Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess Mass Market Paperback – July 1, 1982

Having previously attempted to optimize various aspects of my existence – from the psychological to the biochemical – I decided it was high time to upgrade my strategic processing capabilities. My previous attempts at chess involved a lot of hopeful piece-shoving and bewildered staring, a highly inefficient algorithm for achieving victory. Recognizing the need for a more direct data injection, I acquired Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. I didn't see it as a book, but rather as a firmware update for my brain's chess module, delivered via a 1982 analog interface.From a purely functional standpoint, this 352-page volume is a masterclass in efficient knowledge transfer. It bypasses the often-tedious theoretical lectures and gets straight to the core function: achieving checkmate. The programmed learning method feels less like reading and more like interacting with an early, highly effective training program. Each page presents a problem, a challenge to your pattern recognition subroutines, followed by the solution on the next page. The physical design, with left-hand pages printed upside down, is a stroke of genius in user interface design for self-discipline. It's the book's way of saying, "Prove you've processed the data before you get the answer, buddy." It's a physical barrier to premature gratification, a feature I honestly appreciate in a world of instant digital answers. The near-perfect 4.6-star rating from thousands of users is compelling empirical evidence of its efficacy in upgrading human chess-playing units.The inherent humor in this artifact lies in its earnest, almost relentless focus on checkmate. It's like buying a comprehensive guide to automotive repair and finding that 90% of it is just detailed instructions on how to install lug nuts. Essential? Absolutely. But the singular dedication to this one critical task is delightfully intense. One can almost hear Bobby's voice echoing from the pages, demanding, "Did you find the checkmate? No? Flip the page (and the book!) and try again." It's a no-nonsense approach that borders on the comically rigid, yet it undeniably works.Positively speaking, this book delivers precisely what it promises. It doesn't clutter your mental RAM with obscure opening variations. It focuses on the critical end-game sequence, the digital handshake of victory. Working through the problems felt like debugging a complex system, identifying the faulty moves and correcting them based on the provided optimal path. It built my confidence not by explaining why a move was good in abstract terms, but by showing me, repeatedly, how to achieve the desired outcome. It's like getting a cheat code for the final boss, but you still have to earn it by solving the puzzle yourself.In conclusion, if you're looking for a unique, highly effective, and humorously direct method to hardwire checkmate patterns into your strategic thinking, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is an exceptional tool. It provides the structured training environment and the built-in anti-cheat mechanism; the resulting ability to confidently deliver checkmate is the highly satisfying system upgrade. I highly recommend it for anyone ready to move beyond random piece-pushing and start finishing chess games with purpose.

I would highly recommend this book for chess players. I’m enjoying reading this book and solving the chess puzzles. It has allowed me to improved the performance of my game.

Easy to read and follow book with lots of puzzles and examples. Not really what I expected when I ordered this blind, but it really tries to solidify the areas of the game with a focus on checkmate. Perfect for flights, as I liked to read chapters, let it sink in, watch some of the referenced matches, then move on to the next. Really builds nicely.

I is a great training guide! The pictures.are difficult to make out sometimes

Just kidding. But this really helped my chess skills improve. I bought this book after learning chess, and after about a month, I went to a real life tournament. Keep in mind, I had NO chess skills, I had only been playing for about a month or so. I didn't plan on playing, only spectating, but my chess teacher told me I had to play since we were missing players (I'm in HS). After playing, I completed the game with an official elo of 768. Before this book, I was probably a 200 or 300. I'm not saying you'll get a 400+ elo boost, but this definitely changed the way I play games, and I am really good at chess now. I can easily compete with a 1500 elo player (might not win but I'll give them a hard time!), and I can also feel very confident when playing against 1000 elo or less players.I feel like to get the most out of this book, you really need to practice. I read this book while also implementing the things I learned into real life practice games with other players. I love this book so much, it is the only chess book I ever needed. I recommend you purchase this if you want to become better at chess, or challenge your brain for a little while. After reading this book, I didn't need advice from others; I began giving it.Good luck nerds.

A lot easier to understand than typical chess books because you are given diagrams rather than simply text. Anyone who complains of the page formatting likely also has trouble forming complete sentences. The formatting is done in such a way that you can be presented a problem and not see the answer until you flip the page. Great book.

In short, I think Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is a great introduction to the game for children and adults alike. Most people barely know how the pieces move, so if you are interested in learning the game for casual play, or if you are thinking about becoming a tournament player one day, this would be a great way to get your feet wet and learn the building blocks of successful play.________________________________Many reviews already, but just want to highlight that this is the first chess book for my almost-7-year-old son. He loved it and would always brag about his progress. He already knew how the pieces moved, but the tactics were all new. Features of the book:- Interactive learning; most of the material is taught through puzzles.- Content: movement of pieces; rules of the game; check and checkmate; the vast majority of the book teaches basic checkmating patterns with increasing difficulty/complexity. You will learn the fundamentals of calculation, looking for mates, basic mate patterns, recognizing whether pieces/squares are defended or undefended. Also important here is that you will learn the importance of finding the best defense for your opponent when you are trying to attack, as well as learn to calculate different variations (i.e., it's not always a forced mate).- Chess notation is NOT used in the book, which is another positive feature for beginners and/or children (i.e., they say things like "rook takes rook" instead of Rxg8, etc.)- Most puzzles basically will ask "Can White mate?" with the next page giving the answer. (Hint: the answer is not always Yes, which teaches the reader accuracy in calculation and looking for your opponent's defenses)