95% of great chess books have few diagrams and the author or authors expect that the reader is capable to follow the variasions and calculate in his mind . If someone can't do this when studying an average chess book , then he is a novice probably and so he or she must choose easier books which are particularly written for beginners and novices.
Best chess books that do not require a chess board to read.
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Speaking of iPad (or iPhone) you can use e+chess reader to read books and watch the board @every move.
Also Weapons of chess was a good suggestion. Perhaps its the best first book on strategy
Jan 13, 2015
0
#24
I'm rather late to this thread :), but let me recommend
"Weapons of Chess: An Omnibus of chess strategies" by Bruce Pandolfini. Fantastic book which I found very instructive, and no chessboard necessary.
I'm even later to this thread! There is an old German series of chess books that would be perfect. It is called something like (I don't yet know German) Weltengestaung de Chess and then the name of a prominent player like Capablanca! Diagrams every five moves!
It seems to me it would be possible to set up a chess database that automatically gave you a chess diagram every five moves for every game. It would be nice if someone set up a chess website like that, I would definitely take a look! It would help me improve my blindfold chess capabilities as well as my ability to visualize in general.
Pgn format books
rcmacmillan napisał:
@geneven, The series that you are thinking of is the Weltegeschichte des Schach series, published by Dr. Eduard Wildhagen in Germany. In the 1950s, Dr. Edward Wildhagen announced an ambitions project entitled “Weltgeschichte des Schachs” which means “World History of Chess”. His plan was to include every game ever played at the World Championship level, with a diagram every five moves so that many players could play over the games in their heads without setting up the board and pieces. There were alleged16 volumes actually published in this series. This appears to have been one of the last. It appears that Wildhagen did not complete his project, as there was no volume covering the games Alekhine or Smyslov, although all the other World Champions were covered. Here are the volumes that I have been able to track down: Volume 4 - Anderssen; Volume 6 - Morphy /Paulsen; Volume 7 - Steinitz; Volume 9 - Tchigorin; Volume 11 - Emanuel Lasker; Volume 14 - Capablanca; Volume 18 - Euwe; Volume 21 - Keres; Volume 23 - Botvirnnik; Volume 24 - Unzicker; Volume 25 - Tal; Volume 26 - Petrosian; Volume 33 - Soviet Chess 1917-1935; Volume 36 Soviet Chess IV - 1953-1960; Volume 38 - Yugoslav Chess II; Volume 41- Interzonal Tournament 1964. I believe that Dr. Wildhagen originally planned 40 volumes, but died before he could complete the project.
These are all published volumes of "Weltgeschichte des Schachs"
4 Anderssen I by G. Pollak (1968)
6 Morphy-Paulsen by L. Rellstab (1967)
7 Steinitz by D. Hooper (1968)
9 Tschigorin by L. Abramow (1960)
11 Lasker by L. Rellstab (1958)
14 Capablanca by J. Gilchrist and D. Hooper (1963)
18 Euwe by M. Euwe (1959)
21 Keres by P. Keres (1960)
23 Botwinnik by M. Botwinnik (1959)
24 Unzicker by W. Unzicker (1962)
25 Tal by M. Tal (1961)
26 Petrosjan by T. Petrosjan (1963)
27 Spassky by A.S. Liwschitz (1972)
33 Sowjetisches Schach I (1917-35) by A. Kotow and S. Flohr (1960)
36 Sowjetisches Schach IV (1953-60) by P. Keres (1963)
38 Jugoslawisches Schach II by P. Trifunović (1965)
Sonderband 1 Weltmeisterschaft 1960 Botwinnik-Tal
Sonderband 2 Weltmeisterschaft 1961 Botwinnik-Tal
Sonderband 3 Länderkampf UdSSR-BRD 1960
Sonderband 4 Weltmeisterschaft 1963 Petrosjan-Botwinnik
Sonderband 5 Der Herausforderer 1966 Boris Spassky
Sonderband 6 Lieferung 41 Teil 1-2 Das Interzonenturnier Amsterdam 1964
Sonderband 7 Weltmeisterschaft 1966 Spassky-Petrosjan
Sonderband 8 Weltmeisterschaft 1969 Spassky-Petrosjan
I ordered a Chess Set with coordinates on it so I can follow. It was only $33 dollars. Bought Checkmate by Garry Kasparov and am not real satisfied. Graphics are almost impossible to see.https://www.amazon.com/Jowisz-Decorative-Folding-Chess-Board/dp/B000Z9CH7U/ref=sr_1_17?srs=12684406011&ie=UTF8&qid=1482859380&sr=8-17
- Thanks, rcmacmillan and jarrasch for the astoundingly complete information on that series! I have the Capablanca one somewhere in my house, I think! I must have seen it listed in the now defunct Chess Digest and bought it despite its high price.
