15 Aug 03
I have been playing chess for 20 years but am terrible. I do not have that natural mind for the game but am determined to improve my strategy. Any suggestions as to a Good Beginner's Guide? It would be a book that sketches out the various openings and strategies of the game. I am tired of reading all the strategic jargon being thrown around and not understanding a word of it.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
15 Aug 03
Originally posted by PhaedrusPhaedrus, I really admire the books from which it is quite likely your screenname is derived. Care for a game?
I have been playing chess for 20 years but am terrible. I do not have that natural mind for the game but am determined to improve my strategy. Any suggestions as to a Good Beginner's Guide? It would be a book that sketches out the various openings and strategies of the game. I am tired of reading all the strategic jargon being thrown around and not understanding a word of it.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
16 Aug 03
1 edit
Originally posted by PhaedrusAs Clinton says, "I feel your pain".
...Any suggestions as to a Good Beginner's Guide? It would be a book that sketches out the various openings and strategies of the game. I am tired of reading all the strategic jargon being thrown around and not understanding a word of it.
I'll second ChessNuts vote for the Seirawan books as very good. It's a whole series of books and is well worth the read. I'm still reading and still learning from them.
Books of a different style, one which walks you through individual games in clear understandable language, are:
Irving Chernev's "Logical Chess Move by Move."
and
Max Euwe's "Chess Amateur vs Chess Master"
I find both books are some of the best at presenting the described games in plain english (hmm, Euwe's book may original have been in plain dutch 😛 ) Chernev, for example, makes a point of discussing EACH move of EVERY game in the book, explaining both the immediate consequences of a given move and pointing out its long term effect on the game. Very very enlightening.
One problem with the any of above is they are passive. I'd recommend also getting a chess puzzle book or two to work through. There are zillions out there.
There is a monstrously large one by Lazlo Polgar with "mate in one", "mate in two", "mate in three" and more puzzles. It's huge, and I feel very well organized by putting related puzzles nearby each other so you learn to recognize certain mating patterns. Expensive, though I've seen it in used book stores and I think it's even been remaindered.
Smaller and cheaper chess puzzle books by Pandolfini have also been helpful to me.
Hope that helps