Chess Book Help

I'm not sure what my join date was at this site, but lets say it was approximately five years ago. It was at that time that I decided to take my interest in chess from knowledge of basic piece movement to something a little more serious. I am 32 now. I have read chesstactics.org (Predator at the Chessboard) fully and parts more than once. Since then I have joined chesstempo and practice my tactics there whenever convenient (which is really convenient on my iphone). My rating there is up to about 1600.

I have been to a local chess club a few times and played in a few local tournaments (I beat one 1400 I believe and my USCF is 1200 or so if I'm not mistaken, and that is based off 2-3 tournaments). I don't know what my rating is here, but I doubt it is terribly reflective of my skill because I decided I do not terribly love 'Online' Chess and prefer 'Live' Chess, and have resigned or lost all my online games en masse multiple times.

I almost finished with Logical Chess Move by Move and have learned alot and absolutely love it!

I also own: My System, Silman's Complete Endgame Course, Zurich 1953, and Euwe's Middlegame 1 and 2.

I've started Silman a few times, and don't terribly love his style.

My question is: what should I read next?

• Reread Logical Chess
• Silman's Endgame Course- I feel like this is where I need the knowledge, is there another book I could use or should I just get what I can out of this?
• Zurich 1953- Will this be similar to Logical Chess?
• My System- I really want this to be one of the foundations of my chess knowledge, is it too advanced?
• I've thought about purchasing the abridged Modern Chess one that is similar to the Euwe set I have, would I be ready for this? I forget the exact title and author
• I've also read on here that Fine's Basic Chess Openings or whatever would be good, and it would be very interesting to learn general plans for various openings
• Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Silmans endgame book is a good book ,but if you don't like the book, finding endgame material in videos can be easy enough, have you tried to read Susan Polgar's chess tactics for champions, it is a easy book to learn tactics.

Well, I use my phone for internet, so I don't really have the ability to watch videos too well. But I find books more interactive than videos anyways.

I'm pretty good on tactics- Predator at the Chessboard is ~700 pages of basic tactics and I practice on chesstempo whenever I can. I will continue that indefinitely.

I just don't like modern books all that much and Silman seems like a bit much of a joker. But if the knowledge is there and just as comprehensive (if not more so) than another book on the same topic, I'm willing to forge ahead. :) Like I said, I think endgames might be where I'm lacking.

Would it be best to have a basic knowledge of endgames (like the first x hundred pages of Silman's book) before studying middlegame (and strategy) or vice versa?

Oct 15, 2008.

Haha, that sounds about right, five years. Thanks!

Silman book is a good one and definitively is excellent if you have never studied endings.

^^ SURE.BTW WELCOME again in chess.com

Just the facts and Dvoretsky's endgame Manuel are 2 other endgame books, but just the facts is rather easy and basic and Dvoretsky's endgame Manuel can be dry with lack of worded notation.

A USCF 1200-1300 rating probably means you're still making basic tactical mistakes, like making moves where you hang pieces, in your games. Things like Zurich 1953, which will primarily impart strategy to you, will be of limited use if you keep hanging bishops/knights/etc.

Either spend more time doing tactics problems (e.g. the Tactics Trainer on here is nice, but it may be restricted for non-Diamond members), or play more games and just focus on (above all else) not blundering is what I'd say.

Reading positional chess and strategical chess books, may be useless to a below 1300 rated player, but studying fun annotated master games, looking at as much tactics as possible and Endgame study should benefit.

Thanks for all the advice! My USCF rating only has a couple of games, and they are pretty much all against 1600+ so I'm not sure exactly how reflective it is. I have been using chesstempo for at least the last three years on a fairly regular basis (ever since I finished predator at the chessboard) and I'm pretty sure I don't hang pieces anymore, but when I played at the local club, I would drop pawns often. Like I said I will continue with chesstempo indefinitely, I find doing tactical puzzles alot of fun.

So, I think I agree with everyone here that Endgames is the way to go. Silman ought to contain most all the knowledge I need to acquire. I'd like to look in to Dvoretsky too, but I'd read that is pretty advanced?

So I think my plan is to work on Silman until it gets far too advanced.

After that I think I'll go with either My System or reread Logical Chess, trying to analyze each board position myself before reading how Chernev annotates it and then compare.

Silman's Endgame Book is good, i just don't like that he separate the lessons by rating. I suggest you read all the contents in that book, and don't be bother by the rating range Silman sets. If you want an alternative endgame book, 100 Endgames You Must know vy De La Jesus Villa is a good alternative. Zurich is kinda like Logical in a sense that it has lots of verbal annotation,but it is more advance book than Logical. Zurich book is a good book. My System is well respected, but I think it's a bit advance for you. Maybe try reading Winning Chess Strategy by Seirawan first. Fine's opening books is good for the general ideas, but I think Watson's Mastering The Chess Opening volumes are better.