From the Opening Into the Endgame

Rating:
Summary: Convincing counter to the "win in the opening" school
Review: If you are tired of the pressure you put on yourself by trying to out-book your opponents, catch them in traps or launch murderous attacks in the first 20 moves, why not sit calmly back, exchange pieces and methodically exploit an endgame advantage?

This book is the ideal antidote to the vast majority of modern chess books, which tend to give players a very one-sided view of the game. Mednis, an experienced grandmaster with some notable scalps (including Bobby Fischer's) shows in great detail how to play half a dozen openings with a view to winning the endgame. Apart from saving you a lot of stress and helping you develop a much more balanced game, it could turn out to be a marvellous secret weapon!

Rating:
Summary: A good book for newcomers and casual players
Review: This books explains the game of chess from head to toe: as the name states, from opening into the endgame. This book does a good job of engaging the reader into each phase of the game with detailed explanations and most of all, the writer's insight into the game. Anybody should benefit from this book. A must buy.

Rating:
Summary: Unique and Instructive
Review: This excellent book by Mednis has only one flaw: it is not long enough! This is really a repertoire book for white, but without covering all openings. He focuses on lines where quick resolution is brought about, so that a complex middlegame is avoided. For instance, against the King's Indian, he recommends an early dxe5, followed by the exchange of queens and Bg5, Nd5, etc. Similarly, Mednis recommends the Spanish Exchange. Other openings covered are: the Sicilian Dragon and Accelerated Dragon, the Pirc, the Modern, Queen's Indian, Grunfeld, English/Reti, and the French. Each chapter contains heavy verbal annotations of the main recommended lines, making this a phenomenal instructive manual on both the opening and the endgame. The illustrative games contain many beautiful and instructive endgames. Mednis really shined as a chess author, and this is, in my opinion, one of his most valuable works.

Rating:
Summary: Unique and Instructive
Review: This excellent book by Mednis has only one flaw: it is not long enough! This is really a repertoire book for white, but without covering all openings. He focuses on lines where quick resolution is brought about, so that a complex middlegame is avoided. For instance, against the King's Indian, he recommends an early dxe5, followed by the exchange of queens and Bg5, Nd5, etc. Similarly, Mednis recommends the Spanish Exchange. Other openings covered are: the Sicilian Dragon and Accelerated Dragon, the Pirc, the Modern, Queen's Indian, Grunfeld, English/Reti, and the French. Each chapter contains heavy verbal annotations of the main recommended lines, making this a phenomenal instructive manual on both the opening and the endgame. The illustrative games contain many beautiful and instructive endgames. Mednis really shined as a chess author, and this is, in my opinion, one of his most valuable works.