Rating: 
Summary: A Nice Cheap Bad Book
Review: A horrible book. Although pretty cheap ..., it really doesn't help you. This book contains 202 different "Traps and Zaps" grouped by different openings. Another bad thing about it is that this book only does the double king pawn openings (1. e4 e5). So it is rather limited in that respect. Each trap/zap has the name of the opening, name of the tactic to be used, all the moves that led to the position, a scenario that sets up the tactic, and an interpretation of what happened. Also each one has its own diagram. I know what your thinking, "Well that doesn't sound all that bad..." Trust me it is. Each trap/zap that Pandolfini used was because of a horrible error, that average players wouldn't do. These errors are all blunders (a horrible mistake due to the player not thinking carefully). An example of this would be moving your queen to where it could be taken easily without a problem. So after such blunders, the average player would see the mistake and make their opponent "pay the piper." So all Pandolfini does in show you how to make the opponent "pay the piper" even when it's already way too obvious. Another bad thing about this book is that it has so many errors. On the very first diagram, it's missing a knight! And the knight is like the main argument! Since this is geared for beginners (even though it says for the average player), all the errors will only confuse them. This will also get them very frustrated and might even turn them off of chess forever. That is unacceptable. One of the good things about this book is that Pandolfini used lots of quotes from famous chess players and scholars. At the end of every page there is usually a new quote, which is cool. So I'm sorry but I really disliked this book.PROS: Pretty Cheap A lot of Cool Quotes Easy to Read and Eye Friendly (cool cover too) CONS: Only Has Double King Pawn Openings All the Traps and Zaps are Because of Serious Errors Doesn't Teach You Much, if anything at all Tons and Tons of Errors (Diagram and Text) Summary: The only reason to buy this book is if you like random quotes. That's all. There's not even that many either (maybe 50 - 100). I seriously regret buying this book. So if you have all the good books and just want something that will look pretty on the shelf, go for it. Otherwise, DON'T GET THIS BOOK.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Stuff that can come in handy
Review: A lot of reviewers are unfairly criticizing this book. Okay, you have to understand what kind of a book this is and the purpose you bought it for before you start knocking it like so many reviewers have done. This is not a book that pretends to teach you in depth strategy or how to win in the middlegame or endgame, it simply gives you some tricks that could be helpful in king pawn openings. Double King Pawn openings occur a lot, so there are plenty of chances to use these tricks or the fundamental ideas behind them. It's just something to add in your chess arsenal that can make you a more dangerous player. And contrary to what other reviewers have been saying, a lot of these types of positions actually do come up during leisurely chess games. If they don't than you are probably a tournament chessplayer who shouldn't be reading this in the first place. Obviously if you want to get good at chess, you shouldn't be looking for all the answers in a book anyway, you have to play a lot and gain knowledge through experience. This book knows what it is and doesn't try to be any more.
Rating:
Summary: Some Unrealistic Examples
Review: A number of the examples require your opponent to make such a bad move that the situation is unlikely to happen; or if he's that weak, you would likely win anyway without studying the book. Some of the examples are useful as real traps that can occur. The well known Petroff's Defence trap for instance. The examples are given 1 per page in classic Pandolfini style which makes each idea easy to study. One may find the attacking tactics, especially how to spot a weakness useful. This book involves an number of the most popular e pawn openings only.
Rating: 
Summary: Intended to keep you awake?
Review: After having read this book by Pandolfini I was heavily disappointed. Playing through his first trap I noticed that there was a flaw in the diagram. THE FIRST DIAGRAM CONTAINS A FLAW! Does the publisher not have anyone who reads through the first print of a book? After the first flaw many others followed, e.g. (1) Flaws in the daigrams (2) Flaws in the notations (One of the flaws in the section about the Urusov: "You can win in this position by playing Bf4! Or you can win equally impressive by Bf4!" That sure is equally!) (3) Diagrams on succeeding pages are switched This book must have been published to keep the reader awake, for I cannot think of another reason for so many mistakes in a book. It surtainly kept me awake in anger. A serious matter as well is that on the cover it cannot be found that the traps/zaps-book only contains traps in the Open Games. Some people may be looking for just that subject (me for instance), but I can imagine what a disappointment it must be to buy something else than you expected. For some people (real beginners) this book can be fun to read. They can ovoid these traps and punish others with them, but stay awake, because nasty flaws will cross your path!
