Catalogue text:
This is a chess book for everyone, from eight to eighty, beginner to master. In a clear, easy-to-follow format it explains how the best way to beat a stronger opponent (be it a friend, clubmate - or Dad!) is by cleverly forcing checkmate. Delightful and instructive positions from real games are used to show the 50 Deadly Checkmates that chess masters use to win their games.
For the beginner, simply learning the checkmating ideas and enjoying the examples will help develop the tactical skills needed to carry out attacks, combinations and sacrifices.
For the advanced player, many of these checkmating ideas will come as a revelation, having never been categorized before. Experts agree that pattern-recognition is vital to success in chess, and this book provides a wealth of valuable patterns.
How to Beat Your Dad at Chess makes improving easy and fun, and is full of helpful explanations and practical advice on how to approach chess games with confidence - and success.
Grandmaster Murray Chandler finished second in the World Cadet Championship in 1976, ahead of Garry Kasparov, whom he defeated in their individual game. He remains to this day one of the few players in the world with a 100% score against Kasparov.
He was a key member of the England team that won the silver medals in Chess Olympiads three times during the 1980s, and went on to captain the team in 1994. He is proprietor and Editor-in-Chief of the British Chess Magazine and the author of several successful chess books.
Review(s):
With its largish size pages, abundance of diagrams and generous layout, this fine-looking hardback is designed to capture the imagination of kids who have already learned the basics of chess and are hungry to learn more. And what could be more exciting than discovering all sorts of ways to checkmate? 50 different mating patterns are each given a section, e.g. Anastasia's Mate, Damiano's Mate, The Double Rook sacrifice, Qg6 Bombshells, The Bxh6 Sacrifice, Mate on the Long Diagonal, The Fischer Trap etc etc. A modern version of that wonderful old classic The Art of Checkmate by Renaud and Kahn, still in print by Dover Publications.
Chess Monthly, September 1998
