Ok, really hating the "Student-Teacher" conversational format of Ultimate Guide....
Yeah, that bugged me too. A chapter is OK, but I couldn't get through a whole book. I don't mind a conversational style of writing, but that book takes it too far.
Exactly, it takes you out of the lesson.
Hey, you mentioned Patrick Wolff's Complete Idiot's Guide.... so I can't get that, but, he also has:
"Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss: Make Pawns of Your Opponents with Tips and Tricks From a Grandmaster of the Game"
Goes from the basics, opens, tactics, defense and endgame in about 300 pages. Might be a good alternative.
Hi! You might want to consider the book I wrote for beginners, "Queen For A Day: The Girl's Guide To Chess Mastery", which is available on Amazon.com. This book take readers though an entire chess game against fictional character, Sophia. I give the reader three possible moves, one move is the best move, another move is an okay move, and the third move is plan bad. You turn the page to see if the move you selected was okay, bad, or the best move. This book is endorsed by the 2019 US Women's Chess Champion and other masters.
You will learn basic winning strategy while playing an entire chess game with Sophia in this book. https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Day-Girls-Guide-Mastery/dp/0578504480/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lauren+goodkind&qid=1613609614&sr=8-1
Another good book out there is by Silman, "The Amatuer's Mind". He takes readers through the mindset of players of all strengths! It is a very interesting position.
I hope that this helps.
Thank you Lauren.
This intrigues me, probably enough to purchase as it's also on my Amazon.CA site. I'm a writer by trade, and for the last three years I've provided creative content & mechanics for board & card games. The Choose Your Own Adventure" approach to your In-book gameplay is very familiar to me. It's both instructional and entertaining.
Very clever.
Oh great... even The Amateur's Mind looks good. I like alternative study books that aren't "just" instructional. You could be reading an informative novel, so to speak... and more money going....
Exactly, it takes you out of the lesson.
Hey, you mentioned Patrick Wolff's Complete Idiot's Guide.... so I can't get that, but, he also has:
"Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss: Make Pawns of Your Opponents with Tips and Tricks From a Grandmaster of the Game"
Goes from the basics, opens, tactics, defense and endgame in about 300 pages. Might be a good alternative.
I have never seen that, but it sounds like it covers all the same material as the Idiot's Guide, so it should be perfect. In fact, looking at Amazon reviews I see it is the updated and rebranded version of the Idiot's Guide. So definitely perfect.
Hi, thanks for the add.
I am enthralled by this world of chess that's been opened up to me since watching, The Queen's Gambit (having been a creative content provider for board &card games.)
I DON'T want to be like trying to learn a musical instrument using an inferior instrument and make the process defeating, if you understand my meaning.
Quick background so any answers to my question can be qualified by the experience of the one asking--
I'm middle aged. I know the basic directions the pieces can move, the same info a child would read on the instruction pamphlet of a new game. When I play a computer game in here, against the most basic starting game, I win in 20 moves and says with a rating of 800.
I want to learn a firm foundation to understand how things work, be able to solve puzzles, and, improve my chess game. But I don't know what order of study and/or books to be taking.
I don't have a fortune to spend on a library of books but I do want a few to move me in a true direction - and yes, books. I prefer to turn a page, though I'll also consume the free online chess lessons when in front of the computer (but don't want to be chained to the computer.)
I know SUSAN POLGAR's, Chess Tactics for Champions, is a standard and plan to buy.
I know BOBBY FISCHER's, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, is a standard for Tactics through Puzzles, and I plan to buy.
But I also know for a beginner serious about learning, it's usually recommend to get a Beginner book, a Tactics book and lots of puzzles, a Midgame book, and Endgame. Not sure where opening enter, except that you need to know the Tactics behind using Openings.
*** Susan Polgar has a 5 BOOK SERIES, called, LEARN CHESS THE RIGHT WAY ***
*The Amazon Preview suggests a planned forward moving foundational approach and instruction, with 500 puzzles per book.
*BUT, the first 20 puzzles they preview in each are DEAD SIMPLE, like a 10 year old with no experience would find it obvious.
