Product Description
How Computers Learn to Play Games of StrategyThis is book is for anyone who has ever tried to match wits with a computer in chess, bridge, or any other game requiring long-range strategy and studied decisions. If you're not a pro, chances are you've been defeated by a machine - and impressed at its uncanny ability to outmaneuver humans. In Computer Gamesmanship, David Levy, an International Chess Master and producer of intelligent computer games, unravels the mysteries of how computers successfully mimic strategic thinking and play complex games. In jargon-free language, Levy describes the important principles and techniques applicable to any game of strategy-such as decision trees, alpha-beta algorithms, minimax searches, and evaluation functions-and explains how even highly advanced strategies can be reduced to relatively simple procedures that a home computer can perform. He then illustrates and elaborates upon them in extensive discussions of the most popular and successful programs for chess, bridge, poker, Go, Othello, and many others. Computer Gamesmanship is a unique introduction and insider's guide to the most challenging games you can play, or create, on your computer."This is a simply written and serious little book about how computers go about playing games.... (Computer Gamesmanship] leaves the reader with a sense of admiration for the stratagems of computer programmers." ... Read more

Product Description
Computer Games I is the first volume in a two-part compendium of papers covering the most important material available on the development of computer strategy games. These selections range from discussions of mathematical analysis of games, to more qualitative concerns of whether a computer game should follow human thought processes rather than a “brute force” approach, to papers which will benefit readers trying to program their own games.Contributions include selections from the major players in the development of computer games: Claude Shannon, whose work still forms the foundation of most contemporary chess programs; Edward O. Thorpe, whose invention of the card counting methods caused Las Vegas casinos to change their blackjack rules; and Hans Berliner, whose work has been fundamental to the development of backgammon and chess games.Included in this volume;BackgammonChessCheckersScrabbleeComputer Games II, the companion volume, covers the following games:OthelloGoGo-MokuBridgeDominoesDamaPokerHeartsHalmaQubicPush-OverChemin-De-FerDavid Levy, the editor of these volumes, is an International Chess Master. He is chairman of a company in England which specializes in programming strategy games. ... Read more

Product Description
Computer chess programs traditionally have been subject to a tradeoff between search speed and chess knowledge. All the Right Moves presents a parallel architecture that makes this tradeoff irrelevant: using the VLSI architecture described in this book, the Hitech chess program is able to search both quickly and knowledgeably. Hitech recently won the ACM computer chess championship, and now owns a USCF rating of 2532, placing it in the top one percent of all rated U.S. chess players.The book describes a VLSI implementation for both move generation and position evaluation. The VLSI move generator searches about 200,000 moves per second and includes all the ancillary circuitry required for it to interface cleanly with the rest of the system. The speed of the move generator is independent of the number of legal moves in a position, and the speed of the evaluation depends only logarithmically on the amount of knowledge encoded in the evaluation. In practice, this means that the amount of analysis performed by the evaluation does not slow the speed of the search.Beyond the VLSI architecture, Ebeling also describes the other Hitech hardware and software, and presents a performance analysis of Hitech as a whole.Hitech already has had a revolutionary effect on computer chess, the impact of which is discussed in the book's final chapter.Contents: Introduction. Background and Related Work. The Move Generator Architecture. Position Evaluation. The Hitech System. Performance Results. Conclusion.Carl Ebeling is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Washington, Seattle. All the Right Moves is a 1986 ACM Distinguished Dissertation. ... Read more

Product Description
We've updated the cover of WINNING CHESS STRATEGIES so that the Microsoft Press(r) Chess series has a more cohesive and dynamic look. This is the third book in the Chess series by International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan, with Jeremy Silman. In chess, there is a class of moves that are appropriate for a given situation, and in fact, true masters of chess all tend to make the same type of move in a given circumstance, although variation exists in the details of the actual move. WINNING CHESS STRATEGIES teaches that although no one move is best in any given situation, the type of move to use is crucial. As most chess players know, learning strategy is key before moving to the details of tactics.Amazon.com Review
This is the third of Seirawan's four-volume series, whichtakes the reader from chess greenhorn to a player advanced enough tounderstand grandmaster play. Here, Seirawan shows how to setlong-range goals for a game and systematically gain a superiorposition. His deft explanations give anyone with basic chessknowledge (covered in his previous books) the insights to leap levelsin play.As usual, he tackles the subject with an infectiousenthusiasm, communicating the sporting thrill as each piece of ameticulous plan comes together. Throughout the book, engrossing chesspuzzles help teach strategic points. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

