Rating: 
Summary: Best read after Chernev's "Logical Chess Move by Move"
Review: If you've read and loved Chernev's "Logical Chess Move by Move," you'll have a rough idea of Nunn's book. The main differences, I think, are: 1) Chernev's is much more basic, even though Understanding Chess "avoids jargon" and "emphasizes general principles" Nunn still writes more in-depth textually and doesn't avoid long variations. 2) Nunn is less repetitive - he doesn't try to come up with a dozen different reasons for why 1 e4 or 1 d4 "is the best move on the board," he just refers you to game 1, and moves on. 3) Nunn's games reflect current theory and modern openings which are a bit more sophisticated (or at least not as readily comprehensible) and require more explanation than Chernev's. I enjoyed Understanding Chess (the writing, variations, thematic ideas, summaries) but I think it is a bit too much for younger players or newcomers so if you haven't read Logical Chess or found it too hard (or **shudder** boring) you might do well to wait awhile before trying Understanding Chess. Understanding Chess is like a college textbook while Logical Chess' is a high school workbook.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for above average players and chess fans
Review: John Nunn is a strong GM who is also an excellent writer. Usually he writes for the upper echelon of stronger players (1800 USCF rating or higher); full of detailed analysis and variations. Here he is writing for a wider and broader audience. He selects games with clear cut themes and carefully anotates them. The anotations give not only the major options but puts the particular variation and style of play in context with contemporary chess trends. The games are particularly well chosen and nearly all are good clear cut examples - no muddy games. It reminds one of a guided tour of an art gallery with an docent - he explains why the masterpiece is a masterpiece. It may not improve your chess as much you would hope but it will increase your appreciation of chess. Note: for average readers it is possible to enjoy the book without a set, but for greater enjoyment having a set nearby is worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 Stars- Well Deserved
Review: John Nunn is a world renound GM and chess author, so automatically I knew that this book would be at LEAST mediocre. What I came to find was a solid book with solid annotation, with solid games. There is nothing awe aspiring in this book, but it is very good alltogether. Nunn has a deep knowledge of chess tactics and positions, and it reflects tremendously through his annotations. He makes sure to pick intructsive games for his examples, which is something that cannot be important enough. This book is too advanced for beginners, but just good enough for intermeddiate players. Class C-A will get the most out of this book. Nunn is a great author, and if you are into collecting top quality chess books, this is a must buy. [For Class C and up players. This book is good for overall chess understanding.]
Rating:
Summary: Like having a GRANDMASTER by your side!
Review: Nunn has done a marvelous job promulgating the work of Chernov during the age of the computer revolution that is part of our post industrial society in todays global world.The chess world has obviously become globalized therefore it has not lagged behind other areas of scientific progress.It seems that with all the information explosion in the areas of our game one can become easily overwelmed by the incredible amount of analysis that does not get explained at all.Incidently many of todays games are theoretically very tatical from the opening.Therefore they seem to defy many of our well established patterns of chess rules or positional dos and donts. As a result,even though the creative process of chess can flourish with wonderful new ideas and discoveries,it becomes difficult to explain the ideas of the game.Nunn given all the tactical complexity of these games does an excellant job of helping all chess players understand these difficult games by simply lexplaining them move by move like the book says.I am not trying to undermine Chernovs work but the games he dealt with were not nearly as complex from an opening tactical theoretical standard as todays games of grandmasters. Given that Nunns job seems much more difficult than his predessor,he has done a beautiful job of striking a balance between variations and verbal explaination for all players.As I said before given the nature of todays chess a very difficult balance to achieve.Therfore Nunn has done the job of carrying out Chernovs legacy in the 21 century.
Rating: 
Summary: None for Nunn!
Review: Nunn is certainly capable of letting newcomers in on the little secrets of modern chess--but he neglects his duty to do it. Shame! So here it is--totally free....Nunn can keep his 2670 rating. Newcomers, chess has very few rules on the surface--white to the right, queen on color...the decision prior to the game to permit "en passant." When you are playing with "White" you must focus on the Black f7 or "King's pawn" position. Modern chess has developed a defensive stance as protectionist means against the more beautiful "Bobby Fischer type play" of forced early "trades" and breathtaking "sacrifices" with dire consequences for the uninitiated. Sadly, one cannot play Bobby's opening style of chess against the plethora of modern gambits. White to play usually opens with the pawn move e4 and castles "King's side," designated 0-0, anywhere from his or her sixth to tenth move. Black's first move is, usually, to shove the Queen's pawn forward two spaces. Any and all other opening moves for Black are designed with protecting the position f7 in mind as white develops first. Nunn is incoherent in imparting wisdom in this respect and so he has fails his readership from the outset! Would you design a chess book to immediately impart the need to protect the King's pawn at the outset? I think I have demonstrated my case. I don't think you need to waste your time reading Nunn, limited by his current world rating, spewing the rhetoric of chess from a pre-dawn perspective in no less than 30 games. Face it! If you can't open like Kasparov, develop like Anand, surprise like Kramik and pound away with ease using the most beautiful combination blows ever conceived on the chessboard like Fischer and Capablanca and study away like some Israeli GMs...you don't stand a chance! This really is a tall order with Bobby haunting one's soul from the very shadows of the chess world from Hungary to Montenegro spitting out the words, vehemently, that one should necessarily skip the analysis and end the facelift given to really rather unintelligent modern-day GMs vastly aided by computers that study for them to a frightening depth of 40-plus moves.
