Chess for Beginners: Know the Rules, Choose Your Strategy, and Start Winning

This is one of the clearest, most thorough chess books I've ever read. If you're a beginner this the best book you could buy. I'm a strong intermediate - and I still found this book extremely enlightening. Very well written !!

11/25/20 - I recently decided to teach myself chess. I found on chess.com some starter instructions for free and decided to sign up so that I could take advantage of the many things this site offers which you can explore yourself. Thus, I also decided to purchase this book (I am one-third into the book and find it very helpful). It is a wonderful book to keep on hand for purposes of refreshing yourself on this game. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone, even to a more advanced player.

This is a decent book with some valuable pointers for beginners, but it would be better if the author reviews it carefully and corrects a few errors. E.g., a piece described as moving to square a5 should actually move to square a4 because there is no legal way for the piece to get to a5 in one move; or, after repeated Pawn and Knight captures (in multiple variations of the same game), the author states that only a pawn was captured. Errors in instructional books - especially for beginners - should be avoided because they lead to confusion. Fortunately, there are only a few such errors; but they need to be cleaned up.

I taught my wife to play chess directly from this book. It followed along exactly how I teach the game. FUNDAMENTALS plain and simple. It gives all the tools you need to enter into the world of chess. Right out of the gate my wife is pushing me at times and understands her mistakes. Buy this book.

The best book for learning chess. I was up and playing against the computer in 2 days. I win some game and lost some. Getting better by the day. Working to improve my middle game now!

There is much deserving of praise in this book for beginners by WCM Yelizaveta Orlova. The author is a titled player. Readers can be sure that she knows how to play chess--there are several books with similar titles where that is in dispute. Her engaging prose communicates well the technical aspects of learning the game. She starts with the movement of the pieces, then develops some of the strategies and tactics of the game. The narrative is broken up with pithy quotes from other chess writers in ways that enhance the text. The second half of the book, offering ten strategies and ten tactics, is particularly strong. My peak rating is slightly lower than the author's and yet I found some of the examples instructive. Reading this book all the way through will give the student a good start towards understanding the elements of play that lead to competitive success. However, the book contains a great many errors. Before discussing the play of the game, Orlova offers a historical summary. The publisher should not have asked her to do this. Her history skates over the surface of several Wikipedia articles, and contains several strange errors. The author's connection of the shape of the chess pieces, their names, and their movement to Medieval Europe is credible, but she does not specify Europe. Moreover, readers will learn things about this era that will surprise Medieval historians. The mitre is the inspiration for the design of the bishop, not the Pope's zucchetto. Does she know that knights were landed gentry? Her claim about the purpose of the 50-move rule makes immediate sense to anyone who has observed a children's tournament, but contradicts the actual history of the rule as it developed during master tournaments in the late-nineteenth century. I was surprised to learn that all five of the "greatest moments in chess history" have taken place in my lifetime, and three of them in this century. Of course, "greatest moments" is a matter of opinion, but the author's opinion reveals a lack historical perspective when she asserts, "Russia, Ukraine, and India have always been known to be the strongest chess countries in the world" (17). In her lifetime, perhaps. The Ukraine and Russia were part of the same country during the first half of my life, which also corresponds to the earliest of her "greatest moments" in chess history--the rise of Bobby Fischer. But, "always"? In the seventeenth century, the greatest chess countries were Spain and Italy. A century later, France and England battled for the honor. Russia only became a powerhouse in the twentieth century, mostly during the Soviet era, but built on a solid foundation that developed in the late-nineteenth century. India's rise can be traced back a few decades from the present, and now China is emerging as the strongest. Some of the chess principles are wrong as well. Chess pieces get their power from their mobility, and most of them benefit from being in the center, as she explains. However, she states the only exception is the king (32). Other chess authors have noted that the rook is the only piece that is as mobile from the edge as from the center. From any square on an chessboard, the rook can reach 14 squares. Happily, in the section on the endgame, she correctly notes the king's greater mobility in the center (83). She described the movement of the knight as an L shape, as do many writers, but the diagram accords better with a more technical mathematical description--one square along a rank or file, followed by one square diagonally. The L-shape is easier for young players to grasp; the illustration should match the description. Books with titles like "Chess for Beginners" seem to be proliferating; I have read and reviewed several. This book is far better than the others. If you need a recent book by a living author, Orlova's "Chess for Beginners" may be your best choice. With the caveat that the reader will learn many things that are not so, I can recommend this book. However, there is a far better alternative. Both of J. R. Capablanca's beginner texts are superior: "Chess Fundamentals" and "A Primer on Chess". "A Primer" explains the moves; "Fundamentals" assumes the reader already knows these. Alas, it can be difficult to make certain that you are getting a copy in modern algebraic notation.

Fantastic book for people who know nothing about Chess but want to learn the game and get better. There are tons of books about this topic and most provide some beginner explanations but most are for intermediate players and not for absolute beginners like this book. My only complain has nothing to do with the paragraphs themselves but with the print quality.

This is an excellent book for the beginner. It teaches concepts in a way that is easy to understand. I find myself picking it up to read and I'm not a beginner. I highly recommend this book.

I used this book to improve my languages skills in English, and to become aware of the English terms in chess. It helped to remember the rules. I can remember a game against a coworker from many years ago. He used the “en passant” to rule to win. Until this book I really didn’t know what that was. It is helpful if you know all the rules and terminologies. How to use a fork, or how to get rid of an unwanted threat to your pieces. It is really helpful for beginners, or for people who want to refresh their knowledge.

"Chess for Beginners: Know the Rules, Choose Your Strategy, and Start Winning" is an incredibly well written and concise book. The author, Yelizaveta Orlova, is quite gifted in being able to explain complex ideas clearly so they can be understood and implemented by the chess novice. For anyone wanting to play chess, this is definitely the book to start with.

Bons exemplos práticos e com conselhos fáceis de entender e seguir, é uma ótima opção para quem está ingressando no mundo do xadrez

I downloaded a chess game on my tablet and although I knew how to play, I knew nothing about strategy or how to win. I purchased "Chess for beginners" to get me started. The book is very well organised and teaches you all you need to know in simple progressions. It may take more than a single reading before the facts sink in. Once you start playing you may use it for reference and improve as you go on. If you want to learn chess this is a good place to start.

My Son couldn't be more happy to have this book. It helps him a lot to find new strategies while playing chess. I do recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to play.