I have read several introductory chess books including Play Winning Chess by Seirawan, The Idiot's guide by Wolffe, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, Kasparov's introductory book, and Susan Polgar's introductory book and I can say this book is far better than all of them.
Why? Mainly, it is the gradual logical progression of the difficulty of exercises from rank beginner level to a more advanced beginner level. This is what is sorely lacking in many other introductory titles, which may feature a rank beginner problem that is immediately followed by a problem that has a 5-8 move solution with several side variations (if an "idiot" can solve these, then what are the rest of us?)
- Each chapter starts with several problems/questions that review previous material (repetition/practice);
- Text is brief with a wealth of examples (repetition/practice);
- Several practice problems at the end of each chapter covering that idea (several hundred total = repetition/practice);
- A basic endgame is presented in each chapter;
- Several annotated games are presented in each chapter (100 total in the book);
- At the very end of the book, there are 20 tests at the end of the book, each with 6 questions covering the various topics of the book, primarily board visualization, tactics/mates, and endgames (repetition/practice);
- The last chapter gives advice and additional recommended books for further study (basically, the authors emphasize tactics and endgames for beginners and not openings).
Content alone does not make a chess book effective. The material must be presented logically and repeated/ reinforced in a progressive order for its intended audience and not provide them with extraneous advanced information that might only be understood years later when the player has become much stronger. To that extent, this book succeeds whereas may other introductory books fail (see the second paragraph of this review).
This is the best introductory chess book I have read, appropriate yet challenging for a developing beginner, the real "idiot's guide to chess". After going through this book, a beginner will certainly be much better at solving 2-3 move tactics problems, be introduced to basic endgames and the study of annotated games, visualize the board a little better, and have a solid foundation for playing and reading more advanced books.