Studying Chess
Last year, for the first time in my life, I read an entire chess book (Silman’s The Amateur’s Mind). I also read a fair amount of Silman’s Complete Endgame Course (up to and including “Class B (1600-1799)”), and I aimed to complete Silman’s How to Reassess Your Chess before the year was over. Unfortunately in the second half of the year, life, OTB tournaments, and finally chess fatigue took over and I halted my chess studies – ending up only having finished approximately half of How to Reassess Your Chess, and not having even started the other books that I had on my list.
Last month (April 2019), I decided to start studying chess again in order improve and find enjoyment in the game again. I am studying a number of books simultaneously, and a chart of my progress through each of the books is provided at the end of this article. The books that I am working through are as follows:
How to Choose a Chess Move – Andrew Soltis
I only added this book to my list a few weeks ago, when I saw it recommended by GM Max Illingworth. I have struggled recently with my move selection process, so I thought it may be a valuable read.
Logical Chess, Move by Move – Irving Chernev
This book was recommended to me by a player who’s improved a lot over the past few years, and I saw that a few Grandmasters have recommended this book (although others have cautioned that it is not always accurate). So far, I’ve enjoyed having a collection of games to play through, and I have just finished the section on “The Kingside Attack”. I have found the material both instructive and entertaining to read.
Build up Your Chess, The Fundamentals 1 – Artur Yusupov
Since I started looking into what chess books to study, Yusupov's series has come up over and over again, so I finally decided to try it out. I have completed the first five chapters so far, and although some were quite easy and quick to work through, the section on opening play was more challenging (and it was very motivating to get correct answers to the more challenging exercises, and to find a defense that was omitted from Yusupov’s solutions). I am taking this book a lot more seriously than I have taken previous attempts at studying: I am working through everything on a physical board, as Yusupov suggests, and I’m trying to do more active learning than I usually do.
Silman’s Complete Endgame Course – Jeremy Silman
Last year, I tended to work passively on a lot of chess material (which is ultimately a waste of time), and for this reason I am going over some of the content I covered last year in this book – this year I aim to complete the “Class C (1400-1599)” to “Expert (2000-2199)” levels. I enjoy the format of this book (in terms of the ordering according to difficulty), and I also find Silman’s books easy and entertaining to read.
How to Reassess Your Chess – Jeremy Silman
After completing the Amateur’s Mind, this book seemed like the logical next step. I am picking up half-way through the book, where I left off last year, but I will likely return to earlier chapters at some stage to revise the content I already covered.
Practical Chess Exercises – Ray Cheng
I’ve seen this book recommended, and I thought it would be nice to have some practical puzzles to work through (and to have something I can do if I don’t have enough free time to go through an entire game or book chapter). In particular, I think it’s helpful that the puzzles are not arranged according to difficulty or theme, and there are many positional puzzles as well, so it makes one work harder and not only look for sacrifices or attacks that are so common in tactics problems. There are 600 exercises in total, so this book could take a while!
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There you have it – the 6 books I am working through this year, with a goal of doing at least 6 hours of study a week. In a while, I will play some longer time control games both online and OTB in order to get some analysis material and to see if there are any noticeable changes in my own games. If you have any recommendations for what I should work through next, or if you have any questions about the books on this list, feel free to send me a message, or comment below.
Progress as of 6 May 2019:
