Chess for Tigers by Simon Webb:)
Favorite Chess Book?
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"My System" was my fave for readability. But after buying a few books, I realized that just reading a chess book isn't enough, I actually have to sit down and work through all the games. So currently I'm about a third of the way through Hellsten's "Mastering Chess Strategy" and have played through all the games in the first third of the book so far. I'm enjpoying it, and I'm getting a lot out of it, even if it might be a little advanced for a newbie like myself. But now I have it in my head that I need to finish the whole thing and I'll be damned if I give up now!
"Logical chess move by move" by Chernev is a favourite of mine, aimed at amateurs. A good ol' one is Spielmanns "The art of sacrifice in chess".
I got the most out of The Amateurs Mind by Jeremy Silman.
Some great books you guys mentioned. Have you read Chernev's "Most Instructive Games Ever Played" Bishop-Brask? I really liked the games he chose and it's a lot less tedious without the annotations after every common sense move.
I never read the Amateur's Mind but I absolutely loved his Reassess Your Chess book. Was actually the first chess book I read. He's a really good author I'd recommend any of his books. Euwe-Chernev-Silman are my favorite authors by far!
Dec 12, 2011
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#7
Ditto on "My System" and "Most Instructive Games Ever Played". The best introductory book I have ever seen is "The Game of Chess" by H. Golembek. This is out of print, but probably can be found on Amazon. I plan to go through sections of this book again to sharpen up my basics (getting back to playing after a long time away).
I like Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course, but I'm still waiting to be an expert, as promised.
KingMoth wrote:
Some great books you guys mentioned. Have you read Chernev's "Most Instructive Games Ever Played" Bishop-Brask? I really liked the games he chose and it's a lot less tedious without the annotations after every common sense move.
I never read the Amateur's Mind but I absolutely loved his Reassess Your Chess book. Was actually the first chess book I read. He's a really good author I'd recommend any of his books. Euwe-Chernev-Silman are my favorite authors by far!
No I haven't read that, but it's on the wish list together with McDonalds "The art of logical thinking". HTRYC is also something for next year, I'm currently reading "The Amateurs Mind" and it's really good so I'd expect HTRYC to have the same standard (if not better!).
Weeramantry's "Best lessons of a chess coach" was wonderfully simple, I just wish I had read it as a young player instead of the garbage I did read.
InvisibleDuck wrote:
Weeramantry's "Best lessons of a chess coach" was wonderfully simple, I just wish I had read it as a young player instead of the garbage I did read.
Agree it's a great book. I just wish Weeramantry had turned some of his other coaching lessons into further volumes of a series.
Some more books I've enjoyed besides the Amateurs Mind
Pawn Structure Chess by Andy Soltis, helped me A LOT with middlegame/opening plans. Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman helped me take my first big step into endgames. 303 Tricky Chess Tactics by Fred Wilson & Bruce Albertson has taken my tactics to a really high level, along with a bit of "1001 winning chess sacrifices and combinations" + "Sharpen your Tactics" (1250 problems or so). 1960 Tal vs Botvinnik gave me a good look at high level grandmaster games.
Right now Im reading and enjoying 1960 Zurich by David Bronstein, Starting Out the Kings Indian by Gallagher, Winning Pawn Structures by Baburin, Play the Caro Kann: a complete repertoire against e4 by Houska, and Mastering the Nimzo Indian by Tony Kosten. Also I have some good books on the shelf Im waiting to pull out and read once I finish these.
I've read a bit of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and it was very difficult but fun, and has helped me a lot with king and pawn endgames. Maybe once I get a bit more into it it will help me with all my endgames.
Dec 13, 2011
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#14
Thank you Phelon and others, very helpful indeed.
Can this site help in giving some links from where one can download some good books like these? Thank you.
Dec 13, 2011
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#15
Well I don't know if its my favorite, but most likely the most widely read chess book would be...I bet we have all read it at one point and perhaps still own copies. Now we are handing it off to friends and kids.
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
The Killer Grob by Michael Basman. A classic - easily the most entertaining chess book I've ever read. Let's be honest, anyone who recommends 1. e4 g5! has to have a pretty good sense of humour.
Dec 13, 2011
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#17
Too many books, but a slightly unusual one which I'm really enjoying at the moment is Formation Attacks by Joel Johnson.
The author may not be particularly strong, but he gives a great collection of games based around various attacking themes.
500 Master Games of Chess by Tartakower and Dumont
I am still reading and enjoying Grandmaster Chess Strategy - What Amateurs can learn from Ulf Andersson's positional masterpieces by Jurgen Kaufeld & Guido Kern.
So what's everyones chess book they got a lot from?
I read Euwe's "Chess Master vs. Amateur" recently and got a lot out of it. It's an oldie but a goodie with superb annotations to full games.
That's my pick. What's yours?