Chess Manual in English?

Hello!

There is a number of chess manuals in many languages....by chess manual I mean a large, comprehensive 500-700 pages thick chess manual that provides a full chess "curriculum" for players from novice to around 1600 or even 1800 sometimes.

I can name a few very good ones:

In Russian: Chess Textbook (by Viktor Pozharsky), Full Chess Course (by Gubnitsky), Book for the beginner chess player (by Levenfish), Chess (by Mayzelis), etc...the Russians are truly well served here :-)

In Spanish: General Chess Treatise (by Roberto Grau)

In Portuguese: Basic Chess (by D'Agostini)

I know there are a few old classics translated to English, namely Mayzelis' Chess (named Soviet Chess Primer in English), Lasker's Manual of Chess, Tarrasch's Game of Chess and Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals....but, apart from the Mayzelis book, they are comparatively shallow, not a full chess manual....and the Mayselis book gets quite advanced way too quickly people say.

So my question is....are there any modern chess manuals like those translated to English?? Before you name them, I consider Wolff's Idiot's Guide to Chess, Eade's Chess for Dummies, etc. as introductory books and not full manuals like those I've listed before...Burgess' The mammoth book of chess also is more of an introductory book as it virtually doesn't discuss strategy nor detailed endgame positions.

This is quite weird, but it seems that there are no such kind of books available in English? Am I wrong?

Many thanks!

I have wanted such a book as well

If desired, one can take a look at The Soviet Chess Primer here:

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Soviet_Chess_Primer-extract.pdf

I wonder if very many have gone from novice to around 1600 using just one book. There have been large English books trying to take one from novice to something or other. I still fondly remember the Horowitz descriptive notation (1 P-K4 P-K4) book, How to Win at Chess (recently reprinted in two volumes). About a decade after the original Horowitz publication, there was Reinfeld's Complete Chess Course (recently updated to an algebraic (1 e4 e5) edition).

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5856bd64ff7c50433c3803db/t/5895fe49893fc0b0c9ddde67/1486224972320/completechesscoursexcerpt.pdf

I get the feeling that such projects have largely gone out of fashion, and, in my opinion, rightly so. Chess improvers vary greatly from one to another, and it strikes me as unlikely that one book can hope to be well suited for all in the journey from novice upwards.

What about "The complete chess course" by Fred Reinfeld?

I am not aware of an online review, but you can see a sample at:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5856bd64ff7c50433c3803db/t/5895fe49893fc0b0c9ddde67/1486224972320/completechesscoursexcerpt.pdf

I never read that one, but I did read nearly all of The Complete Chess-player which appears to me to have been a somewhat similar sort of book. It did not get me up to 1600, but perhaps that is my fault. I think it was a mostly skillful presentation of beginner material. The chapters on the opening seemed to me to be somewhat less helpful. If I remember correctly, the Complete Chess Course was written about six decades ago, so any opening discussion would now be somewhat dated.

thanks for the responses!

I don't think I'll be able to make it to 1600 only with this kind of book....but I feel it's a good way to start bulding the knowledge and organize myself going forward....it feels much more efficient than having to read 10-20 books, from different authors/styles, a lot of them with repeated information....but that's just a personal preference....nothing scientific... :-)

I've seen the 2 options already but the mayzelis book get too hard way too quickly, people say....and the reinfeld book is too old and doesn't get nearly as deep as the options I listed...also, it has a lot of obsolete information (on openings).

I was looking for something slightly more modern and comprehensive than the reinfeld book....exactly like the soviet chess primer, but slightly less difficult... :-) I couldn't find so far

I fear that you will not find that it works as well as you think, to confine yourself to one author for all aspects of chess. However, if that is what you want to go for, you might want to consider the seven books in the Seirawan Winning Chess series:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090229/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review492.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf

GM Lev Alburt collaborated with various people in order to produce a bunch of books on the various aspects of chess.

Comprehensive Chess Course Volumes I

Comprehensive Chess Course Volumes II

Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player

The King in Jeopardy

Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player

Chess Training Pocket Book

Just The Facts!

Chess Openings for Black, Explained 2nd Ed.

Chess Openings for White, Explained 2nd Ed.

thanks for the recommendations, kindaspongey...these are not exactly what I'm looking for...I know the alburt and seirawan colletions...and they are kind of "feel good about yourself" books....they are too basic, too easy

the pozharsky book that I mentioned probably covers the full content of the 2 volumes of alburt's comprehensive chess course in the first 30 pages, chapter 1, of his book...lol...kidding aside, maybe it's not 30, but 40 pages...lol

the difference in the content is absurd....these manuals may be somewhat dry....but they are indeed comprehensive and deep....alburt and seirawan collections have 8x the amount of pages and 50% of the content at most

It might turn out to be difficult to find something that is just right for you. If some book does turn out to be in the Goldilocks Zone for you on one subject, it might not be satisfactory for you on others. I am unable to think of any one-author general chess project that would be between Maizelis and Alburt. At this point, I can only suggest that you give more consideration to those two. Instead of relying on what "people say", you might want to look at the Maizelis sample at:

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Soviet_Chess_Primer-extract.pdf

One thing that I can tell you about it is that the discussion of openings has been largely removed from the English version. With regard to Alburt, I wonder if you are getting the wrong impression from the two Comprehensive books that were written years before the others. I found online reviews for two of the later books:

"... For most intermediate-level players, going through the many examples in this book will be time well spent."

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233309/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review905.pdf

"... a useful hands-on approach that may well reap deserved rewards. …"

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094013/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/justfacts.pdf

Again, with Alburt, openings may be something of an issue. Alburt worked on two books that are mostly presentations of very specific repertoire choices. You may want to make different choices for yourself.

great...thanks for the info! I'm more inclined to try the maizelis book....let's see