My Best Book for Beginners!

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vantheanh1993

I want to recommend to low rating players, who are new to chess or have less experience in chess like me, the book "How to Reassess Your Chess" by IM Silman (I don't know if he is a GM now). There are four reasons
1. It is cheap! $23 for a 658 pages book is cheap to me. I know it well because I am a victim of a Vampire named "college textbook".

2. It covers all topics related to Strategy that beginners should know well.

3. I learn how to analyze my game thanks to this book. This means that I can learn better and improve faster.

4. I have an idea of what to LOOK for and how to THINK in chess. Like, if you throw me a situation, I can at least tell you "hey I think this piece is badly placed". Better than "I have no idea man, I am lost!"

 

https://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Imbalances/dp/1890085138

Madkiki007
I always recommend Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan as a FIRST book for chess. It covers a lot of areas for people starting out.

After that I recommend a book on Chess opening. Which one? There are so many and you are the only one who knows what openings best peaks your interest. Therefore you may have to get a number of books until one of them really works best for you.

Reading all these books is training in itself simply helping you to become more proficient in understanding chess books. The more you take the time to read the better you get. Build your own chess library and take the time to read that book again and you will be amazed with better clear understanding of that book.

Have fun
kindaspongey

"How to Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition was designed for players in the 1400 to 2100 range." - IM Jeremy Silman (2010)

kindaspongey
Madkiki007 wrote:
... Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan ...

http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner

vantheanh1993
kindaspongey wrote:
Madkiki007 wrote:
... Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan ...

http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner


Ah! I just found out that. Thanks for the info. He did say that we should read his Amateur's Mind before Reassess

kindaspongey

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094419/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf

RussBell

Silman's "How to Reassess Your Chess" is too advanced for the beginner-novice.  A more appropriate choice at that level would be Silman's "The Amateur's Mind".  Check out the book's review in Spongey's post #6.

Also check out...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

vantheanh1993

But he did recommend us to read first chapter of Reassess to understand the concepts of imbalances. It is kind of smart marketing but Reassess is a good one, although, like you said, a bit too advanced for me at this point.

ChessGuy00008

I recommend "Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition (Dover Chess)" by Michael Stean.

ChessGuy00008

ChessGuy00008 wrote:

I recommend "Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition (Dover Chess)" by Michael Stean.

You can purchase the book on Amazon.

kindaspongey

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf