March 2005 marked the publication of my second chess book as solo author, The Pocket Guide to Chess from Master Point Press. The book is a guide or reference work that will fit in a pocket! ISBN 1-894154-95-9.
March 2007: Some links to original reviews have broken. I'm leaving them in because sometimes (for example, the Barbeau column), you can get the content by dropping the link in an internet archive, such as the wayback machine at Internet Archive (page will open in a new tab or window).
So far, The Pocket Guide to Chess is 8 for 8 in published reviews. Here they are:
( Read the original with graphics at Chessville. )
Okay, so you have this guy at the office who has been listening to your tales of adventure down at the chess club, and he's decided he wants to pick up the Royal Game and get in on the action. You could get him that introductory book with the cute dinosaur on the cover, but it might be more his daughter's speed. There's always Chess for Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess, which are both good introductions; but the titles might put him off a bit. There's that old, great Reinfeld tome on your bookshelves, though it's the size of a decent dictionary and you don't really want to scare the poor fellow off.
Thank goodness for Correspondence GM and International Arbiter Jonathan Berry, of Canada, and his The Pocket Guide to Chess - a book that fills a niche in the world of chess publishing, as well as fitting a decent suit pocket. It might very well be what your colleague needs. In fact, the guide does so many things, you'll wonder why it was never advertised as the Ronco Chess-O-Matic! on Saturday Night Live.
Seriously. There's the Laws of Chess (including some Gotchas - rules and explanations you need to know) and How the Moves are Written. There are Rules of Thumb for the game itself, and for Material and Strategy. The latter remind me of the notion that chess masters don't look at all the possible moves when deciding which one to play - they look at the most relevant, and then choose the best. Likewise there is a lot of chess wisdom packed into these pages, more than you would guess at first glance. Beginners will think: oh, wow! Club players will mutter: Oh, I knew that.
There's a comparatively large chapter on Tactics, and one on Checkmate.
The longest chapter is on Specific Openings, which may be questioned by some - why do newbies need to know all this stuff, wouldn't some Rules of Thumb for the Opening do instead? - but someone hanging around the water cooler has to do better than "My Russian Opening zugzwanged his Ponziani zwischenzug - he should have stuck with his Kieseritsky Gambit when he had the chance?!" Part of chess life is throwing all those impressive words around, and the Specific Openings (and the Pocket Guide in general) chapter helps you do so correctly (as well as serving as a guide to some basic opening move-orders.)
Berry finishes with Positional Ideas, a Glossary, and an Index of Openings.
I'm going to an elementary school "Math Night" tonight, where I can set up a table and talk to parents and children about my "Chessboard Math" groups. Besides my chess pieces, roll-up board and clock, of course, I'm going to have the Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess CD, and that American Grandmaster's Chess for Success book. I'll have Breaking Through by Susan Polgar, and some of the "Little Chess Books" by Jerry Brooks. For nostalgia's sake, there will be a Fidelity Chess Challenger 7 computer; and I'm going to be raffling off some chess sets.
However, I'm going to leave my books on the official rules of chess (USCF and FIDE) at home. I trust that Jonathan Berry's The Pocket Guide to Chess will be all I need to answer the questions that come up. I can discretely refer to it, and then slip it back into my jacket pocket.
Chess is often described as an easy game to learn, but a difficult one to master.
But even though the basic rules can be quickly absorbed, beginners should take their first steps carefully. A solid, early understanding of the principles of chess will help build a useful foundation for later advancement.
There is a new book on the market that achieves just such an aim for starting players. It's called the Pocket Guide to Chess, from Master Point Press publishers in Toronto.
Written by Jonathan Berry, chess columnist for the Globe and Mail, the book is a wonderfully concise snapshot of everything the new player needs to know about tactics, strategy and the basics.
After a brief description of the rules and how games are recorded, Berry goes immediately to the endgame where he instructs in the fundamentals of checkmate. As he notes, there is little point studying the opening phase of the game if a player doesn't know what to do in the last act.
He proceeds to list basic rules of thumb, simple tactics, positional ideas and other principles of the game. The book ends with a glossary, which doubles as an index.
