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Rodolfo Pardi

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FCP: Fundamental Chess Patterns 1-50, a handbook to improve your pattern recognition: Can you afford not to know them? (Chess manual) Kindle Edition

by Rodolfo Pardi (Author), Evelyne Nicod (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition

3.9 62 ratings

Part of: Chess manual (22 books)

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It is not easy for beginners and intermediate players to learn how to play chess and improve their game. Instead of learning mainly through practice (which could take years) or the study of the games of Masters (difficult to understand and easily forgotten), this book presents a toolkit of weapons: essential patterns that are necessary to know in order to play well!

What you need to know before reading this book:
* How to use algebraic chess notation
* The ability to visualize at least 4 plies without a board
* Standard tactical devices, such as Counting, Forks, Skewers, Pins

What you will learn in this book:
* Basic patterns that every player must know
* How to improve your game
* How to use Opposition and Critical Squares
* How to recognize the opportunity for simplification
* And many other useful tips

What you will NOT get, and why:
* A complete analysis of each pattern, which would require up to 50 pages each. This is a handbook (where all you need is a position), not a manual (which explains all the ideas involved and how to discover the correct solution)
* Capablanca: nobody can learn to play well merely from the study of a book, it can only serve as a guide, and the rest must be done by the teacher

There is no limit to what is available to a chess student today: you can find gigabytes of books, software, and video - a jungle in which the student can go astray.
But when a Knight checks your King in an endgame, do you know the best square to move your King to, in order to avoid being checked in the next four moves? "Click to look inside" to know.

It is well known that strong players see a position broken down into elementary groups (chunks), each having specific, known characteristics. This is due to the huge number of games they have played, analyzed and retained in memory. As a result, they immediately recognize winning patterns.

This book includes NO puzzles, BUT a selection of just (!?) 50 patterns chosen from among the essential patterns. These patterns need to be engraved in your mind, so that you recognize them immediately (regardless of which side of the board you are on), without any doubt or hesitation.

These are all patterns that are essential to know in order to be able to play well. They are not endless lists of moves, which would be impossible to remember, but rather positions that occur frequently, that you can learn to recognize without thinking, the way Masters do.

My teacher used to say: there are things to understand and things to remember. Here you have to remember.

Are all these patterns known? Sure they are, but this is not the point. A GM knows over ten thousand, a CM about 200, but what about you? Can you afford not to know a these few key patterns?

Novice and intermediate players are the target of this book, class B (1700 rating or less).

Periodically going through these patterns will help you avoid losses, win more games, and reduce your thinking time. If only one of these patterns was unknown to you (or you were uncertain what to do when you saw it), your learning time will not be wasted. If already know them all, and have never fallen victim to any of them, then great, play tournaments and enjoy Evelyne Nicod's cat illustrations.

"Trapping a piece" section of this manual shows the terrible blunder of Fischer in the 1st game of 1972 tournament.

You can see for free on scacchi.vecchilibri.eu/partite many related games, with English comments. Follow through and download PGN. Appearance is simple and neat, and diagrams start at the appropriate move. An Internet connection is needed. Use a tablet or computer for best results.

Enjoy the reading!

Rodolfo Pardi, librarian, FSI (Italian Chess Federation) instructor and arbiter

Notice: Translation from Italian was recently checked, however some minor language errors might still be there, for which I apologize.
This book uses algebraic notation with figurines

Editorial Reviews

Review

We use the patterns of this book as screening tests for admission to courses aimed to players at expert level, who should know them all.

Andrea Gori, Fide Candidate Master

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AUWJEKA
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gatteria; 7th edition (April 14, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 14, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3672 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 172 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,964 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #372 in Puzzles (Kindle Store)
- #698 in Chess (Kindle Store)
- #2,282 in Chess (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.9 62 ratings

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Rodolfo Pardi

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Rodolfo Pardi has had many careers in his lifetime. He was an electronics engineer for military aircraft equipment for 25 years, then a publisher for 20 years. Since 2010, he has been librarian, coach and arbiter of the Italian Chess Federation (FSI); he prepared more than 20 chess manuals in English and many more in Italian, covering many subjects not often seen in chess books.

