Book Review: Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

So I got a few books to help my journey.  I got the ones I saw repeatedly recommended.  As I read them I'll very briefly review them from my novice perspective.  The first up is Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess from 1966.

I wanted a book that taught the basic principles of chess, gave some insight into Fischer's thoughts, and helped me make progress.

What I got was a couple hundred backrank checkmate puzzles that had very little to do with Fischer at all.  Oh dear!

The puzzles were good enough, and working through them no doubt has helped me with doing chess puzzles - especially if they involved back rank mates - but that's about it.  There's no teaching, no principles, no openings, nothing.  That was a big disappointment.  It's badly mis-sold as a beginner's instruction book: it's actually a beginner's checkmate puzzle book.

And it's way overpriced for the amount of puzzles you get too!  There's a lot of wasted space in this book.  It cold have been half the size and cost, tbh.  I suspect it gets recommended so much out of nostalgia, high sales, or because of Fischer's name rather than it being a genuinely solid novice tome.

Rating:

As a beginner's instructional book: 2/10

As a puzzle book: 5/10

More info here: Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess - Wikipedia

Conclusion: If you find it cheap and fancy doing some decent checkmate puzzles it's worth it.  Or if you want it for a collection or because you love anything Fischer or 60s, fair enough.  But if you want to learn beginner chess, or have to pay full price, get another book instead.