How to learn from a chess book?

Sort:
NolsterbuckrXYZ

What's a good, methodical way to learn from a chess book? Suppose I had A First Book of Morphy as my first ever book of grandmaster games. How would I get the most out of it so I can improve my play as much as possible?

SoupTime4

Use a real board and pieces.

Use pen and paper to take notes, thoughts, ideas, game plans, etc.

Play solitaire chess. 

Bgabor91

Dear Chessfriend,

My name is Gabor Balazs. I am a Hungarian FM, fighting for the IM title. My top ELO is 2435. I have been playing chess for 21 years. I won the Hungarian Rapid Championship twice (U16 and U18).

I love teaching chess and it is very important for me that both of us enjoy the lessons beside the hard work. I have pupils almost all the levels from beginners to advanced players (1100-2200 ELO).

Why should you choose me?

- I have a widespread opening repertoire (a lot of openings are analysed by strong Grand Masters).

- I have a lot of chess books in PDF and Chessbase format, so I can teach you the main middlegame plans, the art of calculations, famous chess games and the endgame theory.

- I have elaborated, personalized training plans, which help you to improve your skills effectively.

- I help you analyse your games deeply, so you can realise your mistakes and learn from them.

- I am really flexible and hard-working person, the quality of my work is really important for me.

Please, contact me (balazsgabor1991@gmail.com), if you are interested in working with me, I am looking forward to your message. happy.png

kindaspongey

"... [annotated games are] infinitely more useful than bare game scores. However, annotated games vary widely in quality. Some are excellent study material. Others are poor. But the most numerous fall into a third category - good-but-wrong-for-you. ... You want games with annotations that answer the questions that baffle you the most. ..." - GM Andrew Soltis (2010)

"... In many ways, [Batsford's new edition of Logical Chess: Move by Move, written in 1957 by Irving Chernev] would [be] a wonderful 'first' book (or first 'serious' book, after the ones which teach the rules and elementary mates, for example), and a nice gift for a young player just taking up chess. …" - IM John Watson (1999)

https://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/assorted-recent-books

DaniilKalabukhov

I suggest using two chessboards in this way: on one board you "save" current position, but on another one you go through variations. Also try to think about the position and guess the moves - that helps a lot, but takes a lot of time - that's why it's helpful. At the end of the day if you just spend 2 minutes on a game you won't learn anything from it - spend at least 20-30 minutes per game.