His book, Chess Patterns, became a bestseller on Amazon.com. As with all his chess books, there are plenty of diagrams, reducing the need for a chessboard. Piece names are not foreign capital letters, but figurines - one of the first ebooks with this feature.

Books are also linked to sample games on his website, keeping the books neat, but making it easy to follow many more games, and download the PGN versions. Additional free training material is also available on the site.

Most books target novice and club players, up to 1700 ELO.

While English is not his native language, the books are well-structured and easy to read.

The cat covers are designed by Evelyne Nicod, to be found in Goodreads as an illustrator.

To see all his books, just click on "Visit Amazon's Rodolfo Pardi page" above, or go to http://scacchi.vecchilibri.eu/biblioteca/books.htm, a catalog with links and samplers.

Find him also on goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/lapaget

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3.9 out of 5

62 global ratings

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Mike Powers

“FCP: Fundamental Chess Patterns 1-50, a Handbook” greatly helps me improve my chess playing skills.

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

I stumbled upon “FCP: Fundamental Chess Patterns 1-50, a Handbook” (shortened to “FCP” for this review) while browsing through the chess books on Amazon.com. Because of its low price, I decided to purchase it. Besides, the author’s theory about understanding basic chess patterns made a certain amount of sense…

The book’s author is Rodolfo Pardi, a self-described “librarian, instructor, and arbiter of the Italian Chess Federation.” He believes that a thorough understanding of basic patterns on a chessboard will help chess players improve their game better than “learning through practice” or “studying the games of masters.” In his book, he offers a set of diagrams showing 50 of what he considers the most fundamental patterns that players should learn by heart. According to Pardi, players who do this will definitely improve their game.

I certainly can attest to the book’s usefulness. Initially I was a bit skeptical of Pardi’s ideas, but I plunged ahead anyway. I found that Pardi’s theory has merit. My game has improved a great deal since I started using this book. When I started last October, I was playing at about a 1000 Elo level; today, I’m winning more games than I lose (against a computer, of course) at a 1300 Elo level.

“FCP” comes in a Kindle version, and it benefits greatly from its large, clear, and colorful diagrams and a large and easy-to-read font. “FCP” is translated from Italian to English, and the English translation is nearly flawless.

I have discovered that using “FCP” along with one of my computer chess programs (Most often HIARCS Chess Explorer) provides me the greatest benefit. I can set up a given “FCP” position on my computer, analyze it, find the most correct solution, and play through variations. As a result, I continually gain a greater understanding of the game I most love to play.

I like “FCP” so well that I recently purchased Pardi’s “Encyclopedia of Chess Patterns,” Parts 1 and 2. Most highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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R. Hancock

Very good introduction for beginners

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2014

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For someone relatively new to chess (played as a kid, but never studied), I found the patterns in this book helpful in stimulating more thoughtful play. While the English translation is not impeccable, the explanations are, nevertheless, easily understood. Most, if not all, the patterns also include links to animated games illustrating the pattern. If you wish, you can back the game up to the beginning and watch is unfold from the start. For the price, it is well worth it.

5 people found this helpful

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Tim B

Fun chess book packed with useful patterns

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2013

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One of the keys to getting better at chess is to fill your brain with as many useful patterns or "chunks" as you can. When you do this, you can offload a lot of the processing and computation that is needed in a position, and just see the pattern.

This book contains 50 such patterns that every chess player should know. If you have been playing for a while, you will probably know some or all of them, but as Tony Robbins says "Repetition is the mother of skill".

The English in the book is quite fine (the author warns that it might not be in the intro), and I had no problems following it at all. There are other Kindle chess ebooks where the English is 10 times worse.

