An Invitation to Chess

by Irving Chernev, Kenneth Harkness

From Simon & Schuster, An Invitation to Chess is Irving Chernev and Kenneth Harkness guide to beginners chess and the strategies required to progress to intermediate levels and beyond.

An Invitation to Chess is perhaps the most successful chess book ever written, with sales of over 100,000. It is a basic beginners book, starting with the moves of the pieces and rapidly advancing to more complex problems and examples.

Genres: Chess, Nonfiction, Games, Reference

Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

Reviews

[Agas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can tell you this by personal experience. As a pure novice to chess and unable to make meaningful insights, this is absolutely the best chess book I have read. And I can say this with just 50% of the book complete. From my childhood, I have tried to play chess. Although, the rules of play are quite simple, I was never really get insights into the game. So through several years of trying again and again, I didn't quite understand what was happening and I have never won a single game of chess till now.

I have tried to read other books, and they don't help. Where this book differs is that it teaches basic tactical rules-of-thumb a beginner should look for and adhere to. Strategy is a very difficult higher-level concept and unless you get the tactical essence of this game, I feel that one cannot intuitively understand or enjoy the game. Maybe there are high-IQ folks over years of playing have garnered this intuition and use this for fun and profit against beginners from even entering the game. This book breaks this mystical barrier. It takes the expert's experience and gives you the essence of what one needs to be doing in order for the game to progress in the right direction and what metrics will ensure maximizing of chances of a win. It shows you the way by which you can have your own a-ha moment.

Just by reading 50% of the book, I won 2 games for the first time in my life, albeit against level 1 of an computer opponent. More excited than winning for me, from move 1, I was aware what was happening, what I could to to progress the game and really enjoy how things unfolded. I am deeply indebted to these authors.

[William Coombs · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview.

[Cliff Dailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been casually playing chess for years. Chernev helped me fall in love with the game and philosophy of strategy and tactics.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine beginner book, though could have been edited better. The main body is very good. The games are harder, since they use older descriptive notation rather than the algebraic notation that's in vogue today. For instructions move-by-move, the authors' bona fides are unquestionable: Chernev has replayed nearly every game on record, and Harkness invented a ranking system adopted by the U.S. and Britain for a while. You might be able to find a better starting point on YouTube or some other website though.

[Vittorio Ambrosetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best books for someone who is just starting out at chess. The rules of the game are very clearly explained, and the strategy of the game is also discussed.
I have been playing chess as an amateur for quite a few years and I have read lots of books aimed at beginners: this one I still consider the best of them all because it taught me the basics of strategy.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a chess book, not a novel. It's a great way to learn chess, though. My grandfather read it 50 years ago and passed it on to me.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

It helped...