Book Opinion & Request: Learn Chess the Right Way (5 book series) by Susan Polgar ??? or....??

Hey GoS, I appreciate the offer, but shipping from the Phil~ I imagine would be expensive to Canada for the series.  

Yasser's Winning Chess series is excellent overall, and perfect for someone looking to get out of the beginner "hope chess" phase. Also, just this week I discovered that Yasser made some videos covering his Five Elements method. They are on YouTube in the Chess Brah channel.

this blog article of mine was mentioned earlier, but in case it was overlooked by anyone, here it is again...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

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

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

by the way.....relative to me, you're all youngsters!

You might want to check this out...

Scribd For Online Chess Book Reading, Downloading...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/scribd-com-for-online-chess-book-reading

You could drill Sergey Ivashchenko's series "chess school" vol 1 and 2. These are a set of carefully selected positions with progressive difficulty used by late soviet trainers. Pattern recognition plays a huge role in chess, these are intended to develop it (for instance there are many mate in one in the beginning but in fact the idea is to carefully count the squares available around the enemy king).

Let me recommend the "Step Method," a famous series of books designed to take a beginner up to a strong tournament player. You should probably start at step 2.

https://www.stappenmethode.nl/en/the-steps.php

There have been a lot of good suggestions in this thread already (Seirawan's books, Silman's endgame book, the "Step Method" books are all well though of, and some of the others are probably good as well).  I would recommend that you buy a few books at a time, and read those before you buy more. 

In a slightly different vein, one older book that helped me start to think like a chess player was Euwe's "Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur."  It's probably a bit dated but still worth reading, IMO, and you might find a used copy on the cheap.

@NotesFromUnderdog https://www.chess.com/club/the-vintage-patzers-adult-chess-improvers

Cool! Joined.

Thanks.  Old person's group. Joined  8)

Here is the link to the full set of Seirawan videos.

So, it seems Polgar's, A World Champion's Guide to Chess,  and her, Chess Tactics for Champions aren't so much companion books, but offer the same information, just Champions may have slightly more challenging puzzles.  IT's not a Basic Chess + Tactics combo afterall.

Ugh...........

Nothing has really changed, I still think you are looking for one book with comprehensive coverage of the major tactical themes. Chess Tactics for Champions will be fine there. The other suggestion is for an introductory general guide covering info like opening principles, essential strategy, a few basic endgame themes, and some ideas to guide planning. Seirawan's Play Winning Chess, or Patrick Wolff's Chess are both solid choices here. Pick one. Either one. They are both good. You really won't go wrong with either of those.

Thanks - Getting on that tonight.

Nearly got my Endgame decided. Tactics is either Tactics for Champions, or Nunn's Workbook for Kids (LEarn Chess is not available to me sadly.)

I "thought" A World Champion's Guide to Chess was "supposed" to be a general guide covering more than tactics... 

As a note, have a look at: "CHESS FOR BEGINNERS: Fundamental strategies to learn how to play chess for Absolute Beginners: a move by move guide to know the rules, basics, tactics, and the best strategies to win,"  by Antonov.  I know long winded title, and seems obscure, but covers everything, after the obligatory how pieces move, etc... Openings, Middle Game, End Game and Defense.

It's hard to go past Silman's Complete Endgame Course

It's got everything, and is organised by rating. So it's easy to know what to focus on at any time, and you won't outgrow the book for a long time.

I like the way Pandolfini write and explains, but yeah, Silman will keep growing with you -- so long as the Beginner section isn't too light.  I thought I read somewhere that a fair amount of material was left out for the beginner study..?

I don't know about that. I haven't read Pandolfini's Endgame Course. Despite the glowing reviews, I frequently struggle to connect with Pandolfini's writing style. Based on reviews, I think either would be fine. Try not to overthink it! I might have said this before, but either of those books will get you where you want to go.

Wow, I just discovered Pandolfini also does a comprehensive, all-in chess book

Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess

So I could do Ultimate Guide to Chess + Pandolfini's Endgame and say Polgar's Tactics for Champions  (or Ultimate Guide + Silman's Endgame + Polgar Tactics)

I think I got a flip'n plan finally brewing, hahaa.  

This would be so much easier if I could only drink something harder than green tea....