Hi, I've been playing chess a while now but had never read a book or put much training in so I decided to buy my first book. I've just finished 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess' by Patrick Wolff. I'd seen it recommended at a few places as a good place to start. Great book although some sections were slightly on the easy side for me but I learned a lot from it.
I was just wondering where I should go from here? I've been reading through here and other forums and see it's tactics and endgame I should be learning? I know the basics forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks etc and I covered them in Patrick Wolff's book so I need to step it up.
Any advice on where I should go from here?
The Art of Checkmate by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahnhas has caught my eye and it's only £5 so it's a bargin at that price but it's just mating patterns. Is it worth me getting that book just yet?
I'm also looking at Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan but I'm worried it'll be a little easy just going over how to do pins forks skewers etc again.
I read Wolff's Idiot's Guide, and I too thought it was an excellent beginner's book. I haven't read Seirawan's tactics book. I'm sure that the tactical content of Wolff's book overlaps with Seirawan's book, but hopefully Seirawan's book has a little more tactical advice in it. Maybe someone who's read both can weigh in with his opinion.
Concerning your next books, I'm going to give you a general answer. Don't just get the first book that's recommended to you, but instead, do your homework. By all means, consider the advice you get in this thread, and also, read the thread that sydsad posted. But IMHO, that's just one piece of the puzzle.
You should also hit the internet hard. Read book reviews at some of the better web sites - Chesscafe (a huge number of reviews in their book review archives), Chessville, Jeremy Silman's site, and the Exeter Chess Club. More importantly, don't forget to research Dan Heisman's web site. He has a huge amount of advice on books. Not reviews, but general advice on recommended books for different rating levels. And don't forget to read Dan's two Novice Nook articles titled "Chess Books and Prerequisites" and "An Improvement Plan", which give more guidance on which books to get at certain levels. (These two NN articles are a little dated, but still very useful.)
After you've done those things, you should be able to make good choices concerning your future book purchases.
And to save you time, here's the referenced links:
Chesscafe home page - http://www.chesscafe.com/
Chesscafe book review page - http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/reviews.htm
Chessville home page - http://www.chessville.com/index.html
Chessville reviews page - http://www.chessville.com/reviews/reviews_index.htm
Silman's home page - http://www.jeremysilman.com/
Silman's reviews page - http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews/book_reviews.html
Exeter Chess home page - http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/
Exeter book review page - http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/Books/reviews.html
Exeter book guidance page - http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/Books/books.html
Heisman's chess home page - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/danheisman/Main_Chess/chess.htm
Heisman's recommended books - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/danheisman/Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm
Heisman's NN article "Chess Books and Prerequisites" - http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
Heisman's NN article "An Improvement Plan" - http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf
Thanks mad rook!!
I always put the research in before I purchase anything not just books. Thank you for the help and all the links I'm going to go through them all tonight.
That might be the most helpful reply I've ever had.
I'll come back and let you know on what I've decided.
Thank you also sydsad I read that link this morning very helpful.
Cheers.
About the only "must read" chess book that I can think of is "Logical Chess: Move by Move" by Irving Chernev. In the book, Chernev explains every single move of about thirty master games. The book teaches you how to "think Chess!" The book came out in descriptive notation in 1957, but a few years back an algabriac edition was published. A classic! (Perhaps "THE" classic!)
After going through everything here, I've just ordered.
The Art of Checkmate by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahnhas
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev
Also while I was out today I just bought a second hand Chessmater 9000 for £3. I've had a quick look and there seems to be lots of tactical problems for me to do on there, so I'm happy all round.
Thanks for your help.
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Originally posted by Arctic JackTo bad you ordered "the art of the checkmate" just so everyone knows; the book is written in old english descreptive notation and therefore absolutely horrible to read (1.K-P4 K-P5 ). Stay away from that book!
After going through everything here, I've just ordered.
The Art of Checkmate by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahnhas
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev
Also while I was out today I just bought a second hand Chessmater 9000 for £3. I've had a quick look and there seems to be lots of tactical problems for me to do on there, so I'm happy all round.
Thanks for your help.
Originally posted by bikingvikingIt's not gonna kill anyone to know descriptive notation. chill out.
To bad you ordered "the art of the checkmate" just so everyone knows; the book is written in old english descreptive notation and therefore absolutely horrible to read (1.K-P4 K-P5 ). Stay away from that book!
Originally posted by PawnChopI think you are right the Art of Checkmate is a good book, if it cost as much as most books it wouldn't be worth it, but for £5 it's a bargain - and it does all players, no matter what their rating, good to be able to spot these patterns.
agreed but "Art Of The Checkmate" is such a good book i'd recommend it enormously. I've read it 4 times so far.
Here's an incredible book on endgames. I'm only one third through it so far and it has helped me immensely.
Chess Endgame Training by Rosen
(I'm guessing your from the UK so...)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chess-Endgame-Training-Bernd-Rosen/dp/1904600018/ref=sr_11_1/026-6487155-7244404?ie=UTF8&qid=1174222795&sr=11-1