A Solid Read
This book is one of the best one chess strategy I have ever read. While other books spout cliches about pawn structure and how doubled pawns are bad but not always bad (not a revolutionary idea) Seirawan actually covers HOW to punish a bad pawn structure, or a hole, or a weakened king position. This book is very concrete in explanation and focuses on minor pieces and pawns. I especially enjoyed Seirawan's prophylactic pawn move (Van der Wiel-Seirawan Baden, 1980) ...g6! and how he showed how to bothstop pawn advances and gain a superior minor piece with ...h5! Seirawan shows his mastery by not specifically saying that you have to make a plan (Kotov and Silman?) but nonetheless showing all the pieces working towards a specific goal. An excellent book.

Good introduction to strategic issues in chess
My son is a chess player who is competitive on the national scholastic stage. Like most of his peers, he has great intuitions about tactics but suffers from a lack of strategic foresight. His coach recommended this book and I have been reading it to him for the past few weeks.

Overall, this is a good introductory text. My son has learned quite a few new concepts, although he still rolls his eyes when an example of slow positional play is presented. He used to complain about not knowing what to do next when no quick tactic maneuvers are available. Such occurrences have become less frequent. I think players between 750 and 1250 will find this book helpful, particularly if they are tactically inclined to begin with.

I am not giving this book five stars because there are two problems with it. Firstly, it has not been carefully proof-read and consequently contains a good number of errata in the chess diagrams, presenting a real headache for the readers. Secondly, not all examples are convincing. On occasions, after the key move suggested by the book, my son asked me why he should not respond by doing something. Upon consulting Rybka, I found that his idea actually led to a winning or drawing position. I understand that good strategies sometimes aim to make it very difficult but not impossible for the opponent to counter correctly. But trying to explain that to a first grader is a chore I would rather avoid.

A Strategy Primer for Intermediate Amateurs
The third and final part of a series by renowned International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan and International Master Jeremy Silman, Winning Chess Strategies is also the most difficult to devour. The book follows the same format Seirawan and Silman used in Winning Chess Tactics, taking one strategic element of chess at a time and spending an entire chapter on it. Each are explained, explored and exemplified individually to help the aspiring chess amateur develop these lines of strategic thought.

More knowledgeable chess enthusiasts will likely recognize a lot of this material. Strategic concepts like material advantage, stopping enemy counterplay, target creation and the dynamics of a successful king attack aren't exactly new concepts in chess. The amateur, however, will probably find a goldmine of interesting new ideas. The difference between a well placed bishop and a poorly placed bishop, for example, or the proper placement of powerful pieces like the queen and rooks. As usual, Seirawan's discussion of pawn use is superior.

Probably the most puzzling and arguably most helpful chapter to the amateur mind is the chapter on faulty strategies. This chapter discusses the typical mistakes and pitfalls made by amateurs trying to adopt a strategic style of play, such as attacking prematurely, complacency and "playing from the gut". This chapter was reminiscent of Silman's "The Amateur's Mind" and is probably more representative of his work rather than Seirawan's.

As with Play Winning Chess and Winning Chess Tactics, Seirawan and Silman spend a chapter discussing the strategies of the great masters. Specific games of Steinitz, Rubenstein, Capablanca, Nimzovich, Petrosian and Karpov are chosen to exemplify strategic and positional play rather than tactics, with apologies to Lasker, Alekhine, Tal and Kasparov.

Like the other two parts of the series, which I recommend reading before this one even if you're familiar with the material, I was bothered by the writing style rather than the information. Winning Chess Strategies seems to be written for children, and is sprinkled liberally with chess axioms and rules that the authors then give contradictory examples for. Every once in a while the text is interrupted by a quick positional quiz, to which the solutions only come at the end. Though the material is golden, the format and style detract significantly from the immersion. It stands in stark contrast to Silman's other work, which leads me to believe that Seirawan was the primary writer.

All in all, though, Winning Chess Strategies is a very useful piece of work that I think will greatly help the amateur chess enthusiast on the road to mastery.

