Rating: 
Summary: A chess book you can actually read
Review: It seems like you either love this book or you hate it. Positional chess is hard to explain and hard to learn, but this book does the best job I've seen of explaining positional concepts to relatively new players. If you already understand pawn structures, then don't buy it, but if you've heard that doubled pawns are bad but don't really know why, then this book is for you.Pandolfini's idea of using no chess notation is very interesting. I know I lose interest when all I see is columns of notation, and it's nice to have a book that does not require you to have a board in front of you. The wordiness of "move the king's pawn to the third square" gets old after many repetitions, but I still think it's a good idea for the intended audience -- someone who knows the moves and wants to learn more.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre book
Review: Pandolfini is capable of writing decent books. His columns in 'Chess Life' are not bad. Unfortunately he chooses not to exert himself, or perhaps his publishers pressure him to churn 'em out.
Rating: 
Summary: The first book all chess players should get.
Review: Please don't be mislead by all the bad reviews. There is a simple reason why many of the readers give this book a bad review: they probably already know the material. If you are already a 1500 player, this book will probably not help you much. If you are 1000 it will be divine inspiration. The truth is that Bruce Pandolfini _regularly_ churns out positively horrid books. This is one exception that should be read by any weak player....if you already know the material in this, you shouldn't be reading Pandolfini level books anyway. By the way, this is one of the three books I recommend for players, the other two (in order of playing strength) are: Reassess your chess (Silman) Play/Think Like a grandmaster (Kotov). This book is for the smart beginner after he has played a bit.
Rating:
Summary: The first book all chess players should get.
Review: Please don't be mislead by all the bad reviews. There is a simple reason why many of the readers give this book a bad review: they probably already know the material. If you are already a 1500 player, this book will probably not help you much. If you are 1000 it will be divine inspiration. The truth is that Bruce Pandolfini _regularly_ churns out positively horrid books. This is one exception that should be read by any weak player....if you already know the material in this, you shouldn't be reading Pandolfini level books anyway. By the way, this is one of the three books I recommend for players, the other two (in order of playing strength) are: Reassess your chess (Silman) Play/Think Like a grandmaster (Kotov). This book is for the smart beginner after he has played a bit.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic Positional Introduction -- Lack of Notation a Blunder!
Review: Relevant Background: I am currently a lower rated adult player. I have mostly studied tactics and endgames with only a little positional study (1/2 of My System). Let me say that I had rather mixed feeling regarding this book while reading it. It has several noteworthy qualities. Namely, it has a user-friendly reference format. While annotating my games, I occasionally refer to it to shed some light on the game, especially pawn formation. Also, it does a decent job of providing fairly broad (but shallow) coverage of many positional topics, especially pawn structure. The book spends 68 pages on isolated pawns (particularly the d-pawn). It also covers backward pawns, doubled pawns, pawn majorities/minorities, pawn couples, passed pawns, pawn centers, etc. Non-pawn topics that I feel are worth reading include two bishops, opening a file, knight corral, good knight, exchanging pieces. The primary downside of this book is the editor's or author's decision to NOT use standard chess notation. They do use algebraic identifiers for squares, such as e2, h4, etc. But they attempt to use prose to describe maneuvers! An example from the chapter, Breakthrough Combination: "If, after White's g-pawn moves to g6, Black captures the g-pawn with the f-pawn, away from the center, White moves his h-pawn to h6, forcing Black's g7-pawn to capture the h6-pawn....". Huh? Clearly chess notation would have greatly simplified this explanation. Writing a book on chess and presupposing the reader knows the rules of the game without also presupposing they can easily learn algebraic notation within a few minutes, is a poor judgment call and significantly degrades the value of this book. If you are under 1400 USCF, this book is an appropriate introduction to positional concepts. If you are over 1400 or have already read other positional material, I would skip this one and read My System by Nimzovich or Simple Chess by Stean/Wilson. A final recommendation, if you are a rank beginner, pick up Chess for Dummies (no joke) and then Everyone's 2nd Chess Book by Heisman.
Rating:
Summary: Good for Novices
Review: This book is essentially a glossary of basic chess concepts. If you don't know what a "bad bishop" or "backward pawn" is this book will be very informative. If you do, spend your money elsewhere on more advanced books. This book will help you identify elements, but it is not much help in teaching how to use them. Good for players rated 1100 or less perhaps.
Rating:
Summary: Good for Novices
Review: This book is essentially a glossary of basic chess concepts. If you don't know what a "bad bishop" or "backward pawn" is this book will be very informative. If you do, spend your money elsewhere on more advanced books. This book will help you identify elements, but it is not much help in teaching how to use them. Good for players rated 1100 or less perhaps.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book on Basic Positional Concepts for 900-1400 level
Review: This book is pretty good introduction to positional concepts and how to take advantage of positional weaknesses. A lot of the information is very basic (isolated/backward/doubled pawns, pawn islands etc.) However, the discussion of how an isolated d-pawn is often a middlegame attacking advantage is not so basic. There are other books that cover similar information, and more in depth. What I like about this book is the easy to read format. The examples are clear and there are no long variations. There are tons of diagrams. You don't need to understand chess notation or have a chess set handy to read it and understand the concepts. You can read it anywhere, anytime. Pandolfini has gotten a bad reputation (as Reinfeld did) for churning out shoddy potboilers, and somewhat deservedly so, but this book can be very useful for a relative beginner who needs to understand the basic positional language of chess.
Rating:
Summary: Not good at all
Review: This book is totally a waste of money and it should never have been published. It is a mistake to buy this book so my advice is DON'T BUY IT!
Rating:
Summary: I don't like one line summaries
Review: This book is very good for a player who needs to learn about different features of the opening and middle game such as about pawns, or about a fianchetto, I wouldn't say it has so much strategy in it, but it is deffintley god for a player who rating is between 1000 -1300.
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