[size=150]Hierarchy of References[/size]
This is a list of essential publications listed in the order, from top to bottom, that they should be studied. This list requires that you have prerequisites in order. A list of this nature would have saved me a lot of time reading and re-reading many books throughout my lifetime.
:!:
References
* Pandolfini's Endgame Course is first step. You must learn how to deliver checkmate.
* In Mastering Chess Danny Kopec gives you several mating patterns. You must learn to coordinate your pieces. These examples explain how to do so.
* Jeremy Silman will then take you on a journey in Silman's Complete Endgame Course teaching you the essential knowledge necessary to achieve each class level ranging from an Elo of 1200 - 2200. Silman is a master of words. His material, unlike Dvoretsky, is very easy to understand. He avoids a lot of material concentrating only on the essential information you need at each level. While I may not have learned more from this book than any other I think it is by far the best chess book ever written for the majority of chess players. See, you have to understand, as you get better and better there are fewer and fewer players at that level. So if you are a writer you will make more money if you write for players less than 1700. As you get better the stuff you need the most is not in print -- it's in the games of grandmasters. I'll say this -- you can learn more from Jeremy Silman in 30 minutes than you could learn from any other writer in 5 hours.
* Practical Chess Endings by Irving Chernov presents lots of endgame studies composed by Nikalai (Nikolay) Dmitrievich Grigoriev, and many of the brilliant studies by Luigi Centurini who formulated the principles of bishop endings. The format of this book is the best I've ever seen for chess problems. It has one diagram per page, history about the problem, and then it tests your skills in finding the answer. I tried reading this book several times before reading the books mentioned above. Each time I'd get a few pages into it and then abandon the project. I couldn't understand how anyone could actually calculate moves in problems of such depth as the one solved by the Spanish priest F. Saavedra, or even what I now consider basic position like the Lucena Position, or the Philidor Position (which ironically is not listed in this book). I keep this book with me almost everywhere I go. I really didn't appreciate studies until I read this book. Now, I understand the importance of learning the information. We have to learn from studies, grandmaster games, our own games (why we lost), and from frequent position that you will find in almost any endgame book. Each of these sources provides a different type of information, but each is important and you will find information presented from each of these sources in your own games after you understand their importance.
* Test Your Positional Play teaches you how to think and tests your middlegame skills in planning. Don't even pick this book up if you haven't read the books listed above, but once you have read them then you are ready to learn how to think. It's all about evaluating positions, setting objectives, formulating plans, and validating those plans.
* After you have read Bellin and Ponzetto's book and have a basic understanding of how to think you need to subscribe to GM Gabriel Schwartzman's publications on-line called the Internet Chess Academy. He presents some of his own games, and many famous games played throughout history teaching you how to think, how to plan, and how to solve problems on the board. Anatoly Karpov, Lev Albert, and many other GMs publish articles in this series as guest columnists. It is a great collection. I wish it was also published in book form.
* Technique for the Tournament Player by Mark Dvoretsky teaches you how to study the endgame. He dedicates an entire chapter to the study of a single endgame: Capablanca - Alekhine, 1924. He expands on Centurini's rules for handling bishops of opposite color and reveals secrets of same color bishop endings that he discovered as a chess trainer. He has trained Kasparov, Anand, Topalov, Bareev, Lautier, Van Wely, Yusupov and many more. In this book Dvoretsky teaches you the lessons he taught several students who became Junior World Champions.
* The Endgame Manual by Mark Dvoretsky is a great source of material, but it is a reference material. I've tried to sit down and read it. I can do it if I study only a page or two a day, but I can't read it through and through. It is filled with some of the greatest analysis on the endgame I've ever seen. Everyone need a copy of this book within arms reach. Just don't expect it to read like an Erle Stanley Gardner novel. If some of you don't know, he was the guy who created Perry Mason. He was so prolific that sometimes he wrote more than one novel in a single day. He was a lawyer who had a staff of secretaries. Sometimes he would just sit around and dictate story lines all day long. John Grisham, originally from Black Oak Arkansas, is the modern day Erle Stanley Gardner -- just not as prolific. Two things came from Black Oak: Jim Dandy and John Grisham. There are so many things that come from this book ... you'll just have to get a copy to know what I mean.
:wink:
* This list is incomplete. It will take time to finish.
31 Mar '08 18:12
Best Chess Books?
Back to Top