BRILLIANT , EXCELLENT STRATEGIC MASTERPIECE
Ok . There are 31 customer reviews already and I add a 5 star (if there was 6 I would give it) to this product . ABSOLUTELY the best book on strategy !! Explained in clear and brilliant style . It's as if Seirawan is physically there at the board talking to you like a coach . It's like having your own personal coach . Seirawan knows the ins and outs of an amateur's play and he precisely pin-points them . If you are bored of reading books with pages and pages of annotations , if you would like some strategic advice that can be applied TO ANY GAME --- this is the book for you !!! I know I have been searching long for books that don't just show me one master game after another but give me some ideas I can use in my own games . I need to know which ideas work in games and this is exactly what Seirawan does . The games he uses to illustrate are brief and terse . Once he has shown how opponent uses the concept to gain advantage , he moves on !! This is very important !! Annotating the game till the end not only makes it difficult to follow but the main idea gets left behind in the jargon . This is a MASTERPIECE . It will be with me forever ....

Another great introductory book by Seirawan
This is the 3rd book in Yasser Seirawan's "Winning Chess" series. In this book Yasser discusses chess strategy and coming up with a plan. He discusses topics such as proper piece placement, and pawn structure. Once again Yasser does a good job providing clear explanations of the topics to the reader.

I would have to think that his series is about the best introductory chess series in the English language. ... Read more

Product Description

The new edition of this extraordinary book depicts the creation of the world champion checkers computer program, Chinook. In only two years, Chinook had become a worthy opponent to the world champion, and within four years had defeated all the world's top human players. Jonathan Schaeffer, the originator and leader of the Chinook team, details the mistakes and technical problems made and the lessons learned in the continuous effort to improve Chinook's performance, revealing the human factor behind the program’s design. The development of Chinook begins in 1988 as an innocent question asked over lunch and is followed to the final match against then world champion, Marion Tinsley, and ultimately to its recent triumph, solving checkers. Schaeffer’s unwaveringly honest narrative features new anecdotes, updated material and technology descriptions, and additional photos and figures, providing an engrossing account of an obsessive quest to achieve perfection in computer checkers.

Customer Reviews (12)

Surprisingly good
First off - i don't play checkers, and prior to reading this book, i didn't want to. Second - i do research in game AI (although significantly different than the type of work described here) and even went to a few conferences with the author, though we've never spoken (he had a reputation for being a bit of a jerk). So my review is from the point of view of a non-checkers playing engineer.

First off, the book is incredibly meticulous in keeping track of what happened when. The author apparently asked everyone he knew to email him about various events because he often quotes long passages from other people. For example, he might describe a game he won or lost and then ask the person he played against and the judge of the match to describe it in their own words.

Second, i thought the book was pretty easy to understand. i know computers so maybe i'm not a good judge there but he did a good job explaining checkers (and chess, which comes up) so that i understood what was going on.

Third, he makes checkers seem interesting, or at least as much as i think he can. Apparently normal checkers isn't interesting but in tournaments they play odd varieties like two ballot (explained in the book) which makes for a much more interesting game than i would have expected. He also makes it easy to understand why checkers is a hard game requiring a lot of skill, which i wouldn't have guessed before this book.

Fourth, the author lets you know that he is a jerk. He doesn't appear to do anything to hide his faults or make you like him. In the book he repeatedly apologizes to people for how he's treated them. Honestly, i liked the author a lot more after reading this book. His issue is that he's very focused, driven and competitive and that results in things like snapping at his students and not giving his family enough attention. It doesn't necessarily excuse it but it makes the author easier to understand. It's also a pretty major accomplishment for an autobiography - not once did i get the feeling that the author was lying, exaggerating or trying to tell you how to think (except for his constant effort to convince you that checkers and checkers players are great people). He's just a guy trying to be honest, and i respect that.

Fifth, the book was a great look at how well technology did and didn't work in the '90s (computers were constantly crashing and network lines going down) and how tournaments come into being (sponsors, venues, judging, sportsmanship, personalities, press and a lot of other issues that i thought would be boring but weren't).

Finally, the book isn't quite the success story you might expect. The majority of the story is about how the author failed, quite often because he did something stupid he knew he shouldn't do (like optimizing code so much that he broke it). At the end of the story (and many, many years of research), the computer is maybe finally good enough to be world champion but no one will ever find out because the real champion resigned due to health problems and shortly after that died. i think it's hard to overestimate how much the author respected the guy he could never beat.

