Hi all!

Basically, am in need of some advice and opinions!

I have £50 worth of book vouchers... If you had £50 worth of book vouchers, what chess books would you purchase and why? (Keep in mind that I have practically NO chess books. Given that my endgame sucks, I'll probably buy The Complete Endgame Course. I've heard Watsons Openings Series is also good).

Thanks!

You need a good annotated games collection.

Bronstein's book on Zurich 1953 is one of the classics. Very instructive, and cheap.

Since you seem to be an intermediate player I would recommend some of the following

1) Silman's Endgame Course

2) Game collections (choose any of these they are all excellent)

a) My 60 Memorable Games-Fischer

b) Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

c) Botvinnik's Selected Games

d) Alekhines's Best Games (probably the Nunn algebraic ed which is condensed for the three volumems

3) Tournaments (again your choice)

a) Zurich 1953

b) Tal-Botvinnik Match 11960 (but not if you choose the Tal boook above)

4) Openings-tough call as these vary on style--I would probably go with the Watson book that fits your style or Sam Collins has an excellent Reportoire book

5) Strategy books--Lars Bo Hansen has an excellent book How Chess Games are Won or Lost- also Grooten has book on Chess Strategy

6) Tactics-you probably do not need as you can use chess.com

Why would you buy annoteted game collections when there is www.chessgames.com?

As a first strategy book, I think Silman's "The Amateur's Mind" is rather good.

At 2000 rating I think Silman's books are probably too easy for him.

A good annotated book is much better than an annotated database-the annotations are copyrighted so they are not the same. Also they express ideas and concepts more than just variations better than on-line annotations

Ah right, I didn't see his rating, and thought that no chess books == beginner.

Sorry - silly of me not to post my ratings. But I only have chess.com ratings, no OTB ratings. My online rating is ~2000, and my blitz and long hover around the 1700 mark on live. With this in mind, would silmans books still be too easy? In any case, suggestions are most welcome, because then I could check them out at the library before I purchase them.

Oh, and while I'm at it, as black vs e4 I play the Caro-Kann (I have the most experiance with this opening out of all the openings I play as both white and black), vs d4 I play the Dutch, I currently have nothing lined up Vs c4. As white I play e4 and try to steer into the Vienna Game, usually with 3. f4 , and Vs the Sicillian I play the Smith-Morra Gambit. That tends to cover most responses I get as black, with the noted exception of the french, vs which I have a horrible record. Perhaps so books on the french then :P

Cheers again all

Well, here: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf is quite a long review of The Amateur's Mind.

Everyone Kudos for mentioning Zurich. It's great. I must add Pawn Power by Kmoch and either Secrets of Chess Tactics by Dvoretsky or Chess Tactics for Advanced Players by Yusupov. Or Both!

I would get a really cool and little know book titled Chess Gems.

It is a puzzle book of 1000 or so classic combinations from real games.  The solutions have actual explanations and there is some historical background thrown in for good measure.  It is a well done and very interesting tour through the history of chess combination.  Kind of like the Enyclopedia of Chess Combinations whittled down to the most important examples.

Which store's voucher do you have? Its prices will determine how far that £50 will go.

If the store also sells software, you might consider that as well as books. If you have never read chess books, I would be hesitant to get too many at once. Except for the puzzle books, you need to have a board in front of you (i.e., not good subway/beach reading).

 I was truly curious about "Chess Gems" and did some research on the internet.

This is what I found:

1. Book review:  http://chess.about.com/od/chessbooksandequipment/fr/ChessGems.htm

2. Where to buy at Amazon.com on line price about  $16US:

Thank you for this "gem" book, I have ordered it and anxiously waiting to receive it.

They are national book vouchers so any book store will take them/

You are welcome!  I love the Chess Gems book!

I would go with My System and Questions of Modern Chess Theory in addition to Zurich 1953.

RainbowRising, you must have bought the books already. What did you get?

RainbowRising

i, too, am curious about what you finally got.

i have far too many chess books of every sort and description. one 'set' is lev alburts' 'the' pocketbook of the 300 essential positions [which has since been followed by a second volume of the equally] ? essential positions. most will be left to my children [unread], who will leave them to their children, [similarly unread].

by the way, i just happened to run across a copy of Gems and ordered a copy immediately! 

1. get your books from the library before you buy them.

2. give them away [to a library or chess club - if you don't use them as companions or re-read them, say, yearly.

3. play with an opponent who is better than you AND will do post-game analysis with you.

4. play, play, play [and, if you have no books, play even more]

If you'd like a good endgame reference I'd recommend R Fine's Basic Chess Endings in Algabric notation by Benko. Its kind of a difficult read but you get used to it and once you do it has all the endgame concepts in it. IE RvsR+Pawn is a draw except on x and y occasions.