Best positional play book for 1800 player

I know one site that is very easy to do. Once 5 players did it then almost every broke it as the first 5 showed how. We play 50 games a day easy. It was too easy. After a while the 1300 rated players figured all they had to do was play quanity games over quality. Have to add the rating system was off....way off.

Playing the same player issue. Those players were different from chess.com. They did not care if they lost 5-10 straight games. Why? If they wait long enough they can get the points lost be beating somebody else. They might even challenge you. Why? They use what you did to them on somebody else.

Play and think like who??? Like 2000 from some town or 2000 from other side of the country or 2000 from some internet site??? Ratings mean nothings when comparing between different pools of players, but they mean a lot within the same pool.

That is in their when you play one side of the country. Your playing within the same pool. Then you go to another part then your playing withing that pool.

If i ever break 2000 i want to be a solid 2000 player no matter pool i am playing in a game. Correction. I want to crush them winning is not enough. Become satisfied with just winning and sooner or later start losing.

I just ordered a couple of the positional play books mentioned. And i almost never think about spending money to improve. Everybody kept mentioning the same books over and over again i have to find out if they are as good as advertised here.

Which books did you buy?  Please provide an update as to which book(s) you like the most.

Thank for the reminder. I went to check my email and they say i will get them Saturday. Which it is now. So later on today.

Book:

Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Games

Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition

Wow just saw that amazon has a tracking function. It shows that it has been in my city for 22 hrs and waiting to be scanned to send out.

Way too many books. I only by books to reach the next level. Or to fill a need i have in my game. After i read those books i just ordred i have to start looking at what the GM's read. I set the bar hi real hi to try to force improvement. If i am not doing it ..... somewhere somebody is and we might meet on the chess board.

'How to Reassess your Chesss' by IM Jeremy Silman, in my opinion, is hands down the most eye opening and easy to read tome on positional play for the class player. I have to say that it has improved my strategic play more than any other chess book I have read. (It took me from 1200 to 1700 USCF in a rather short period of time). Beyond 1800 I would suggest 'My System' by Nimzovich and master game anthologies (the annotations in Bronstein's tournament book from Zurich 1953 are top notch!)

Short period of time? About how many weeks or months?

Just recieved my books.

Jempty, it's a great book. I've read it several times. I don't recommend it to students looking to improve because it doesn't really help directly. It's much more of a philosophy of chess book than an improvement book. 

Regarding  Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy: Watson claims it is not an instructional book but agrees that it can be used as such. The reason he makes that rather strange claim is that his basic argument is abstract rules are not particularly helpful for players above a certain playing level. He's not interested in creating another Silman-style book. 

John Watson states elsewhere that Silman's Fourth Edition of How to Reassess Your Chess is excellent, in spite of its reliance on rules. He applauds it because it encourages readers to improve, which is a rare thing in chess books. SOMCS gave me just that sort of inspiration to improve.

But again, for players who have already read My System and are +1800, it's time to start studying well-annotated game anthologies. Find a player you want to emulate and study his or her games. 

One summer in high school I studied the following books in depth:

World Championship: Botvinnik to Kasparov by Wade, Whitely and Keene (relying heavily on Soviet analysis and analysis by Gligoric)

Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces by Kmoch

My Best Games of Chess, 1908-1937 by Alekhine

Zurich International Chess Tournament by Bronstein

The Art of Analysis by Timman.

Those books really helped me to improve dramatically. 

Today, I'd recommend a slightly different reading list, depending on the player's interest. Shirov's Fire on Board, Stohl's Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces, Kramnik's My Life and Games, and From London to Elista all are excellent. I haven't read it yet, but Gelfand's My Most Memorable Games is supposed to be a brilliant read!

The key here is to study world-class games, challenge yourself to really delve into each game, and not just read the book. Real chess improvement comes from hard work. Study, but also play every day! 

At +1800 strength with a background in Nimzovich, it's time.

nice list

What is the Rubinstein book like?  So many books, so little time ... sigh.

Akiba Rubinstein has inspired generations of players. Many of his opening ideas are still played today. He also possessed wonderful endgame technique. His endgame skill was comparable to Lasker and Capablanca. If he had the resources to pay for a match against Lasker, he would have had excellent chances of becoming world champion. At least, before World War One. He became one of the walking wounded of the Great War.

The Rubinstein book was written by Hans Kmoch, using descriptive notation. It's less than 200 pages thick and covers 100 games. Obviously, Kmoch painted with broad brush strokes. The analysis isn't great, but the games were!

Another, far more recent book with a smaller selection of Rubinstein's games is Mihail Marin's Learn from the Legends. In terms of quality analysis, that's a much better book. But the games were what I fell in love with. Garry Kasparov's My Great Predecessors vol. 1 also has an excellent selection of Rubinstein's games, with some first-rate analysis.

Perhaps what I liked about the Kmoch book was that I was able to find improvements in the analysis. It would be much harder to find improvements in analysis by Kasparov or Marin (though not impossible). There are some reviews of Kasparov's work that suggest he repeated analytical errors in the first volume. 

As I pointed out, I don't think that's too many books. I went through every book I listed earlier in one summer. A dedicated student of the game would devour these books.

It really does not say much as every player has a specific need that has to be met at that moment. I see no comments on that when you listed the book. I like to know if it has enough examples. How many pages would give some indicator of this.

So how much did your OTB rating improve in that period?

Over 150 rating points in one summer.

All of those books in one summer? Only way that possible is that you did nothing else the entire summer. No vacation. Or you had a class in speed reading?  Were you famaliar with most of the material before you started reading those books and they touched on some things you needed to learn?

Nope, I spent most of that summer in my basement studying chess.