This doesn't seem like the kind of book anyone should really enjoy reading. An engineer describes how he wrote a computer program? Even engineers read it because they have to, not because they enjoy it. But i really liked this book. If you aren't a computer person, i honestly don't know if you'll like it, but give it a shot, i think just about anyone would enjoy this book.

Checkers isnt a real game
I began reading this book and around page 100 realized..... Who cares about a computer that can play checkers. Checkers isnt a real gamethe way chess it anyways. Now Deep Blue is an achievement.

The evolutionary computation was interesting but come on.... checkers? Why not spend months developing a program that can do something useful... like balance my checkbook.

Honest
We haven't seen Chinook on CNN...yet.

The book has an intimate feel, like a diary almost,
but the details about how it was concieved, created,
and, laboriously, debuged, are great for those who
love AI and software creation in general.

The best parts of the book are the comparisions between
Chess and games of chance. Checkers is still not
"solved" but Chinook, and the team working at it,
have created a brute force attack on another board
game thats getting close.

A Gripping Read
Well I never thought that title would describe for a book on a project to create a world champion beating chequers playing program!

I originally read the first half of the book when staying with a friend. When I got home I had - for the first time in my life - to buy a book merely to read half of it, so un-put-downable is it.

The book requires no technical knowledge either or computers of of draughts (and to an extent if one approaches it expecting technical insights in to either one will be disappointed).

In practice it's such a good read as the story is well told and gathers momentum the nearer the author gets to the goal.It is focused on the people and the project and not the technicals.Schaeffer recounts his hopes, feelings and motivations with a brutal honesty - never shying away from an accurate description when authorial licence might have presented him in a better light.

Very interesting!
Once I started to read this book I found it difficult to put down.Granted I am addicted to playing checkers against my computer when taking breaks at work, but still.... This is very interesting material for checkers players and computer programmers alike.

However, I do have a couple of problems with the book.First, it is very poorly edited.There are a number of grammatical mistakes, [one right on the first paragraph], the author at times goes into unnecessary tangents and, in general the book is too long and repetitive.In addition,it bothered me that, perhaps because of the author's familiarity with chess, he decided to use chess notation to describe the games.This makes it more difficult for checkers players to follow the games while reading the book.The author/editor should have made the effort to use checkers notation or to provide better diagrams. ... Read more

Product Description
"Seirawan unlocks a treasure chest of time-tested strategies...colorful commentary and personal anecdotes enliven the author's coverage of landmark chess matches and his experience on the international chess circuit." -Cincinnati Chess Federation

We've updated the cover of WINNING CHESS TACTICS so that the Microsoft Press(r) Chess series has a more cohesive and dynamic look. This book is a fascinating and enlightening introduction to the details of chess, from two internationally recognized players. Chess players can now put the tactics of the world's chess legends to work for them-such as the double attack, the pin, the skewer, and more-in every game. International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan and International Master Jeremy Silman teach players how to plan their entire game from the very first move, think ahead through every obstruction their opponent will throw their way, and position themselves for the smashing combination and end game they've always dreamed of. It is as compelling and enjoyable for aspiring chess players as it is for more advanced players. Plentiful chessboard illustrations make this book a tactician's dream.Amazon.com Review
This is the second in Seirawan's four volumes, taking thereader from the very basics of chess through appreciation of advancedplay. He does a remarkable job of discussing tactics that usuallyappear only in books for advanced players and communicating them toanyone with a grasp of playing fundamentals. The first part of thebook deals with basic tactics and how they can be used individuallyand in combination. In the second part, Seirawan introduces some ofthe great chess tacticians and their games, further illustratingtactics as they work out in real-life play. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (95)

too few problems that vary wildly in difficulty, inappropriate for beginners
Perhaps my bad review is motivated by the fact that I really really suck at tactics, especially if any beginner can solve a tactics problem in which the solution is 15-ply (8 moves) deep with several multi-move side variations to consider, like this "beginner" book has.I guess any beginner (except talentless me) can achieve that level after reading basic explanations in a "beginner" tactics book and solving 137 tactics problems in the course of a week or two.

