Art of Chess

Rating:
Summary: A Classic.
Review: - One of the true classics.

- A great book for beginners or lower-rated players.

- An incredible value if you buy it used.

Rating:
Summary: James Mason's Art of Chess
Review: This was one of the first chess books I read as a beginner many years ago. Its main strength lies in its endgame examples as the openings, though updated by Fred Reinfeld, are totally obsolete by modern standards, this book having been written a hundred years ago! Very little is explained and you must simply work through the examples yourself. Also this book is written in old notation (non-algebraic) but is certainly considered a "classic". James Mason was an old English master who wouldnt crack the top 1000 player list today (Dr. John Nunn would laugh his xxx off.), but was considered a very respectable player at that time. The middle game examples are also obviously obsolete but not completely worthless, its just that the art of defence has become so sophisticated that it is doubtful if those old fashioned king side attacks would stand up to modern defensive techniques. I also wonder how many middle game examples would be exposed as erroneous by a strong chess program. Still, this is a classic Dover book.