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I have read other books by Pandolfini and I regard him as one of the best chess experts. A rather unusual book in that a good part of it consists of answers to the kind of common-sense questions that a chess player of moderate skill would really like to put to an expert. Too many books on chess offer views that, however brilliant, leave the reader wondering exactly how to make use of the advice offered.
Calling it an "Ultimate Guide to Chess" is silly but I would have a young student read this book. Completely for beginners but I enjoyed reading it. The author obviously had fun writing this book. I'm not the biggest fan of B.P. but this book is fun to read.
This is not bad for someone who plays chess than forgets about chess. It defined the goals of each stage of development. I have been studying chess for the last few weeks.
But it was a worthy read to remind me of some of the basic strategies and tactics. If you are a 1200 player, this would be a perfect book for you. It was an overview of the entire game from the opening to the middle to the end.
Some of you will enjoy this post as much as the posts on the hockey books. It needed to be a little more in depth for me at this point. It is easy to read and informative.
I have increased my ratings to 1535 on Yahoo. The book was a basic look at the topic.
It is into this void that Bruce Pandolfini most often makes his prolific literary forays, for better or worse. Heck no; there's not such thing. Is it the "ULTIMATE" guide to chess. However, I have unreserved praise for Pandolfini's "Ultimate Guide to Chess." The unique format - a dialogue between a fictitious teacher and pupil as they play through a game move-by-move - was by far one of the easiest to understand that I have ever come across. Qxe4 Qc7 11. His detractors - and there are many - say he targets this audience because we are not sophisticated enough to disagree with him - to call his bluff, as it were.
That's just a title dreamed up to sell books, and you can't blame a publisher for trying. Writing chess books for novices must be difficult work. Once past the bare fundamentals of board setup, piece movement and simple tactics, but well before concepts of positional play or deep opening theory, there is a gulf - a 1000-point divide between, let's say ELO 400 and 1400 - that is almost impossible to bridge with books alone. Ne4 Nxe4 10.
N1f3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9. Bd3 e6 7. Qg4 Kf8), and you just wish you could ask someone "why wouldn't this move be good." without paying $30-50 per hour, then this book is probably right for you. But as of today, Pandolfini's "Ultimate Guide" remains the only chess book I've actually read from start to finish, and I've started about 30 of all levels.
Throughout, in addition to variations, they discuss general theories, tactics, etc., providing a solid, broad overview for the early novice player. If your mind wanders when reading uninterrupted strings of calculations and variations in loftier chess "algebra books," as I call them (4. The book's "teacher" discusses variations with his student in a conversational way that is much easier to follow than your standard opening book or Chess Life commentary, and then the two go back to the main line, taking you from the very first move straight through the middle and endgame to checkmate. So many variations and considerations exist from the very first move, and yet too little information leaves the novice with unanswered questions, while too much information is quickly overwhelming.
O-O b6 12. Ng5 Ngf6 6. A novice myself, I find Pandolfini's simplified and literary writing style more engaging and digestible than that of most chess authors of higher pedigree, even though at times, his books do seem to be error-prone triumphs of style over substance. Nd7 5.
The book is very good, particularly for chess beginners and step beyond.The wording of the book, that is a conversation among a pupil and his professor is a little dense.
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