Thought Process Book

Hey there,

Is there a good book for club players (between 1400-1800 OTB) that handles thought process in chess comprehensively?

I've heard a good tip is to Pause and:
1. What is you oppenent idea/plan? If your opponent is threatening to take piece or mate you have to deal with it first
2. What are the weaknessess? If not direct threat then look for potential targets on your side and his side
3. What piece is the least developped. If none of the first 2 points seems to be problematic, it helps sometimes to just developp your worst piece.

But then again, seeing an opponent plan, seeing non obvious weaknessess is a whole other story (for everybody) and those tips reach a certain limit (although very helpfull in many cases).

I've heard of Soltis's: How to choose a chess move
And The Improving Chess thinker by Heisman

I've also heard of the famous Kotov book and his "tree" but it seemed more advance, least accessible for intermediate player

Thank you in advance!

Neil McDonald and Jeremy Silman both write specifically and instructively for the improving Amateur player.  All of the following books are concerned with planning, thought process, and relevant concepts...

The Art of Planning In Chess by Neil McDonald

Planning After the Opening by Neil McDonald

The Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman (I highly recommend)

How To Reassess Your Chess, 4th Ed. by Jeremy Silman (after Amateur's Mind)

and two oldie but goodie, classic books by Max Euwe... (both in Descriptive notation)...

Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Max Euwe & Walter Meiden...

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Master-vs-Amateur-Dover/dp/0486279472/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=0486279472&qid=1563541219&s=books&sr=1-1

Judgment and Planning In Chess by Max Euwe...

https://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Planning-Chess-Max-Euwe/dp/0679143254/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=0679143254&qid=1563537163&s=books&sr=1-1

Also related....Dan Heisman in his Novice Nook articles (now archived) on ChessCafe.com  deals extensively with the generic topic/process of "planning" (of course, virtually every chess move involves planning at some level)....

https://web.archive.org/web/20140625052220/http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/archives.htm

A specific example...

A generic thought process....

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626213636/http:/www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman14.pdf

And of course, it is a good idea to occasionally review Bruce Pandofini's 64 Commandments of Chess...

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-64-commandments

Yes.  The referenced pages provide a good, succinct treatment of the topic of choosing a move.  This is a good book in general for the amateur player by Tim Harding.

Interesting article!
Those are interesting suggestion, but most of them seem to be more strategy book.

It's hard to explain, because i do own amateur's mind, simple chess by Stean and some game collection book (Chess brillancies by Seirawan, Move by Move by Chernev, Mammoth book of chess and Tartakower selected games). They help me a great deal to understand specifics of position, but i have difficulties to filter the right information at the right moment during a game.

Hence my seeking of a book giving me more method to all of this

I found Kotov's book to be a bit confusing. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, if I'm being honest.

Silman could be a good guy to check out if you want to get the ball rolling. Reassess Your Chess is a good book on strategy and you should probably have no problems with it. Amateur's Mind is a bit less dense, though, and covers a lot of the topics presented in RYC. Furthermore, it goes quite deep on the whole idea of thought processes, and looks at typical mistakes people usually make, and proposes how you can fix this. 

I also own Calculation by Jacob Aagaard, although I don't really know it as well as Amateur's Mind. I was quite impressed by the introduction, which seemed to give some form of checklist you might be able to follow when looking for moves. Perhaps try to find a sample online.

Finally, perhaps check out a few different concepts you can apply to your chess thinking. One such concept is reciprocal thinking. I first saw this in the book Imagination in Chess by Paata Gaprindashvili. I have not read much of this book either, but found some of the examples to be useful. I have heard it is pretty challenging book, though. This video by John Bartholomew may help:

TL;DR: 

• Stay away from Kotov
• Have a look at Silman, especially AM
• Calculation could be of use- look for a sample
• Also investigate general concepts, like reciprocal thinking

I understand you more clearly now.  The best book that I know of which deals with the generic thought process involved in choosing a move is...

"A Guide To Chess Improvement - The Best of Novice Nook" by Dan Heisman....

specifically Section 2 - Thought Process (pp.71-148) - I believe this will address your concerns...it goes into great detail...

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Chess-Improvement-Best-Novice/dp/1857446496/ref=sr_1_2?crid=4L6DEFRKEEH9&keywords=a+guide+to+chess+improvement&qid=1563542006&s=books&sprefix=a+guide+to+chess+i%2Cstripbooks%2C189&sr=1-2

I think your topic could be broken down to a few more specific disciplines, some of which have extensively been discussed already: Visualisation,  Calculation,  Analysis... Etc. 

So any resource along those lines could be helpful too. 

I believe OP is looking for a checklist of some sort. Chess is more complex than that, to be honest.

That doesn't mean you can't do things like looking for forcing moves, considering opponent's plans and finding ways to stop them etc. on every move, though. 

At first you'll find yourself thinking about these things deliberately, but as you gain experience they become more subconscious.

Another relevant article by Dan Heisman....(from his Novice Nook archives - see link above).....

Don't Know What to Do? Try Dan's Dirty Dozen...

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627073219/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman129.pdf

CJS Purdy has that list in his essay A System To Reduce Errors.  Found in CJS Purdy, His Life, His games, His Writings.  Maybe a library has it.  Also in Zno-borovski's book, the middle game, he breaks down a method to read the board, which is move selection.  Hope that helps.Ratingn1400-1500 OTB. 

Hey, isn't chess a sport? *Creates 1,000,000th forum thread on the topic*

Thanks pawnstorm.  Good diagrams.

How does Ochman propose you put those into practice?

It is Purdy's system in diagram.

Your suggestion is more to the OP's point than mine.  I like that!

I didn't  know that. Thanks for feedback. 

some good tips here! I'll take a closer look at Ochman's thought process book which looks intense but valuable. 
I'll also take a closer look at heisman book " a guide of chess improvement" which seemed even more aimed at my level.
And finaly the six power move looks interesting for selecting candidate moves, i've never heard of this book but has some good reviews.
Here's a short video (the channel looks good too) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2v55mtUQkw

Is this a book title? Name of the author please?

Thanks kilbroney.