So, I'm worried the focus is on even newer beginners than I, and that they don't progress.
I understand one approach, especially to tactics is dead simple puzzles so you can more easily begin to see patterns and spacial appreciation, but...
*** DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THESE BOOKS PROGRESS & GET HARDER ? ***
IT's $100 for 5 Books and like 2500 puzzles, but can anyone speak to the content?
BESIDES THIS.......
I've scoured Amazon for Chess Basics, Tactics and Puzzle books, and discovered deep master books down to simplistic books written by life-hacks or skill writers (not necessarily chess specialists) that aren't much more than the info included in a new chess game.
I've seen books like:
MAGNUS TEMPLAR: Chess For Beginners series. (a Comprehensive guide, Winning strategies, Fundamentals & Tactics, Openings & Midgame). They all make boastful claims, but seems like you get a fair bit in each book. Anyone familiar?
MAXEN TARAFA: Conquer Your Friends series (seems lighter & casual, but to the point). Best seems to be 10 Easy Checkmates. 4 Daredevil Openings looks interesting.
MIKHAIL ANTONOV: For Beginners. Again,, seems a lighter version of Magnus Templar.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov: EXPRESS CHESS , seems like a nice 160pg book covering most basics... maybe a little more formal of what Magnus Templar offers within a couple of his books (but maybe more examples in Templar's)
----a little more formal below:
Yaroslav Srokovski: Chess Training for Post-beginners: A Basic Course in Positional Understanding. Twice the size, actual chess instructor. I think this is for One Step beyond what I need in one of the above books, yes? still worth having?
ARE ANY OF THESE A GOOD START OR DIRECTION?
OR AM I WAY OFF BASE?
I know there are a number of forum threads with recommended books, etc.... but at this point, I don't know what's the best order to be studying (I mean, Strategy then Tactics, then Openings, etc.... OR jump into Puzzle sand figure it out, then Tactics, etc...), let alone what titles are best in my position. So I'm hoping this post puts it a little differently based on my (right or wrong) expectations?
Thanks for any direction - I'd love to get this started ! (but my ADD and OCD requires that I know and plan a thing out rather thoroughly before I commit.)
James
Interesting job. What kind of games have you worked on?
In the beginning I would say to find free online videos going over classic games. That would give you a nice overview of strategy, tactics, openings, endings, etc.
Yasser Seirawan, Ben Finegold, Anna Rudolf, and Jon Schrantz are all popular personalities that have a gift for breaking down concepts.
Hey, thanks Shamus.
Yes, I plan to go the Youtube route after I get a bit of reading under my belt. I like video to compliment paper.
Well, I was an entertainment writer for about 20+ years and then fell into modern board & card game writing & editing.
I've worked mainly on fantasy & other-worldly type adventure games and penned a couple add-on adventure novellas for them. I'm currently taking some advice and keeping my game mechanic development for myself and get my own game up on Kickstarter down the road: I've been asked to do a game and/or a novel, so I have options, haha. I just have to get this chess research mania out of my head first...and I think I'm there.
Wollf for General Guide (and yes Dan, I just saw it's considered the updated Idiot's Guide..,) Silman for Endgame, Logical Chess for games breakdowns, Bobby Fischer for a little breakdown interaction, Miss LAuren's recently recommended Interactive Chess Book Game/Guide (thank you Lauren,) and "The Amateur's Mind" for a different way to read about chess.
That leaves Chess Tactics, and I'm a little undecided between Polgar's Tactics for Champions (passing on her Champion's Guide as it's a little under-rated compared to her Tactics for Champions) and Nunn's Tactics Workshop for Kids (half the size and much less puzzles, but I enjoy his explanations.., whereas I'm no sold on the weight of Polgar's description & explanations.)
Ok, The Amateur's Mind is (1) unavailable to me, and (2) rated for 1600+
So that's out.
Hey, thanks Shamus.
Yes, I plan to go the Youtube route after I get a bit of reading under my belt. I like video to compliment paper.
