Rating: 
Summary: historical and essential enlightening info
Review: a compendium of the <now> stock mates with names, dates, and how to shown. it is a great learning tool for those under expert rating, and it can fix some embarrassing lapses in some experts play. if this book didnt exist, it would have to be written.i am a uscf postal master.
Rating:
Summary: Tactics On The Cheap
Review: Actually, you don't need to know which name "belongs" to which mate (Is this Legal's pseudo-sacrifice or Greco's Mate? Who's Anastasia?). However, this book can be a great help in learning to more quickly and more often recognize the possibilities inherent in a position. You know: Is that open diagonal important? Can the rook be sacrificed usefully? Etc. And it's fun and quick to read. Plus it's a Dover book and sells cheaply.
Rating: 
Summary: A Field Guide to Checkmates
Review: Considering that the object of chess is to mate the opposing king, it's peculiar that so few modern chess publications focus on this aspect of the game. Beginners can find many guides to tactics and positional play, as well as opening and endgame manuals, but very few foundational works on constructing an attack against the castled king. Perhaps that's because in master play, the brilliant sacrifices and dashing sallies of a few generations ago lie buried in the variant lines. Nevertheless, the developing player needs to pass through a study of such attacks, and it is impossible to conceive of an attacking line unless you know mating patterns inside and out. This classic and attractively-priced text presents over 20 essential checkmates organized in logical sequence. Coverage of each mate is rather sparse, but emphasizes the primary theme of the book: visualize the final position, sac pieces to open lines, then finish with a forcing sequence. Chapters also contain a small library of games; these are rather dated and often amateurish, but they do demonstrate the mates in practice and occasionally illustrate an important chess truth--that the threat of mate is usually enough to induce a weakness in your opponent's position. Every several chapters the book pauses for a review quiz. To get the most of this book, you should work through it carefully and slowly, making sure that you understand all the conditions and prerequisites for each type of mate. Not all of this information is explicitly laid out in Kahn and Renaud's brief chapters. Thereafter you will be ready to analyze game scores to see how these mates were executed or how the threat of them led to a winning position. Actually, any enterprising and skilled chessplayer could make a name for himself in chess literature by writing an expanded version of _Art_of_the_Checkmate_ that would cover these things. Time for the testimonial. I'm a fairly good positional player, at the intermediate level, and could often achieve a favorable endgame position, though sometimes I'd see my positional plus slip through my fingers. Studying this book has greatly improved my middle-game play--now I better understand what to do with those outposts or strong squares. Recently I played my first serious game since studying this book. I gained the upper hand in the center, and, had I played in my old style, probably would have tried to force through a Queenside pawn. This time, however, I saw that with some effort I could set up the circumstances for a version of "Anastasia's mate." It worked, and by the time my opponent realized what was happening, he had to give up the Exchange and a pawn to prevent mate. Study this book: improve your chess and have more fun playing it!
Rating: 
Summary: bunch of better books out there.
Review: contents are so basic. you can choose better books at same
price. if you are an utter novice, pick pandolfini's more chessersize.
if not
choose classic 1001s by reinfeld.
Rating:
Summary: INDISPENSABLE
Review: Here is a book that presents the basic patterns for different checkmates, shows games where these patterns recurred, and then illustrates each checkmate with examples. After this, the authors offer quizzes to drill on the patterns studied. I can honestly say that reading this book will save lots of time trying to find over the board what can be reduced to a simple mating pattern... Good buy and a book that should be read at least three times...
Rating:
Summary: INDISPENSABLE
Review: Here is a book that presents the basic patterns for different checkmates, shows games where these patterns recurred, and then illustrates each checkmate with examples. After this, the authors offer quizzes to drill on the patterns studied. I can honestly say that reading this book will save lots of time trying to find over the board what can be reduced to a simple mating pattern... Good buy and a book that should be read at least three times...
Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: I hate reading descriptive notation, so I usually don't take kindly to books that use it. In this case, I make an exception. I've seen many beginners play without any idea how to deliver mate, and every time I want to give them a copy of this book. It lays out standard mating patterns in a way that really sticks in one's mind. In my tournament experience, I've won with pretty queen sacrifices on 3 occasions that I would never have seen had I not recognized the patterns I learned in this book. I still go through it now and then. Sure, some of the annotations appear a bit quaint next to newer books, but they're also pretty clear and provide less experienced players a good opportunity to look deeper and see if they can improve upon them.
Rating:
Summary: Great Patterns to improve your game
Review: I recommend this as an excellent second book once you have attained a knowledge of the very basics (I recommend "Chess For Juniors" as a first book).
It contains the most important basic checkmate patterns that you need to know to become a stronger player. It gives some excellent problems for a chess teacher to set up for their students.
A classic!
Rating:
Summary: Great primer on checkmate patterns
Review: If you don't know the basic pattern's of checkmate then this is the book for you!
If you're a player who wants to understand more about checkmating your opponent's king then this book is also for you!
Get ready not to learn but to UNDERSTAND how to checkmate your opponent when the opportunity arises.
The author's of this book have done a great job in teaching the reader to understand the requirements of the position for a checkmate to occur.
Get it to understand "the art of the checkmate" ;-) Recommended to all player's either as a review/test for advanced player's and as a stepping stone for beginner's. Don't miss those simple mates again!
Rating:
Summary: Yes, this is the book you're looking for
Review: If you've just begun to play chess, look for the book "Simple Checkmates," which is just what it says. But this is the next book that everyone should read. Quite simply, if you're between 1200 and 1500 this book will probably increase your confidence and skill more than any other book. It's a true classic, written by the 1923 and 1934 champions of France. It covers the most important mates and attacks for beginners to know. I think no other book does this. This is the only chess book that I'd say you should practically memorize.
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