Study through chess books: cool!

Hi all,

I'd like some opinions please. I have been playing chess for a about a year, coming out of the beginner face I understand most concepts and ideas behind the beginners phase of chess and want to get a little more serious and go deeper in chess. I decided to play only online chess (CC) for a while and study with the following three books of Silman to get deeper into the more subtle understandings of chess.

How to reassess your chess Vol 4

Complete endgame course

Amateurs mind

Are those three books a good choice? Is there a better combination of three books that would be recommended from any author is fine.

Secondly, the best way to study chess books is by setting up the positions on a real board right?

Thanks :)

You have 3 good books. Yes, I think setting up a real board is a good way to study. I think you're supposed to study Reassess before Amateurs Mind. The endgame book is good before, during, or after the others.

                 Dan Heisman has some good ideas on how to study the Silman books. Go to his home page.      Dan Heisman.com

Thanks guys,

I might actually start out with one book first. Which one would be best for that?

How many hours would it take to go through one of them? Could be done in two months?

Actually "The Amatures Mind" comes before "Reassess".At least according to Silman.

You have good books there TS. Study them well. Just add a tactic book, I suggest Chess Tactics For Champion by Polgar.

I thought Reassess taught all the imbalances that are to be used in Amateurs Mind. I could've forgotten.

Do at least the first few chapters of the endgame book first.

If you can't win easily winning positions, there's no point learning strategy.

I second what Scottrf says. Make sure you've got the first 3 or so chapters of Silman's endgame book down cold. It's not a bad sign if K+P v K starts appearing in your dreams.

As a corollary, I recommend this particular Novice Nook. Learning how to win won positions is probably the most critical first step to reliably beating others. And the method when applied will usually result in those simple endgames from the endgame book which you should be winning effortlessly.