Small/short/concise chess books for busy working adults?

Hi,

I'll get straight to the point. I'm hoping you could point out some small/short chess books that could be read by someone with limited time, fairly promptly. I'd rather read a short book each on a number of topics than one huge detailed book.

The type of books I'm talking about, as good examples: Simple chess, Michael Stean, 160p Attacking Chess, Colin Crouch, 103p. Modern Ideas in Chess, Richard Reti, 132p. Better Chess (now 'Improve your Chess), William Hartson, 163p (possibly my favourite- shared with Art of Checkmate).

These are some I have. Any endgame books? (Averbach?) Or anything else recommended. I'm currently 1400 OTB, but books rated from 1000-1600(ish) will be fine.

And I already have "Chess for the gifted and Busy," Alburt and Krogius.

Thanks

I have Averbakh. See the sample on Amazon. The rest of the book is just like the last pages of the sample.

For comparison, I also have Znosko-Borovsky and Euwe and Hooper end game books. ZB (288p) has more instructive text albeit in older language and descriptive notation. E & B (258p) is pretty dense with examples and far less text than ZB. It goes deeper than Averbakh. Of these, I think Averbakh is closest to what you're looking for.

Great Short Games of the Chess Masters by Reinfeld or some similar book of miniatures. You could play guess the move and try to find the tactical knockouts for yourself

Simple Chess by Michael Stean, which you mentioned, is the best short chess book ever written. He takes you rapidly to the intermediate level. A shame he left chess for another profession.

Slightly longer at 256 pages is Chess Secrets, The Giants of Strategy by Neil McDonald. I have re-read parts of it several times and believe it's the best of the Chess Secrets series.

Another interesting book at 300 pages is Pandolfini's Endgame Course. This is not an introductory text ; you should read something else first. He discusses over 200 positions and gives most maneuvers a name, like The Underpass which you are likely to remember. Problems : he uses term critical squares , while most now call these key squares . He uses shielding off for what Dvoretsky & others call shouldering or bodycheck. There are many printing errors but a list is available online.

I recommend Irving Chernev’s Practical Chess Endings. It is a short, understandable, and practical intro to endings.

i also recommend Chernev’s The Most Instructive Games Of Chess Ever Played. Each game is selected to illustrate a different theme. So, while it covers many different middlegame and endgame ideas, it is an accessible and concise guide to chess strategy.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I'm at a chess championship next weekend and hopefully there will get a book stand. 😀

Chess Training Pocket Book, Vols 1 & 2 by Lev Alburt

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=chess+training+pocket+book+lev+alburt&i=stripbooks&crid=2I0BPQN59N8MU&sprefix=chess+training+pocket+book+lev+alburt%2Cstripbooks%2C145&ref=nb_sb_noss

otherwise...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond…

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

I'll try to add a few not mentioned above:

I have several thin endgame books that I take with a small set while I travel. Basically, Averbakh's book covers most of them.

Reinfeld has a thin book on endgame strategy (Reinfeld on the End-game in Chess) that is excellent (tho in descriptive notation).

Mednis' many books on endgames (1 on each type roughly) are thin and excellent.

Chernev's book on Capa's greatest endgames is excellent.

There is a thin book by a Finn (something like Yrolji ) on the classical Sicilian (cant recall the exact citation-sorry) that is the best opening book I've seen.

Second best is Barden's old and thin book on the Ruy Lopez. O'kelly's book ''Sicilian Flank Game'' was excellent for its time but outdated.

- Bill

Found the cite:

Easy Guide to the Classical Sicilian: Including Richter-Rauzer and Sozin Attacks
by Jouni Yrjola

After my first rapid tournament (a regional 15 +10 championship was always going to be ambitious) my next short book will be:

How Not to Play Chess by Eugene Znosko-Borovsky. 112pp.

Doesn't matter how good your tactics and endgame are... if you burn all your time trying to 'solve' opening preparation and then blunder (after using your 'superior' tactics and endgame skills to try to save the day) due to extreme time pressure.

That book is indeed short, it has only 89 pages before the "test yourself quiz" that Reinfeld added at the end. My kindle edition claims 120pp total.

ZB includes about 23 directives with explanations and examples from games. An example is

"It is not a move, even the best move, that you must seek, but a realisable plan."

Another one I like a lot:

Steve Giddins: 101 endgame tips

Most of the ''101 ..." books are worse than useless but this one is excellent. 101 examples illustrating and explaining well an endgame technique. Each 'tip' is separate from others so you can look up one connected to a position you just played.

Ah, yes. This is good. I also like 101 chess questions answered, by Giddins. It's like a smaller more concise (125pp) version of Silman's Complete Book of Chess Strategy (360pp).

A book that has been recommended to me (that I will buy) is: Chess Endings Made Simple, Ian Snape 144pp. I've not seen this mentioned much, if at all, before.

From the blurb: "The first half of the book discusses the areas of endgame theory that are most relevant to practical success. The second half features 100 exercises for the reader to solve, together with full solutions. All the exercises are taken from real games."

This book mostly focusses on practical examples of pawn and rook endings, with a considrable number of exercises that seem to be quite focussed on exactly the areas covered in part one.

Taken in context of Alburt and Krogious' comments in Winning Chess Endgames: Just the Facts, they state in CH4 (Rook endgames) "Rook endings make up over 50% of all endgames...Staying sharp in both pawn endings (ch2 and 3) and rook endings (ch4) is one of the most time-efficient investments.... leading to better results".

Sounds like a good one to me! Even John Watson liked it.

The Snape book is great! Really concise. Halfway through already.

I have also bought: Essential Chess Endings, Averbakh (116pp); From the Opening in to the Endgame, Mednis (151pp) and Practical Middlegame Techniques, Kopec (128pp 1st ed).

Hadn't planned on a buying spree. But with short books I can make steady progress and feel I'm "getting somewhere "

I would add:

Purdy's Guide to Good Chess

Lasker's Common Sense in Chess

Renaud and Kahn's The Art of the Checkmate

Since you mentioned Reti's Modern Ideas in Chess, its sister book Masters of the Chessboard is also worth reading.