If you are as bad at chess as I am and unable to solve such "beginner" problems, then I suggest the following resources:
1. Comprehensive Chess Course I by Alburt/Palatnik (rules of the game, board visualization);
2. Comprehensive Chess Course Volume II (review of volume I; tactics/endgames/annotated games more appropriate for the beginner, with lots of repetition and problems that gradually increase in difficulty as opposed to Winning Chess Tactics which jumps from rank beginner to 15-ply deep over a course of a few dozen problems) by Alburt/Palatknik;
3. Predator at the Chessboard I & II by Ward Farnsworth (verbal explanation of tactics like Winning Chess Tactics but with 1200 examples that gradually increase in difficulty; or check out his free website which has the same content);
4. [...] for lots of tactics problems and drilling that can be catered to any level;
5. [...] - lots of chess software, including tactics for beginners;
6. chess tutor step 1 & 2 (software).

Trains Your Mind To See Options
Seirawan and Silman have put together a great book! Each chapter covers a particular tactic or combination using the tactic- then presents a number of "tests" that force you to use what he's just covered. Seems to work very well in getting my mind to internalize the concepts.

One of Yasser's best books
I absolutly love this book! It teaches you all of the different tactics there are. Before reading this book, I only knew the pin, the fork, and the skewer. But after reading this book, my brain suddenly expanded with knowledge about tactics, including deflections, windmills, and x-rays. This book clearly informs you about tactics that can give you the advantage in one move. After reading this book, I was able to defeat one of the toughest rivals I know regularly. I would recommend this book to people who already know how to play, or to people who also read "Play winning chess" by Yasser Sierawan. This book is clearly five stars!

Winning Chess Tactics
I'm a beginner, so I was looking for a book that would break down the various tactics and the theory behind them. Yasser did a good job explaining the moves, the examples he presented, although not extensive, are very good. This book also have games of great tacticians at the end, with basic puzzles and then advanced puzzles. The great thing about these puzzles is that he doesn't tell you what you need to look for, you are left with anylizing the board for yourself, and figuring out the best tactic. This is a primer book on tactics for someone who just learned how the pieces move, but now needs to learn what to do with them.

The next level
Not sure about the "revised" version however, this is the book that took me as a novice player to the next level quickly. It illuminates the uninitiatd quickly in terms that are easily understandable. ... Read more

Product Description
We've updated the cover of WINNING CHESS BRILLIANCIES so that the Microsoft Press(r) Winning Chess series has a more cohesive and dynamic look. This book by International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan provides a move-by-move account of the best chess games of the last 25 years by the world's most formidable chess players. Seirawan serves as host on a fascinating excursion through these historical chess games, providing insights into and explanations of the significant moves, or "brilliancies" as the chess-literate say. Readers will get a taste of the most dazzling chess combinations, devious strategies, and downright cruel blows as world champions throw caution to the wind and risk it all! Readers will delight as the author takes these awe-inspiring and controversial games and makes them enjoyable and easy to understand.Amazon.com Review
Seirawan does more than present 12 of the most brilliantgrandmaster games of the past 25 years. His lively move-by-moveanalysis delves into the minds of many of chess's greatest players,explaining the reasoning (or errors) behind each. Readers with a graspof chess basics, tactics, and strategies (covered in the first threebooks of Seirawan's four-book series) will come away with anappreciation of the subtleties of grandmaster play and the inspirationto stretch their skills and understanding to higher levels. Haveanother chess player nearby when you read it--you'll want to playafterwards. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Great for Beginners and as a Refresher
Very good book for beginners as well as a refresher for more experienced players. I would highly recommend the entire Winning Chess series by Seirawan and Silman.

Excellent read, wish he added more games
I read this a month or so ago.Now I will buy it and re-read it periodically.Excellent, highly readable analysis I found to be better then similar books.

Uber good
Went through over 50 other chess books before opening this one, and it's so good, I bought every other volume Seirawan has written. Wish the binding were softer so that the book would hold itself open, and Microsoft Press left out two pages of the intro! but it's a necessary part of any good chess library.

Most in depth and instructive game compilation I've seen.
This book, when I first acquired it, was a dream come true. I remember reading "Chess, beginner to expert" by Larry Evens, my first chess book. I'll never forget his chapter at the end, where he annoted every single move, in profound depth, of a game, letting me truly "understand" what goes through the mind of a person playing a proper chess game. My ability improved more from that than anything before or since. I dreamed of an entire book with many such games.

