Learn Chess

by John Nunn

Starting with the very basics, this book tells you everything you need to know to become a successful chess-player.

Dr John Nunn has built up a world-wide reputation for the outstanding clarity of his writings on a wide range of chess topics. This is his first book to tackle the fundamentals of chess.
No prior knowledge is assumed. The reader learns step-by-step, with each new point illustrated by clear examples. By the end of the book, the reader will be fully ready to take on opponents across the board, or on the Internet, and start winning.
Topics Dr John Nunn is a grandmaster from England. He has won four individual gold medals and three team silver medals at Chess Olympiads. In chess problem solving competitions he has three times won the world championship title. He is arguably the most highly acclaimed chess writer in the world, with three of his books receiving the prestigious British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. His classic work Understanding Chess Move by Move is regarded by many as a must-read for all students of the game.

Genres: Chess, Nonfiction, Reference, Games

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

John Denis Martin Nunn is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and once was in the world's top ten.

Reviews

[Houssem Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a beginner, this book would be great. John Nunn will guide you through the chess world step by step, starting with the movements of pieces then explaining the chess tricks as "pin" , "fork", "overload". And talking about the phases of the game (opening, middle game, end game). All these things comes with concrete examples from games between chess GMs (Grand Masters).
Really recommend it for beginners

[Ethan S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

True to his word, John Nunn starts with the absolute basics of board setup up and the moves of the pieces, although there are other books for beginners that do a better/easier to understand job of this. Unlike many of these books however, Nunn takes a bit of a deeper dive into "beginning" chess tactics. I appreciate this, as well as Nunn's preference of teaching with examples from fairly recent real-world games; the study of actual matches is a crucial part of chess education, and it's great that Nunn tries to introduce beginners to this practice.

The problem is that there's a gap in instruction between the absolute basics Nunn goes over in the beginning of the book, and the tactics and examples he goes over later on. Chapters 5 and 6 are particularly a stretch for a beginning player. The majority of the exercises at the end of these chapters will be beyond most beginners; they take the form of "how did white/black win from this position?" but many of the puzzles take well more than a move to solve which makes them much more challenging for beginners, and few result in actual checkmate--rather they result in resignation, but how is a beginner to know when a position is weak or hopeless enough to resign?

In addition, from chapter 5 onward, Nunn uses copious real world examples to illustrate the concepts he discusses. However, he uses lengthy strings of algebraic notation to illustrate them, while also running over just about every significant hypothetical. I guess this is a great insight into the mind of a champion chess master and the considerations they make after any move, but for a beginner looking at a wall of algebraic notation on the page, it's rather tedious and somewhat overwhelming, and incredibly time consuming if you follow every hypothetical.

Chapter 7, on the phases of the game, is quite good however, especially the basic opening theories Nunn introduces. If every chapter was that level of difficulty, over all this book would be quite good.

It's an ok book, but if you want to study beginning chess tactics the portions in this book are poorly set-up, and if you're looking to learn just the very basics of chess there are better books out there.

[Lee (Rocky) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been playing chess for a couple years but sort of haphazardly so I thought it was time to learn how to actually play for real. This book concisely lays out the basics of the rules as well as how to understand the notation plus some basic strategy. The exercises and examples were easy enough to understand though I am struggling a bit to apply them to gameplay.

[Robert E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a solid choice for those looking to refresh their knowledge of the basics. However, the tone can feel a bit snobbish at times, which might be distracting. I’d recommend it more for people returning to chess after a break, as there are other resources that offer a more approachable and friendly way to learn the game.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complete beginner here. I didn’t have the patience to go through all the exercises, but it was good to secure the basics in one go instead of having to look things up randomly.

I’m pretty sure there are better books out there, but this one will do fine if you are a complete noob like me.

[Hristiyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gave up on this book halfway through and eventually finished it.

[spooky Σοφί · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 4.5.

Really easy to understand with (maybe) the exception of attacking tactics.

Still, made an amazing job giving chess a deeper meaning.

[Malak Mostafa]

Nice

[Amait]

so far good,

I learned:
* the correct way to position pieces.
* how each piece move and attack.
* how to evaluate a check mate.
* how to act when mated.
* what is a stalemate.
* when do people draw.
* special moves:
-- castling
-- en passent
---- and the rules on how to apply those moves.
* how to register games using chess notations. (by hand)