50 Essential Chess Lessons

by Steve Giddins

Steve Giddins has chosen 50 supremely instructive games - some old, some new, and including many that few readers will have seen before. He has annotated these games in detail from a modern perspective, explaining the useful lessons that can be learnt from them, while avoiding the harmful dogma that characterized many older works of this type. Topics Attacking the King, Defence, Piece Power, and Endgame Themes. Each game is followed by a recap of the main lessons to be learned.

Giddins writes in a highly accessible down-to-earth style that appeals to club players seeking to improve their understanding of practical chess. His knowledge of Russian-language chess literature has enabled him to find many excellent examples that have not appeared in previous western literature.

Genres: Chess, Nonfiction

157 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

Reviews

[Randy]

This book is a great follow-up to Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking: From the First Move to the Last. The next in the line of books that should be called: "Instructional Master Game Collections for Post-Beginners" are the other McDonald books: The Art of Planning in Chess: Move by Move and Chess Success: Planning After the Opening as well as Giddins own follow up:50 Ways to Win at Chess.

[Allan Fisher]

An excellent collection of games. The author has a very instructive teaching method... learnt a lot with this book...

[Andreas Kontokanis]

Nice instructive games. Not so much analysis. Does not give you a hint to look for the tactics. But it can be the first step to learn for first time some strategic ideas.

[TjeerdFokkens]

Excellent chess book. The explanations of the moves are clear and to-the-point. A lot of aspects of the game are covered, with a slight emphasis on pawn structures. The book is packed with useful advice that goes beyond the actual games discussed. The selection of games is also very good, as the games exhibit the themes very clearly and after a game with a strong knight, there is a game with a strong bishop, making the selection of topics very balanced.

[Alberto]

Some interesting games, but for most of them the annotations range from very light to practically non-existent. Not a good book to learn from.