Perhaps as a nod to conventional chess book writing, Berry includes a section on specific openings. This seems somewhat too detailed for the beginner, and a survey of opening ideas might have been more useful. But it achieves the aim of acquainting the player with major opening fashions.
Berry has an easygoing and compact style, choosing words carefully for maximum impact. In 80 short pages, the beginner gets a considerable quantity of distilled wisdom.
The Pocket Guide to Chess comes in a user-friendly, spiral-bound format, and sells for $9.95. It is available at Master Point Press.
HOW OFTEN DOES THIS COME ALONG?
In my hand is a new book called "The Pocket Guide to Chess" by Jonathan Berry. It is in a class by itself in clarity, explanation, looks, and usefulness. It is half book size, spiral bound, and 80 pages in a "tabbed index" forma.
Of course we will be ordering this because it is something we could have used years ago. It is 10X better than the manuscripts we get trying to show people new to chess, how to play.
He gives FIDE rules which are not always the same as USCF rules. Part of the reason for this is that Jonathan is a FIDE arbiter. He was also at our last Chess Festival IV, in November. Affable and smart, he has done what many others have tried to do but have not succeeded.
Here's is a rundown of the contents:
A masterpiece of succinctness. Acute. Well defined. From Master Point Press. I hope it is a monster seller for Mr. Berry. $7.95 US. I don't see anything coming even close as far as value is concerned.
The above review appeared at the Chessco website.
Chess has had more written about it than all other games combined; thousands of works already exist, and the chess enthusiast is inundated with a flood of new books appearing on an almost weekly basis. One recent addition is The Pocket Guide to Chess, written by our own Jonathan Berry and published by Master Point Press of Toronto. But considering the chess literature that already exists, is there a place for this book in the current market? Does it fulfill a need which has previously been unmet?
Happily, the answer to both these questions is yes!
Designed as
a ready reference work, This book is a concise but complete survey of
every aspect of the game of chess: a great first book for the beginner,
and a useful reference for the intermediate player
(from the back
cover). Berry does not cover such areas as the use of computers,
thought processes, how to improve, or chess history, but deals strictly
with the mechanics of playing a game of chess. The book is divided into
eleven chapters, plus a glossary and index of openings. The first three
chapters present the laws of chess and a description of chess notation,
all pithily presented and illustrated. Chapter one compresses the FIDE
rules of play into just two pages, including an impressive diagram with
examples of all the standard moves. The second chapter (Gotchas
)
is probably the most important for a beginner or casual player, as it
explains situations where a detailed knowledge of the rules is
necessary, e.g., castling, en passant, claimed draws, etc.
Chapter four is titled Endgame Checkmates,
but this is a bit of a
misnomer. The bishop + knight mating procedure is discussed in some
detail, but mating with king + queen or king + rook is not illustrated
[JB note: I've reproduced the review as written, but Stephen overlooked
Diagram 11, which is king + rook vs. king]. Instead, the rest of the
chapter examines the material and conditions necessary to win, including
zugzwang and king + pawn versus king. Chapters five to seven present
various Rules of Thumb,
a compilation of general principles such as
develop minors before majors
or bishop
+ knight =3D rook + pawn
in an endgame. Berry is quick to point out
that there are many exceptions to these rules of thumb, and that
generalizations are subject to exact moves.
Most will be well known
to experienced players, but it is useful to see them all collected in
one place. An occasional contradiction does occur, e.g., on page 17 an
endgame is defined as each side having no more than 11 pawns' worth of
pieces, but on page 21 there is mention of queen + knight versus queen +
bishop endings.
Chapters eight and nine cover tactical devices (pin, fork, skewer, etc.) and checkmate patterns, deomstrating them with illustrative games. Chapter ten summarizes specific openings, giving a few comments and the main variations for each. The naming of variations is fairly standard, although one could quibble with the occasional sideline, e.g., the sequence 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 is called the Keres variation, but this appellation is usually applied to the continuation 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Bg7 a4; Lev Alburt's name is associated with 4...g6 in general. This chapter is most useful as a memory aid for intermediate players.
