The Complete Chess Player

Rating:
Summary: My first Chess book
Review: This was the first chess book that I bought about 15 years ago. It was a great way to become addicted to chess... That's why I am giving it four stars instead of three.

However, the book tends to be dogmatic in its openings theory chapters and also to dismiss lines that are actualy pretty solid. After reading the book one ends up with the impression that having the bishop pair is almost a ticket to a win. Nonsense, each position has to be addressed individually. The endings chapter is good for beginners but non-challenging. Middle game plans are analyzed from a tactical point of view in most cases neglecting value to strategic considerations.

This book is good as an approximation to chess but, as a word of advice, do read more advanced tomes and practice. I have seen that testing ideas on the board is a way to see if you are progressing or not.