What book to buy?

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TheGreatOogieBoogie

I have a $50 card and want to buy a couple of chess books.  Here is what's on my list:

Botvinnik: Move By Move

Pump Up Your Rating

Comprehensive Chess Endings Queen Endings

Secrets of Pawn Endings

Practical Chess Defence

School of Chess Excellence 2: Tactics

Starting Out: Minor Piece Endgames

Positional Sacrifices

All look great and I figure the Dvoretsky one with tactics is a good bridge until moving onto his Analytical Manual.  The Dvoretsky one also isn't just a puzzle book but gives the process of analysis and how to refine it within the context of judgment too. 

I already ordered a book on defense so maybe I should hold off on the advanced studies defense book (the Aagard one)

I can only order two at a time including shipping, so which books for now? 

gundamv

What books do you already have?

kikvors

What's your level and what's your goal? Improvement, reference, entertainment?

kramnik4exams

I own Botvinnik Move By Move and would instead recommend Tal-Botvinnik 1960 which I also own -- I studied the games from this book early last year and finished just a half-point out of the money in my section of the World Open, losing 3 games, one to the winner of the section, one to the winner of the bottom half of the section, the latter telling me I was his toughest opponent.  I believe my showing was based on my study of said book.

TheGreatOogieBoogie

Tal-Botvinnik sounds good but it sounds too specialized as it's just him against a certain type of opponent instead of how he performs against different styles of players.  Tal isn't exactly a patzer so we won't get those juicy one sided GM vs. FM or expert games critical to such collections.  Again it sounds like a great book but I'd need a general Botvinnik collection first. 

As to the books I have in order of favorite on down:

1.Fine's Basic Chess Endings and Heisman's Improving Chess Thinker tie for first.

2.Soltis' Turning Advantage into Victory in Chess and Kotov's Think Like a Grandmaster

3.Shereshevsky's Endgame Strategy and Aagard's Right Decision Chessbase CD.

4.Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (I've just started on the bishops of same color chapter) and Fritz Technique Trainer

5.LeMoir's How to Become a Deadly Chess Tactician and Renko's Course Tactics 2

6.Hansen's Improve Your Positional Chess

7.Aagard's Basic Positional Ideas

8.How to Think in Chess.  Mostly psychology jargon but does have some excellent puzzles for training creativity.

9.Modern Ways of Playing the Sicilian, Leningrad Dutch, and Van Geet Chessbase CDs and Byron and Jacobs' 1.b3 book, Schiller and Gufeld's Sicilian Dragon, Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom, Killer Chess Tactics, Standard Chess Openings,

So I've gathered quite a library over the years, but am missing some materials to round out my play.  I have Chessbase 12 and Big Database 2013 for plenty of games to study and practice on for random Stockyo exercises and self-annoation and comparing my conclusions to engines. 

 

The goal is definately improvement.  I can hold my own against experts for awhile and have a plus score against 1600's at the club so around class A or B, maybe even a C.  In 10 and even 2 minute games against 1200s I pick up dropped pieces and they never recover, even when one tricked me into playing 1.d4,d5 variations via transposition (1.Nf3,d5 2.d4 so now I go 1...Nf6 2...e6 usually).  I wrote down the game if anyone's interested and this was one his better games against me =)