I have never seen a more comprehensive and instructive game collection book. Having read it about 7 years ago, It is one of the few ever that I still remember specific moves and techniques from. I still, till this day, remember playing to exploit the weak square on d6 that he explained to me from the white side of the Sicilian from this book. Instead of annoying, endless, and frankly, very tiring variations and lines, you truly understand the reasoning, and the ideas, behind every move that is played. It is tangible knowledge that stays with you, and is of great utility. Many books make you tired, and uninterested. This one stays interesting all the way through, while you learn.

John Nunn's comparable book, understanding chess, move by move was okay, but not near as instructive or in depth, I do not think.

This book is a masterpiece.

Great chess book
This is one of the best chess books I've seen. Winning strategies and ideas are presented in the context of real grandmaster games, and are explained move by move. You can read this book reasonably well even if you don't have a chess board at hand (although of course that helps a lot).
... Read more

Product Description
We've updated the cover of PLAY WINNING CHESS so that the Microsoft Press(r) Winning Chess series has a more cohesive and dynamic look. Play Winning Chess is a sparkling and enthusiastic introduction to chess-the moves, strategies, and philosophy of the game-from International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan and International Master Jeremy Silman. The book teaches the Seirawan method: force, time, space, and pawn structure. To this end, the authors provide clear explanations of the game's fundamentals. Dozens of instructive examples, question-and-answer sections, psychological hints, and sample games teach players to strategize and play aggressively while having fun. This book is exuberant and conversational, enlivened by personal anecdotes and engaging historical details.Amazon.com Review
International grandmaster Yasser Seirawan has a knack forcommunicating not only the playing of the game, but also an enthusiasmfor it. In this first of a four part series, Seirawan talks to thechess novice. He explains the game's development and basics of play,sharing stories of some of the wild and wonderful characters fromchess history and Seirawan's own experiences. The language is simpleand nontechnical enough for the greenest newcomer, who will hardlyseem green at all after absorbing the lessons of this terrificintroduction to chess. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (49)

Play Winning Chess by Seirawan
I wish books like this were available in the 80's. Concepts like time, force, space, pawn structure I had never heard of before reading this book-Excellent. I would liked to have started with books such as these instead of struggling with books that are for much more advanced player's. We have access to most every book that is available for sale due to the internet, instead of buying what only the local book stores has to offer. I think the review by A Customerhas I'am afraid more issues than just not liking the book, what an angry vicious attack, he either needs anger management or has a hidden agenda for writing what he did. L Young

PERFECT for new players and beginners
This book is as perfect as can be for someone who wants to learn chess or knows the basic rules, but wants to go further. Chapter 1 teaches the rules. Chapters 2-5 teach about the four principles: force (material)
time, space and pawn structure. Pawn structure is typically not given much importance in beginners books. This book does it right and covers the topic. Chapter 6 gives 8 annotated games. The annotation is, thankfully, in words, not listing variations. Begginers can't do variations, and the author is fully aware of that. The games are short (average 13 moves per game), but they illustrate basic important points. Very nice. The are pictures and short stories about famous players and how they approached the game. These may not make the reader a better player, but they provide a much needed inspiration.
There is a glossary. There are 57 problems (33 "quizes" and 24 "tests") in the book, and solutions are given at the end. Well done.
[The book uses algebraic notation]

Great for beginners and those who want to improve their game
The Yasser Seirawan "Winning Chess" series of chess books have some of the very few chess books that I actually enjoyed reading.Their style is engaging and easy to read and comprehend, and I found my game improving.I'm no chess master, I just love the game, and when my father-in-law showed interest in learning how to play, this was the book that immediately sprang to mind.

This book starts out assuming that you know absolutely nothing about chess.It starts you out with how the pieces move, and teaches algebraic chess notation in a non-threatening manner (essential for any chess book! ;)But then it also goes into essential strategy, such as pawn structure and tempo.

If I had to choose only one chess book to take with me for an extended trip, this would be the one.

