This book has the style of the "German Handbuch" so it will require patient study to understand well, but that also means it is packed with great info. Tarrasch subsribes completely to the Steinitz scientific school and this book may be its greatest representation. If you could only have only one chess book for your entire life, this might be the one you would want. It covers everything in broad brush but also includes many interesting details of openings, etc.
This is the only chess book I have ever seen that is like a very interesting and well-written college freshman textbook. Reinfeld long ago taught a famous chess course at New York University so I guess that is where he developed it. It covers all the basics of chess very well and would be good for advanced players as a reference for what is most important in chess openings such as the Muzio Gambit, Noah's Ark Trap, etc. There are a handful of books as useful for the serious novice as this one, but they predate modern Russian/Yugoslav chess too much. Reinfeld is pushing the Steinitz philosopy but he discusses most modern openings stressing their emphasis… Read more
Lasker was probably the greatest player ever. Fischer is compared to him but that is probably more a compliment to Fischer than to Lasker. This is not at all your typical English chess book. It is a take-off by Lasker of his earlier book he wrote in German, but it retains the German "Handbuch" style of that era which should make it more interesting to the American reader. It is definitely of the Old German Empire since it discusses the Breslau variation. I don't think this name is used anymore since Breslau is now a city in Poland with a Polish name.
