Originally posted by Katonah Understanding Chess Move by Move by Chernov is so Brittany Spears, so last week. Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn, or Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces by Igor Stahl. Both by Gambit Press, large format paperback available everywhere. These are fairly high level but if you are going to recommend Chernov, these are distinctly better. But if yo ...[text shortened]... ces available. So stop being lazy and asking and get cracking with some research of your own !!
I assume you meant Logical Chess: Move by Move by Chernev. Your two suggestions may be very good books, but I suspect not appropriate for someone at a novice level. (You said yourself that these two books are fairly high level, and I'd have to agree, based on the reviews I've read.) While Chernev's book is indeed very dated, it's still a classic for novices. I'd suggest that the OP read the following reviews, then make up his own mind.
Well for relative beginners like me (i.e. someone who aspires to be a patzer!), I have found www.chesstactics.org "predator at the chessboard" utterly superb for learning how to think about tactics. It's a free website, but the material has also now been published as a 2 volume book set. It's the only chessbook I have ever found which a relative beginner can read and use without even needing a board and pieces to hand. It may not appeal to everyone, and may be a bit too basic for you, but you really should have a look at the site.
"Chess: the Art of Logical Thinking" by Neil MacDonald (Batsford) takes the Chernev move by move analysis approach but is perhaps more up to date.
Originally posted by talisker "Chess: the Art of Logical Thinking" by Neil MacDonald (Batsford) takes the Chernev move by move analysis approach but is perhaps more up to date.
If you look at the bottom of Dan Heisman's recommended books page in the recommended instructive game anthologies section, you'll see that Dan lists several of McDonald's books. Clearly Dan is a fan of Neil McDonald.
Originally posted by talisker Well for relative beginners like me (i.e. someone who aspires to be a patzer!), I have found www.chesstactics.org "predator at the chessboard" utterly superb for learning how to think about tactics. It's a free website, but the material has also now been published as a 2 volume book set. It's the only chessbook I have ever found which a relative beginner ca ...[text shortened]... Batsford) takes the Chernev move by move analysis approach but is perhaps more up to date.
I wouldn't recommend chesstactics.org. I never understood the idea of explaining chess tactics in long texts. that's not the way to learn it, and don't get me wrong, but beginners usually don't realize this and have the illusion that reading will help their chess.
for positional chess, MAYBE long texts could be relevant in some specific situations, but for tactics, I'm 100% sure that just learning the names of concepts (which are very few, by the way) like pin, fork, x-ray etc are enough for reading. you have to dive into variations and actually solve problems.
Originally posted by Mad Rook If you look at the bottom of Dan Heisman's recommended books page in the recommended instructive game anthologies section, you'll see that Dan lists several of McDonald's books. Clearly Dan is a fan of Neil McDonald.
Note that the list is in increasing order of difficulty.
Ooh, I've been reading some reviews of McDonald's game collection books, and now I'm not sure how to react to them. Heisman recommends several of them, and a couple of them got decent reviews on Silman's site. But a reviewer named Steve (Stephen) Ham on the Chesscafe site completely slammed a couple of McDonald's books. So now I don't know what to think about McDonald's books. 😕
Recommended Books
27 Feb '09 15:05
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