Chess Books

Valmont

I'm being very strict with what chess books I buy (so as to avoid a library of unread ones) and having just finished Logical Chess: Move by Move by Chernev I've bought the first volume of Yusupov's Build up your Chess series. Apparently it's a good book to have if you don't have a coach and is designed to optimise your chess 'thinking'. Has anyone else read this one?

Also, since there are so many good books out there it would be good to hear what people have found useful over the years.

L1m1tless

Amateur to IM Check it out.

RQ_ennis_chess

Interesting topic. I would hazard a guess that there are more books written about chess than other game or sport. Some books I liked in no particular order....

Fire on The Board (Shirov)
Nigel Short-Chess Prodigy- His Career and Best Games (Short)
The Sorcerers Apprentice (Furstenberg & Bronstein)
Understanding Chess Move by Move (Nunn)
The Art of Attack (Vukovic)
The Tao of Chess (Kurzdorfer)
C.O.O.L. Chess & H.O.T. Chess (both by Motwani)
Confessions of a Chess Grandmaster (Soltis)

I left opening chess books out of the equation even though my bookshelf is groaning under the weight of them. Maybe its worth starting a different list of what people think are the best opening books.

Valmont

CowboyDreams wrote: »

Amateur to IM Check it out.

Is that by Jonathan Hawkins? I read that it was more of an end-game manual than an all-round textbook. The best player from my local club (a CM) played Hawkins in Doncaster a few months ago and was severely beaten. Surely Hawkins is a GM now after winning the British Championship?

Valmont

RQ_ennis_chess wrote: »

Interesting topic. I would hazard a guess that there are more books written about chess than other game or sport. Some books I liked in no particular order....

I know it's fascinating how many books there are on the most diverse topics. If only I had time to read all of them.

RQ_ennis_chess wrote: »

The Sorcerers Apprentice (Furstenberg & Bronstein)

I intend to read this one some day - I borrowed it from the club for a while but I didn't want to start it properly while I was still working on other books. I really enjoyed Bronstein's introduction where he suggested he might have been compelled by the Soviets to not win his championship match against Botvinnik!

RQ_ennis_chess wrote: »

I left opening chess books out of the equation even though my bookshelf is groaning under the weight of them. Maybe its worth starting a different list of what people think are the best opening books.

I'm nowhere near the level where I would need an opening repertoire. I need to learn simple strategy and to manage my time better. That said, the first book I ever bought was John Emms' Discovering Chess Openings: Building Opening Skills from Basic Principles which I really enjoyed - I would say I can get out of the opening better than most other players my level but it's not much use when I make a colossal blunder every three games.

RQ_ennis_chess

Yeah Emms seems to be a good author in general. Pallisers opening books are usually pretty good too. There are so many opening books available now its hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. I guess you're right not to spend too much time on openings, most people myself included probably spend too much time them
One book I forgot to mention in the list above that anyone with even a passing interest in chess will get something out of is The Joys of Chess- Heroes, Battles, Brilliancies by Christian Hesse. Think it got chessbook of the year when it was released a couple of years ago. Very interesting book.

Marthakelly

I'll really appreciate if you could suggest me a good chess book, for a beginner in this amazing game, I have been playing chess for around 2 years but never read a book for mastery my skills. Thanks

caissa007

I'd heartily recommend Silman's Complete endgame Course. It's structured around rating in that sections start for unrated players, under 1200, under 1400 and so on up to 2400. Very many great players suggest learning endgames first the logic being that you cannot understand middlegames/openings properly without being aware of endgames.

It's very readable and most people find Silman engaging.

Valmont

Marthakelly wrote: »

I'll really appreciate if you could suggest me a good chess book, for a beginner in this amazing game, I have been playing chess for around 2 years but never read a book for mastery my skills. Thanks

I think Chernev's Logical Chess: Move by Move is the best 'beginner' chess book. It's entertaining, easy to follow, and very instructive. I've enjoyed chess a lot more since working my way through it over the summer.

Danville

My System by Nimzovitsch has been read by every GM and wannabe good player. Have yet to see anyone criticising it as in saying it is in any way poor. The games and partial games are also available in Chessbase format as is his other book Chess Praxis. So read the book and play the moves on your PC.
Would recommend to any player of 1300 approx who wants to take the Nextel step up.

Valmont

I had to give up on My System because I was just too weak to get anything from a lot of the chapters. That said, I really enjoyed the chapter on opening files and occupying the 7th rank. Of the small number of games I've won, doubling my rooks and sitting one of them on the 7th has featured in quite a few.