Could you help me with books, please?

Hi all!

I'm a beginner player (1400 at chess.com). Last month I decided to start studying books to improve, so I can hopefully enjoy more this beautiful game. I also train tactics daily with chesstempo.com which I found a very helpful tool. My first books were

Capablanca - Chess Fundamentals and

Silman - Amateur's Mind.

Although I enjoyed both, I found Capablanca's more dense, instructive, inspirational and absolutely fantastic.

Then I started Fischer - My 60 Memorable Games but put it aside after game 5 (but still loved it), because I felt I couldn't gain/digest much yet. I thought that this would apply for any Games Collection right now. Was I wrong?

Now, I have some books available (the list below) and I could use your helpful insights as to which books should follow and, more importantly, the order in which they must be studied, at least some of them. Additionally, if you have other recommendations (on books or not) feel free to enlighten me.

So the books I have available are:

Chernev - Logical Chess Move by Move

Chernev - The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played

Euwe - Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur

Fine - The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings

Fischer - My 60 Memorable Games

Lasker - Common Sense In Chess

Nimzowitsch - My System

Pachman - Modern Chess Strategy

Reti - Masters of the Chess Board

Silman - How to Reassess Your Chess

Tal - Tal Botvinnik 1960

Tal - The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

Tal - Tal's Winning Chess Combinations

Tisdall - Improve Your Chess Now

Vukovic - The Art of Attack.

I really appreciate any help from you, guys.

Thank you.

I would start with Reti, to get a good overview of what chess is about without drowning.

Chernev's Logical Chess is one of the most frequently recommended books for beginners. Follow it up with his Most Instructive Games.

I'm not surprised you had problems with Fischer's book. I've heard that it's a great book for masters, or at least strong players near master level, but lower level players just won't understand enough to get a lot out of it. You have to work your way up to that level.

Also, I'd recommend finding books of tactics puzzles chosen for their instructive value instead of using a web site of random stuff like ChessTempo. Those random puzzles are better than nothing, but good instructors will choose positions that are most likely to come up frequently and so those books will be more useful to you. I recommend Dan Heisman's Back to Basics: Tactics as a great one to buy for this.

For that matter, Heisman's web site has book recommendations, which includes listings of what books he recommends for what level of student. He's a top coach who knows how to help amateur players, so it's worth going there and looking at his recommendations. He recommends quite a few of the books on your list, but breaks them down by what level of players they're good for.

I wouldn't rule out game collections just because of Fischer.  Fischer's games are very advanced.

If you liked Capablanca, and I do too, you could start studying his games.  I think he is great to learn from at a novice to intermediate level.  Chernev is a huge fan of Capablanca and any of his game collections is going to feature a lot of Capablanca.  I do find the "every move annotated" feature in some of his books to be a little tiring (though helpful for complete beginners).  He also has a Capablanca-specific book.  

Another one I will recommend -- maybe unsoliticed, is Micheal Stean's Simple Chess.  It is a positional instruction book along the lines of Silman/Nimzowitsch, but more straightforward and much more concise.  It is a GREAT follow-up to Chess Fundamentals.

I'm not sure how I'd arrange your full list, but the first three books on it in that order would be a good start.

Very nice collection of books, btw.

@hicetnunc

OK! I think I'll start swimming with Reti first...

@Fromper

Exactly.it's a pitty I can't REALLY appreciate the genius of Bobby right now. All those variation branches almost gave me headache.

I might go for a tactics BOOK also. Didn't even imagine the difference you pointed out, between sites and books written by instructive professionals.

@kponds

Cool! Simple Chess will be also in my plans.

@Quasimorphy

The recognition goes 100% to the amazing authors of these amazing books

Well, you can't imagine how happy and grateful I am for your quick and interesting replies. So, I begin with

1.Reti - Masters of the Chess Board

2.Chernev - Logical Chess Move by Move

3.Chernev - The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played

4.Stean - Simple Chess or (Euwe - Master vs. Amateur)

and in parallel I'll be practicing tactics with an appropriate book (Heisman).

Could you also tell me if any books of the first list are way out of my league, or could even prove confusing?

Finally, I heard good things about Yusupov's Course books. What about them?

Thanks guys!

Your books by difficulty level :

• ok to start with : Chernev, Euwe, Reti, Capablanca
• next step : Fine, Silman (amateur's mind), Lasker
• more difficult : Nimzovitch, Silman (Reassess), Tal, Pachman, Vukovic, Tisdall
• intermediate / advanced : Fischer

For my short review of Yusupov's training course, have a look there, and for a long discussion, there.

