Best Chess Book for Positional Play

Dvoretsky's books tend to be collections of articles on different topics, similar to his Instructor column on Chesscafe.  Tactical Play: School of Chess Excellence 2 is an updated version of Secrets of Chess Tactics, but his other books tend to include new material even when they are on the same topic.  I think that any of Dvoretsky's books could be read with profit by anyone 1700 or above.  Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is probably his most accessible work, and was perhaps intended to compete with Silman's Manual.

Lots of people like Dvoretsky's books, including some very strong players. Personally think overrated as teaching material, because seem deliberately designed to be obscure and complicated. The excercises that would take the russian school boy of legend 15 minutes to work out, for me after 15 hours are not close to being solved. Did quite like the first one "Secrets of Chess Training" though.

I'm no GM, but I like 'The Art of attack in chess' by Vladimir Vukovic. 

also 'The art of the middle game' by Paul Keres,

the former is bigger. and has things like the basic checkmating patterns. 

I vote for How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman

Positional Chess Handbook by Israel Gelfer

I would add that middle game books are few. The best advice is to find games with a lot of annotation between moves 15-30 or so, the 1953 book is good in that regard. I like Baburin's 'winning pawn structures.' It is hard to find and needs a second printing. Chernev's move by move is good but basic. I think the trick is to annotate your own tournament games and play through every branch down to the endgame, particularly in your favorite openings.

thanks. this is helpful. Let me read Bronstein.

That book could not muster one substantive positive rating on Amazon.

My System.

I am told by authorities (GMs) that this book is more for pedagogical knowledge of chess than it is chess knowledge, because it is dated.  That's the only reason I have put it off.

You shouldnt put it off . This book helped me go from 1500 to 1800 in about a year , its one of very few chess books I own that I have been through cover to cover more than once . Its a true chess classic .  Of his 3 most famous books My System was by far my favorite and the one that helped me most . 

Thanks for the added suggestion, Rex.  I'll reconsider. 

The chess book I would recommend the highest to anyone interested in understanding chess is "Pawn Structure Chess" by Andy Soltis. Literally changed the way I thought about the game. After I read it I had a much deeper understanding of GM and master games and found I could greatly improve simply by watching their games and how they handled the themes I learned in Soltis' book. Doubt I could have made master without it, or if I did it would take much longer. Gave me the information and understanding I needed to push from 1850 up to 2200 (of course getting better at endgames helped a lot too).

The only similarly influential book I had in my chess development was The Amateurs Mind by Jeremy Silman. I read it after being stuck at 1299 uscf for 2 years. I reached 1500+ a year later, and 1400+ in the tournament I won a month after I finished reading it.

If you have a big public library near you see if you can find the book there ... scan through it and if it appeals buy a copy or perhaps borrow a copy from a friend and if you like it buy your own later ?  When I bought it the price was less than $ 3. 00  !! 

        Best three positional chess books for 95% of chess players:  Pawn Power by Kmoch; and Point-Count Chess (ignore the point-counting, however, just learn to recognize the "advantages" you're supposed to work to pile up . . . and yes, the tactics do seem to pop up out of nowhere); and Weapons of Chess by Pandolfini.

Good luck,

Bob

I thought that Sierawan series is for much weaker players.  What ratings do you think it's good for?

I'm getting all kinds of suggestions to read Stean's book.  I have a friend whose a solid A-Class player, and he swears going through that book moved him from 1500-1900.  I have in pdf, but never read it; the title threw me off.  Maybe "Simple Chess for Intermediate and Advnced Amateurs" would have been better.  I appreciate it, especially because I already have the book and don't have to buy another.

I'm a philosopher: I am aware that claims about causation are not necessarily reflective of causal connections in the world.  And maybe one need not be a philosopher to realize such things.  

Books certainly helped me , I don't know how much acumen I have for chess but if I hadnt studied a lot and played a lot I am sure I wouldnt have reached NM .  I hit very difficult " walls " at 1800 , and 2000 .  Certain books certainly helped me to get past these . 

OK, I'm taking your advice, not Oprah's :)

I'm reading "My System", which I've just borrowed from my public library, and hope it might get me to 1500. Which books got you past the 1800 and 2000 barriers?

Do you think it's better studying systematic books like Nunn's "Understanding Chess End/Middle Games" or collections of games like "ZURICH INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT 1953" by David Bronstein"?

I bought a copy of the "Mammoth Book of Chess", which I've dipped into, and now intend to actually study. In the few times i've actually sat down and read a few pages I've found something useful. So I've no doubt about the efficacy of reading books, for me at least...

Note, I've hit a plateau of 1400 playing 15 | 10 - and, indeed, I've fallen off that plateau recently, due to burnout...

How do you deal with burnout? My idea is replace 15 | 10 by book study & turn based games (& sleeping!)