Rating:
Summary: The best reference book for King Pawn Openings
Review: After reading 3 chess books, I still stumbled through each opening. This book helped me choose a particular opening, play it over and over, and master it. With this book, I have no problem in the openings and now focus on my middle game tactics. This is not a tutorial book for learning to play, but a great reference book and my personal favorite. The only down fall is it does not go beyond the King Pawn Openings (1. e4 e5)
Rating:
Summary: Terrible book
Review: Avoid this one....
It's a very basic book aimed at low level players, showing a range of the e4-e5 openings. In each example, it follows the standard opening, then one side makes an error (Usually suicidal in nature.) allowing the opposition to mate or at least obtain an overwhelming advantage in the next 1-2 moves. Pandolfini gives the instruction on how to do this.
As mentioned by everyone else the book is packed with errors, i.e. diagram 1, the black knight f6 is missing, diagram 149 white has 3 rooks etc... the list goes on and on.
You will spend you time wondering why a) someone would make that error and b) why you wasted money on the book.
i gave it 2 stars, because its cheap, the advice is reasonable and it does show various patterns, within the openings. It's a nice idea for a book, its just this one is terribly done. dont waste your money
Rating:
Summary: Poor chess book - please read this before buying.
Review: Do not buy this book. Here's why: I bought this book when I was about 1500-1600 ELO (currently about 1900-2000). Lured by the title of this book (and not doing my research), I decided to purchase Chess Openings Traps and Zaps. I was dismayed to find out the following: (1) This book really isn't about "traps" at all. The vast majority of positions in this book only arise after one (and sometimes both) sides make several bad or downright horrible moves, rather than after being lured into a semi-plausible move (i.e., a trap). If an opponent is so bad as to give you the chance to use any of the "traps" in this book, you should be able to beat him/her easily anyway. (2) The book only covers double king pawn (e4 e5) openings, which limits the scope of the book. Incidentally this fact is not mentioned on the cover anywhere. Instead of filling the book with useless and impractical examples, Mr. Pandolfini should have filled it with more plausible examples spanning other common openings (Sicilian, French etc.) When's the last time you saw somebody play the Alapin opening? (3) This book is dangerous for beginners for two reasons. First, in some of the examples in the book, both sides play badly. This can lead beginners into playing bad moves just for the chance to trap an opponent. Secondly, the book should specifically state that if one has a choice between playing a solid move and a dubious one that has a chance of trapping an opponent, one should always play the solid move. (4) As mentioned in other reviews, there are errors scattered throughout the book, including a diagram error in the very first example. To me this is not a major point but this carelessness can frustrate beginners. The only merits this book has are a few useful examples (Noah's ark trap, Petroff) and some nice quotations. All in all a poor book. For the beginner, try Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics (and others in the series.)
Rating:
Summary: If You Want To Turn Someone Off Chess, Give Them This Book
Review: I bought this book years ago when I first became interested in chess theory and was naive enough to fall for such a foolish title and premise. I wasn't impressed when ON THE VERY FIRST DIAGRAM there was an error (missing Knight). Then I found out the book only covers KP openings... Finally, as others here point out, it assumes outrageously poor play from your opponents AND yourself.
Fortunately, I came across Tarrasch's "The Game of Chess" soon after and was instantly and lastingly enthralled. Pandolfini is (or was: I havn't gone near a book of his since)a glib ripoff artist who probably has soured chess for who knows how many people.
Incidentally, I had to laugh at his portrayal in the Searching for Bobby Fischer movie: a tortured starving genious - doubtless he gave my few bucks to charity.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book for the average club player
Review: I found Pandolfini's style very explanatory, yet easy to follow. I would recommend it to the begginer to average player, especially those who prefer king pawn openings.
Rating:
Summary: Very Poor Editing! Good Ideas but Limited Focus
Review: I got this book as a Christmas gift from my wife. So don't mention this to her but this book has been disappointing. The very first diagram does not show all the pieces! A bit later in the first section, the listing of moves for a problem example has extra moves which are not part of the example. I think these particular moves are the ones missing from the next problem. That is three serious errors in the first section!
Also, be aware that this book only has King pawn openings. That is: 1 e4 e5
So don't buy it if you want something more. It is also starting off on a very basic level. The lessons in the beginning are things like don't bring out the Queen early on and don't move the same piece twice in the opening. The lessons seem to get more involved later in the book with more complicated issues discussed but honestly I don't know if I can make it that far with the constant frustration of having to double check the editing of each problem before I look at it very seriously.
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