(Jestrada) wrote in message . com...
(Louis Blair) wrote in message . com...
Jestrada wrote (2003-12-30 19:20:38 PST):
Anyone familiar with the following title?
Coles Notes: Your Guide to Better Chess, by Roger
Langen (2002). Subtitle: For intermediate players:
Openings, gambits, codes, midgame tactics, endgame
strategy.

I also have Patrick Wolff's "Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess", which
is an excellent introduction for chess (regarded by many as the best
now available for beginners). Roger Langen's book is a terrific book
for the next step, and is geared more towards intermediate players who
don't need to be taught the rules of the game.

I am currently making a PGN file with the 12 illustrative classic GM
games that Langen annotates in the last chapter. If you have Langen's
book and would like this file, send me a private email.

Even though it doesn't quite show how comprehensive and concise the
book is, here's a listing of the table of contents to give some idea
of its value:

1. GETTING STARTED: ARE YOU READY?
- following a game
- basic rules and popular misconceptions
- chess as a language
- trading values
- the symbology of chess

2. THE IDEA OF THE OPENING
- basic principles of opening play
- general position types
- gambits
- opening theories

3. SYSTEMS, PATTERNS, NAMES
- the ECO opening codes

4. PAWN STRUCTURE
- pawn types
- pawns in groups
- typical pawn structures
- color complexes

5. THE MIDDLEGAME: DYNAMIC FACTORS
- strategy, tactics, planning
- positional motifs
- modes of defense
- piece play
- manoeuvres and stratagems
- combinations and sacrifices

6. THE ENDGAME; CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES
- king and pawn endings
- minor piece endings
- major piece endings
- winning elements

7. TOURNAMENTS AND OTHER CHESS DIVERSIONS
- chess as a sport
- chess as a hobby

8. TWELVE ILLUSTRATIVE GAMES

APPENDICES
- sample scoresheet
- pairing tables
- national chess federations