Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess....a review

 Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

by Bobby Fischer, Stuart Margulies, Don Mosenfelder

It is said that the three most important of elements of chess to learn first are - Tactics, Tactics, Tactics!  

And this is what "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" is all about.

At the outset it should be understood that (despite the title) the book is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject of chess. Its purpose is to teach the absolute beginner the basics of one aspect of chess, and that is - tactics - mostly within the framework of checkmating attacks. Nonetheless, it is essentially a beginner's introduction to basic chess tactics, and nothing more.

The value of the book is that this is precisely what the beginner needs to focus on when first learning the game. It is essential to have a firm grasp of fundamental chess tactics before moving on to other aspects of the game. The fact that the material is presented within the motif of attacks on the opponent's king is all the better. After all, checkmate is the ultimate goal for winning the game. So this would be an excellent book to begin your chess education.

The format of the book is that of a structured learning course, using a series of exercises or puzzles to solve (one per page) which reinforce the concept under consideration. The book begins by explaining how the pieces move and capture, then quickly moves on to very basic checkmate tactics. The exercises start with relatively simple scenarios, then progress in complexity in order to reinforce the reader's comprehension and build up his/her level of tactical sophistication. The book is easy to read (it does not use chess notation) in the sense that it should take on average less than 60 seconds to complete an exercise (i.e., a page). It took my eight year old (at the time) daughter only a few hours, over several days, to complete the book. Because she was able to quickly and successfully absorb the concepts (she's pretty smart), it also increased her enthusiasm for playing the game.

I have recommended this book to many players new to the game, and to a person they all agree that this was the best book to begin their study of chess. 

Bottom Line -  If you are a chess beginner who doesn't know a pin from a fork from a skewer from a double attack, then you need this book.  This is simply the best and easiest first introduction to basic chess tactics primer (trust me!).  Upon completing it, you should not only be able to effectively employ basic chess tactics against your opponents, but also be able to quickly recognize the potential for tactical threats against you.  

This book will start you on the journey of playing good chess.

P.S.  For additional practice in checkmating attacks see "Simple Checkmates" by A.J. Gillam.  For exposure to a variety of more complex tactics, see "Chess Tactics for Students" by John A. Bain and the classic tactics primer "Winning Chess" by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld.

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For more articles on other chess topics, including helpful resources and more book recommendations, be sure to check out my Chess.com blog.

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Great choice for a first book!

This is indeed  a great book for those who wants to learn chess. But in my opinion there are better first chess book type for beginner. I can no longer remember, does this book include tactics problems that wins material?

jambyvedar -

Although the lessons in the book feature essentially all the tactical motifs - pins, forks, skewers etc. - all the tactical scenarios involve a checkmating attack.  In other words, even though the book features and teaches fundamental chess tactics, these tactics are within the context of checkmating or defending against checkmate.  I did not mention this in the review because I did not want to obscure the fact that the book is fact is fundamentally concerned with tactics, albeit within the context of checkmating scenarios.  

So to answer your question - the primary purpose of the lessons is not that of winning material per se.

Concerning your comment that there are better first books for a beginner, that all depends on the expectations, and current knowledge level of the beginner.  

Since this book does not deal with all aspects of chess (just tactics, as I've made clear), if a beginner is concerned with learning, for example, opening principles, positional concepts or strategy and planning, or endgame fundamentals, s/he must look to other resources that deal with these topics.  If however, one knows essentially nothing about the game and doesn't know where to begin, I submit that this would be an excellent book to start with.

Beginners might also find something of interest from the following list of good chess books...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

Yeah this is a good first book for beginner, but in my opinion not the best. This book will be much better if  it  also  included tactics that win material. There is a danger that a beginner will not be diversied with his thinking as he only thinks about checkmate. If this book shows tactics that win material, a beginner will have a more diverse thinking by also looking at tactical chanche to win material.

This book is 90% mate type. But the mates here are good and instructive for absolute beginner.

As I've attempted to make clear, the Bobby Fischer book teaches tactics.  And the context within which it choses to teach tactics is from the perspective of checkmating.  The fact that checkmating is the context does not negate the fact that the book is fundamentally concerned with tactical motifs.

In fact, I think this approach for a beginner's book is brilliant.  Not only should the beginner learn tactics first and foremost, but but s/he must also understand how to effectively prosecute checkmate, and conversely, avoid being checkmated.  The author's choice of teaching tactics within the context of checkmating scenarios is therefore extremely useful in my view.  So the book deals with probably the two most important aspects of chess that the beginner must develop proficiency with initially.

Having said all that, for those wishing to study tactics and combinations involving a variety of scenarios (not just checkmate), and thematically presented, the following books are excellent...

"Winning Chess - How to Perfect Your Attacking Play" by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld....(get either the 2015 Simon & Schuster or 2013 Batsford editions)....

https://www.amazon.com/WINNING-CHESS-Irving-Chernev/dp/1501117580/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477477555&sr=1-4&keywords=winning+chess+irving+chernev

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Perfect-Attacking-Batsford/dp/1849941106/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477477555&sr=1-1&keywords=winning+chess+irving+chernev

"Chess Tactics" by Paul Littlewood (Batsford 2004 edition)....

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Tactics-Batsford-Book/dp/0713489340/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477476239&sr=1-3&keywords=chess+tactics+batsford

There are several recommended books dealing specifically with general chess tactics in my list - Good Chess Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

To be clear.  The point of my review is not that the Bobby Fischer book is the very best book on tactics, bar none.   It is that the book is an excellent, and in my view THE BEST, VERY FIRST EXPOSURE TO CHESS TACTICS BOOK FOR THE ABSOLUTE BEGINNER.

What I am implying, there are better first book beginner type of book than this. I already explained my reasons. I did not told that a beginner should not learn tactics. What I mentioned, this book will be better if it included tactics that win materials.

Just my opinion, but i think Pandolfini's "Beginning Chess" is a better choice for absolute beginners.  

Could be. Pandolfini is good with his beginner's books. 

you're always judgmental in your answers and always speaking about ego so mr. can you please tell my why exactly did you size your post up and boldened the thing up if --it's just my opinion-- ?

Yes i could...

Folks.  I created this book review to help absolute beginners by providing information for choosing a first chess book.  The thread was intended to be a positive thing. 

I would appreciate if posters will refrain from negative personal attacks.

Thank you.

Positive personal attacks are okay, right?

This was my second chess book.  Helped me a lot.  Very good!

Winning chess is my 2nd book and I think it's a good follow-up to the Fischer book.

my sons myself and my students have used this book through the years... fantastic book.

After laying off of chess for a decade or so and even though I probably played thousands of games, before starting up again I went through this book just as a refresher and to make sure my pea-brain had not forgotten anything. I've enjoyed it and given numerous copies to people who said they were interested in learning the game.

This is a good book for beginners, trains your checkmate pattern recognition.