The Yusupov series is also great, possibly the best thing out there for submaster level, if you are willing to put in a lot of work.  I started it, got really excited about it, then bought the rest of the 9 books, and petered out and haven't touched it since.  

There is no progress like hard work though, but I was too lazy and lacked the ambition needed.  Don't be like me.

I may try to make a go at it again, now that I think about it.

if you have any silman books throw it down the trash, where it belongs.

Weapons Of Chess :

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Chess-Omnibus-Strategies-Fireside/dp/0671659723

Also Modern Chess Openings is a must have.

Thank you for your feedback and suggestions. I wish you all the best in chess and life in general. Feel free to keep 'em coming. And thanks for the links guys!

You may like this source as well

http://archive.org/search.php?query=chess%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts

Good books never grow old.

So, would it be a good idea to put aside ALL other books and solely concentrate on Yusupov's full course ? Maybe this could minimize distraction/confusion from too much information and differences in teaching methods and perspectives of different authors. You know, just concentrate on one thing and go through it all the way no matter what...

Or this diversity of methods/ideas/styles (thus books) is actually a PLUS for the beginner?

Also, I can't understand why  people say Yusupov's books need hard work.

I mean, aren't you supposed to really study and work hard with all chess books, rather than just read them ? Am I missing (probably) something special about Yusupov's Course?

And finally, is the randomness of chesstempo.com going to harm my chess ? Should I go for CT Art better? (off topic, sorry)

PS: ready to start Reti-Masters of the Chessboard today... can't wait!

I have no idea why David210 doesn't like Silman. His endgame book is the first book I think of when a newbie asks what chess books every player should own. I haven't read his strategy stuff, but I've heard lots of good things about How to Reassess Your Chess. I own the 3rd edition, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I've heard the 4th edition is a major upgrade.

I kinda disagree with Dodger111 in recommending Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess. It's more of a dictionary of middle game terms than a teaching book. It won't hurt your chess, but your time would be better spent elsewhere.

I don't know Yusupov's stuff, but I agree with you about how you need hard work to learn from anything. I say stick with the books you already own, rather than buying more, unless there's a specific topic you're missing. Which in the case of the list provided is tactics and endgames. The best book is the one you actually read.

As for the randomness of chesstempo.com, I don't think I'd say it will hurt your chess. Doing any tactics puzzles will probably still help your chess. I just think that more focused study of positions chosen for their instructional value will help your chess faster. I've heard good things about CT-Art in that respect.

personally i would recommend that you buy T.Siaperas' books in greek.

Το σκακι τόμος 1,2 . They're not that expensive ( 11.50 each i think)

They really helped me understand a few things and i still read them when i find some spare time. 

If you think you might want to go the Yusopov route, I would suggest getting the first book and work your way through that. Near the end of that you will know if that style is good for you or not and if it is at an appropriate level for you.

If that is the case, you can grab more in the series. I'm on the 3rd book right now and other than a few minor annoyances, I'm liking them. I'll actually be going through the chapters in all three books that I had the most trouble with before moving on to the second set of books; though I have been just buying them one at a time.

I don't mean to say that there is anything wrong with the Yusupov books, just that it's definitely not an easy road to the top.  I bought them with a fantasy that I was going to grind through them in a couple of months and then be 2000! Lol.

In reality there is no substitute for hard work. 

Each lesson should take 2-3 hours and there are 24 lessons per book.  So the whole series is 540 hours of work.  It just got a little overwhelming for me.

I failed because of my own shortcomings, not because of any shortcomings with the books/program. 

If I were to study the Yusupov course again, I would exclude all other chess study (other than analyzing my own games, and maybe some easy tactics) for the period.  It is comprehensive.

"You should read [insert the title of a chess book you've read], it's great."

Thank you man, the thing is that I really enjoy studying with the help of PC for the diagrams, and I can't find a pgn/cbv file for Siaperas. Maybe if I grow better someday, it will be easier to study only with book and chessboard.

@MadmanGoneMad

To be honest, I didn't get your point. Could you please be more specific?

Do you mean that one must suggest only books that he himself have read?

Richard Reti says "the sense of enjoyment in chess is the essential condition of success".

"My System" by Nimzowitsch is an excellent read. If you enjoyed this book, my recommendation is to acquire "Prophylaxis" by Nimzowitch.

Another noteworthy resource is this site's Chess Mentor feature. It provides a wealth of knowledge from various sources and allows you to read at your own pace. However, it is a shame that this feature is not available as an application for your android phone; because it would be convenient to learn on the go. For example, if you are waiting for a train or standing in line.