Just starting "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Silman. Anyone read it and have any reviews before I continue?
BEST CHESS BOOKS
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200 Modern Chess Traps In The Fianchetto Openings, J. B.Howson
An excellent book for those who like the fianchetto openings. These are from grandmaster games (with 47 pages of King's Indian games). 27 pages of Pirc Defense and Modern Defense games. Black loses most of those, making it a good book for those who want to play against the Pirc.
Oct 26, 2008
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#24
Dan_V wrote:
Just starting "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Silman. Anyone read it and have any reviews before I continue?
I would call this my #1 favorite book. However, I would agree with lanceuppercut -- I don't think it's a good book for beginners, it's fairly advanced. It's great to compare the strengths and weaknesses of bishops and knights and so on, but if you don't already have a good strategic foundation and a decent grasp of basic tactics, you're probably not going to get much out of Reassess yet.
The best chess books I've read, in no order (too hard to rank!):
- My System, Aron Nimzowitsch -- classic chess strategy primer
- How to Reassess Your Chess, Jeremy Silman -- the best middlegame book
- Ideas Behind the Chess Openings, Reuben Fine -- the analysis is dated, but it's still unparalled at revealing how to think about the opening
- Capablanca's Best Chess Endings, Irving Chernev -- the endgame counterpoint to Fine's opening book; there's much to learn beyond it but nothing better at demonstrating how to think about the endgame
And let's not forget game collections!
- Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953, David Bronstein -- fantastically annotated (and huge!) game collection
- Tal-Botvinnik 1960, Mikhail Tal -- great analysis & insight into a championship match
- My 60 Memorable Games, Bobby Fischer -- again, fantastic analysis in some amazing games
gordo wrote:
how about some chess books that are not about chess theory, tactics, etc.? Like Chess stories and stuff.
I have reading Game of Kings right now and its pretty good. Its about a High School Chess program and the man that runs it. Some days after playing chess its fun to go read some real stories about chess. I would like to find some other books that are like this.
Fred Reinfeld had edited/compiled this largish book called -- damn, can't remember, but it was a collection of games all with a little story about the background of the game... it's the book that cemented my love of chess... ahhh there is: The Fireside Book of Chess by Reinfeld and Chernev. Wonderful book of games and anecdotes about chess prior to WWII.
Thank you Spiffe,
Capablanca's Best Chess Endings, Irving Chernev -- the endgame counterpoint to Fine's opening book; there's much to learn beyond it but nothing better at demonstrating how to think about the endgame.
Would like to purchase that book and put it alongside Practical Chess Endings by Irving Chernev. These would be the matching pair. They are in fact both Dover Book publications (with stiched bindings).
Fine's Basic Chess Endings is more of an encyclopedia of chess endings. You are right about that.
for Gordo- I just read Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union which came out last year and features a chess puzzle as the central clue in the murder mystery. Virtuosic writing, as well, if a little thin. Actually it was reading that book that whet my desire to find this website...