Why You Lose at Chess

Rating:
Summary: Engaging title, exceptional material
Review: I bought this book on a whim: I've always wanted to have my picture taken with a quizzical look while holding this book. Interesting to be sure, and maybe a little silly but what I found was a deeply instructive book and to the caliber of writing one has come to expect from Tim Harding. A very good book for beginners and intermediate players and one I highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: My most helpful chess book
Review: I bought this book with the intention of improving my chess game, but it ended up improving my life. After taking a hard look at what would be required for me to become a Class A or Expert player, I realized that I'd end up cheating myself and others of a lot of good things in life just to satisfy my ego.

As a result, I now play chess only casually, without particularly caring whether I win or lose, and devote much more of my time to prayer, visiting hospitals and prisons, and cultivating my friendships.

A grateful Christian

Rating:
Summary: You'll stop blundering as often after reading this book....
Review: I very much enjoyed this book. As always, Tim Harding has a very entertaining writing style, making his books very enjoyable reads. He is an international master in correpondence chess, having won many top level titles, and has a very clear way of presenting his ideas on how to analyze games.

The primary focus of this book is to identify where and how blunders as well as less innocuous mistakes are commonly made, and how to avoid making them. As he states on the back cover, "Before you can play well, you must stop playing badly". The book is divided into many sections, each looking into the types of problems which commonly present themselves in various facets of the game. There are chapters on material loss (avoiding tactical blunders), looking for warning signals in both the opening and the endgame phases of a game, and several chapters on the middle game. The latter is divided up into sections on avoiding losses both in good positions and in difficult positions. The author finishes with chapters on how to avoid losing on time, in correspondence chess, and while playing against computers.

I gave the book 4 stars simply because it was not quite to the level of some of his other works, such as "Better Chess for Average Players" or "Winning at Correspondence Chess". It is, however, very instructive, and is filled with numerous game examples to illustrate his points.