Given that I'm starting to take the game a little more seriously these days (I intend to join a club, and play OTB on a regular basis - win/loss ratio on this site starting to even out), I'd like advice on decent chess books to buy, simply as a beginning to a personal library that may be expanded upon in the future, depending on my speed of progress.
I'm just breaking out of 1200 level, have set a target of 1500 for next January.
Preferably, I'd like to avoid books involving complicated analysis at present (those where a glance will show long blocks of moves without any explaination to them)...any book that offers relevant, understandable move-by-move annotations on selected games would come in useful.
For example...a book providing written word analysis similar to that shown here...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=we9xJraxSDw
All I know at the moment, is to avoid anything presented by Eric Schiller.
the best book i bought was 'bobby fisher teaches chess' - beginning is pretty basic but it goes on to help you recognise mating combinations, you look at board and turn over for answer - really good for reading on tube - only a couple of quid 2nd hand from amazon
other one is 'logical chess move by move' by chernev - book talks you through loads of gm games explaining why every move was made - wish I'd got this one earlier
I started with Play Winning Chess By Seirawan.
It starts with how the pieces move and works it's way up to the four main principles of chess (Force,Time,Structure,? Oops)
After that one, I went on to book two, Winning Chess Tactics (pins, forks, skewers, etc).
Then, I read book three, Winning Chess Strategies (formulating plans, playing for position, etc).
At the time, there were only four books in the series (Four was Winning Chess Brilliancies - a game collection with nice, heavy annotations).
Now, the series has expanded to an openings book and an endgame book. I haven't actually seen what either of these look like.
Logical Chess By Chernev is another great suggestion (by the previous poster).
The author annotates GM games with a note after every single move! The notes are in terms that we can all understand.
The Complete Chessplayer is a good all in one book.
Lasker's Manual Of Chess is another good all in one book.
(I have the descriptive Dover edition, but there is one available in algebraic too. I think.)
Originally posted by no1marauderI have that book too. The games and annotations are great. Unfortunately, modern chess is way more complicated. I suggest that a beginner get Logical Chess first. The games seem to have more of a planned out flow from beginning to end. A Sveshnikov Sicilian (modern chess) for instance would be very confusing for a lower rated player to understand.
Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn follows the approach of the Chernev book but has more recent games from the 80's and 90's (including 4 Kasparov games and some Kramnik, Anand, Karpov, Shirov, Kamsky, etc. ones).
Just My Opinion
No Offense To No1
My advice is not to read too much, playing and getting experience is much more important. Anyhow, here are couple books that I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone:
1. The Art of Checkmate
Simply great read even though it is on descriptive notation. You can browse it on google books before making up your mind.
2. Sillman's Complete Endgame Course
Probably the most readable endgame book ever written.
Regards,
- b
Originally posted by Bobson 94First, I would recommend that you read ONE of the following books so that you're well-grounded in the "basics:"
Given that I'm starting to take the game a little more seriously these days (I intend to join a club, and play OTB on a regular basis - win/loss ratio on this site starting to even out), I'd like advice on decent chess books to buy, simply as a beginning to a personal library that may be expanded upon in the future, depending on my speed of progress.
I' ...[text shortened]... ?v=we9xJraxSDw
All I know at the moment, is to avoid anything presented by Eric Schiller.
Chess for Dummies by James Eade
Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess by Patrick Wolff
Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan and Jeremy Silman
Guide to Good Chess by Cecil Purdy
My personal favorite among the above books is the one by Purdy, but it is also the hardest to find.
Next, I would recommend that you read Logical Chess: Move by Move, by Irving Chernev. This book is always mentioned several times in threads about good beginner's books.
Solving a few simple tactical puzzles every day will sharpen your tactical eye. And chess really IS about 99% tactics, as they say. (Okay, I exaggerated; it's really only 96.387% tactics.)
Your might want to solve the puzzles in 303 Tricky Chess Tactics by Fred Wilson and Bruce Albertson.
Above all, HAVE FUN!
"Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman might be helpful. If you have ever found yourself and your opponent each down to a King and equal pawns and then somehow lost the game, you probably wondered what happened. Silman's book explains how to win or draw these positions, and in doing so uses a good mixture of notation and commentary. I find it is also useful in beginning to understand the thinking behind the moves of a master, particularly how to evaluate a position. My ability began to improve after just a few chapters ... I'm actually only on Chapter 4 or 5 at the moment, so that statement is quite an endorsement.
Originally posted by Bobson 94Lots of good advice in the previous posts. Also lots of good book advice here:
Given that I'm starting to take the game a little more seriously these days (I intend to join a club, and play OTB on a regular basis - win/loss ratio on this site starting to even out), I'd like advice on decent chess books to buy, simply as a beginning to a personal library that may be expanded upon in the future, depending on my speed of progress.
I' ...[text shortened]... ?v=we9xJraxSDw
All I know at the moment, is to avoid anything presented by Eric Schiller.
http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm
P.S. You'll note that Dan doesn't recommend Silman's "How to Reassess" until you're over 1600 USCF. Not that you won't get anything out of it at a lower rating, but Dan thinks many of the ideas in the book are hard to put into practice until you get to his recommended rating.
I suggest:
-Play winning chess by Sierawan
-Winning Chess tactics by Sierawan
-Chess Tactics by Paul Littlewood
-Go over worded annotated Master's Game. You don't need to go over every variation at first, just get the ideas, take a look at the board and try to figure out what's going on. Tal vs Botvinnik 1960 was the first game collection I read and it was very instructive for me, as well as very interesting and well written.
-Silman's Endgame manual is very good.
-Silman's Reassess your Chess workbook, or Amatuer's mind. RAYC workbook can be a bit advanced, but start by reading the ideas and summaries after the examples to get some good positional ideas. KNowing how to spot imbalances and assessing the board is good for anybody to help develop plans when there are no appearant tactics.
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess gives you the basics to mating combinations.
Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals is a stellar book for many reasons. T
The chapter on endgames is invaluable. It is good for a beginner to learn how to end a game in King and pawn endings.
There are plenty of other great books, of course. These two are my picks.
Originally posted by TigerhouseActually, the full title of the book is How to Reassess Your Chess. I personally think it's a good book, but the way some people talk about it you'd think that it was the 67th book of the Holy Bible. In my (demented?) opinion, I think that Point Count Chess by I. A. Horowitz and Geoffrey Mott-Smith is a MUCH better book on middlegame strategy.
"Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman might be helpful. If you have ever found yourself and your opponent each down to a King and equal pawns and then somehow lost the game, you probably wondered what happened. Silman's book explains how to win or draw these positions, and in doing so uses a good mixture of notation and commentary. I find it is also usef ...[text shortened]... 'm actually only on Chapter 4 or 5 at the moment, so that statement is quite an endorsement.
BTW, I like the Silman book and I believe that any chessplayer rated 1400+ would benefit from reading it. It's just that I think the book I mentioned is more comprehensive and more clearly written. In my view , Point Count Chess is the most underrated chess book around.