Product Description

This is not just a book for kids - for 'Dad' read any opponent who beats you regularly! This book teaches the 50 Deadly Checkmates - basic attacking patterns that occur repeatedly in games between players of all standards.

Each mating motif is carefully and simply explained, and several illustrative examples are given. A final test enables the reader to grade his pattern recognition abilities, and the last chapter explains what to do if your Dad is Garry Kasparov.

Fun, instructive - and guaranteed to improve your game.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19437 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 127 pages

From the Publisher
Gambit Publications specialises in chess and has an unrivalled reputation for originality and editorial excellence. The company is owned and staffed entirely by leading chess masters and grandmasters.

About the Author
Murray Chandler is a chess Grandmaster, and a former editor of the British Chess Magazine. He was a key member of the England team that won the silver medals in Chess Olympiads three times during the 1980s, and went on to captain the team in 1994. He remains to this day one of the few players in the world with a 100% score against Kasparov.

Customer Reviews

One of the best beginner to intermediate chess books available...
This book really improved my beginning chess. First, Chandler gives a great overview of why pattern recognition is important. Then he proceeds to show certain board set-ups to demonstrate various checkmating techniques. Don't be fooled by the title, this is a great book for all beginning chessplayers; more experienced players may already have seen this material, though probably not nearly so elegantly presented! When I began playing correspondence chess with some of my (equally matched) friends, this book did more for me than almost any other (some tactics books were also very helpful, and should be part of your learning experience). In fact, my recommendation would be to tell your friends about this book, but keep it secret from your chess enemies!

White Queen on E2 Complicates (breaks?) #8
I'm a weak player, but curious, so I set up both Chessmaster and Chess Genius with the layout shown for Damiano's Mate, the 8th Deadly Checkmate, but the first example from the introduction.

Neither engine cooperated with Chandler's script by taking 7.Kg1, because both recognized another option: While 7.Qh5 didn't change the outcome of the game, it extended it by nearly 60 moves!

It seems unlikely that this board position is (as Chandler describes) the same one where Grandmaster John Nunn recognized the winning combination in two seconds, because the white queen on e2 changes everything!

That doesn't mean the book is worthless, of course, but it does shake my faith in the author somewhat. If I were a GM, I would recognize the typo and move on; as a novice who is probably the target of this book, I find the gap between explanation and reality most confusing. Has this error been corrected in a revised edition?

Amazing book for wannabe attacking players
Before reading this book, I played chess like a scared chipmunk, obsessing about little details like whether pushing this pawn would weaken my position by a picounit. This book helped me see that the way to win games at the amateur level is to attack, to be aggressive, to go after the enemy king like he is your nemesis, to crank open his position like a sardine can and commit regicide.

The book's title is somewhat misleading in that the book is very narrow in scope (a full book on how to beat dad would have to include discussion of openings, endgames, and more general chess strategy and tactics). Rather, it contains fifty practical checkmating patterns that frequently come up in real games. If the basic mating patterns (e.g., how to mate with a King and Queen versus a lone King) are the alphabet of checkmate, this book is the grammer of checkmate. The patterns consist of beautiful 3-5 move combinations that you will have opportunities to apply in many of your games.

If you are looking for a beginner chess book, get the Idiot's Guide to Chess. That is the best place to start from square one. Then learn some very basic tactics (e.g., Pandolfini's Beginning Chess). Then get and read this book. Over and over. With these patterns ingrained in your mind, you will spot them in the far distance during games, aim for them, and go in for the kill. Sure, sometimes you will crash and burn, but that will only make you more prepared for the next game.

Thanks to Chandler for writing this book. It has made chess fun for me again.