Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors

Rating:
Summary: The Entire Picture is Shown
Review: The advantage of learning by going over complete games is that you see all phases of the game. I like this approach more than working on a problem that is shown to you in a book and not knowing how that position is reached.
"Unbeatable Chess Lessson for Juniors" gives the entire picture. It is nice to see a wonderful combination or brillian winning idea but "Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" also will show you from move one how the entire situation was developed and then how it concluded.
Clear move by move analysis is given of every move in each game. The author did a great job.

Rating:
Summary: Games Turned into Great Lessons!
Review: The author of the top selling chess book in the country ("Chess For Juniors") continues with the games at the end of his introductory book with 24 more.
Games used in his lessons, selected for being instructive in important themes, are turned into great lessons. I own about 20 chess books and this one along with the author's introductory book are at the top of my list.

Rating:
Summary: Great Intermediate Level Book - The Best Game Analysis
Review: The games in this book are so clearly analyzed it is amazing! This book has much more than just a collection of games. It creates first rate lessons from each game and explains what is going on with all of the moves. It seemed when I started to ask a question to myself about a postion or move the book knew what was going on my mind and would answer it! It is just like the author is a mind reader. I went back and read the back cover of the book and it explained that these games were based on over 30 years on experience in using these games in lessons. That explained why the author knew what was going on in my mind as I went through the games.
There are just the right number of diagrams spaced out between the moves (averages about 1 diagram for every few moves) - which allows a more advanced player to read the book without a chess set and makes sure you have all of the pieces on the right squares on a constant basis.
I also like the selection of games. Some are by World Champions, but some use examples taken from the author's games showing how to take advantage of play against weaker players. A good mixture for learning.
The book had extremely good coverage of certain openings within the games such as the Ruy Lopez (Exchange, Open and Main Lines), Vienna Game, Giuoco Piano, Four Knights Game, Nimzo Indian Defense (Rubenstein, Classical and Samish Variations), Caro Kann and French Defenses. A lot of nice ideas and lines are covered on some of these openings that cannot be found in other books.
Besides excellent tactics and positional play in the games it is nice to see how the middlegame leads to interesting endgames in some of the games (the Rook versus Minor Piece and Bishop of opposite color endgames are nice).
Very, very well rounded book!

Rating:
Summary: Clear writing style and great games for instruction
Review: The games selected for the purpose of providing lessons are excellent. Not only are some of the best games of world class players selected, but the author, an excellent player himself uses some his own games to provide an easy to understand explanation of each and every move played. The author's many years of experience in using these games during his lessons with his students makes it so that he knows exactly what the reader's questions about the moves would be. The author hits the nail right on the head!
Games are turned into lessons with questions challenging the reader to find the best moves at various critical parts of each game. A lot of "general" rules are given to help the advanced beginner or intermediate player understand concepts. It is nice that the general rules are usually not repeated more than once througout the book, and angled in a slightly different way when appearing a second time - this makes it so that there is not too much repetition - making it just right!
The author gives some interesting insights into the players and the games, which makes the book more interesting. Though the title contains the word "Juniors", I can recommend this book to adults as well. For study purposes the games are arranged by opening. Several of the games contain some excellent endgames.
I cannot wait until this author produces more books! I loved his first Random House book, "Chess For Juniors" which has already become a classic in chess literature - looks like this one may be his second classic.

Rating:
Summary: Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors
Review: This book is for anyone who has ever wondered why certain chess moves are played in a game. The author explains every move in a simple manner and gives the ideas behind the moves. He arranges the 24 games in this book by opening so that it can be used to develop an opening system for players. Although the book is touted as being for young players, it is actually great for anyone wanting to understand chesss. This is a great addition to chess literature for amateur players.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Be Fooled - Not Only For Kids!
Review: This book's title reveals its target audience - kids who play chess and want to get better. However, I've been playing chess a long time and I know a lot of adult players who should read, re-read, and study this book. It contains a lot of chess wisdom for any chess player that is struggling to understand why he or she can't win at chess consistently. This book is nothing less than an outstanding achievement for author Robert M. Snyder who has devoted his life to helping not only juniors but chess lovers of all ages understand the game of ages!

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: This is a book of only 24 annotated games. At about a 2300 rating the author is probably not even ranked in the top 10,000 players in the world. Therefore imagine my shock on finding that, instead of the games all being by "the world's most famous players" (as promised by the back cover)the author has given many of his own games. Half of the 24 games in this book are in fact played by the author, and most of these seem to be tedious postal encounters from the early 1970s. I had paid good money for a book of 30-year old correspondence games against non-descript opposition? Hmmm. I can't imagine juniors being the slightest bit interested in this, and the publisher is wise to not mention the true contents in their publicity. I tried to read over some of the games, but the notes were rather dull, and certainly could not be described as instructive. Turning to the 12 games not featuring the author, well, things don't get much better. Very odd selection, and ancient. Game one sets the tone: Hamppe versus Meitner, Vienna 1872 (has anyone heard of these guys??). In fact I don't think I spotted a single modern game in this book, nothing from the last 20 years. Best avoided.

