Chess Books - Where Should I Start

You can download free pdf's of chess books that you want to read so you don't use any money

First off, did you know you can buy books from chess.com?  Go the "more" button at the bottom of the left tool bar of chess.com and go to shop for chess supplies.  You can buy a lot of stuff there.  Chess.com is now a one stop shop.  It isn't like it was way back when us cavemen where playing chess...

Anyway, as a beginner, one probably doesn't have the necessary board vision to go over a chess book.  Yeah, they can with two boards, one for the current position, and one for sidelines to experiment with, but even that, takes a lot of prior knowledge.  You almost have to start from online stuff.  What was mentioned by other people, do that, especially what the Keto guy said, I can't spell his name...

Anyway, as a beginner, one doesn't have the necessary skill to come up with their own lines after a computer analysis.  Let me put it to you this way.  I'm 1500, and I still don't use the computer for the most part...Silman said something about the computer, he said, turn it off.  This is a very knowledge chess coach, so listen to his wisdom.  Shut off the computer analysis.

With guidance, one can possibly learn from a chess book at first.  But, in order to do that one needs a coach to pick out the books.  You can't do it on your own, nor can you let subpar players tell you what worked for them and tell you to do the same thing.  If you want free, don't expect much.  Nothing in this life is free, and  neither is a chess education. If you want free, play checkers, or if you don't want to devote hours to private study to learn perfect checkers than play tic tac toe.  But chess, takes skill.  You need to learn from the best, or someone better than you, to succeed.  You need to make chess friends, preferable strong players, and play them occasionally.  You can start with your local chess club.  Good luck.

Chess, like anything else, is a time + effort, investment.  If you aren't interested enough in it then find another game, because one can't get good at chess if they don't actually like it.  I know a friend who was forced to play chess by his father, he hated it, but this guy went on to succeed in life and teach his son calculus, in a much more gentler way, as his son was already interested in the subject, as he is a genius.

Chess requires a lot of time.  If you don't have the time, then chess is not for you.  I'm sorry to say this, but I'm telling you for your benefit, so you don't waste your time on a game that you "can't" get better at.  Again, good luck with your chess.

About studying different phases of the game...

The opening needs to be studied at all levels, however, I believe the puzzles at aimchess.com will be more helpful to anyone than any book at the beginner level.

About the middle game...  This phase of the game is what I spent the least amount of time on in my chess career, though, I've been told I am good at the middle game.  It has been said, "Tactics flow from superior positions."  I just simply got good at knowing what to play at certain times, based on my experience playing good players OTB over a period of time.  Granted it was a slow process at first, however, I feel it will speed up as I got a lot better and can now give  these guys a run for their money.  Learn "thought process" and "general principles."  Some of that can be learned by doing the opening puzzles on aimchess.com, however, that should not be the only thing your doing about learning the opening phase of the game.

About the endgame...

The trick is, with any phase of the game, is to learn the "why" behind the moves.  If one understands the why, then one won't have to memorize anything, they'd just logically come up with the answer OTB.  I'll give you an example.  I learned a common endgame puzzle when I was not so strong of a player, and never had it come OTB.  It was a puzzle each side having three pawns.  One's side of pawns are more advanced then the others.  Depending on what is going on with the king on whatever side of the board it is, there is a way to force oneself to gain an unstoppable passed for the side with the more advanced pawns.  no one told me the details about this puzzle.  I learned it by just playing chess, and when it finally appeared in a chess game, I sat and thought, and won on the spot.  One doesn't learn the Lucina Position to win their next few chess games, they learn it to use it in a game long in the future.  If one remembers the why, by first trying to solve the puzzle by themself first, before watching the answer, they will gain a better grasp on the why, and when it is shown to them, they have to find the why if you didn't at first, but going through the motions of trying to solve the position without help helps a lot.

Remember, if your serious about chess.  Learn to understand the "why" behind your own moves, as well as the moves you find given to you in books, or in videos, whatever.  If one learns the reasoning behind their error, they can fix it.  If they don't even bother to figure out why they made a bad moves, they will repeat the same mistakes.  The definition of insanity of doing the same thing several times expecting different results.

It's rare to actually finish a chess book, so I agree with this ^

Don't spend too much money.

Can't really go wrong with 1001 chess excercises for beginners on chessable or play winning chess.

This book will be good for the rest of any chess players life . . .