Mastering Chess... 21 Lessons (book review #2)
Submitted by on Sun, 07/13/2008 at 7:13pm.
[Recommended USCF rating: 1300-1700]
Mastering Chess, A Course in 21 Lessons ($10 at Amazon) is an engaging "chess course" by several chess authors. Odds are that this book has not been on your wish list, but you should add it; this is especially true if you are on the lower end of the recommended USCF rating range above.
Although the book does not go into great depth behind individual tactics, positional ideas, strategies, etc., nor does it begin by laying out the basics of how the pieces move (if you are just beginning, you'll need a much more basic book such as Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess, which is actually quite good) it does an excellent job at reminding you of the practicality of it all through clean and simple illustrative positions. Overall, it provides a bit of motivation to look into each concept deeper in a more specialized book...
The book is less than 150 pages, and is fairly light to carry around, which is a welcome change from the multi-hundreds page tome a player might usually lug around on something specific such as endgames...
Best,
Ezra