Good chess books for beginners and beyond

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Rsava
Ziryab wrote:
SirCoffeeCrisp wrote:
Squarely wrote:

5334  Combinations Problems, and Games, by Polgar.

That is all you need.

That's a great book. I wish I hadn't given my copy away (when I thought I was finished playing chess).

 

I've had my print copy nearly 20 years, but last week I bought the Kindle edition for $2.99. Now, i can read it on my phone.

How is the layout on the phone (and what type do you have)? That's a big book to have laying open all the time plus on my phone or Kindle I could do them on a plane.

Ziryab
Rsava wrote:
Ziryab wrote:
SirCoffeeCrisp wrote:
Squarely wrote:

5334  Combinations Problems, and Games, by Polgar.

That is all you need.

That's a great book. I wish I hadn't given my copy away (when I thought I was finished playing chess).

 

I've had my print copy nearly 20 years, but last week I bought the Kindle edition for $2.99. Now, i can read it on my phone.

How is the layout on the phone (and what type do you have)? That's a big book to have laying open all the time plus on my phone or Kindle I could do them on a plane.

 

I have an old iPhone 5S and the diagrams look fine. I haven't looked at the text on my IPad or phone yet. null

jambyvedar
Squarely wrote:

5334  Combinations Problems, and Games, by Polgar.

That is all you need.

Great book for beginners.  Not having problems that wins material is the only drawback of the book. It will be beneficial for  a beginner if he has this book and another tactics book that has winning material problems.

jambyvedar

A good book for club level(or beyond) is Simple Chess by GM Stean. This book is lucid and very instructive in its contents.

RussBell
jambyvedar wrote:

A good book for club level(or beyond) is Simple Chess by GM Stean. This book is lucid and very instructive in its contents.

Yes! "It is a great positional chess primer.  For the beginner-novice I recommend to first read Bruce Pandolfini's "Weapons of Chess", then follow up with Michael Stean's "Simple Chess".  Together these comprise an excellent initial introduction to the basic elements, techniques and concepts of positional chess, as well as provide the tools for evaluating a chess position in terms of understanding what it reveals about appropriate plans and strategies.  In other words, for playing chess at a higher level.

As well, even before reading the two books above, I would recommend first studying the concepts of Space, Force, Time and Pawn Structure, as instructively described in Yasser Seirawan's excellent "Play Winning Chess"....  In fact all of the books in Seirawan"s "Winning Chess" series are very instructive for the beginner-novice...

SmyslovFan

I like Pandolfini's books for beginners!

Bad_Dobby_Fischer

wow

Ziryab
SmyslovFan wrote:

I like Pandolfini's books for beginners!

 

Me too.

 

RussBell

Thanks for all the positive comments!

It's a labor of love - for the game - and my (altruistic) desire to be of help to the average chess amateur who has not yet added "Master" to their chess title.  If someone benefits from the list, my effort will have been worth it...

RussBell
ciarli wrote:

russbell I didnt notice the ABC of Chess by Garry Gauthier. It is maybe the only book to a beginner or 1800 player.

Being a Master doesnt mean that you agree with GM clan of GodMaster. That world is full of false prophet champions and false games or setups as anywhere!

I only include books in my list that I own and have had the opportunity to evaluate.  I have not seen the book you cite; also, upon a search of Amazon, neither the author's name nor any book by that author is found...

kindaspongey

I found an ABC of chess openings and an ABC of the chess middlegames. I think that they are both computer things of some sort.

Darkness_Prevails

life is short too much to read,

Yorrdamma

Yasser Seirawan and Jeremy Silman have some very good books for players starting out. I cut my chess teeth on Fred Reinfeld books which are helpful. Check out Alibris or Amazon.com for used copies at reasonable prices. Chess.com lessons are very helpful. Their tactics are good to study if you ignore the punitive scoring practices.

TadrodderTots

I've been dithering over which books to start with as I tip my toes back into chess (after a 45 year absence).  My goals are somewhat modest.  

What's been holding me up is the issue of tone/tenor of the author and not spending time figuring out that my playing temperment is not a fit for that style of play.

I'm starting to get the sense that I'm overthinking this issue given my current level and goals. 

Should I just flip a coin and get either Seirawan or Silman's book (or "Chess for Dummies") and see how it goes?

SmyslovFan

Honestly, the book you read is the book for you. I prefer Seirawn to Silman, but it's mostly a matter of taste.

I also recommend Pandolfini's books for beginners, but again, what matters is that you take the time to learn what the book is offering. There are many good books for beginners. As long as you read it, it will help. 

I just finished reading Susan Polgar's book, A World Champion's Guide to Chess. That's another good book, with relatively little prose and a heavy dose of pattern recognition! It's definitely written for the beginner, and does a great job!

Here's the link to the book on Amazon.com. Check out the "inside look" to see whether the book will interest you:

https://www.amazon.com/World-Champions-Guide-Chess-Step/dp/1941270328/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497368628&sr=8-1&keywords=world+champions+guide+to+chess

TadrodderTots

Thanks.  I ordered the Polgar book.


kindaspongey

Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Seirawan stuff
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm

TadrodderTots

Thanks for all recommendations (and the lists at the start of the post).

I can see the following conversation happening with my wife in the near future.


Wife (angrily):  You're on Chess.com again, aren't you?

No dear!  God.  No.  I'm not.  I'm ....  I'm watching porn.

Don't lie to me.  You're playing chess.  That's all you're doing.  You promised me you'd stop.





Ajeeb007

" GM Seirawan posits to be the four primary principles which must be considered when objectively evaluating a chess position – Force, Time, Space and Pawn Structure. "

No one consciously uses these concepts when evaluating a position any more that they use Steinitz's 9 or 10 elements for evaluating a position. Why saddle players with these outdated and impractical concepts?

.

BattleDuck
Ajeeb007 wrote:

" GM Seirawan posits to be the four primary principles which must be considered when objectively evaluating a chess position – Force, Time, Space and Pawn Structure. "

No one consciously uses these concepts when evaluating a position any more that they use Steinitz's 9 or 10 elements for evaluating a position. Why saddle players with these outdated and impractical concepts?

.

 

Im not very good and I have not read seirawans books, but I do look if I have more pieces than my opponent to see if i can attack in an area. I guess thats "Force".

I also like to complete development around the same time as my opponent or before and not to waste too many moves and lag behind. I guess thats "Time".

I look were my pawns are pointing to help me decide where i will attack as ill have more area for maneuver there, and if i have a more cramped position I try to trade off extra pieces, and if it is my opponent who is cramped I try to avoid trades.  I guess that is "Space".

I try to push passed pawns, and blockade my enemies, I try to use the outposts created by isolated or backwards pawn of my opponent. I look to double up my opponents pawns and then target them and see if I can get them removed. I guess thats "Pawn Structure"

 

If these are outdated and impractical concepts, what concepts should I use instead?