Book list 'approval'

Originally posted by Wulebgr
I have close to 1000 books on my shelves that I will never finish (including Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual), but if you trash any of them, I'll break your arms, your children's arms, their children's arms, ... (metaphorically speaking, of course).

well of course I wouldn't trash your copy of Dvoretskys, after all, you paid so much for it

Originally posted by YUG0slav
well of course I wouldn't trash your copy of Dvoretskys, after all, you paid so much for it

pennies, really

Originally posted by Wulebgr
I have close to 1000 books on my shelves that I will never finish (including Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual), but if you trash any of them, I'll break your arms, your children's arms, their children's arms, ... (metaphorically speaking, of course).m

like many chess players, one rarely finishes the entire chess book. i can say i've completed maybe five chess books from cover to cover, despite skimming through hundreds. my short list of chess books completely read includes my system, the middle game, vol 1 (by euwe), pawn power in chess, pawn structure in chess (by soltis), and 1001 combinations (reinfeld).

Originally posted by tonytiger41
like many chess players, one rarely finishes the entire chess book. i can say i've completed maybe five chess books from cover to cover, despite skimming through hundreds. my short list of chess books completely read includes my system, the middle game, vol 1 (by euwe), pawn power in chess, pawn structure in chess (by soltis), and 1001 combinations (reinfeld).

I have fewer than 200 chess books. Most of that 1000 are history. Reading a history book all the way through is nearly always a waste of time. (I say that as a professional historian.)

Chess books that I have read all the wat through, on the other hand, concern the history of chess: The Immortal Game most recently.

I'm a beginner, and I've leafed through a fair number of books. I agree with earlier posters that some of the books you mention seem a bit tough at least for me.

At my bemused stage, two I've really found helpful are "unbeatable chess lessons for Juniors" by Snyder (I am 54 years old, don't be put off by the "Juniors" title!) and "Chess- the Art of Logical Thinking" by McDonald: both books go through games commenting clearly on the reasons for every move, which I am finding really helpful.

Because tactics are so important for us neophytes, i have found practice software really useful; I really like "Personal Chess Trainer" http://www.personalchesstrainer.com/, which I think is currently on special offer; or there are others like the Convekta series or the rather pricey Chess Mentor. I think you can get demos of all of these.

Lastly, do have a look at the brilliant Predator at the Chessboard site: http://www.bu.edu/dbin/law/chess/index.php. I just wish the author would publish this as a book!

Originally posted by talisker
"Chess- the Art of Logical Thinking" by McDonald: both books go through games commenting clearly on the reasons for every move, which I am finding really helpful.

McDonald's book, written in the style and tradition if Irving Chervev's Logical Chess: Move by Move is one that I may finish, perhaps even this year.

Hi there,

while waiting to make the order at Amazon I read the thread about the Silman books about endgames.

Haveing to choose one endgame book between Silman and Dvtoresky which one and why do you suggest to put on my list?

Thanks.

Originally posted by mfoolb
Hi,

thank you all very much for the suggestions.

I'll buy the books in the next couple of weeks from Amazon (if there's no better deal); at the moment I'm rated 1297 here, my goal is 1500 in June.

Let's see what happen..

Ciao.

I'm going to post this as fast as I can.. I mean before my rating points will go down! 🙂

1503!

I have to admit I was lucky because of a couple of wins for timeouts and deleted player.. but that's it.. over 1500 one day before the timeline I chose.

Bye.

Originally posted by mfoolb
I'm going to post this as fast as I can.. I mean before my rating points will go down! 🙂

1503!

I have to admit I was lucky because of a couple of wins for timeouts and deleted player.. but that's it.. over 1500 one day before the timeline I chose.

Bye.

🙂 Congratulations! 1500 is really good rating for only playing a few months on here. What books did you end up buying after all? Were they helpful? Which would you recommend and which ones did you wish you didn't buy?
Thanks.

-- Paul

p.s. my favorites are reinfeld's 1001 sacrifices and combinations, how to reassess your chess, amateur's mind, mco. Haven't read the others, yet though. I'm mostly a puzzle book kind of guy. 🙂
I hear silman has just gotten a new book out that's supposed to be pretty good.

I enjoyed Chernev's *Logical Chess Move By Move*, a classic; and the more contemporary *Unbeatable Chess for Juniors* and *More Unbeatable Chess for Juniors* by Robert M. Snyder. :-)

Originally posted by mfoolb
Hi there,

while waiting to make the order at Amazon I read the thread about the Silman books about endgames.

Haveing to choose one endgame book between Silman and Dvtoresky which one and why do you suggest to put on my list?

Thanks.

Silman's, because it's structured in a way such that you'll actually use it.

Originally posted by YUG0slav
Silman's, because it's structured in a way such that you'll actually use it.

I have both and I like Silmans by a large margin, D's manual is very abstract and lacking in the explaination department.

Originally posted by mfoolb
Well then.. any suggestion for the tactics puzzle book(s)?

Not a puzzle book, but how about winning chess tactics by Yasser Seirawan?

Originally posted by HomerJSimpson
I have both and I like Silmans by a large margin, D's manual is very abstract and lacking in the explaination department.

well, D's is good bedtime reading for your kids, I promise you that it'll knock them out within a minute (and you as well 😕)

Originally posted by clandarkfire
Not a puzzle book, but how about winning chess tactics by Yasser Seirawan?

that's a great starting book right there. I bought a copy from wholesalechess.com and they sent me 2 copies 😵

http://www.wholesalechess.com/chess/chess_books/Winning+Chess+Tactics+%28Revised%29

on another note, if you really want to buy advanced books (for longterm investment) then how about Think Like a Grandmaster? It teaches Kotov's way of calculating, and is a very instructive manual. On the downside, it also puts me to sleep 😕