Batsford's new edition of Logical Chess: Move by Move, written in 1957 by Irving Chernev, is a collection of 33 games with a famous player on at least one side of the board. Chernev's idea was to "explain" every move of every game, mostly with a paragraph or more of prose, and sometimes (but not often) with supporting analysis. Since he has to justify every move, the book is replete with advice, principles, axioms, and tips to guide one's play. These are at the most elementary level, and the first thing to realize about Logical Chess is that it is definitely for beginners and players who are just starting to learn about development, weak squares, the center, standard attacking ideas, and the like. In many ways, it would a wonderful "first" book (or first "serious" book, after the ones which teach the rules and elementary mates, for example), and a nice gift for a young player just taking up chess. For one thing, the games are clear cut and instructive. In one of the Dvoretsky books, a point is made about classical games being more instructive than modern ones, not because they are better, but because the ideas are so simple and because players allowed their opponents clear, one-sided advantages. This is very true of Chernev's games, which are almost all examples of miserable defense by the loser, or of utter lack of understanding (by modern standards). But precisely for that reason, they contain powerful thematic lessons for the beginning player. My only warning would be that the impressionable student should be gently reminded by a friend or mentor that most of the rules and principles Chernev so dogmatically states do not actually have any consistent validity in real-world chess, so that the book should be looked at as a way to get started thinking about positions, not as a reliable guideline to what chess is really about. With that proviso, I would recommend it heartily to anyone just starting to explore the game, and therefore, to scholastic chess teachers as well.

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