Ebook: Chess For Dummies

My wife bought this in hopes of sharing my own chess hobby. Instead, it probably kept her from ever wanting to touch a chess piece.

No way does a beginner need an almost 400-page book. Better to buy something more digestible and then get another book if the chess fever sustains. In keeping with the "Dummies" title, this book truly does talk down to its readers; Chapter 9 is titled "Special Moves (The Ones That Start All the Arguments)" when all it contains are the rather unsensational en passant (at which point FM Eade further offends when he suggests your opponent will accuse you of playing by French rules), promotion, and castling. And, as many other reviewers have already (and accurately) pointed out, the progression of the book's actual contents is illogical. Possibly the best example is that "Chess Notation" is not covered until Chapter 17! (several chapters *after* the one on Endgame) That is criminal. And another: the chapter on Strategy ("The Principles of Play") comes two chapters after the one on Mating. Did the chapters get switched prior to publication? Indeed, a cursory examination found at least two instances where the author advises his readers to "jump ahead" to find relevant advice. Why not simply present the information in the right order to begin with?

More problems to come. The diagrams are confusing with arrows galore and not-quite-ghosted-enough icons. There are even TWO Tables of Contents. (Both TOCs evidence pagination errors for Appendix B and the Index.) Actually, this is symptomatic of the macro problem with this book: too many words, too many pages, and ultimately, too much confusion.

Appendix B (International Chess Notation) was interesting, but has no bearing on a novice player in the USA these days, and hardly saves the rest of the book.

If you were to cut out the unnecessary chaff and reorganize the helpful content, there is probably more than one star in this book. But to the extent that it is sold as a book for beginners ("The Fun and Easy Way to Play Chess--and Win!"), it is quite dangerous, as it succeeds only in turning off many would-be chess enthusiasts.

[This review is based on the first edition (1996).]


P.S.

The book my wife should have bought, and the one that virtually all of the dissatisfied purchasers of the Dummies one should look for, is:
Learn Chess by British GM John Nunn.

That assumes the person wanting to learn chess is an adult. For children, I would recommend:

Chess for Children
and/or
How to Play Chess Like an Animal