Improved my game almost instantly
Recently I purchased a new laptop, it came with 'Chess Titans' computer chess game. My chess background is basically; I know how the chess pieces move. I started playing 'Chess Titian' and was able to consistently beat the computer on levels 1,2,3.When I switched to level 4...I got destroyed.Knowing that there were 6 more levels of play in this game, I knew that I was going to need some assistance to advance.I decided to buy this book for help.I agree, you must read this book with a chess board handy to get the full value of the lessons.I learned 4 principles Force, Time, Space and Pawn Structure. Applying these concepts (as simple as counting spaces) I started beating level 4.I have moved on to level 5 and the next book in this series "Tactics".

Fast Paced and More Than it Seems
Internation Grand Master Yasser Seirawan and International Master Jeremy Silman team up in this collaborative effort to teach the basic fundamentals of Chess. When I originally opened up this book, I thought it was a little below my level and probably written for children. I muscled through it, though, before moving on to the next book in the series, and I'm very glad I did.

While at first the writing style and information makes the book seem less valuable than it is, in reality the book is deceptive in its simplicity. Seirawan and Silman present the fundamental concepts of chess at a break-neck speed and move on to the next important piece of information without stopping.

The history section and rules information section were boring to me because I already knew the material, but they'd probably be invaluable to someone who was just learning how to play. What follows, though, is a primer on the four principles of chess that most amateurs don't understand. How to properly utilize material advantage, tempo, initiative, position and pawn structure is a very difficult thing to learn, and the authors don't try to teach it all in one book. This is a primer. It lays the foundation for tactical, strategic and positional learning to be made later.

An earlier reviewer said that this book has a "steep learning curve", and it does. If you walk into this book with no knowledge of how to play chess, you will probably have to read it 2 or 3 times. Even if you have a solid grasp of chess fundamentals, I still recommend reading this book just for the possibility of new insights. Reading it as a 1400 rated player, it still opened my eyes to some new ideas I hadn't thought about before. I heartily recommend this book to chess amateurs of my level and lower. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Science News, published by Thomson Gale on July 21, 2007. The length of the article is 557 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Check on checkers: in perfect game, there's no winner.(This Week)(computer chess program)
Author: J. Rehmeyer
Publication: Science News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 21, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 172Issue: 3Page: 36(2)

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Chapters: Deep Blue, Computer Olympiad, Brains in Bahrain, Evaluation Function, Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1, Endgame Tablebase, Alan Kotok, Chess Engine, Deep Blue Versus Garry Kasparov, Human-Computer Chess Matches, Advanced Chess, Nolot, Board Representation, Bitboard, Hans Berliner, Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1997, Game 6, Alexander Brudno, Martin Bryant, Transposition Table, Zvonko Vranesic, X-Fen, Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine, Forsyth-edwards Notation, Quiescence Search, Null-Move Heuristic, Swedish Chess Computer Association, Candidate Move, Vasik Rajlich, 14th Computer Olympiad, Zobrist Hashing, Medieval Kings Chess Ii, Chess Engine Communication Protocol, Universal Chess Interface, Los Alamos Chess, Permanent Brain, No Stress Chess, Georgy Adelson-Velsky, Variation, Larry Kaufman, Robert Hyatt, Chess960@home, Branching Factor, Chess Query Language, Chess Engines Grand Tournament, Eugene Nalimov, Mikhail Donskoy, Chess Crusade, International Computer Games Association, Mathias Feist, Late Move Reductions, Mephisto, Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, Christian Donninger. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 253. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Computer chess is computer architecture encompassing hardware and software capable of playing chess autonomously without human guidance. Computer chess occurs as solo entertainment (allowing players to practice and to amuse themselves when no human opponents are available), as aids to chess analysis, for computer chess competitions, and as research to provide insights into human cognition. Chess-playing computers are now accessible to the average consumer. From the mid-70's to the present day, dedicated chess computers have been available for purchase. There are many chess engines such as Crafty, Fruit and GNU Chess that can be ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=68367 ... Read more

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The game of chess traditionally has been considered as the epitome of intellectual skill and accomplishment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Could have used some more sepll chekcing.
This is a four page article about computer chess written in 1994. There are spelling errors here and there. The editing could have been better. The price is not so bad for the information that you get, but I will say that much of this info could probably be found elsewhere on the Internet for free. In fact, always search Google for the article to see if it is available elsewhere free of charge: http://www.ddj.com/hpc-high-performance-computing/184405171.

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