Books for the beginner...

First off, please excuse the repetitive subject...

I've had a good search on this forum and Amazon ratings etc, and I'm basically after several books for the beginner.

I've been playing chess for a number of years, however the games have been sparse with no sense of direction (if you know what I mean).

I'm now ready to take the game a lot more seriously, and from recommendations, I've purchased Chessmaster: Grandmaster, as it seems to get very good reviews for the beginner to intermediate level player. 

As for books, here are the ones I've narrowed it down to:

1) Winning Chess Strategies -  Yasser SeirRawan, Jeremy Silman

2) The Middle Game in Chess - Eug Znosko-Borovsky

3) Winning Chess Openings (Winning Chess Series) - Yasser Seirawan

4) Logical Chess Move by Move (Batsford Chess Book) - Irving Chernev

5) My System (Chess Classics) - Aron Nimzowitsch

6) Chess Tactics for Champions: A Step-by-step Guide to Using Tactics and Combinations the Polgar Way (Mckay Chess Library) - Paul Truong

7) The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery - Jeremy Silman

8) Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master - Jeremy Silman

9) How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess Mastery Course - Jeremy Silman

I presume the opening books are not as important yet, but are they all decent books to start with? Also, in which order of preference would suit the beginner?

Thanks and regards,

1) Winning Chess Strategies -  Yasser SeirRawan, Jeremy Silman (drop)

2) The Middle Game in Chess - Eug Znosko-Borovsky (drop)

3) Winning Chess Openings (Winning Chess Series) - Yasser Seirawan (drop)

4) Logical Chess Move by Move (Batsford Chess Book) - Irving Chernev (do this first)

5) My System (Chess Classics) - Aron Nimzowitsch (do this last)

6) Chess Tactics for Champions: A Step-by-step Guide to Using Tactics and Combinations the Polgar Way (Mckay Chess Library) - Paul Truong (drop)

7) The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery - Jeremy Silman (do this third)

8) Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master - Jeremy Silman (do this second)

9) How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess Mastery Course - Jeremy Silman  (do this fourth)

I'd add that the Endgame Course: from beginner to master does exactly what it says - it has chapters appropriate to all levels, so you probably only want to read the first few chapters to start off. Great book though. 

Logical chess move by move is a great book to read, as is the Amateur's Mind.

Reassess your Chess is also great (if slightly more advanced) although you might want to hold off on that as a new rewritten edition is coming out soon.

I've never read My System, but from what I've heard it is a) very advanced and difficult and b) everything said in it has been said in an easier to understand fashion in more modern books, so I'd skip that one.

Winning chess openings is a nice survey of all the openings, although I'm not sure I agree with its final opening recommendations for beginners. Still, Yasser Seirawan obviously thinks they're good to start out with, and I'd follow his advice over mine...

I don't know anything about any of the others, although I can say Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan was a very helpful and fun read for me.

Buy 4, 6 and 8 on your list and start with those. They will get you quite a long way.

Book 3 excepted, the others are not really for beginners.

Thanks for all the input people!

I've short-listed the books outlined and I'll get them ASAP.

FAO: People from the UK, have WaterStones stopped selling chess books altogether? They never had a single one on their shelves, nor any in their stock room :s

m12 - buy your books from Amazon.co.uk - they're typically much cheaper. Sometimes the Amazon Marketplace sellers are even cheaper than Amazon itself! I've picked up numerous bargains.

It has the advantage too that you can read other people's reviews of books and sometimes look inside them as well. The US Amazon site has many more reviews/samples of chess titles than the UK site does.

And Stephen King is better than Shakespeare? I would wait on My System until you are ready. But, do not be afraid of its language. There is a reason this book is a classic and more modern books are not going to be remembered.

Personally I would start with Logical Chess, then move to Silman's Endgame Course. Do you already have some background with tactics? If not, I would recommend Ward Farnsworth's Predator at the Chessboard first.

'Simple Chess' and 'More Simple Chess' by John Emms are clear and represent topics in an easy-to-understand fashion. Shouldn't be too advanced, I think.

I normally get my books from Amazon or alike, but it's sometimes nice to see the book in ones hand and have a flick through in person before actually purchasing it..."click to look inside" on Amazon, is not quite the same :D

Definitely start with Chernev's "Logical Chess" and the first few chapters of "Silman's Complete Endgame Course", along with a good book of tactics puzzles. That one by Polgar and Truong seems like the type of tactics book that would be good for that, though I don't personally have it. Those 3 things are the absolute essentials.

Other than that, you might want an introductory book on general openings, like the Sierawan book you mention. Hold off on buying anything else until you've had a chance to digest these.

--Fromper

Concur with Fromper.

I agree with most of what was said so far except for the dropping Seirawan part. He's a great author and you wont regret reading any of the books in the series. (Well the first is very basic, but the rest are excellent)

How many books do you plan on getting? 

I say go for all of the books you listed.