Rating:
Summary: Important Concepts Covered
Review: This is a Wonderful Book for an Intermediate Level Chess Player of any age. Following the idea of analyzing every single move to build lessons based on games used by the author in his private lessons. The author (a master) uses games played by himself (which, any teacher would understand best) and other very strong masters to cover a wide variety of openings and concepts.
What is especially instructive is showing the flow of things setting up interesting tactical and positional themes. This is better than just having a position asking "what is the best move"? The student is challenged in this book by asking what the best move is at different points of each game - you can see how the positions were reached with a clear explaination of what is going on.
A very strong point of this book is that it explains general rules, which apply to what is going on in the game. This is especially effective in providing quality instruction.
There is no arguing about the success of the menthods used in this book - the author has trained more national scholastic chess champions than any other coach in the country - 35!
The games within this book are not only instructive but having interesting ideas within thim.
A must buy for any interested player serious about improving their game!

Rating:
Summary: Great coverage of Openings, Tactics & Positional Play
Review: This is a wonderful book for upper elementary school through high school aged students (I would say ages 9 on up). The book actually takes off from the end of the author's previous book (listed as the #1 most popular chess book on Amazon.com), "Chess For Juniors" where he started analyzing a couple of games with comments on every move. The use of pointing out "general rules" where they apply, asking questions challenging the student makes the writing style enjoyable to read. This will make the student "work at it and think!" just like a good book should! It may not have the same level of humor as "Chess For Juniors" (one reason why this book is the top seller), but this is the way a more advanced book should be.
As mentioned in a couple of previous reviews it is also good for adults. The simple and clear writing style is what makes it easy to understand for kids while the extensive and accurate analysis makes it excellent for all ages! I consider it much better for the advanced beginner or intermediate level player than the other excellent book like it, "Logical Chess, Move by Move". This is because "Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors is written more clearly, doesn't lose you and doesn't become overly repetitious.
Exactly half of 24 games in the book are played by the author. This is excellent as mentioned in another review because it gives a balance between showing games by top world class players and how to take advantage of play by weaker players. This makes the book very practical for learning. I also noted that the author does have a knack for knowing exactly what is going on in the mind of the student who is going over the games. The author seems to answer the questions consistantly that come up by the student while going over the games - and as mentioned in another review, this is because the author has been using these game in his lessons for decades! This is another reason why this book is unique.
There is excellent coverage of openings with some new theoritical ideas. However, the games have excellent coverage of nice tactics and positional play. There are three games containing very good endgames. Actually once again a good balance covering all apsects of the game.
This book is a "must" for every advanced beginner and intermediate player who wants to improve their game!

Rating:
Summary: The Most Important Concepts Clearly Explianed
Review: This is a wonderful collection of games have been put together to explain the most important concepts in what will make you a successful chess player.
Having met the author in person (see my review on CHESS FOR JUNIORS) I spoke to him about his series. This book (coming from the horses mouth) was written about 12 years after his CHESS FOR JUNIORS book at the urging of many readers, after CHESS FOR JUNIORS had become the top selling chess book in the US.
He was asked by the publisher to write a book on the games he has been using for many in his lessons. An most certainly as a player who qualified for the semi-finals of the FIDE recognized World Correspondence Championships he developed some world class games played by himself. These games were played well before computers came along and ruined correspondence play.
I found Game 18, "My Favorite Instructional Game" to be a master piece in providing the most important concepts. For example it shows rapid and effective piece development and then how to exploit it. The game continues with showing how to use a strong outpost for a Knight, taking advantage of White Squared Weaknesses, Using Open Files and taking the 7th rank. In the analysis both the smothered mate and arabian mates are shown to the reader. Then an exchange sacrifice to finish off the enemy King makes this a very nice win.
Another example is Game 22 where both a spatial advantage and the Queenside Pawn majority are obtained. Then the author, playing this game (not a correspondence game) shows how these advantages are turned into victory.
If you want to learn how to play the Grand Prix Attack agains the Sicilian (1 e4 c5 2 f4) Snyder's game in Lesson 15 (not a correspondence game) gives some nice analysis not found in other books on this opening. It demonstrates how to build a Kingside attack through superior developing moves and moves made while planning ahead. There is a nice (not deep) Queen sacrifice at the end to polish the enemy King off.
I actually enjoyed the author's games the most because some of his opponents made typical mistakes you will find are made by players who are non-masters. This makes the book especially useful for the audience it was intended for. Since the book was advertised as a book for younger players it has just the right type of games in it.
In this book the author does a wonderful job of providing wonderful lessons with a deep understanding of the thinking process of students in the 800 to 1800 rating range (the tiered approach used in the analysis makes such a wide rating range possible as the target audience). No wonder that the only book on the market that out sells this book is the author's beginning book, CHESS FOR JUNIORS. The author indicated he was going to make his series conclude at four books and then take a nice break having concluded putting together the most important teaching material in these four volumes. The final book is going to be titled, MORE UNBEATABLE CHESS FOR JUNIORS and I was told this book will fill in the gaps and expand on UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS. I was also told his final book will be for the advanced scholastic player (with UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS and WINNING CHESS FOR JUNIORS being the two side by side Intermediate level books).