Judit Polgar - How I Beat Fischer's Record Paperback – September 21, 2012

Very instructional!Capturing the youthful joy of playing beautiful chess, Judit Polgar has created an intimate and instructional book for players of all strength. For aspiring young and amateur players, she shows how to play winning chess by giving tactical examples of "tricks" that arise after even the most innocuous of moves.For example on page 49, Judit plays a seeming innocuous move 32. K-KR4 while closing her eyes as if from fright only to spring the trap of a Queen sacrifice after her opponent Lars Bo Hansen is lured into 33. QxP. Upon seeing the Queen sacrifice 33. ... Q-N7 check, Hansen's "face turned red instantly."What is so extraordinary about this book is the sheer intimacy of being in the mind of Judit as a young master and international master as she has kept a handbook of all her games along with the time spent for each move. She provides the particular circumstances and stakes of each encounter along with a short bio of many of her opponents along with the strategy and thought processes of her games as the moves are being played.Today, Judit's "Skill-Building Chess" subject has been adopted to be taught in Hungary's elementary schools. For those and other parents, this would be a valuable guide as to how to prepare their children to have a head start on learning chess although many will not be able to devote as much time to immersing their children in chess as did Judit's parents. Still, parents can learn much on how to teach their children winning chess tactics and strategy from this book.For lovers of chess of all levels, this book also has chapter on decisive games such as her win fearlessly playing the King's Gambit to defeat Glenn Flear in the last round at Hastings 1988/89 to not only win the tournament but the brilliancy prize in the process. Afterwards, she was so happy to call home to share the joy of her achievement with her dad. Also, Judit has annotated her decisive win over Tibor Tolnai (Hungarian Super-Championship 1991) that not only won the tournament but earned her the third and final norm for the coveted Grandmaster title - thus crowning her the youngest Grandmaster in history at age of 15 years, 4 months supplanting arguably the best player of all times Bobby Fischer by over a month.In addition, for players of all levels, this book devotes a chapter on memorable games such as her first victory over a Grandmaster when at the tender age of 11 she defeated GM Lev Gutman at Brussels in 1987. There is also her win (Munich 1991) over Viswanathan Anand (the present world champion) whom she and her sisters considered a "genius" after barely managing to draw against him in 100's of friendly blitz games when he visited them in Budapest.What I really like about this book is how well written and organized it is so that anyone can take it aboard an airplane and enjoy the games and instructional positions without the aid of a chessboard. With only a general understanding of algebraic notation (a-h for columns and 1-8 for rows), anyone can follow along with her move for move and annotation for annotation to final result.This is one of the best chess books of the many I have ever read and I eagerly look forward to Judit's next books "From GM to Top Ten" and a "Game of Queens." It is a bargain at Amazon having just been reduced to under $20 (from $22.95 that I paid)! Well worth the money and time!

Is this too much to say, "One of the Best Chess Books Ever". Judit Polgar's book is quality both in the content and in the binding; it's hardcover and it's textbook quality. I've never owned a chess book like this. She is the best female player in history; if you want to improve your play while at the same time learning about her and her career and her family, you will be absolutely delighted with this first volume. Honestly, I can't wait to get the next volume as well but I want to take to my time with this first volume to get the most out of it. This book and hopefully the series will go down as one of the best ever. I underscore x 2 all the positive comments that other commentators have made. Just one more thing ... as some other commentators have mentioned but you only grasp the reality of it once you get it, is that the multitude of diagrams make the line and variations very easy to follow even without the board; and the photographs are wonderful. I could go on and on ... you'll be delighted with this work.

She actually played more games to gain the title, so even if she were younger in age, she had more attempts than Fischer before earning the GM Norm. Fischer earned his GM Title at the very highest level of competition, at the Portoroz Interzonal 1958. When placed in that context, the claim loses its luster and becomes suspect as a gimmick to sell more books, which I suspect is a brainchild of the publishers more than Judit herself.This is not to take away from the merits of the book. It does fully deserve its 5-star rating. Judit is a delight to read and her games are worth studying. Except for the title (I wanted to remove half a star because of it), kudos to the publishers for another high quality production. I recommend this book to be part of any serious chess library.

This book is just what I was looking for in learning chess.. How her farther set up training!The training alone is scary.. yet I wish I had a coach like these..!

Bought for my granddaughter who has shown some interest in chess. And i wanted her to know there are girls/women who have dedicated their lives to this great game...We're taking our time with this book. I want everything to sink in slowly, then and only then will we move on to the other 2 books in this series. Hopefully she will appreciate Judit's play, enormous talent and maybe someone to emulate...???...Time will tell...???PS: Book arrived in very good condition., AS STATED... RECOMMENDED SELLER!!!

I play chess strictly for fun but I am always trying to improve my game. This is the most impressive chess book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Everything about this book has been a pleasure. From the wonderful quality of the paper and print used, to Judit's engaging thoughts on her chess games, training and experiences playing tournaments. Judit, is truly a wonderful player and teacher of chess. Players of all levels will learn something from this book and it is only the first of three books in this series that will be published.I am eagerly waiting for the second book.

Sparkling chess, clear instruction from "simple tricks" to more complex positions, interesting anecdotes and photographs -- Judit Polgar has written a chess book for the ages! This is just the first of three planned volumes, which covers her progress to the grandmaster title, and I eagerly await the next volume. This is the book that I'd choose along with Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games" as my "desert island" books.

A natural teacher and excellent communicator. I opened up the book and in the first chapter I became fascinated by Judith's ability to explain her story and the ins and outs of chess. The autobiographical and chess analysis method really works well with the book. In all, I am very glad to own this book and now I have the two volumes and am awaiting the completion of the 3rd. well done Miss Polgar!