Chess Books

darragh666

Can anyone recommend a chess book. I wanna buy one but Im not entirely sure what to look for.
Im not looking for beginners books,unless its a particularly good one.

macinalli

I'd say that a lot depends on what level you play at. A book aimed at a 2000 rated player would be way over the heads of most beginners. What rating are you?
Also, what part of the game do you want to improve? Openings, middle-game, endings, tactics etc. There's a lot of books out there!

Hercule

"My system" Aron Nimzowitch - it is the chess bible - it deals with some of the more technical aspects of chess like tempos and "zugzwang" as well as some of the fundaments - I would say it is good for players from 1200+ rating who wish to improve the technical aspects of their game.


It is very heavy reading however - not something you would want to attempt to read if you were tired.

I would also recommend the older books by Raymond Keene (there are 140 of them) - they range from topical biographies of grandmasters to detailed analyses of tournaments or famous games - they arent particularly well written but give a good detail of playing styles and chess theory.

books on specific openings are a dime a dozen

RoundTower

Hercule wrote: »

"My system" Aron Nimzowitch - it is the chess bible - it deals with some of the more technical aspects of chess like tempos and "zugzwang" as well as some of the fundaments - I would say it is good for players from 1200+ rating who wish to improve the technical aspects of their game.


It is very heavy reading however - not something you would want to attempt to read if you were tired.

I would also recommend the older books by Raymond Keene (there are 140 of them) - they range from topical biographies of grandmasters to detailed analyses of tournaments or famous games - they arent particularly well written but give a good detail of playing styles and chess theory.

books on specific openings are a dime a dozen

I think both of those are awful recommendations (without knowing OP). My System, while a classic, is likely to go over the head of 90% of people who would ask this question (far above 1200 rating) and Keene has really written some of the worst chess books that ever found a publisher -- usually trademarked by plagiarism, laziness and non-existent editing.

General-purpose chess books I'd recommend to anyone: Chess for Tigers by Simon Webb or The Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman. Both extremely instructive, entertaining and well written.

Brussels Sprout

Unlike OP I am a beginner-I understand the rules but don't know anything about strategy (apart from controlling the middle 4 squares). Is there any particular book that you could recommend to me that explains fundamental strategy in a clear manner using illustrations and examples.