How many Chess Books have you finished? - Chess Forums - Page 2

dov1enya

Nov 20, 2012

0

#21

i am reading a book by im eric schiller caled the encyclopedia of chess wisdom. also read some of the play winning chess by gm yasser seirawan

Bronco

Nov 20, 2012

0

#22

Noreaster wrote:

KeyserSzoze wrote:

Noreaster wrote:

With so many having a plethora of chess books I cannot help but wonder how many titles you have actually finished? So let us fess up and list the titles that you have read from cover to cover. For me the list is as follows:

1. Logical Chess Move by Move

2. Winning Chess Strategy for Kids

3. Winning Chess: How to see three moves ahead

4. Chess Tactics for Students

5. A First Book on Morphy

6. Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking

7. All of Yasser Seirawan’s Winning Chess Series

8. Power Chess for Kids

The books I’M currently working on are:

1. Pandolfini’s Endgame Course- it is a very good book minus all the typos

2. The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played-just 20 more games to go…really enjoying it

3. Chess Tactics for Students-I can breeze through this thing now but making sure I fully absorb the patterns of the various tactical motifs

4. The Chess Tactics Workbook-I started this one a couple of days ago and so far so good…..more patterns….more learning…….

no offence but why your rating is that low? I've finished one book (bobby fischer teaches chess) and I'm better.

With the books you're read I think you should be 1500 here I guess

1.Logical Chess Move by Move- finished 2 months ago

2.Winning Chess Strategy for Kids-finished 1 week ago

3.Winning Chess: How to see three moves ahead-finished 3 months ago

4.Chess Tactics for Students-finished several times and still use

5.A First Book on Morphy-finished 1 month ago

6.Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking-finished 5 years ago

7.All of Yasser Seirawan’s Winning Chess Series-finished 6 years ago

8. Power Chess for Kids-finished 2months ago

I would take a look at my win loss ratio over the last two months and I think it clearly shows the benefit of my recent study. I just play 3 minute blitz here so it does not mean much but my OtB play has improved dramatically. I should be 1500 at 3 min blitz? That would mean I would have to be carrying a standard OtB chess rating of at least 1700. I do not have this rating, just look at the titles I’M reading, but I can tell you without a doubt that my studies have improved my play and understanding of this great game. One important fact I should mention is I really enjoy studying the game and improvement in my play is a just a pleasant side effect. As for Seirawan’s series I got absolutely nothing from them so when I began my first serious foray into chess this past summer again I would say I’M right where I should be for the moment…….

What are your thoughts on the two "kids" books? I have them both but have not read them yet. They really don't look like "kid" books when I've flipped through them.

Conflagration_Planet

Nov 20, 2012

0

#23

Were you really helped to see three moves ahead?

Noreaster

Nov 20, 2012

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#24

Power Chess for Kids was a very nice breakdown of some tactical motifs. The author is supposed to put out a sequel to this work sometime in the future. I enjoyed it and would recommend it. Chess Strategy for kids was a very nice read. Subjects such as exchanging, pawn structure, pawn play, kingside attacks, etc. are covered. What this book accomplishes is to provide you with the very basic information that allows you to delve into other more advanced works. I liked it and would recommend it to others. The goofy illustrations are to be ignored as the info contained therein is top notch stuff…….

Noreaster

Nov 20, 2012

0

#25

Conflagration_Planet wrote:

Were you really helped to see three moves ahead?

It is a tactics book.....a very good basic tactics book......

Immryr

Nov 20, 2012

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#26

noreaster: it seems to me you have read a LOT of books which are basically the same in terms of level and material. do you not find yourself reading the same thing in slightly different words over and over again?

Noreaster

Nov 20, 2012

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#27

There is some overlap but it helps to reinforce material I have already seen and hopefully learned. For example with Pandolfini’s Endgame Course one could breeze through the puzzles, finish the book, and maybe learn a few concepts. The fact of the matter is a person who takes this approach learns very little and in turn when his lack of success breeds frustration he is apt to blame the book. So if you want to improve in any endeavor one has to master the very basics and this means repetition in some form or another. Personally, for me it is the journey and not the goal that I’m having fun with right now.

Conflagration_Planet

Nov 20, 2012

0

#28

Noreaster wrote:

Conflagration_Planet wrote:

Were you really helped to see three moves ahead?

It is a tactics book.....a very good basic tactics book......

It's got a lot of good reviews.

konhidras

Nov 20, 2012

0

#29

I very much enjoyed the classics. I have read alot but finished just a few. namely:

1. Paul Morphy: A modern perspective

2. Capablancas Chess Fundamentals

3. Capablancas My chess Career

4. Spassky's 100 best

5. My 60 Memorable games by Fischer

6. Reshevsky's Best games of chess

7. Alekhines my best games of chess book1

8. Chess at the top 1979-84 by Anatoly Karpov

9. Chess endings essential knowledge by Yuri Averbach

10. Winning with chess psychology by Pal benko

11. Practical Knight ending by Edmar Mednis

12. The art of defense in chess by Soltis

well... thats just about it since these books were the my first chess books and in fact was lucky enough to be handed down to me. It may even be laughable to others but i find these books more entertaining and informative than present day books in my shelf published year 200 onwards.

