In all seriousness, I think the most important thing I have done is leave chess books which can be read w/o a board in the bathroom. I don't suggest lending these books to your friends later, but it certainly improved the amount of time/day I spend studying them.
Apologies if this offends anyone.
Originally posted by zebanoBest Lessons of a Chess Coach, which has enough diagrams to read without a board & pieces, was my constant toilet companion for a while. Puzzle books make good substitutes as well.
In all seriousness, I think the most important thing I have done is leave chess books which can be read w/o a board in the bathroom. I don't suggest lending these books to your friends later, but it certainly improved the amount of time/day I spend studying them.
Apologies if this offends anyone.
Originally posted by scandiumI've read and recommended that book many times. I particularly like the chapter on color complexes.
Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, which has enough diagrams to read without a board & pieces, was my constant toilet companion for a while. Puzzle books make good substitutes as well.
Originally posted by zebanoI liked the treatment of that subject better in Stean's "Simple Chess", but it was probably the two together that allowed me to finally get a handle on that more difficult concept.
I've read and recommended that book many times. I particularly like the chapter on color complexes.
I regularly recommend both books here as they complement each other well and are easy to read, plus there's a wealth of positional knowledge contained in both books that no chess player should be without.
Sadly I think I've been spoiled by those books and a few other good ones that were equally approachable. Almost every day I cast my eyes among my library for something to read only to reject it because its too heavy on eye glazing variations, written in descriptive notation, or some other excuse I find.
In my profile I list the three books I'm supposedly reading now (one I'd read years ago) but have yet to actually start on them. If only I spent as much time on my books as I did in the forums...
Originally posted by zebanoI don't have that one, and with the number of still unread books I've accumulated over the years I'm still under a self-imposed book buying moratorium until I get some more of them read.
I'm reading How Good is Your Chess? by Leonard Barden. It's an old solitaire chess book with good annotation. The scoring is skewed as I keep ending up in the 2000-2200 range but when there's no one at the library over lunch who want to play me, it's a great substitute.
I think maybe my aversion to reading them right now, since if I face facts then that's what is it, is that I'm trying to tackle too much at once when its been years since I've read anything at all. For instance, my most recent resolution on the book reading front was that I'd read Capablanca's Best Endings, My System, and Tactics for the Tournament player (on alternating days). Not a good way to ease back into chess book reading.
I think I'll give the book shelf another browse over and this time settle on one book, and one that I know I can read in reasonably small nuggets of time while still getting through in a reasonable period of time and learning something from it (and eliminating from consideration any descriptive notation books, as even though I read that fine its still harder to read than alegbraic).
Okay I think I found the perfect book to begin rediscovering the joy of reading chess books. I remember this being a cheap throw in to get my book order I made at the time (a few years back) up to the $39 Cdn necessary for the free shipping on amazon.ca.
Anyway the book is called Learn Chess From The Greats by Pete Tamburro. Its a slim 150 page algebraic book that was written by the author with the intent of resurrecting what he calls a treasure trove of old newspaper and chess magazine articles and converting them into alegbraic lessons. Each article/lesson is a single page organized loosely into the following 7 chapters:
1. For Students and Coaches
2. How to Attack
3. You Must Learn Endgames
4. The Artists of Chess
5. Exciting Miniatures
6. Games by the Greats
7. For the Fun of it
Basically not your typical chess book but it looks approachable, enjoyable, and should make for quick and easy reading. I'll do a more complete review of it once I read it.
Originally posted by scandiumGood luck with the whole reading part =)
Okay I think I found the perfect book to begin rediscovering the joy of reading chess books. I remember this being a cheap throw in to get my book order I made at the time (a few years back) up to the $39 Cdn necessary for the free shipping on amazon.ca.
Anyway the book is called Learn Chess From The Greats by Pete Tamburro. Its a slim 150 page algebraic ...[text shortened]... nd should make for quick and easy reading. I'll do a more complete review of it once I read it.