Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond
Silman's Complete Endgame Course is not "simple". Certainly not for players rated below 2000 ELO, which is its target audience. All players in this range would be well served by studying it, assuming they are not already experts in the endgame (which is very unlikely).
As for "The Soviet Chess Primer" by Ilya Maizelis....
With all due respect, based on your current rating it may soon reveal itself to be a difficult read. While it is certainly a very good, or possibly even a great book, the publishers unfortunately chose to put the word "Primer" in the title. But a primer (in the normally understood sense of the word) it is not - unless perhaps the reader has "Expert" or "Master" in his/her title. In spite of the fact that the book starts off treating basic chess concepts, it quickly becomes quite challenging for lower level players. Because of this, the book is in fact more appropriate for experienced players rated (at least) 1500 ELO, or higher. Once a player reaches a more accomplished skill level, I could highly recommend the book for continuing study.
The bottom line - for lower level players, studying The Soviet Chess Primer would be analogous to one attempting to embark on the study of mathematics by beginning with a book on calculus without having first mastered arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc.
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell
Hello, I would definitely suggest reading Silmans complete endgame, as for tactics, there are many free sights such as chess.com and chesstempo. However a nice book is Bobby Fischer teaches chess. Its very cheap and is not only suitable for new players as the tittle suggest but actually a really good book for beginners up to intermediate players. It focuses on some very important tactical themes and patterns so is amazing as a tactics book. Also you don't need to do them on a board as it's designed to be read like a normal book.I would also suggest an opening repertoire book instead of an opening book with all openings. Also going through Bobby Fischer 60 greatest games will also help you a lot.
Make sure that alongside going through these books and learning new material, you also play as many games as possible (rapid) because that's what will help you the most. Hope my advice is helpful.
Hi all,
I work in a rather unique field which may require long periods of working without access to internet and I am looking for some good books that I could study during these periods to improve. I've only recently found out that my workplace has an annual chess championship which I would be very motivated to win in the coming years and it looks like past champions have been ~2050. This is well beyond my current level of play, but I have only started playing chess again recently after learning the moves as a child.
I'm looking at buying 3 (max 4) books that I could potentially travel with at one time and read over while practicing, I've never done any proper chess study and would like these books to be somewhat reader-friendly but also have the scope to take me up to a high level. I can add more at a later date to make up gaps in theory.
I'm not sure how to break down what topics these books should cover, I was thinking - as the title suggests - one reasonably holistic book on each stage of the game, is that wise? Or should I scrap the opening section for something more tactical?
From what I read on previous threads, Either Silman's 'Complete Endgame Course' or Keres' 'Practical Chess Endings' are recommended - I do note that some people take issue with Silman's....simplicity? Perhaps thinking that it doesn't make the reader work hard enough to facilitate real learning, is this true?
What books have you fellow chess.com member's used to improve to 2000 and beyond?
Thanks all for reading.
P.S I've never played OTB in a competitive setting but I will be joining a club once this lockdown situation eases.