How to Beat Your Dad at Chess

Publisher: Gambit Publications
Author: GM Murray Chandler
Year of Publication: 1998

Pages: 127
Book Type: Hardcover

This is not just a book for kids - for 'Dad' read any opponent who beats you regularly! This book teaches the 50 Deadly Checkmates - basic attacking patterns that occur repeatedly in games between players of all standards. Each mating motif is carefully and simply explained, and several illustrative examples are given. A final test enables the reader to grade his pattern recognition abilities, and the last chapter explains what to do if your Dad is Garry Kasparov. Fun, instructive - and guaranteed to improve your game.

"Chandler does a nice job of using basic examples of the 50 themes to build to more complicated positions that ultimately utilize the same theme. In this way, the reader begins to understand how complicated positions can be distilled into their more basic components. This is a fun book that will help many players, either as a basic starting point in the study of checkmate tactics or as a refresher. I found several positions of interest as I worked through the book, and I think it will be of particular value to players up through class C. Younger players will also likely find it enjoyable. I would finally note that this is a hardcover book with nice paper, printing, and supporting illustrations." - Randy Bauer, Silman's website 

"While this book is not a detailed manual on the attack or tactics, it is a great blend for the intermediate player. Don't let the title fool you, overall this is a great book that will teach many important winning patterns. Sprinkled with pictures this is a very fun book and would be a great addition to any strong beginner or intermediate player!" - Andy May

"A killer title hides a book that, while ostensibly aimed at children, is really for any player who wants to improve their game, especially their ability to attack and get checkmates. (For those who understand the jargon, our chess expert tells us this book is most appropriate for beginner-intermediate players looking to strengthen their middle game, as there is no opening theory in the book.) Far from light reading, it's a focused, intensive how-to book, and some readers (including many adults) will find the masses of diagrams and move-notation daunting. However, the writing itself is informative without being dry, and there's enough chess history included to keep things from getting boring. For a certain sort of determined young player, this could be the perfect tool to help them achieve their dreams of dad-domination."- WordPool

"Don't let the title fool you; this is a book that almost anyone below the Expert level would benefit greatly from. Chandler has a very clear idea of his audience and I think that almost anybody who studied this book closely would improve his or her tactical vision. I found the book to be extremely well written and a useful addition to my collection. It also would be very beneficial in the instruction of young players, as the examples given in the test positions would probably keep most youngsters engaged for a couple of hours at least" - Bill Whited

"A perfect introduction to tactics for the beginner and developing student" - IM John Watson, TWIC

"I have found the novel naming of (checkmating) positions and emphasis on pattern recognition very refreshing" - Alex von der Becke 

"If you don't have a dad in the vicinity, any opponent will squirm when you hit him with Greco's Mate or the bishop sacrifice on f7. Useful and fun." - Sarah Hurst, Chess Moves

"The charm of this book is that every position is a deadly checkmate...simple but extremely instructional. Great fun" - Bernard Hannison, Chess Post

"[a] treasure trove of ideas" - GM Paul Motwani, The Scotsman

"A fun and readable romp through the topic of pattern recognition and mating combinations" - Randy Bauer, Randy's Reviews

"A splendid Christmas present" - Ken Bloodworth, Western Morning News

"Fun to read for players of any age or any strength" - Lubosh Kavalek, Washington Post

"A fantastic book...players of all standards will learn from it" - Ivor Annetts, En Passant

"Instructive positions from real games are given in a user-friendly way to show clever methods of forcing checkmate" - Peter Gibbs, Birmingham Post

"Well laid out...aimed at the younger player who knows how to play the game but still often loses" - Australian Chess Forum

"Thorough and entertaining...the book is well designed and well written" - Inside Chess

"Chandler observes, and I couldn't agree more, that 'pattern recognition' is very important" - Luke McShane, Express

"An excellent collection of study material about attacking formations and checkmating patterns" - A McGowan, Scottish Chess

Murray Chandler is a chess Grandmaster, and a former editor of the British Chess Magazine. 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 remains to this day one of the few players in the world with a 100% score against Kasparov. 

Product Reviews

"Chandler does a nice job of using basic examples of the 50 themes to build to more complicated positions that ultimately utilize the same theme. In this way, the reader begins to understand how complicated positions can be distilled into their more basic components. This is a fun book that will help many players, either as a basic starting point in the study of checkmate tactics or as a refresher. I found several positions of interest as I worked through the book, and I think it will be of particular value to players up through class C. Younger players will also likely find it enjoyable. I would finally note that this is a hardcover book with nice paper, printing, and supporting illustrations." - Randy Bauer, Silman's website 

"While this book is not a detailed manual on the attack or tactics, it is a great blend for the intermediate player. Don't let the title fool you, overall this is a great book that will teach many important winning patterns. Sprinkled with pictures this is a very fun book and would be a great addition to any strong beginner or intermediate player!" - Andy May

"A killer title hides a book that, while ostensibly aimed at children, is really for any player who wants to improve their game, especially their ability to attack and get checkmates. (For those who understand the jargon, our chess expert tells us this book is most appropriate for beginner-intermediate players looking to strengthen their middle game, as there is no opening theory in the book.) Far from light reading, it's a focused, intensive how-to book, and some readers (including many adults) will find the masses of diagrams and move-notation daunting. However, the writing itself is informative without being dry, and there's enough chess history included to keep things from getting boring. For a certain sort of determined young player, this could be the perfect tool to help them achieve their dreams of dad-domination."- WordPool

"Don't let the title fool you; this is a book that almost anyone below the Expert level would benefit greatly from. Chandler has a very clear idea of his audience and I think that almost anybody who studied this book closely would improve his or her tactical vision. I found the book to be extremely well written and a useful addition to my collection. It also would be very beneficial in the instruction of young players, as the examples given in the test positions would probably keep most youngsters engaged for a couple of hours at least" - Bill Whited

"A perfect introduction to tactics for the beginner and developing student" - IM John Watson, TWIC

"I have found the novel naming of (checkmating) positions and emphasis on pattern recognition very refreshing" - Alex von der Becke 

"If you don't have a dad in the vicinity, any opponent will squirm when you hit him with Greco's Mate or the bishop sacrifice on f7. Useful and fun." - Sarah Hurst, Chess Moves

"The charm of this book is that every position is a deadly checkmate...simple but extremely instructional. Great fun" - Bernard Hannison, Chess Post

"[a] treasure trove of ideas" - GM Paul Motwani, The Scotsman

"A fun and readable romp through the topic of pattern recognition and mating combinations" - Randy Bauer, Randy's Reviews

"A splendid Christmas present" - Ken Bloodworth, Western Morning News

"Fun to read for players of any age or any strength" - Lubosh Kavalek, Washington Post

"A fantastic book...players of all standards will learn from it" - Ivor Annetts, En Passant

"Instructive positions from real games are given in a user-friendly way to show clever methods of forcing checkmate" - Peter Gibbs, Birmingham Post

"Well laid out...aimed at the younger player who knows how to play the game but still often loses" - Australian Chess Forum

"Thorough and entertaining...the book is well designed and well written" - Inside Chess

"Chandler observes, and I couldn't agree more, that 'pattern recognition' is very important" - Luke McShane, Express

"An excellent collection of study material about attacking formations and checkmating patterns" - A McGowan, Scottish Chess

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