellent (and variation intensive) "Understanding Chess: Move by Move"? The answer is yes, and it's contained between the pages of this book by FM Steve Giddins.I'll call it a happy medium between the two. It's written in explanatory fashion -- geared toward a relative beginner and on up -- with games divvied into five instructive motifs: Attacking the King, Defense, Piece Power, Pawn Structure, and Endgame Themes.For the raw beginner, Chernev's book is better, but as the player improves, this book would be the most logical continuation. It's not quite move by move, but it's also not so densely mired in variations a la Nunn (which I personally don't mind). It's too bad Chernev's "The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played" is not in algebraic format (though, again, it doesn't matter to me), as it is superior to this book.The main strengths of this book are threefold: 1) In addition to the usual suspects (Sicilian, Queen's Gambit Declined and Ruy Lopez, among others) Giddins includes several modern (actually hypermodern) games, which the classic Chernev book "Logical Chess..." did not. It has one example of the Catalan, several games which feature the King's Indian Defense, as well as quite a few Nimzo-Indians, Queen's Indians and a Grunfeld, not to mention four examples of the English; 2) Some of these games are played by talented but more obscure (to neophyte Westerners) Soviet players (I intentionally use the word Soviet because of the period of the games); and 3) Giddins summarizes the main thrust of each game at its conclusion and lucidly details the point of the opening as related to its strategy, something most opening book neglect to do.In short, there is a lot to be learned by a beginner and even for players up to around 1800 USCF.If there is one negative for the beginner or developing player, it lies in the format of the moves. Rather than listing each two-ply move vertically, which allows a player to cover up the next moves with a postcard so as to think on his or her own and try and guess them, the main moves are written horizontally (which is fine for variations).All in all, until one is ready for a Nunn or Igor Stohl (much less a Garry Kasparov dictionary of variations -- see the "My Great Predecessors" series), not to mention less annotated game books (for those more talented players who need no explanations), this is a good way to go. If the book works for you, the next logical step is Giddins' follow-up "50 Ways to Win at Chess" -- which is misleading, as it really means there are 50 Games to learn from.

Giddins writes in a clear and accessible manner for players who know the basics of the game, and are familiar with basic opening strategy--the games begin their annotation after the 5th or 6th moves. The games are generally contemporary, so expect to find openings popular today (Sicilians, Kings Indians, and Nimzo-Indians for example). Also, Giddins worked hard to include games that are less well known (so you will most likely see something new), and he also included some real gems from little known (but incredibly strong) Soviet/Russian games. (This is an area in which Giddins has special knowledge.)If you enjoy playing through annotated games, I just do not see you going wrong with this book. It is more advanced than Chernev's The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played, but definitely focuses on practical aspects of the game. My impression is that Giddins was interested in writing a book that contains insights that you can use, instead of just trying to get another chess book out.The book is divided into five main sections: Attacking the King (3 games), Defence (4 games), Piece Power (10 Games), Pawn-Structure (25 games), Endgame Themes (8 Games). Additionally, this book is not simply list after list of variations; instead you will find that there is a good amount of explanations of the ideas behind key moves. His comments about middle-game pawn structures, for example, have opened my eyes, and I'm now avoiding some mistakes I had been making.Giddins pays tribute to the work of Irving Chernev in his forward, clearly stating that the idea for this type of work came from his early exposure to Chernev. Like Chernev, Giddins is a joy to read, so if you like the works of Chernev, as do I, you will probably enjoy this book as well.

This was an excellent book to work through. As I stated in the review title this book was a just a bit over my head. But not enough over my head that I didn't enjoy it or get something from it. This is a book that I will definitely go to again in a year or so. I imagine I will pick up even more from it then.I think it is okay to study a little bit of material that is just out of your grasp. It gives me something to aspire to anyway. If you study too much chess material that is a little out of bounds or that is all you study then you might be asking for trouble. Anyway, great book, great games, well written and well constructed. Highly recommended! Gambit really does turn out high quality books. I am talking about the construction of the book itself. They are meant to be used and built to last!

I'm a 1400 to 1600 level player online, so I don't know everything about how to play. What I do know is that for someone at my level this book is ideal. Giddens catagorizes different types of games so you have a general idea of the strategies involved. He then, to be more instructive prefaces each game telling you exactly what to look for. For example in the first game he explains how the Kings have castled, then gives the specific strategy of that game so you know what to expect. After the game he summarizes the essential lesson of the game. The annotations are concise and mostly verbal, so you don't get bogged down with line after line of variations. The book is indexed by both players and openings making it easy to find who or what kind of game. Mr. Giddens really knows how to speak to the chess student and this book will definitely improve the mid-level players game.

In some of the reviews people mention this book for inexperienced players or even beginners, and indeed the author himself claims this to be some kind of updated version of Irving Chernev's book, which describes every move of games for beginners and intermediate players.The first line of explanation in this book (after 3 completed moves without a comment) is "With this move order, rather than the more common 4...e7 Sararov probably intends to head for the Cambridge Springs variation..." - so not only is the reader expected to know in detail the moves of the QGD, you're also expected to be knowledgeable of the different variations and be conversant enough with them to understand the implications of such - instead of saying "He is moving this piece in order to open the way for the bishop" or "...to claim space in the centre", this author goes for the approach of referencing arcane variations and expecting that you should know what that means. If you're a Grand Master that might be how you discuss chess....but then I would wonder why you'd be buying such a book.

So once you know the basics and have played at least a hundred games and got some idea about the most common openings you can use this book to get some excellent ideas from some very interesting games.The book does not follow the move by move style, so occasionally it will skip explaining why and what for some basic(theory) moves. I'd say its a great 3rd or 4th book of annotated games.The book explores various themes but dedicates a good portion on pawn structures and endgame.