Check out NM Dan Heisman's book recommendations.
http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm
Additionally, you seem to be a perfect candidate for his Novice Nook articles. They feature valuable instructional content that puts 90% of all chess books to shame....plus they are free!
Hi Drew,
When I saw your post it reminded me of myself, and if you are like me it will not take you long to realise that there is no one book that is universally good for everyone, the most important thing to take from any chess book, chess video etc. is motivation and inspiration – especially inspiration. I'll explain what I mean by that in a second.
First of all, you have to put in the work and familiarise yourself with all of the chess elements, tactics is the most important of all, familiarise yourself with the basic endgames, and as many middle game themes as you can make time to examine and remember, and it sounds as if you are playing enough to know what you doing even if it's only roughly.
I have read hundreds of chess books, most I am sorry to say absolutely worthless, and every chess player will tell you the same thing, but the list of books that are good in one person's opinion can be in the other person's list of hopeless…
That's why I will tell you about one book, Lasker’s "Manual of Chess", an absolute classic which isn't for everyone because the language is slightly arcane and there are not many examples of each theme. But it does give you the best explanation ever about Steinitz Theory, The Principal of Proportion, the Principle of Justice, the Principle of Attack, the Principle of Defence, all of which when I read in them at first - it seemed to me I had stumbled upon the secret to chess (or perhaps the first rung on the ladder to the secret of chess), and while I did put on about 200 rating points after discovering this book, it was later I read with some amusement Robert Hubner's very poignant quote “"Those who say they understand Chess, understand nothing." It’s true, but I realised it wasn't the information in the Lasker book that was important or made me a stronger player, the point was Lasker's manual of chess inspired me, it motivated me to look at the game from a fresh angle.
The most important thing that Lasker's Manual of Chess (if you actually read it) will give you is in the chapter “My Pupils”, there Lasker asks you (and he means YOU) if you want to be a good chess player? And if you answer yes, he tells you to think for yourself - but to head down the road started by Steinitz - and you know what? He's correct, he does not ask you to accept what people tell you about chess, in fact he tells you to be sceptical of almost everything - including himself! (There is a hilarious chapter where Lasker castigates Reti’s annotations of a game - and Lasker shows that Reti’s evaluation of the position was incorrect - right enough Lasker was a much better player than Reti). Learning to think of yourself - this is the real value of Lasker’s book, every other book that you read afterwards, you have this world champion’s words in your head - telling you not to be gullible and believe the latest system dreamed up by some IM or GM - but to judge it for yourself.
Every chess player will give you different list of recommended books, here’s my top list from the top of my head: “Lasker’s manual of Chess”, Lev Alburt’s “Chess Training Pocket Book” (300 positions you must know - I've read a couple of times and still don't know them all but it is very inspiring.), Kotov’s “Play like a Grandmaster” - just the introduction chapter about strategy and Steinitz Theory and his table of the elements of chess (there are many authors who have tried this but this is probably the best) unfortunately the book does not do what it says on the tin, a little known book buy Tony Kosten “101 Tips to Improve Your Chess” - an example and each page with three or four diagrams – great little book, another similar one is Israel Gelfer’s “Positional Chess Handbook” - this was pointed out to me in another book as a perfect example of how to note down different themes in the middle game, after which you should start compiling your own when you see something of interest that you have not seen before. I could go on about books, but as I say above some of the books I like you will hate, it is better to find your own and make your own mind up about them. At present I have had great motivation and great pleasure from watching Adrian Mikhalchishin’s Chessbase DVD’s, almost every little video on there has made me go wow! The thing is that these top people see is amazing, but few can point these out and explain them as well as Mikhalchishin – he inspires me as well.
You may think this is crazy, and very possibly it is but I think a crucial part of every chess players development is the ability to motivate themselves before the game and avoid having nerves, this is not so important obviously playing online because it doesn't mean so much, but before a game for my club in order to avoid nerves and motivate myself I make sure I have a fresh theme to think about before a game and during it too.
What I mean by that is before I play game over the board I try to always tell myself that it is more important to have some sort of theme in my head for the game than to just turn up and play. Usually this theme is the latest lesson I've been thinking about or learned from a book, I've turned up to games with the idea of thinking about all possible tactics, thinking about all possible ways of developing an attack, thinking about all possible ways of creating an endgame that I like, thinking about coloured complexes, thinking about how to exploit weaknesses in positions, thinking about Dan Heisman’s evaluation criteria (from his book Elements of Positional Evaluation), or his absolutely stunning concept about time management at the board “The Two Triggers” (which if you put into practice I guarantee you will put on rating points for you -you simply MUST look that up on Google.
One last point, I am not pretending that I am a good player but I hope that I am as good a player as I can be with the limited amount of time I have put into chess, and that I think is an important point. I will never be a master, but I will be to play decent club chess until my dying day, and I'll also be able to get great enjoyment out of watching those great players that I can understand but cannot emulate.
Hope this helps
I would suggest you focus more on the middlegame, and endgame. The Art of the Middlegame is a good little book to start off with. Here is my review:
http://blog.chess.com/SimonSeirup/the-art-of-the-middlegame-by-keres-amp-kotov
If you really want to study and spend alot of time studying chess books, Fundamental Chess Endings, and The Middlegame is very nice. Here is my review on the first of The Middlegame books:
http://blog.chess.com/SimonSeirup/review-the-middlegame-book-one---static-features-by-m-euwe-and-h-kramar
Hi! I've been playing chess since I was fifteen (I'm almost thirty now), but recently I have found a renewed vigour in the game. My skills are average at best, but I feel the more I play the more I learn. At this point though, I'm looking to take my game to the next, more "serious" level. In order to obtain that goal, my question is this: What books should I look into, what reference should I go to in order to elevate my game? I've been looking into some openings online, and taken a peek at a few endgame strategies, but I need more. As much as I love the internet, I'm one of the people that really enjoys hold a book in my hands and reading ink on paper. So, if anyone has any pointers or direction to give me for the next time I'm at the library or bookstore, I would greatly appreciate it.
-drew