Elliott's Chess School Knight Level with 4 Workbooks

I purchased the entire series of DVDs and Chess Workbooks authored by Elliot Neff and my improvements were remarkable. He names his four courses Pawn Level, Knight Level, Bishop Level, and the final Rook Level and in that order. The Problem with the title is you may believe he is only discussing the pieces in the title and that is a myth. A better name would have been Learning Chess from start to finish Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4. He discusses the board, notation, the pieces, their movements, tactics, Strategy in each DVD and the associated workbooks Address hundreds of board scenereos from both White and Black side of the board. Each level builds on previous learning and more advanced tactics and strategy from the openings to the Middle and finally to the ending. Each level has sectional tests and a final tests on the board. I played the videos over and over and used the rewind button till the material was learned before I even hit the workbooks. I used a pencil so I could erase and reuse the tests. If I not score 100%, I first went back to the DVD and reviewed again. I discovered 90% was an advanced level. You will learn a lot from this grandmaster who teaches chess in schools, authors chess books, and teaches you problem solving techniques. As a retired engineer, problem solving was my bread and butter, and I trained both junior engineers and technicians by the same methods he uses, theory and the hands on until they were on their own where they only came back to me with problems they gave up on. Buy whatever this Grand Master authors, and it is not as much as many of the other chess authors. You can use search engines on Elliot Neff.

I completed the Knight Course and now in the middle of the Bishop Course. I purchased all four of Elliot’s courses at different times. I found the Pawn and Knight DVDS and associated workbooks enhanced my learning experiences, however all the workbooks in both the Pawn and Knight Workbooks have similar errors in the answering sections of all their workbooks. The most obvious errors are when pieces being moved or used to capture other pieces is not even on the board. For example Qxe8# when it should have been Rxe8# or Bxe8 because no Queen on the board. Elliot definitely did not use a good player to take the course and edit his work. Since I have not played for 20 years and purchased these courses to start from scratch being 68 years old and retired etc… I farted Elliot’s work so far at 4 Stars, a B or 3.0 using university ratings. it is a rating I would give to Pandolfini, Nunn, Silman, Kuljasevic, Silman, Fine, Hanauer, Firmian, and other great players who were players, teachers, and writers of books I studied and made similar errors in their books that I purchased over the past 4 decades. Good work Elliot, find better reviewers and editors.

Bill Morell
Retired Engineer and Engineering Project Manager

I am a retired Engineering Manager with Masters Degrees in Electrical & Electronics Engineering and Engineering Management with secondary majors in psychology and economics. I consider chess a great game for developing thinking and problem solving skills that can lead one to professions in science, engineering, and other for obvious reasons. It is not just a game.

I purchased all four DVDs and associated workbooks from the Chess House https://www.chesshouse.com/ since they were not available with the DVDs and the associated workbooks on Amazon or elsewhere. The Chess House had very reasonable prices with free shipping and handling.
My evaluation of Elliot’s Chess School - DVDs and Workbooks for the Pawn Knight, Bishop, and Rook Levels for Beginner and Intermediate Children and Adults is as follows:

Elliot is a fantastic Chess Teacher who keeps things simple, but not to simple. His levels should not be named after the Pawn, Knight, Bishop, and Rook, but instead be named Introduction Level, Advanced Level One, Advanced Level Two, and Advance Level Three. I say this because all four DVD courses are not individually devoted to the Pawn, Knight, Bishop, and Rook, but they all are progressive and cover the rules of the game, algebraic notation, fundamentals, tactics, and strategy as you move through each DVD and the associated Workbooks. All of the above tools will make one a very good Chess Player and ready for Tournament Level Competition. I find the advantage of the DVDs and Workbooks allows the student of chess to utilize the left and right side of their brain which is better left up to psychologists to explain if not understood.

Over the decades, I purchased about every book on chess worth buying, but find this new learning style to be more efficient and beneficial. Yes, I read Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess as well as books written by Bruce Pandolfini and many other grandmasters and teachers going all the way back to the 1970s when I was in the Navy Military aboard ships and at sea most of the time. I did not have the opportunity or time for joining chess clubs or entering tournaments because of my job working for the US Navy as an Engineer that required travel all over the world. I did manage to purchase some nice chess boards in Italy though to play aboard ship on my off-duty hours and at home.

I recommend this program as five stars to children and adults who really want to learn the game of chess. Even experience players may learn something they did not know. I recommend watching the DVDs over and over again and use that rewind button if something is not understood or you lose train of thought, and bring them out again and again as a refresher over the years. I recommend using a pencil to write in the workbooks and have an eraser handy if you discover an error later on, or find an error made by the editor.

Lastly, I recommend Elliot to consider renaming the levels as noted above, because it may be restricting the number of folks considering a purchase.

I'm only on level 6 and it's sooooo dense and fun enough to study for the next year.