New book planning

Hi, everybody! I am planning on writing a book for chess amateurs. I have already chosen some topics to be included and I would like to know what you would want to learn about most. Since I met many chess lovers online who want to improve their skills yet they cannot afford to take private lessons I figured this tool would be useful for them so in a way it will be a chess manual and then I am thinking to tell you what professional chess looks like  So any ideas?

It is good to include in it something on tactics and on openings nd on chess strategy . but simple ideas not complicated . 

Sounds like a great idea and both me and uncle Jalavan are sure you will fullfill this plan! Just get going and start imidieatly to turn plan into action. Your book will probably write itself as soon as you start. 😊

What level are you writing for? Anywhere from 500 to 1500 or so? Or maybe beginners under 1000? I might have some ideas. Please specify your target rating range.

What sort of material is it? Textual? General advice? Compendium of annotated games? 

Whatever it is, I pray that you avoid those lengthy, dry feeds of variations and sub-variations with those symbolic evaluations. They cause acute indigestion and bloating. 

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, or even if other amateurs would agree with me, but here are some of my thoughts: 

a) Systematically evaluating any given position and identifying candidate moves. There is a big challenge here. Masters, by correct play, arrive at some standard positions from known openings, and books take these examples to teach us how to evaluate these positions. But there can be all sorts of non-standard positions in amateur games, which arise out of early/late deviations (whether good or bad). At times I've resigned after 12-15 moves simply because I could not find a sensible/reasonable move in the position, and because it felt like torture even to think about it. The challenge for an amateur is to understand how to evaluate such non-standard positions, and to identify reasonable candidate moves.

b) How to get a deeper understanding. When we look at master games, we often come across strange exceptions to general principles we learned as beginners. Masters just seem to conjure up these exceptions at the drop of a hat. Obviously they understand something amateurs do not. I used to believe this is because masters could calculate many moves ahead, but I am told it is not so. So then, how can an amateur obtain such depth of understanding so she can confidently start applying it to her own games? Meditation is one way, but if there are other supplements I'm sure an amateur would love to try them.

More later.

Cheers.

In my opinion, the biggest mistake chess books tend to make is that they don't connect enough with the player. The author analyses some game, explains the reasoning behind moves, etc. - and the player is left wondering: "Okay, I understand all that, but how can I actually learn to make all these strong moves in my own games?" A little less dry analysis, and a little more advice on how to incorporate that analysis in one's play will go a long way! Try to not just provide information to players, but also to tell them how to process that information, how to try to find this information in their games, etc..

Well, what helped me to improve when I was young, was a book that is very similar

to "The Game of Chess" by Siegbert Tarrasch.

To make it easier for the beginning student, it begins with the End-Game,

since it is easier for the beginner to deal with a few pieces and to get a 'feeling' about them.

Then follows the heart of the book, an important and extensive discussion of the Middle Game.

Only then, it deals with the Opening.

Have a look ...

https://www.amazon.com/Game-Chess-Dover/dp/048625447X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498127181&sr=1-1&keywords=tarrasch

1.Beginners should work on their tactics if they want to improve their understanding of the chess position.

2.Memorize basic opening principle like bishop should always develop outside the pawn since then the bishop is not restricted by its own pawn, knight should not restrict mobility of its own pawn, for example, d4 d5, c4 followed by nc3 rather than d4 d5, nc3 since now you cannot push the c pawn and so your co-ordination of  the pieces is bad.

3. basic knowledge of endgame like opposition should be considered.

4. piece activity is more important for the cost of one or two pawns maybe.

5. basic checkmating position.

This knowledge should take the beginner players above 1200 certainly.

So this is going to be a generic chess book, like "better chess for average players" or "40 lessons for the club player", right?

One interesting topic which is rarely covered is blind spots. For example, I have trouble seeing Queen moves to attack a piece which involves the Queen moving further away from the piece it moves to attack. I believe there is a book about this called "Invisible Chess Moves", but apart from that one book I don't think it gets much coverage.

Wow, guys you really provided some valuable advice, I will try to make the most of them. While in university I learned that you really know that which you are able to explain to a 7-year old child. So I am figuring that explaining the basics of chess logic will help any amateur trying to improve his/her skills. What do you think?

Yes, to explain the basics of chess logic will help. And make them play from beginning on.

Simple positions... not too many pieces... and amateurs will understand and

learn by intuition and improve. They will not have to 'memorize' then...

Show examples that are more complex step by step.