My Book Reviews (Part 2: Blindfold Reading)

My Book Reviews (Part 2: Blindfold Reading)

Avatar of ElijahLogozar
| 4

Last year, after seeing serious results in my 1/0 bullet chess (2773 peak) from solving roughly nonstop tactics (plus 6,000 recent games) from 2 months of Chess King's puzzles, I decided to get back into chess reading, and felt strong enough to read without a set, visualizing the moves.

Since following Yermolinsky's advice to read without a set, I can finish books faster. Unlike back in 2020, I can now read 100+ books per year rather than "only" 50. We'll see where that leads!


The Reassess Your Chess Workbook by IM Jeremy Silman

Oops! I Resigned Again! by GM Ian Rogers

Small Steps 2 Success by GM Sam Shankland

Secret Life of Bad Bishops by IM Esben Lund

Carlsen's Assault on the Throne by GM Vassilios Kotronias

Play Chess Like the Pros by GM Danny Gormally

Foundations of Chess Strategy by GM Lars Bo Hansen

The Best Move by GM Vlastimil Hort

How Chess Games are Won and Lost by GM Lars Bo Hansen 

Why We Lose at Chess by IM Colin Crouch

Grandmaster Battle Manual by GM Vassilios Kotronias

Your Kingdom for My Horse (exchanges) by GM Andrew Soltis

Mastering Chess Exchanges by GM Jacob Aagaard

Think Like a Super-GM by GM Michael Adams

Kings Indian Warfare by GM Ilya Smirin

True Combat Chess by IM Timothy Taylor

Understanding Chess Exchanges by GM Amir Bagheri

The Woodpecker Method 2 (Positional Play) by GM Axel Smith

Chess for Life by GM Matthew Sadler

Genius in the Background by IM Tibor Karolyi

Secrets of Chess Defence with GM Mihail Marin

Creative Chess Strategy by GM Alfonso Romero

Decision Making in Major Piece Endings by GM Boris Gelfand

Tiger's Chaos Theory by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson

Black and White Magic by GM Axel Smith

Invisible Chess Moves by FM Emmanuel Neiman

Key Elements of Chess Strategy by IM Georgy Lisitsin

Key Elements of Chess Tactics by IM Georgy Lisitsin

Magic Chess Moves by IM Michal Konopka

Theoretical Rook Endgames GM Sam Shankland

e3 Poison by GM Axel Smith

Tune Your Chess Antenna by FM Emmanuel Neiman

Build Up Your Chess 1 by GM Artur Yusupov

Checkmates - 2, 3 & 4-Movers by Bill Harvey

Everyone's First Chess Workbook by Peter Giannatos

Reality Check by FM Alisa Melekhina

Road to Chess Improvement by GM Alex Yermolinsky

How to Study Chess on Your Own by Davorin Kuljasevic

Chess Imbalances: A Grandmaster Guide by GM Mauricio Flores Rios

A Matter of Endgame Technique by GM Jacob Aagaard

Secrets Of Chess Training by IM Mark Dvoretsky

Technical Decision Making in Chess by GM Boris Gelfand

Mastering Complex Endgames by GM Daniel Naroditsky (when he was younger)

Mastering Positional Chess by GM Daniel Naroditsky (when he was younger)

How to Reassess Your Chess by IM Jeremy Silman

Positional Chess Handbook by FM Israel Gelfer

Understanding Pawn Play in Chess by FM Drazen Marovic

1.d4: The Queen's Gambit by GM Boris Avrukh

The Complete Chess Swindler by GM David Smerdon

The English Opening (vol 2) by GM Mihail Marin

French Defense: The Solid Rubinstein Variation by IM Hannes Langrock

Playing 1.e4: Caro-Kann, 1...e5 & Minor Lines by GM John Shaw

Converting an Extra Pawn in Chess by GM Sam Shankland

The Modern Tiger by GM Tiger Hillarp Persson

Silman's Complete Endgame Course by IM Jeremy Silman

Keep it Simple: 1.e4 by IM Christof Sielecki

The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement by GM Matthew Sadler

Powerhouse Pawn Sacrifices by GM Ivan Cheparinov

On the Origin of Good Moves by IM Willy Hendriks

Simple Chess by Michael Stean 

Study Chess with Matthew Sadler by GM Matthew Sadler

1.e4 vs The Sicilian II by GM Parimarjan Negi 

Calculation by GM Jacob Aagaard

Chess Child by Gary Robson

On Top of the Chess World by various authors

Grandmaster Meets Chess Amateur by Steve Davis

Dark Squares by IM Daniel Rensch

Mastering Chess Strategy by GM Johan Hellsten

Mastering Endgame Strategy by GM Johan Hellsten

Logical Decision Making by GM RB Ramesh

Winning by GM Nigel Short

Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate by FM Bruce Harper and GM Hikaru Nakamura

Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov (vol 1) by GM Garry Kasparov

It Is Never Too Late To Become a Grandmaster by GM Vladimir Okhotnik

How I Became a Chess Grandmaster by GM Vinay Bhat

The Stories, Games, and Intrigues of Capablanca and Alekhine by FM Luis Fernández Siles

Learn from the Legends by GM Mihail Marin

Learn from the Legends 2 by GM Mihail Marin

Magnus Carlsen's Middlegame Evolution by GM Ivan Sokolov

Forgotten Genius - The Life and Games of Grandmaster Albin Planinc by 2 authors

The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit by IM Jakob Aabling-Thomsen

My Chess World by GM David Navara

Attacking the Strongpoint by GM Igor Zaitsev

Chess Training for Candidate Masters by GM Alexander Kalinin

3 Steps to Chess Mastery by GM Alexey Suetin

The Enigma of Chess Intuition by GM Valeri Beim

Better Thinking, Better Chess by GM Joel Benjamin

Learn from Bent Larsen by GM Mihail Marin

Korchnoi and his Chess Grandchildren by GM Vladimir Barsky

Sicilian Warfare by GM Ilya Smirin

The Berlin Defence Unraveled by IM Luis Bernal

Modern Chess Formula by GM Vladimir Tukmakov

Think Like a Machine by Noam Manella

Advanced Chess Tactics by GM Lev Psakhis

The Chess Alchemist by GM Mikhail Tal

Italian Renaissance II by GM Martyn Kravtsiv


I have many more books to read, but I won't necessarily update this list. Feel free to follow my twitter for book review updates or check my amazon reviews page for more recent reviews.


I'm hoping GM is possible, it sure seems to take a lot of study! My fast chess is pretty close.