Chapter eleven discusses positional ideas, including transpositions,
space, mobility, and structures, and gives a basic explanation of
positional play. This is followed by a glossary of all the major chess
terms used in the book, along with an index of specific openings. The
glossary definition for zwischenzug is so compressed that it loses its
precise meaning (An 'in-between move' designed to get the timing right
for a subsequent maneuver
), although it is defined correctly earlier in
the book.
The production values are good: an attractive cover, wire binding so the book lies flat, no obvious typos, an 18 by 11 cm size that will fit into a (largish) pocket. Although published in Toronto, American spelling is used throughout. In the specific openings section the capitalization of square names in the opening titles looks strange to this reader, but is not a major concern. Overall the book well serves its target readership: within its eighty pages beginners will find a wealth of practical pointers to assist them, while it provides a handy reference and refresher for more seasoned players. Recommended.
The complete E-Mail Bulletin is available through the BCCF.
Jonathan Berry has written a new book, a very handy pocket guide to chess. Geared to the general public, casual players, games enthusiasts who have a newly acquired interest in chess, and those who do not have a chess library at their fingertips, the Pocket Guide to Chess answers all the basic principles and basic questions of chess. It is a handy resource tool for the chessplaying enthusiast.
Jonathan's down to earth descriptions and clear idea illustrations provide high quality instruction in all the different areas of chess. The book covers a wide spectrum of chess ideas, and is full of tips and insight.
In my opinion it is the best, most up to date pocket resource chess book on the market.
Schools should buy in bulk for their students. The perfect pocket gift for your friends.
Chess Canada Échecs is published by The Chess Federation of Canada.
This book provides a handy pocket summary of the rules and principles for the novice chess player. In a concise but readable manner, it covers the basic rules, as well as the fundamental ideas of the opening, middle game and ending in chess. The emphasis in on graphics and illustration, rather than complex analysis, so it works as a handy pocket reference as well as a learning experience for the absolute beginner. An ideal purchase as a gift along with that first chess set! 80 pages (spiral-bound).
The review was found at: The London Chess Center, where one can also buy the book.
USCF Sales USA.Pour ceux qui s'intéressent au Canadiana, je mentionne la parution d'un Pocket Guide to Chess écrit par le grand maître par correspondance de Colombie-Britannique, Jonathan Berry, paru chez Master Point Press.
The full article was found here. Well, one can't expect a French newspaper column to say too much about a book in English!
FOR years, Chess Made Easy has stood unchallenged as the best book for beginners.
Inexpensive and written by Australian chess legends Cecil Purdy and Garry Koshnitsky, CME has sold more than half a million copies and been through dozens of editions.
Finally, in 2005, a worthy rival for CME has emerged: The Pocket Guide To Chess written by Canadian Jonathan Berry and published by Master Point Press.
Both books retail for about $10 and both explain the basics well, but Berry's utilises the advantages of being written 60 years later than its rival. Berry is better able to explain the openings used in recent grandmaster play and his many tactical examples have a modern ring about them.
Where CME scores over PGC is on general principles. PGC has three chapters on rules of thumb but, while the advice is invariably sound, a beginner will struggle to remember and prioritize the many suggestions.
Purdy was rightly renowned for his clarity and CME somehow finds time to explain the reasons behind most of the ideas introduced.
CME also has more general comments on chess history and various forms of the game but PGC scores with its many examples of checkmates and combinations and a useful glossary of terms.
Overall, although PGC crams an astonishing amount of useful material into its 80 pages, CME will probably withstand the challenge thanks to its clarity and broad range.
My first book was only a few pages, and published 30 years earlier! It was Canadian Junior Championship 1974, published in 1975. It included all the games, with a paragraph on each one, and photos of all the players. All the pages, minus the covers and the photo page, were done on a Gestetner machine.
I edited, typeset and co-authored two books, Border Wars III (main author Jean Hébert) and Diamond Dust (main co-author John Wright). Each book had for its subject a correspondence chess tournament.
I edited several other books.
URL: This web page is:
http://members.shaw.ca/berry5868/pock.htm
Last modified March 7, 2008