New Chess Books?

Anyone read any new chess books (any category),  recently that they would recommend?

                               IrishMike

i am reading the art of attack in chess and i recommend it

Great, I'll check it out. I have started collecting chess books and usually buy some of the older ones. I also enjoy reading biographies of chess players as well as instructional books. I have 4 books on my waiting list, 2 by John Nunn, an opening book by Reuben Fine and 'Chess Openings for White Explained'. Just received MCO-13 as it was recommended over MCO-14 (?). 'Curse of Kirsan', and the Complete Chess Course, by Fine.

I haven't been playing for very long so haven't read many books. They're all quite new to me regardless of when they were written. But right now I'm really enjoying Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move. It's just full of chess wisdom.

Thanks Smoke20, I just bought that book a few weeks ago, but haven't got into it yet. I usually buy 2-4 books at a time, when I have the bucks, so I haven't got into them all as of yet. I am trying to build a good basic chess library. Up to 81 volumes now. I need to stop soon

Streetfighter, I'll have to check your book out, Congratulations

                                     IrishMike

I'm reading the Art of Defence in Chess by Lyev Polugayevsky good book!

"100 Endgames You Must Know" by Jesus de La Villa. This is neither an introduction to endgames (like Silman, Seirawan, or Pandolfini) nor a comprehensive manual (like Dvoretsky, Mueller, or Fine) but the 100 endings a player in the 1700-2300 range should know intimately to be successful at endgames in tournaments.

I just read The King's Gambit which is entertaining and insightful look at chess over the last 50 years and especially what life's like for competitors near and at the top. I especially like that the author is a class A player who knows how hard it is for adults to improve.

I have the King's Gambit- read it months ago,  and found it very enjoyable. The deLa Villa book is a new one for me. I will have to check it and Polugayevsky's book out. You all need to check out Streetfighters book- looks like a winner

http://nic.net4u.nl/Streetfighting_Chess-p-1715.html

I'm also digging into old stuff.

I'm reading some of The King's Gambit as White by GM Larry Christiansen, Lou Maser, and Robert Raingruber, 1st printing 1984.

I don't know how up-to-date it is, but I'm learning some of the ideas and some of the lines.  I'm playing a couple games too.

I'm also dabbling in How To Be A Class A Player by Alex Dunne, 1987. It walks through 35 games and explains each move. I've been away from the game for 10 years, and I find this a refresher in all aspects of the game. It's reminding me of the many things I should be thinking of. Sample quote: "Notice White's vacillation. His plan changes from one moment to the next. This is because he has not made a plan to defend his position. This is the kind of chess you as a class A player must strive to avoid."

Wow, getting a big list. I need to borrow some money . Thanks everyone for the comments- keep them coming

Co-author is Iakov Damsky the guy who co-wrote Attack with Mikhail Tal

The ISBN Number is 1-85744-154-0 (this might help your search)

He explains the basics of defensive play building a blockade, simplification, counter attack etc he includes alot of tests for the reader to practice what he teaches in his book.

By the way it was published in 1988 but the 1996 version of the book has the corrections for mistakes.

I just ordered:

The Benko Gambit by Jan Pinski

Beating the Anti-King's Indians by Yelena Dembo

Both got very good reviews and will nicely round out my collection of opening books.

This is a fantastic book

Two rather inexpensive books I have finished in the last month and enjoyed are:

The Art of the Checkmate by Renaud & Kahn

Simple Chess by Michael Stean

One thing that should probably be mentioned is Batsford has just released a new algebraic edition of My 60 Memorable Games by Fischer. This edition is the exact same as the original work with the exception of the conversion to algebraic. It is not connected to the edition Batsford brought out in the 90s which was not well received.

I just ordered and devoured From London to Elista by Bareev and Levitov.  It's an insider's (Bareev's) look into Kramnik's matches against Kasparov, Leko, and Topalov through dialogues with (close friend and well informed amateur) Levitov.

Awesome book! Really lets you get inside top players heads and provides amazing insights into the reality of contemporary World Championship matches.

Not heavy on annotations (although Bareev does annotate all the games from those matches... well, with the possible exception of some of the super short draws from the 2004 match with Leko), it's almost entirely presented in the form of 'Socratic' style dialogues.  In short: no need for a board to fully enjoy this one!

Now I await the arrival of Fischer's 60 games, mentioned above.

I'll also chime in about a book I'm not so impressed with: Dvoretsky's Technical Manual.  His Endgame Manual is a favorite of mine and I bought this without hesitating because it's named so similarly, looks similar enough as to suggest that it's a sequel, and apparently contains good, gritty stuff that helps train one's practical, otb technique.  And, to be fair, it's probably festooning with great stuff.

I just find it annoying when a publisher will go so far out of its way to create the illusion of a sequel or continuation of such a monstrous seller, but fail to get the same translator (apparently) so that what was 'widening the beachhead' in Endgame Manual becomes 'enlargening the battlefield' in Technical Manual.

A very tiny thing, I know, but as someone who appreciates continuity--it drives me nuts.

i highly recommend looking at all Jermey Sillman's Books.  Amazing writer and an amazing teacher.  A friend who was a maylasian olympiad (USCF 2170) told me to improve you must understand the middle and endgame. With that said, Jermey Sillman provides fundamental theories and evaluation mentaility to improve your chess. The book im currently reading is The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery by Jeremy Silman and Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master by Jeremy Silman.  The first book is a must read.  He records players from 900-1700 USCF playing chess and think outloud through every move.  He talks about the imbalances of minor pieces, are bishop pairs really good? What is a good and bad bishop versus a good knight? vise versa.  But yeah look up Jeremey Silman.  Many top chess players like Joel Benjamin, Pandolifini, John Watson, etc claim that he holds the seven wonders of chess. 

I second that recommendation!!  I have found that I am winning more games in the endgame from principles I have learned from the study of books.  This book is amazing and I think every player should own a copy.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master