Rating: 
Summary: Not bad for a general overview
Review: This volume is a general overview of how to improve one's chess. It is not a primer for total beginners, but rather a compilation of Mr. Pandolfini's fifty best "ABCs of Chess" columns from Chess Life magazine up to 1986, the year this book was published.To me, the best features of this book are the sections on openings, tactics, handling of the various pieces (i.e., the power each piece exudes), strategy, and a good introductory section on the closed game. I made good use of these principles and I believe that I'm a better player as a result. I'd thank Mr. Pandolfini personally if I could for sharing his knowledge. I can understand why he's America's most respected and perhaps best chess teacher. But I have to dock this book one star for it's only scratching the surface of the endgame. Only one article from this book was devoted to this arguably most important phase. Mind you, it was just as informative as all the others. Still, even I thought Mr. Pandolfini could have done better here. Still it's not a bad book. In fact, it's pretty good. I'd recommend it to semi-beginners who have gotten past the how-to-force-mate phase and want a good general overview of what awaits them in their chess studies. Another good title like this one, that I recommend, is Jose Capablanca's "Chess Fundamentals," which gives a good foundation in studying the endgame. And for folks like Scott Williams, whose review of this book appears in this column: Don't be so negative. If you want to find out what a book is about, read the synopsis. And if you want a really good chess primer, I'd recommend Mr. Pandolfini's "Beginning Chess."
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