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Chess books to avoid

Chess books to avoid

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Have you wasted hard earned money and hours of your life you can't get back on a chess book. Most especially, were you sorely disappointed with a title that was recommended to you as "the" book that would turn your game around. What was it and why?

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The art of defense in CHess by Soltis. He basically says that if you buckle down after a mistake, you can often drawwin games that look lost (by playing perfectly or because your opponent relaxes. Nothing novel about that, and to boot the annotations are terrible.

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I read over 12 chess books in 1.5 years and never came across any bad ones. However, don't waste your time reading opening books until your around 2000.

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Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
Opening theory is unimportant to the under 2000 then?
It helps to know the general principles (develop each piece in one move, minor pieces first, castle early, etc.), but it's probably more productive to spend time on the middlegame (general tactics and positional play) than to learn several lines of the sicilian defense 20 moves deep.

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Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
...than to learn several lines of the sicilian defense 20 moves deep.[/b]
knowing what to play to have the winning position derived from the sicilian 20 moves deep in a game would be a handy thing to know at any level, i would think.

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Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
It helps to know the general principles (develop each piece in one move, minor pieces first, castle early, etc.), but it's probably more productive to spend time on the middlegame (general tactics and positional play) than to learn several lines of the sicilian defense 20 moves deep.
Surely it should be encouraged for lower rated players to understand all aspects of the game equally as opposed to some more than others? 😕

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Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
Probably not much use for you
whats that suppose to mean?
im not a begginer, played all my life.
im just bad online because since you take a break that can be a day long between moves i do bad, i lose focus and have to instantly restart next time i get on. that might just be because i am fairly new to the site though.:😕

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Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
Yeah i know. That game you posted in the other thread proves how good you really are! Fantastic play!Game 1611846
if youre being sarcastic read the post you just qouted. that part that says about how i lose focus between moves because of the long move times, thats exactly what it means.😉😛

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Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
Oh so you're one of these people who's actually a strong player but you just dont put much thought into your moves on this site. Havnt heard that before, whats your real rating then?
i dont play in tournaments in stuff, i cant find one in myk area i can join cause im only a kid. But i play on non-correspondant places like yahoo chess and its 1400 or something, on chessmaster its 1300.

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Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
Oh so you're one of these people who's actually a strong player but you just dont put much thought into your moves on this site. Havnt heard that before, whats your real rating then?
and i put thoughts in my moves, its just hard to focus if i play, stop for a week then start up again. klike is said it might get better the more i play correspondence style

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