Book suggestions

Hi there, can any of you wonderful people tell me a good book to learn basic strategy. I'm a reasonably competent player (erm-ish😛), so don't want something that will patronise me, but at the same time, I don't know any of the chess terms and opening move names, as I have only really been playing about 6 months seriously.
I've looked at a few, and all the ones in my local shops take a level of knowledge about the names of moves and things for granted.
I thank you in advance of your kindness.😀

Gary.

I've no great knowledge of what books are available but one that I use and would recommend is "The Mammoth Book Of Chess" by Graham Burgess. It's pitched as such on the cover; "... will enable players with very little experience to progress to good club level or better..."

The book itself covers tactics and strategy and includes sections on openings, middle game and end games. Furthermore it includes a glossary of chess notation and chess terminology. Finally, there is a section on the "World of Chess" covering allsorts of miscellaneous stuff.

For a novice player this book is fairly comprehensive and easy to use as a reference book for dipping in and out of. Hope this helps. 🙂

Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Strategy would be ideal for you. Straightforward and easy to understand.

Logical Chess: Move by Move - by Irving Chernev
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - by David Bronstein & Tom Furstenburg

Both good books that help you think about chess.

Cheers

Originally posted by garyminford
Hi there, can any of you wonderful people tell me a good book to learn basic strategy. I'm a reasonably competent player (erm-ish😛), so don't want something that will patronise me, but at the same time, I don't know any of the chess terms and opening move names, as I have only really been playing about 6 months seriously.
I've looked at a few, and ...[text shortened]... he names of moves and things for granted.
I thank you in advance of your kindness.😀

Gary.

Thanks a lot guys. Will be shecking these things out over the next couple of days.
Gary.

Let me add a suggestion that I don't often read in threads like these. There's a Dutch series of instructional books, based on a teaching method developed by two (grand?)masters. It's what really got me into chess. I don't know whether this series is translated, but it does exist as a CD-Rom. If you follow this program and complement the exercises with even more tactical puzzles, you'll improve greatly. At least, I did. It will give you a solid base on which to build further. The Seirawan series is easily digestable after it, for example, and you might as well skip the first one.

Anyway, I would take care not to start on stuff that is a bit over your head. It's nice to see some result of your efforts, and they'll be bigger if you start at a low level. Chess study plans usually tell you to start out with tactics, tactics and then some more. The great thing about the Tasc program is that while it does emphasize tactics , it also includes basic positional ideas, which I think is an important plus. Then start taking the games you play on this site (very) seriously, and you're on your way.🙂

Wow, that's the first time I publicly endorsed a commercial product.😳

David

i totaly agree with what he said.....tactics tactics tactics, ill be honest right now i have 6 books...."winning chess tactics" (very simple to understand and takes you step by step) by yasser seirawan then i have 303 tricky chess tactics..my new love.. this book by Fred Wilson and Bruce Alberston is a complete tactic books but unlike other tactic books you have to most of the time make at least five moves to find the one tactic you need and so it helps a lot with visualizing, also very important. then i have how to reassess your chess by Silman and three other books, all on tactics, i love tactics i cant get enough of them ...this is what i recomend becuase sure you might be in a good place in a game w/ good position but what if you cant see the mate in 3 and you end up losing your rook????

Originally posted by DdV
Let me add a suggestion that I don't often read in threads like these. There's a Dutch series of instructional books, based on a teaching method developed by two (grand?)masters. It's what really got me into chess. I don't know whether this ...[text shortened]... he first time I publicly endorsed a commercial product.😳

David