Masters of the Chessboard, 21st Century Edition Paperback – November 1, 2011

This book has been around for a long time and has provided many chess players with the means to conquer their opponent. The reason I know this is because of the quality of the games that are covered inside... pure gold in my opinion. Remember, you have to understand the descriptive notation to get the full meaning of the discussions; however, there are enough diagrams to understand mostly what is said in the notation, and there is quite a lot of gold nuggets in this book for anyone willing to go through and study this more advanced level of chess play. Thank you, Mr. Reti!

I own over 250 chess books, If I could only keep 25, this would be one of them. Reti's intention was to write a textbook through a collection of games. In studying this book, I gain a better understanding of the evolution of chess theory from master to master and enjoyed a fascinating account of the lives of the key masters of each era. The book is about ideas and how new ideas infringe upon and replace old ideas. He was there for much of the evolution of chess and was uniquely capably of describing the ideas of the masters of each era.

Wow and wow! This book has a bit of an underground reputation as being a great book. But for some reason the "authorities" of all things chess rarely mention it!All I can say as that this is one of the most enlightening, entertaining, and well written chess books I have ever read. Great overviews of player's styles. Concise but informative overviews of the ideas of various openings. And WONDERFUL annotations that are rooted mostly in explanatory prose!HIGHLY recommended! Reti was the man!

I read (and revered) this title (along with Reti's earlier "Modern Ideas In Chess") years ago. Having them both now in more handy Kindle ebook formats -- plus the ability to follow the playing on screen with a separate cbv/pgn app -- represents a most welcome technological improvement.

Simple the best. It's pity so little coverage Sicilian, but so detailed coverage closed openings!!!!Highly recommended for intermediate players, what wanted be advanced:). Maybe now I'll beat all onfreechess.org:)

This review is just to highlight to potential purchasers that the 2008 Ishi Press reprint is still in descriptive notation. This is not what I expected, so I hope others will buy (or not) better informed. Prefer the figurine algebraic reprint -  Masters of the Chessboard  - which has much better production qualities.The book is worth five stars on its merits though, although I don't have time for a proper review.

Great book as a baseline for understanding the ideas behind many openings. This despite the fact of the many errors, many of which seemed to be correctable in the editing process.

Can't go wrong with this one. Regarded as one of the best books written about chess.

I love this one, the lectures are organized accordingly to help understanding as you play through the games and read the commentary. A real treasure from the past.

Excellent book, distribution and faciltation was expedient and satisfied with product overall.

I got recommended this book from a high rated player on a major chess website - and it does not disappoint.It is written at a key era for chess, by one of the top players; there are some very good example games that illustrate some of the main ideas of different types of play, written in a nice engaging style.

In classics this is a book for those who wants to understand and play solid and good chess. -and will give the student some idears about how to play

Excellent book, despite the numerous typos. Easy to read and work through. Very instructive.