Improve Your Chess in 7 Days

by Gary Lane

In the chess world, there are the few—the dedicated, competitive experts—and the many, the millions of social players who are totally unaware of chess theory. Now there’s a quick and easy way to bridge the gap. In just one week, the unschooled player will gain access to the principles that guide the masters: On the first day, the basic concepts of strategy and tactics are introduced. On the second, the reader learns some of the more popular openings and the ideas behind them. And so on, until, by the seventh day, the rapidly advancing student will be able to pull off sophisticated swindles! Illustrated with sidesplitting cartoons, it’s a quick, entertaining, and extraordinarily direct road to chess mastery.

Genres: Chess

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Tom Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to be better at chess but not prepared to spend hours in a dark room studying. This a shortcut with loads of good advice and plenty of chess cartoons to raise a smile. There are plenty of traps, common mistakes and room for light-hearted comments that are constructive. The lazy person's guide to good chess.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ideas that Lane pushed could have been presented a lot better if (a.) Lane ceased the bias towards showing his own games vs. better examples made by others, and (b.) pushed for better explanations instead of just loosely evaluating moves made in high level games.

[Emilio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strategy, tactics, creating attacks, positional chess, and loads of sample games, this one's got it all. It isn't for expanding knowledge so much as refining your skills. Still, it's helpful.

[Steve Fisk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recommended to this and it did not disappoint. Sharp as a whip with amusing lines and for a change for this type of book is that are loads of funny cartoons. There is plenty of ways to self improve and the predict a move method is something that I have heard before but didn't know the source. It is aimed at improving all aspects of your game with tournament savvy advice.
I read it twice while on holiday.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should have been called, "Look at the Brilliant Moves I Made in my Games against Grandmasters." This is merely a collection of the author's (and others') annotated games. Didn't seem to offer any insight other than a few scattered examples of strategy and tactics, and relied more on common sense than teaching improvement.

[Sylvan Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative tactics, strategies and game play. A very active book that gave me a good insight into the whole psychology behind chess play. It's weird because often we forget the massive impact body language can play in chess games, that said, there are many useful teaching tips throughout, with appropriately linked games to help with solidifying chess play understanding.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy book to recommend. Witty comments and fun games allows anyone to improve. The theme is entertainment so they are plenty of cartoons and insights about tournament chess. A good read for those rated above 1500 as it is not a beginner's book.

[Mark Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This chess classic is regularly recommended by masters to people who want to improve.

I am rated 1990 online but was was really engaged with the style of writing. It really has motivated me to improve.

[Ryan Lack · Rating 5 out of 5]

A seriously good book and one that was alerted to me by Nakamura online who said this was one of the books he read as a a kid. He also kept going on about Lane's book on the Scotch. This one has a bit of everything from openings to defence and then back to attacking, the list goes on. It is crammed full of knowledge.

[Dan Luxman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that is often mentioned online by masters as a way to be better.
It has a bit of everything, openings, middlegame, attacks and puzzles.
I liked the cartoons and the little stories associated with the games. An easy read to pick up every now and again.