I liked how the author had figurine notation, and cute original pictures, which makes the book fun. The price is super low, so this is a no risk purchase. I would recommend using a standardized format for the diagrams. Some seem to be made with chessbase, and some with chesscube, and a consistent look and feel would be nice, but certainly doesn't prevent someone from understanding.

For new chess players the book is a good intro to the fundamentals, and to a more experienced player an easy refresher course.

23 people found this helpful

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Johnny R.Carter

One Star

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2014

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This book could have much better written.

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2019

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The author's English is not real good, but it is much better than my Italian! Makes someone appreciate the concept of pattern recognition.

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2013

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The book is helpful since I am older and I am just starting to play chess. The author refers to his website, however, I found out that it is all in Italian, which is not helpful. Since the book is in English, I did not anticipate the problem.

4 people found this helpful

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srights

Great book to improve your understanding and rating!

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2014

Verified Purchase

I got back into chess as I've exposed my children to the game. I suffered from not having any dedicated study. Since the game has been around for over a thousand years there is no way someone can advance without a little study. With limited time, I wanted the most bang for my buck. I enjoyed "First Chess Openings" to a least get me through the opening, but that leaves the middle game and endgame. This book is essential since I am unable to read a book studying hundreds of games with hundreds of defenses. There is no way I would recall and remember such guidance in the moment I need the information. This book will help you look at patterns in the hope that you will recognize what is developing even if you don't know the exact way you got there! As I play I can now see pieces lining up for battle and I know generally what is going on. This is an important reference for any library. The author is not a native English speaker, so some patience is needed with the translation, but I am very grateful that he took the time to help those of us who don't speak Italian!

One person found this helpful

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J. A. McCarron

Great idea plus cats!

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2013

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I have been looking at chess books for years and this book seems a unique find. The book focuses the reader on certain basic patterns that occur in chess. Some readers might not think these happen in allot of games. However they are positions to aim for. So when you know them you try to create or avoid these positions.

Back rank mate is a common example but these other positions and the ideas behind them are also useful.

Beyond that the book was fun to read. If your tired of wracking your brain on puzzles, take a break. Pick this up for a more relaxed and enjoyable chess learning experience.

3 people found this helpful

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Praveen Sadasivam

Excellent for beginners to improve their game

Reviewed in India on August 13, 2015

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The book is very good for beginners who are looking to improve their game. This helps a lot to understand the various patterns that one needs to be aware of. This shall help both to attack the opponent and also to look out for such a pattern which could be created by the opponent. Thank you so much. It is expected that the reader knows and understands the basic rules of chess.

One person found this helpful

PolMac

Useful on a Kindle

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2013

Verified Purchase

My reflections are not concerned with the chess content but more to do with how practical it is to read and make use of this book on a Kindle. I have quite a few chess books but this is the first one that I have found that is actually ok to read on the Kindle. I was drawn to it when I read in a review that it was written with the Kindle market in mind but was not sure if this really would be the case. I liked it on the Kindle and found it was easy to use in this format. I was also drawn to it by the cat on the front cover - I love cats and a chess playing cat would be wonderful.

2 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Great Value

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

It is a booklet ideal for players who already have some knowledge of chess.The diagrams are clear and the dialogue is concise. Even if you do not like chess the pictures of the cats alone are worth the cost of the booklet. Don't expect a lot of analysis.The booklet is neatly laid out most of the links work(apart from the smothered mate). The numbering of the contents page seems to have gone awry. Nevertheless the booklet is a good introduction into strategy and tactics

3 people found this helpful

Mark Lamb

Useful little reference

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2014

Verified Purchase

A useful addition to the chess player's library - just keep referring back to it and make sure you know every one of the patterns by heart. Now if only there was a version that had dogs....

2 people found this helpful

David

Useful handbook

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is a useful aide-memoir for the beginner or intermediate player. It is not comprehensive but is ludicrously cheap and good value. Recommended.

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FCP: Fundamental Chess Patterns 1-50, a handbook to improve your pattern recognition: Can you afford not to know them? (Chess manual) Kindle Edition

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