Ever wonder what the worst chess book ever written was? Here is my choice: Chess and How It Is Played by B. Scriven (I don't know what the B stands for). Here's an example from this beginner's book.
(page 41) The Knights can do a great deal of damage which is only apparent when
it is done.
(page 42) 'Doubling the Rooks' as placing both Castles on the same line is called,
provides a very powerful combination. Then, the forward Castle can attack under
the protection of the one in the rear. It is such a good combination that you
should try to prevent the opposing Castles 'doubling.'
(page 48) Though there is no rule on the subject, it is usual to announce 'Check'
when the Queen is attacked.
All through the book, the author continues to call rooks castles which is a little odd, but I'll have to shout check! as soon as I attack my opponent's queen. It might startle him into submision.
Any other worst books anybody's heard of or read?
Here's one I really hate: Think Like a Grandmaster by Kotov. Every critic loves this book for some reason. Here's great advice: p121 ...bear in mind you must be flexible in your intentions and in your decisions on strategic problems...do not fear the enemy center, but on the other hand do not lose all respect for it. Now that's really helpful to the average player.
I lended at a public library a book about the Sicilian Alapin written by some idiotic italian master.
This is the worst book I ever had:it's like the phone book:200 pages of variation and moves without any text or diagrams in the whole book and no explanations of why you should play this instead of that .
Awful,I never used it and afer a couple of days I gave it back to the library with much disgust.
Grand Strategy-60 Games by Boris Spassky,by Jan van Reek,is pretty dreadful. The book has to be read to believed,it is so poorly written. Trying to wade thru the translations alone is the proverbial 1000 laughs. Another one is Alexander Cockburn's Idle Passion and the Dance of Death. Cockburn,a non-chessplayer,and a foaming at the mouth, right wing, political commentary flamer,seems to have a psychotic hatred towards chess,chess players,and everything connected with the game,but he never tells us why he hates the game so much. Probably got Scholars Mated by a 3 year old kid,or something.
Originally posted by sundown316Cockburn's book is troubling for true chess enthusiasts. It was written during the original Fischer craze--back in the 1970s. Cockburn is one of the few true left-wing journalists in America. His critique of chess runs along lines similar to Karl Marx's critique of religion.
Another one is Alexander Cockburn's Idle Passion and the Dance of Death. Cockburn,a non-chessplayer,and a foaming at the mouth, right wing, political commentary flamer,...
1. All Eric Schiller books before 2000 ARE CRAP!!! Every variation is wrong, the context is crap, and he makes players look like idiots.
2. I bought a heavily used chess book from this guy at a yardsale called "The Queen's Gambit and You." Blindly i bought it and took it home. Upon the first sentence it states: "The Queen's Gambit is one of the greatest defenses for black of all time. Following the variation of the ruy lopez, black plays this opening. 1.P-K4 P-QR6!!!!!!!!!" I thought i had gone mad. But i skimmed on until i reached something about the great Sam Reshevsky. "Sammy Reshevsky is the first female master to ever dominate the game." I burned the book after that.