Rating:
Summary: Modern games that are annotated as only Nunn can
Review: Nunn is well-known for writing truly exhaustive works, using computer analysis and endgame databases to attempt to find the "truth" of every position. This book is Nunn watering his work down, stepping off Mt. Olympus to throw a few crumbs to the middling masses of the chess world. He even occasionally writes in complete paragraphs while annotating, which most lower rated players clamor for. This really is an excellent book for the average/above-average player; rather like Chernev's "Logical Chess" updated to the present, raised one notch from Chernev's book in terms of assumed playing strength of the reader, with the insights from Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy" lurking, unspoken, all over the place. The other reviews have stated the book's strong points and there is little need for me to recapitulate them. Buy this book. Read it. Learn from it.
Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: Nunn makes a significant contribution to his group of high quality chess books with this publication, which may be thought of as a modern update of Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move. Contrary to the rather strange, incoherent review from Macedonia below, I think Nunn's book is very valuable. Most steps in each of the 33 games are annotated. Nunn takes care to provide explanations for the (advanced) beginner, even as he explains in great depth the subtleties in the games that are of immediate concern to the more exprerienced player. Basic explanations of openings are provided, and, cleverly, the book is well cross-referenced so that the same explanation is not repeated across many games that have similar moves. The variations are sufficient but not overwhelming for the average player. The binding, design and overall editing and publishing quality is first-rate, a trait of the company -Gambit- that publishes Nunn's books. However, I have two complaints: 1. It is common in most GM games today that the endgame is not played out; the player with the irreparably weaker position will usually resign or a draw will be agreed upon somewhere towards the end of the middlegame. This is because GMs and advanced players know from a middlegame position which side will win, no matter what the other side plays. However, it is VERY distressing for the intermediate and beginning players to be "left in the lurch" without adequate explanations. Beginners simply cannot see that far ahead yet. I have often wondered when reading this book how I would finish the game off if I was one of the players, and not knowing this is EXTREMELY upsetting. With some games I've tried working through all the possibilities that occur to me, but this is an exhausting exercise for the chess amateur, and never of sufficiently high quality. This may not be a problem for people with access to Fritz or similar computer software, but for people without them (yes, they do exist), this problem is a horrible one to be faced with. Furthermore, even those with ready access to software will actually be relying on computer finishes, which is not the same as human play. I wish Nunn had provided adequate notations until the final #. 2. The second complaint is perhaps less important, but no less significant. Nunn completely fails to acknowledge Chernev anywhere in the book. The reviewer below who claims that he does is mistaken - I've read virtually every alphabet in this book, and there's not one single mention of Chernev. While it's true that Nunn's work is modern, and that Watson's superb treatise has influenced Nunn's work a lot, to neglect mention of one of the greatest teachers in chess history, whose book provided the basic form (at the very least) of Nunn's book is almost sinful.
Heck, even the titles are similar. One would have expected so fine a teacher and writer as Nunn to pay tribute to an earlier master who introduced generations of kids to chess, using methods now employed so successfully by Nunn himself.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugg - not for you unless YOU VERY GOOD!
Review: Nunn seems to know his stuff! But this book isn't advertized for advanced players. He knows his stuff for very, very advanced players. Gosh, he goes off into tangents and loses me. He doesn't like the idea of giving general rules to follow. Not an easy book. If you are very, very advanced get it. If you are not do not get it.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read! I laughed, I cried it was part of me!
Review: The book is a good deal more accessible than some others (including Nunn's earlier work). The notation is exceptional, the language is clear and the lessons are reasonable. I don't understand the fellow from Macedonia at all (I think he suggested there's no value here). This book has improved my play as I'm now regularly beating people whom I couldn't match earlier. I owe these successes to a combination of practice and this book. As a minor point, I would agree with an earlier reviewer that chess at this level is sometimes frustrating because players do not 'play out' the games once both realise one side will inevitably lose. Nunn doesn't provide 'likely' outcomes and some may find that frustrating. That said, though, I find this tendency helpful as I can use the lack of ending to test myself (bring the winner to victory, stave off defeat etc.). If you're an intermediate (or even relatively advanced beginner) I think you'll benefit from the lessons in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Top Marks for Dr Nunn
Review: The reviewer Randy Bauer awards this book a sensational 10/10 and I have to agree. 30 great games with insightful notes by a top grandmaster, combined with quality production. What is there not to like? Unlike some of his advanced books, here Nunn limits the variations he gives in favour of words... lots and lots of great words! Modern chess lucidly explained for the layman. Enthusiastic players of all strengths will love this book, and learn loads from it.
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