NimzoRoy

Nov 20, 2012

0

#30

Uh, lets see...game collections by and/or about Fischer, Alekhine, Capablanca, Rubinstein, Botvinnik, Morphy, Marshall, Pillsbury, Reshevsky, Fine, Smyslov

Other game collections such as The 1000 Best Short Games of Chess by Chernev, Chamionship Chess by Sgt, The King Hunt In Chess by Cozens etc

My System, Blockade and Chess Praxis by Nimzovitch, several books by Reinfeld when I was a kid, long since forgotten except for 1000 Checkmates and 1000 Winning Combos; Practical Chess Endings by Chernev, a dozen or so entertainment/miscellany books such as The Best In Chess, Chess to Enjoy, Chess Panaroma etc; Common Sense In Chess by Lasker, Chess Fundamentals, Last Lectures and My Chess Career by Capablanca

Overall though I enjoyed just about everything I've read (except for Fine and Reshevsky's game collections, mostly boring and/or too lightly annotated) if I could start all over again I'd concentrate on the Tactics Trainer, Chess Mentor, and video lessons here (not available when I was growing up along with the then non-existent internet and PCs) and try to limit my book reading to middlegame and endgame manuals.

prazzzwal

Nov 20, 2012

0

#31

two or three.......

erikido23

Nov 21, 2012

0

#32

KeyserSzoze wrote:

OK, you're right. Sorry for being arrogant, didn't meant to. It desn't matter who is better, all that matters is stop wasting our time

You seem to be wasting your own time quite efficiently troll

j-pax

Nov 21, 2012

0

#33

verydead2 schreef:

so far i have read only bobby fischer teaches chess.

i bought silman's complete endgame course and fundamental chess openings by van der sterren two days ago. i still need good tactics book.

ooh nice i also have silman's comlete endgame course and the openingbook from paul van der sterren... these are not meant to read cover to cover wich is a good concept... just read what you need:)

i've read silmans amateurs mind ... winning chess by chernev and reinfeldt... and PART1 of chess for zebra's by J Rowson

part 1 of the zebra book is very philosofical (why i bought it) and one of the main points is that SKILL is more important than KNOWLEDGE. i see this in my own games .. so i do not need MORE knowledge from books.

i do tactics trainer, computer workout (endgames) on chess.com and "chess eye" (visualisation trainer). and play online chess... i should play more live to improve skill.. i think:)

j-pax

Nov 21, 2012

0

#34

about skill vs. knowlegde... this could be the reason for the big difference between my online (1341) and blitz (980)

i have played much less hours than i've read and watched fritztrainers.. this could be one of the reasons my blitzrating is so low... so i should play more!

IMHO: people who play very much and who have a blitz rating much higher than online... they could benefit from picking up a good book...

Immryr

Nov 21, 2012

0

#35

it's definitely true that aquiring more chess knowledge doesn't automatically make you a better player. as a simple example, knowing that two bishops are better than two knights in an open situation does not mean you won't lose when faced with that situation in a game. you have to know how to take advantage of it in a practical situation.

my chess knowledge is higher than my actual playing ability at the minute, but it's slowly improving!

enprise1234

Nov 21, 2012

0

#36

The Complete Chess Player - Fred Reinfeld

The Inner Game of Chess - Andrew Soltis

How to Reassess Your Chess 3rd Ed. - Jeremy Silman

My System - Aron Nimzowitsch

Essential Chess Endgings Explained Move by Move - Jeremy Silman

A Guide to Chess Improvement - Dan Heisman

Studying Chess Made Easy - Andrew Soltis

Simple Chess - Michael Stean

Starting Out: Sicilian Grand Prix Attack - Gawain Jones

My 60 Memorable Games - Bobby Fischer

These are the ones I read cover to cover. I'm working on the ones below now.

Complete Endgame Course - Jeremy Silman

Understanding Chess Endgames - John Nunn

The Middle Game Vol. 1 - Max Euwe

momg0923

Nov 21, 2012

0

#37

the book which I read from cover to cover, is only everyone's second book :(

currently, i mainly read silman's endgames, my system.

Martin0

Nov 21, 2012

0

#38

Some books I have read some chapters several times and probably put together I have read more then twice the size of the book. However I have not read every page in a single chess book.

SmyslovFan

Nov 21, 2012

0

#39

I've read hundreds of chess books. The first chess book I read cover-to-cover was Chess Championship 1972: Fischer vs Spassky by Smith and Hall. I think the most recent book I read cover-to-cover was Secrets of Attacking Chess by Mihail Marin.

I've known a couple of people who didn't just read, but memorized entire opening encyclopedias!

Too bad reading books doesn't automatically increase a player's rating.

Noreaster

Nov 21, 2012

0

#40

SmyslovFan wrote:

I've read hundreds of chess books. The first chess book I read cover-to-cover was Chess Championship 1972: Fischer vs Spassky by Smith and Hall. I think the most recent book I read cover-to-cover was Secrets of Attacking Chess by Mihail Marin.

I've known a couple of people who didn't just read, but memorized entire opening encyclopedias!

Too bad reading books doesn't automatically increase a player's rating.

How true! As someone mentioned earlier in the thread book knowledge does not necessarily translate into over the board success. This is where one has to play a good deal of games to learn how to apply this theory in your own games. It is nothing revolutionary as great chess teachers harp on this stuff time and time again…learn, learn, play, play, play