must have chess books for a weak intermediate p...

i'm looking into get some good chess books. i'm a weak intermediate player. i've tryed sewirwans tactict book. are their any other good tactic books? is this what i should study tactics? i'm really just looking for a must have chess books. i'm thinking of getting the complete book of chess strategy by silmans, is this a good book? or are their better?

Originally posted by Arrak

good info here.

He wants to know what books are "must have" for a weak, intermediate player.

I'd say that the "Winning Chess" series by Yasser Seirawan is probably a good bet. There are a number of volumes all sorted by areas of study such as "Winning Chess Tactics" or "Winning Chess Strategy" - choose the one that you think is your weakest area and it should help you a great deal.

http://www.amazon.com/Seirawans-books/lm/R19E1NBEH1PQEL

Here is a link to his books.

I have the "Winning Chess Tactics" book and it is probably the only reason I'm over 1500 on here.

Sorry, I started posting before you edited your post 😛

Other then the Seirawain series, maybe you should try Chess Tactics for Champions by Susan Polgar and Paul Truong?

I'm really not sure which one is better, this one or Silmans books, although I have heard good things about Silmans, so... can't be of much more help 😞

Chernev's Logical chess move by move is a good all-rounder, though it does have a strong bias toward the older Ruy Lopez, Italian Game & Queen's Gambit lines.
It is rather repetative - there's only so many different ways to say "1.e4 opens lines for both the queen & bishop & plants a pawn in the center..." but the methodoligy of the book is to hammer you over the head with sound, basic motifs of the opening, middlegame & endgame over & over.

It should be fine for anyone who knows the rules & how the pieces move, up to around 1500 or so.

Also, Chris Ward's Starting Out: Tactics & checkmates is a handy book to use & has all the basics & quite a few exercises.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Chernev's [b]Logical chess move by move is a good all-rounder, though it does have a strong bias toward the older Ruy Lopez, Italian Game & Queen's Gambit lines.[/b]

Yes, I love *Logical Chess Move By Move*. A more recent improvement on Chernev's type of book is *Unbeatable Chess for Juniors*, and *More Unbeatable Chess for Juniors*, by Robert M. Snyder. Snyder emphasizes 1.e4 e5 games. He neatly organizes his games to build one on another and avoids much of Chernev's repetition.

josh waitzkins attacking chess is a good tactics book. bruce pandolfinis weapons of chess is a good book for someone under 1550.

If you can find the Seirawan books on the old Microsoft Press they are quite a bit less. I picked up the whole set in LA for ~$20 back in 1998. Half.com seems to have them pretty cheap.

I'm currently reading a book called "rapid chess improvement" by Michael De La Maza.
It's a short book for 20 bucks but it is good reading and stresses the importance of tactics tactics tactics for those that are under 1900 elo.
some pretty good exercises are suggested which make sense and cant hurt.

Originally posted by hamltnblue
I'm currently reading a book called "rapid chess improvement" by Michael De La Maza.
It's a short book for 20 bucks but it is good reading and stresses the importance of tactics tactics tactics for those that are under 1900 elo.
some pretty good exercises are suggested which make sense and cant hurt.

dont you need the chess program ct art 3.0 for doing the problems?

Originally posted by Arrak
i'm looking into get some good chess books. i'm a weak intermediate player. i've tryed sewirwans tactict book. are their any other good tactic books? is this what i should study tactics? i'm really just looking for a must have chess books. i'm thinking of getting the complete book of chess strategy by silmans, is this a good book? or are their better?

Jeremy Silman's How To Reasses your Chess is the best book a non-master can read imo.

Originally posted by hamltnblue
I'm currently reading a book called "rapid chess improvement" by Michael De La Maza.
It's a short book for 20 bucks but it is good reading and stresses the importance of tactics tactics tactics for those that are under 1900 elo.
some pretty good exercises are suggested which make sense and cant hurt.

The excercises (didn't do the regular program- far too time consuming), though seemingly pointless, caused me to stopp blundering OTB after doing those excercises everyday for a month. My rating raised 250 points in about two months after that.

For tactics, a must is either CT ART 3, or Chess Tactics for Beginners (Both CD). I have the latter, as well as the intermediate, and it is fantastic!

Other than these and seirawan series, I highly recommend Just the Facts and Silmans complete endgame course for learning endgames.