The Best Chess Books

Here is Tim Forney's list of Best Chess Books:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Chess-Books/lm/R35DGNTENLJ2QR/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_2_rsrsrs1

Wuddya all think of the list?

Originally posted by basso
Here is Tim Forney's list of Best Chess Books:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Chess-Books/lm/R35DGNTENLJ2QR/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_2_rsrsrs1

Wuddya all think of the list?

If the first book inhis list is "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess" with the sub-title 'Idiot-proof instructions for learning the rules of this classic game of kings', then I rather skip the rest of the list.

Is "Chess for dummies" included in the list too?

about half of them are good (some excellent)
The other half are just ok, or unknown american books! (probably not that great if they're unknown)

The english publishing market is much much better than the american one, on the whole...
though there are some very good american books of course (silman, seirawan...the latter being published in england by the way)
No book from the excellent new publisher 'quality chess', and so many classics absent!

At least there are no books from the self titled "world leading writer on chess openings" : schiller!

on a quick glance, here's my list of the books worth buying in my opinion :

number 2,3,5,6,9,13,14,18,19,26,27,28,30,33,34,37

of course some of the ones i don't know about might be good, knowing their writers : n° 15, 20, 25, 35...
31 was popular, but some experts claim it's full of mistakes (even the revised edition!)

And of course those books are for different players!

i would be astonished to see someone needing n° 2 being able to reach the level required for n°33, for example, in less than 10 years of intensive training!
(an IM even told me half-jokingly that dvoretsky's books were too hard for him!)

Originally posted by basso
Wuddya all think of the list?

My first thought is that it's very unlikely he's actually read all of those books.

Chess books tend to be bought rather than studied in my experience.

if you're looking for good chess reviews, go to jeremysilman.com (to show you i'm not an american hating euro-trash ;o)

Originally posted by JonathanB of London
My first thought is that it's very unlikely he's actually read all of those books.

Chess books tend to be bought rather than studied in my experience.

mmh, maybe so, but at least i know i have the possibility to read them, even if i never do!

And they look good on a shelf !

(in fact i do open the wrong ones : opening books)

This one, No.11 on the list:

11. Zuke 'Em-The Colle Zukertort Revolutionized: A chess opening system for
everyone, now bullet-proofed with new ideas by David I Rudel.

I have heard good stuff about this book and I was sent the follow up manuel
to review.

Bxh7+ (The Greek Gift Sacrifice)

I'll be posting my review this weekend on The Corner.

I hope you like David's book. He's a good guy, so I'm pulling for him. I might even pick up the new book at some point.

Originally posted by Eladar
I hope you like David's book. He's a good guy, so I'm pulling for him. I might even pick up the new book at some point.

I really dislike his Zukertort ads appearing on any chess site. The excerpt on his site seems pretty whacky too. Who plays the Colle anyway 😛

Originally posted by Eladar
I hope you like David's book. He's a good guy, so I'm pulling for him. I might even pick up the new book at some point.

Have just sent son to get me a baked potato (filling = chilli con-carne covered in
spicey melted cheese),

I'll eat it whilst watching Simpsons.

Then will read last chapter - write up & post tomorrow with Morphy Comp results.

Originally posted by heinzkat
I really dislike his Zukertort ads appearing on any chess site. The excerpt on his site seems pretty whacky too. Who plays the Colle anyway 😛

If he didn't plaster his book on pretty much every chess site that he can, it wouldn't have made the top books list! He's a nobody selling a book about an opening that most real chess players believe is a limp noodle opening. A nobody writing a book on a non-opening isn't a good combination.

But if you are looking for a change up opening, then this could be it. Most people seem to want to play wide open games. The Zukertort is quite the opposite.

The list has so many books on it, and they cover such a wide range of chess information, that if you read them all, there's no way you could NOT improve after committing that much time to study.

If I were asking for a chess book referral, and someone pointed to the entire shelf, I would think they are trying to be funny.

Paul

I agree, the list is too broad in its range. I would suggest splitting it into a list of books for beginners and then a list for more experienced players.

Bxh7+ (The Greek Gift Sacrifice)

I'll be posting my review this weekend on The Corner.[/b]

Have you seen the amazing Daniel King videos on the greek gift sacrifice, in Powerplay 1? I'd like to know how the work you're reviewing compares to it.