Dec 31, 2016
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#30
hmmm my vote would be for "The Immortal Game" by Shenk. its more of a history and a game is played with one or two moves per chapter, but it definitely gives you a historical sense for chess.
Dec 31, 2016
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#32
Spend the money on a Chess.com membership and hit the Tactics Trainer as well as the other teaching aids. You'll gain more with the TT than a book with few diagrams and no board by your side. I use it unrated and untimed so I can keep it open and during commercials, I'll do a couple problems. Also, video seems a more likely medium for learning without a board handy. Lots and lots of videos on Youtube and Chess.com
Don't know about others, but Checkmate by Garry Kasparov is not a good choice. Graphics are small, awkward and annoying. Everything about this book is hard to read and if you didn't already know Chess, it would be totally "Greek".
Has anyone tried Forward Chess interactive ebooks? I'm tempted to try it.
Majority of tactical puzzle books do not require a chessboard.
There were two books written by I.A. Horowitz, over 50 years ago, on the chess openings -- "How to Win in the Chess Openings," and "New Ideas in the Chess Openings." In each book, he presented a summary of 8 different openings, 16 in all. Although the options in each opening are brief, and the analysis WAY out of date, at the end of each chapter, Horowitz presented a "chess movie," which consisted of his analysis of a classic game that illustrated the opening AND he provided a diagram every 5 or moves or so (or less if at a critical juncture.) As a beginner, I loved these "chess movies" and they greatly improved my visualization. I am surprised that this concept never caught on. (Both volumes were re-published in the 1970s.
As for the, aforementioned Weltegeshchte des Schach series -- I have the volumes for both Lasker and Petrosian. The diagrams are very poor -- they look like they were done by hand, with a stamp-kit. The low quality always made it difficult to use as intended -- without using a board. One anecdote about this collection, is that in the months leading up to the 1972 World Championship match, Fischer was always seen with a "Red Book" beneath his arm. It was the Spassky volume.
Apr 26, 2017
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#37
I recently finished The Complete Idiot's Guide (apt name for how I'm plying my Blitz these days.....ultimately you "do" need a set if you want to get the most out of the book,imo......Still,this was a really enjoyable book and I'm now on to Discovering Chess Openings....Set necessary.
Jul 21, 2017
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#38
I know the OP is looking for books that can be read without a chess set, but why not use one? It's something I've been doing a lot recently and I've come to enjoy it thoroughly: the act of deliberately moving the chessmen around is a great form of practice - there's something very satisfying about repeating the powerful moves of a Capablanca or Fischer on a real board that's much more memorable than just imagining them. I only wish I had done this kind of practice much more when I was young. Anyway, I love it now and I recommend it to you. I'm sure you'd get a lot out of it. Still, there are lots of tactical drill books available that can be read straight off the page, and there's also the tactics trainer here. That's my half-penny's worth😊
Yes Ficher Teaches chess! All tactical puzzles with diagrams. Easy to use with out the extra visual aid of a board.
After you fInish a tactical book you will need to get a stratigical book. A book on strategy will have many annotated games. It would be to impractical to have a diagram every few moves in a good strategy book. B/c it would take up too much space.
I option for portibility would be to use a digital reader like a Kindle or I pad for the book. And a chess for the analysys