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The King in Jeopardy: The Best Techniques for Attack and Defense

The King in Jeopardy: The Best Techniques for Attack and Defense

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.97
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I love this whole series. (I ignore the first two books of the series, which are for rank beginners to learn the moves. Start with the Tactics book, then Attacking the King, then Chess Strategy, and Endgame Facts.) A simple four volume course to play chess at the expert (1700) level. Listen, I am not the most talented chess player, and was 1100 on the ICC for months, losing to my friends. I decided to study or to stop playing. I read Silman, Nimzovitch, others and none helped; it was too hard for a dummy like me. This was my last-ditch effort (I figured it worked for school kids in Russia, and I was OK at homework.) It worked. By the time I was through volume 2, I was 1600+. I am in volume 3, so the full impact should go to 1700, as promised in the ads :) A simple effective chess intro. This, and Fred Reinfeld's combo books for practice are all you need to get pretty good at chess, then move on to other skills -- leaving a good chess game in your back pocket for fun now and then :) I only gave this book 4 stars because, of the series, its the most dull, and kind of meanders on the point sometimes. Less like a scheduled lesson, and more like a collage of king-attack examples. I found myself drifting off at times. But its an invaluable part of a GREAT course.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I love this whole series. (I ignore the first two books of the series, which are for rank beginners to learn the moves. Start with the Tactics book, then Attacking the King, then Chess Strategy, and Endgame Facts.) A simple four volume course to play chess at the expert (1700) level. Listen, I am not the most talented chess player, and was 1100 on the ICC for months, losing to my friends. I decided to study or to stop playing. I read Silman, Nimzovitch, others and none helped; it was too hard for a dummy like me. This was my last-ditch effort (I figured it worked for school kids in Russia, and I was OK at homework.) It worked. By the time I was through volume 2, I was 1600+. I am in volume 3, so the full impact should go to 1700, as promised in the ads :) A simple effective chess intro. This, and Fred Reinfeld's combo books for practice are all you need to get pretty good at chess, then move on to other skills -- leaving a good chess game in your back pocket for fun now and then :) I only gave this book 4 stars because, of the series, its the most dull, and kind of meanders on the point sometimes. Less like a scheduled lesson, and more like a collage of king-attack examples. I found myself drifting off at times. But its an invaluable part of a GREAT course.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Overrated
Review: King in Jeopardy uses many examples from a hundred years ago and does nothing to replace earlier works such as Ruben Fine's Middle Game in Chess (1950) or Neishtadt's Attacking the King (1990). It appears to have been patched together in a long weekend and should have had more modern examples rather than old warhorses like Frank Marshall's old brilliancies (reproduced in countless other books) from early 1900's. No doubt careful study of these strategic attacks improves strength but this is not what I expected from a leading former Soviet grandmaster writing in modern times. Has the attack against the king shown no improvement in the past 50 years since Reuben Fine's Middle Game treatise? And where are the "method" and the famous "secrets" that are supposed to be revealed?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Overrated
Review: King in Jeopardy uses many examples from a hundred years ago and does nothing to replace earlier works such as Ruben Fine's Middle Game in Chess (1950) or Neishtadt's Attacking the King (1990). It appears to have been patched together in a long weekend and should have had more modern examples rather than old warhorses like Frank Marshall's old brilliancies (reproduced in countless other books) from early 1900's. No doubt careful study of these strategic attacks improves strength but this is not what I expected from a leading former Soviet grandmaster writing in modern times. Has the attack against the king shown no improvement in the past 50 years since Reuben Fine's Middle Game treatise? And where are the "method" and the famous "secrets" that are supposed to be revealed?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: revised review
Review: My original review above was too hasty as the layout of this book differed from the previous books in this series. Upon further reflection I cannot recommend a better book than this for improving your play once you have already mastered elementary tactical techniques. There are 45 game examples clearly explained with words and sentences, not just symbols, and this makes the book very readable. Yes, the chosen examples are old, but these are the positions you need to master before going on to study more advanced strategical concepts. There are also 36 test problems to solve. This book is the best of the Lev Alburt series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: revised review
Review: My original review above was too hasty as the layout of this book differed from the previous books in this series. Upon further reflection I cannot recommend a better book than this for improving your play once you have already mastered elementary tactical techniques. There are 45 game examples clearly explained with words and sentences, not just symbols, and this makes the book very readable. Yes, the chosen examples are old, but these are the positions you need to master before going on to study more advanced strategical concepts. There are also 36 test problems to solve. This book is the best of the Lev Alburt series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Good Introduction into the World of the Kingside Attack
Review: This book is clearly written, and covers many of the fundamental ideas behind successfully launching an attack against an enemy king. The Author has selected many classic games that do a good job of illustrating the basic principles that set an attack up for success instead of failure (how to open up the center to get at un uncastled king, sacrificing plays to open up a castled king with few or poor defenders, etc...).

At just over 200 pages, using reasonably large font, this book is a managable size for someone seeking an introduction to the mysteries of systematically attacking the king. The drawback to this is that, while the games often beautifully illustrate the ideas and principles for conducting an attack, this book really is an introduction. For the best treatment of attacking the king, ART OF ATTACK by Vladimir Vulkovic (everyman chess publishing) it the undisputed source for becoming a master of the kingside attack. As it is much larger, it more thouroughly covers what THE KING IN JEOPARDY does, and touches on many additional, important issues. However, THE KING IN JEOPARDY is a fine book to jump in with and start adding some really exciting battles to your chess game. Last thought: Both these books require a good introductory knowledge of tactics in order to reap their rewards. If you are new to tactics in chess then I would suggest either CHESS TACTICS FOR THE TOURNAMENT PLAYER (same author) or WINNING CHESS TACTICS by Yasser Sierrawan, before launching into this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: JEOPARDY OF THE KING
Review: THIS BOOK IS VERY GOOD, AND PROBLEM WITH YOUR KING.AND ITS A EASY BOOK FOR BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDATE.


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