Well, I was an entertainment writer for about 20+ years and then fell into modern board & card game writing & editing.
I've worked mainly on fantasy & other-worldly type adventure games and penned a couple add-on adventure novellas for them. I'm currently taking some advice and keeping my game mechanic development for myself and get my own game up on Kickstarter down the road: I've been asked to do a game and/or a novel, so I have options, haha. I just have to get this chess research mania out of my head first...and I think I'm there.
Wollf for General Guide (and yes Dan, I just saw it's considered the updated Idiot's Guide..,) Silman for Endgame, Logical Chess for games breakdowns, Bobby Fischer for a little breakdown interaction, Miss LAuren's recently recommended Interactive Chess Book Game/Guide (thank you Lauren,) and "The Amateur's Mind" for a different way to read about chess.
That leaves Chess Tactics, and I'm a little undecided between Polgar's Tactics for Champions (passing on her Champion's Guide as it's a little under-rated compared to her Tactics for Champions) and Nunn's Tactics Workshop for Kids (half the size and much less puzzles, but I enjoy his explanations.., whereas I'm no sold on the weight of Polgar's description & explanations.)
Lol the mania doesn't subside. I second Silman's endgame course, it's great. If the Bobby Fischer book your referring to is Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess though, that is pretty much a book of tactical themes.
Yes, that's the one. I figured Bobby would be a good tactical mate to whichever Instructional Tactics book I get. It's kind of a mix of tactics and game breakdown.
That sounds like a solid list of books to tackle. I have Amateur's Mind in hard-copy (most of my chess library is ebook - love my Kindle!) and have one prior attempt to read it. I suggest not starting it until you have made decent progress through the general guide and have played a decent number of games. I started to read it when first starting chess, and without any other information or experience of chess, I had no mental hooks on which to hang the material. This made it hard to relate to the experience of the amateurs in the book. But after learning some other stuff and taking note of my frequently flawed game plans, the book feels like a revelation!
At least, that's my experience so far. Your mileage may vary.
Dan. Yes indeed. Found a PDF of it, and yes, I will be postponing that idea for a while, haha.
Also found Polgar's Tactics for Champions. I do wish the solutions had a little more explanation rather than more of a list of moves. Whatever I stick with, I'll be buying a paper copy as it's my preferred method.
>So I could do Ultimate Guide to Chess + Pandolfini's Endgame
If you go with Pandolfini's Endgame Course, here's an errata list that you might find useful.
I have Amateurs Mind and worked through it cover to cover a few months ago. I thought it was excellent, I connect well with Silmans style (also have his endgame book) but as others have said, it is aimed at early intermediate players (1400) and is a book about planning and strategy not tactics or basic principles. It also assumes you know a bit about positional play. It is well worth considering when your chess.com rating gets to the 1200-1400 range.
All In All : Soviet Chess Primer
Game Understanding (Positional ) : Logical Chess Move By Move
Middlegame Strategy : Simple Chess , Positional Chess Handbook
Endgame : Silman Endgame
Tactics : Polgar Tactics for Champion
Opening: Usually one opening is enough for a beginner and to go deep. For Beginner learn London System as White and Kings Indian Defense as Black. Its Easy. Any youtube content will be enough.
Disclaimer : I haven't read any of these books. I am 800 rated. But I have read lot and lot of reviews, forums, youtube about book recommendation as Chess Books are costly where I live and I cannot make any Mistake. My first book Logical Chess is on the way to delivery.
Curious if you ever explored this book series... I am currently working through the first course on Chessable (based on the book series...) and do feel it builds gradually to harder problems. Hopefully you aren't getting too bogged down in material... I personally feel that if you just stick to a plan (and not keep adding... admittedly tough to do...) then you will make progress 
Probably the best series for puzzles is the Manual of Chess Combinations. The first volume starts quite basic, but things get serious by the end of it (1320 puzzles). Volume 2 will challenge players up to 2000 rating.
Image from http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-manual-of-chess-combinations.html
Ok, really hating the "Student-Teacher" conversational format of Ultimate Guide....