Pages in my copy started to come loose after a few weeks, and fell out soon afterwards. If any future reviewers have a similar problem, could they please say?


Excellent content, but...   May 13, 2004
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

5 stars for the excellent games, commentary, analysis and general format, but ZERO STARS for the dreadful quality of the book binding.

Pages in my copy started to come loose after a few weeks, and fell out soon afterwards. If any future reviewers have a similar problem, could they please say?


Great, Great games   October 7, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

As a club player, I really appreciate this book and authors for opening my ability to understand master games. Some games of this book is well known, but before this book,I had no idea why black/white is playing certain specific move. This book really helped my playing and how to enjoy game. and the text is greatly entertaining.


a 'must have' for improver or enthusiast   June 26, 2001
 10 out of 13 found this review helpful

A collection of 100 games from 1834 to 1997; providing history, entertainment and instruction.

Each starts with an introduction to the players and the game, an approach which I find very informative and which increases my interest in the game. The games are well annotated so you can follow what is happening, and they are followed with bullet points that emphasize the lessons that should be learnt from the game.

For me this is a great book. My preferred method of learning chess is to begin playing through annotated games, cover the moves and try to figure what happens next. Now I can also check my understanding of the completed game by covering the bullet points and seeing how many of the main lessons I can identify.

The authors appear to have re-evaluated as well as re-analyzed the games, and find improvements over earlier analyses. This may make the book appealing to more experienced players as well as improvers.

The only negative comment I can come up with is that the paper seems a bit thin. This book is such great value that to people who do a lot of boring travel I'd say consider this - buy two, rubber band a small magnetic set to one and leave it in the boot of your car or in your overnight bag.