How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess) by Murray Chandler
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Book Reviews of How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess)
Book Review: Excellent at the right time
Summary: 5 Stars
I've looked at other review and see folks saying "It's too simple", "It's too complicated", "It's just cheap tricks" or "The defender defends poorly."
I've found it useful at the right spot in the learning curve, and coaches better than I am agree with me.
I use "Bobbby Fischer Teaches Chess" , then this book, and then lots of two and three move puzzles-without-hints to coach beginners.
The intent of this book is to learn some common checkmating patterns so that you can spot them quickly. There are two reasons that this is a worthwhile idea.
1. A checkmating pattern is no less useful just because it's on a branch-not-taken in the tree of variations. Knowing it allows you to calculate more surely and quickly precisely because you can spot the dead-ends by pattern recognition.
2. Even if these are simple tricks, (and remember how it was when you were first learning; Simple is relative) it's good defensive play to learn to recognize them automatically when they are coming at you.
Comparing it to other books about checkmating themes I would say its difficulty level is:
Greater than "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess"
About the same as "The Art of the Checkmate"
Less than "The Art of Attack" or "Mastering Checkmates"
Not in the same category as puzzle-only books like "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate"
Book Review: Fun is the key
Summary: 5 Stars
Here's the scoop:After reading this book you'll be thinking of ways to play the game differently. !... This is not a beginner's book!... Not in my opinion anyway, I've been playing chess forever and I found moments of this book difficult but I also picked up a few gems that I had ignored in my journey down the road of chess. One cool development after reading this was a friend and I created a sacrifice game where losing key pieces was unavoidable by design. Our version of sacrifice includes a clause where if a player has not captured a piece within his first 5 moves (regardless of the consequences) the other player gets to take one of his pawns (any pawn) it goes on from there but you get the idea. Let me tell you, you get your [self] out there and find a way to capture a piece ASAP, along the way you also learn how to recover from some seriously bad moves and there is a lot of laughing and whooping and hollering (which I think chess needs more of) also a byproduct is finding the "State of the board" after a few minutes in a very unique disarray. This book will expand your vision of the game and get you eager to go at it with a little more vigor and less fear. After all, the best game of chess I ever played I lost. Playing with a spirit of adventure is gained in this book, may chess never bore you again.
Book Review: Perfect for intermediate strength players
Summary: 5 Stars
If you really want to improve, get this book. It is simply perfect for advanced beginners to intermediate level club players. The author has a clear and logical writing style, and shows how the 50 Deadly Checkmates - as he calls them - occur again and again in games. It was interesting to learn these checkmate patterns can occur just as often in games between home and club players as those at international level.
My favorite thing about this book is the text introducing each checkmate, and also the clear diagrams with arrows on the left-hand pages, in advance of the real-game positions on the right. This is a fantastic book, and like other reviewers I have won many games from reading it. I had thought the one weakness was that it only covered checkmate themes, but recently I found the companion book in the same series CHESS TACTICS FOR KIDS which covers all non-checkmate themes. I hope to review that book at a later date. Together these two books form a complete course in chess tactics. Other great books I would recommend for the immtermediate player are WINNING CHESS TACTICS by Seirawan and CHESS TRAINING FOR BUDDING CHAMPIONS by Hall.
Book Review: Wonderfully written and presented checkmate puzzle book
Summary: 5 Stars
A copy of HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS was given to everyone, by the chess teacher at our summer camp, as a text book.
The book is logically arranged as a series of 50 Deadly Checkmates. I like the way each checkmate features a basic example position and then further positions show the same theme being used in a variety of settings. Touches of humor and the very nice standard of production make this a perfect book to study from. I would say that this book would also be interesting to an adult.
A little bit of history of each of the checkmate puzzles is a nice bonus, and some of the themes are names after famous players like Viktor Korchnoi, Bobby Fischer and Tigran Petrosian, because of examples from their games. I learnt that one of the standard checkmates is called Greco's Mate, named after an Italian who found the idea over 300 years ago!
At the end of the book a puzzle section of 36 positions is given as a test. HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD is both a serious learning book and fun to read. It really shows you all the most important checkmate patterns, and also shows how to find the winning combinations in your own games.
Book Review: Not for kids only
Summary: 5 Stars
I found the title to be an unfortunate choice; it makes the book look like a kids book. Kids will benefit, but so will anyone with a USCF rating below ~1500. This is not a book about how to move the pieces. It doesn't outline basic strategy such as controlling the center, developing your pieces, or castling early. Instead, almost the entire book is devoted to "The 50 Deadly Checkmating Patterns." These range from the simple back-rank mate to four variations of the Greek gift sacrifice to methods of salvaging a "Petrosian draw" in the endgame. Chandler argues that these are common themes, and that by working through the well-diagramed, two-page-per-example sections, we will notice these possibilities in our play. He includes a test section at the end to how well the material has sunk in. The text is easy to read with clear, well-anotated diagrams (the key move is indicated by an arrow as well as the text), and the hardcover version withstands abuse in your gear bag. This is a superb book to glance at while you're waiting for the tournament to start.