Which Books To Start Out With?

Hello everyone!, 

I am new to this site, so may I introduce to you, the act you've known all these years... Sg... seriously, I am 19 and I suppose, in some way, I have become victim to another type of Bobby Fischer boom, if you will.  I started playing chess in 5th grade, when I joined a chess club at school and it was there I learned the rules and how the pieces move and the like.  On and off throughout the past 10 years or so, I have played, but it's been far and few inbetween due to lack of playing partners, mostly.  In fact, it's probably been a good 2 years since I last played a game with someone.  

Anyways, after hearing about the death of Bobby Fischer, I did some more research on his playing and, for some reason, it really reawakened my interest in chess and I now have a huge passion to get serious about it and really improve.  Simply put, I want to become the best I can be.  The problem is, due to the lack of playing, it's probably safe to still call myself a beginner.  I'm not a complete beginner, however; I know how the pieces move, I'm familiar with the rules, and I can read notation.  I'm also familiar with a couple of opening patterns, but, probably like most beginners, I'm more familiar with how they move as opposed to WHY.  After that, I am completely clueless on the board and it becomes more of a game of me just moving pieces, rather than having a coherant strategy and knowing which moves to make and WHY I should make them.  

 So I come to you on the tools I should equip myself with to remedy these issues and to where I can play a competent game of chess.  I am certainly cognizant of the fact that it takes time and, obviously practice is key, but any way to start out on fixing what I mentioned would be great.  I went to my local book store last night and picked up "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" and "Chess For Dummies."  The Fischer book was interesting, as it gave me more recognitions of checkmate and the like, but, of course, I need to know how to get there first.  I read nearly all of the "Chess For Dummies" book and, afterwards, I didn't really feel like it taught much.  Most software (i.e. Chessmaster) is also not possible, as I am on a Mac.  So any recommendations based on the criteria of my situation would be much appreciated.  Thanks!  

I recommend:

1.  Playing Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan 

2. Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide To Chess by Bruce Pandolfini 

Note: I have Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess and Chess for Dummies.  I very recommend the Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess and as for the Chess for Dummies it is good as it explain concepts in a written form.  I was recommend going over Ch 5 through Ch 14 again, as that where the main concepts of chess are in general.  Also, for the two recommend books, I would lean toward "Playing Winning Chess" but Pandolifini's book is good so compare what you would want?  I hope this helps.    

Check out Logical Chess , I have the old Chernev version , I think there is a newer one that has some more up to date games . These boks are excellent , as the author actually explains every single move .

my first book was samurai chess, Tactically it isn't that good, but it gave a lot of fun information in different chess situations, like how to sit (sun in your back, or right side), how to eat,  famous chess players, Aladdin, Shakespear, Deep Blue and a lot of others. It also contained the chess basics and some advanced stuff, Definitely worth reading, even if your not that interested in chess, its light reading.

As always, I'll recommend listening to a professional chess coach instead of me. Dan Heisman is a master and coach is highly acclaimed for teaching average beginner and intermediate players. He has a column at chesscafe.com called the Novice Nook. You can click the "archive" link to get to his articles. Start with these articles on a basic improvement plan, opening principles, and how to study tactics:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman53.pdf 

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman04.pdf 

--Fromper 

Yep! Those articles are very informative!

Good Call, Fromper!

I am in a simlar position with my game (although I didn't play when I was a kid) and thought I might put my two cents in.

I have read Chess for dummies and since when I started I didn't really know anything but how the pieces moved (and not even all the special moves for that matter) Chess for dummies helped a lot with basic basic theory and intoducing the concepts of beginning middle and end, tactics and provided a starting point.  anyone should probably get past this phase pretty quick I think, but I wouldn't discount it if you really are a newb or have never gotten taught or your head around any of the basic concepts.

As for other books on training I haven't used any (and am glad some have been suggested) and mainly thats because of the site here and wikipedia.  After looking at the chesscafe articles posted I am beginning to believe you can put together your entire system of improvement here (which I am sure is the point right erik?).  The few games I have posted have gotten good answers and help from people, looking up articles and previous games with  annotations and commentary has helped me with openings and a lot of theory, and with new arrivals even tactics might be helped around here.  So I guess what I'm saying is don't discount the community and help you get around here and keep posting becuase I am sure you'll get some of the help you need.

Now with my fanboism done I have read two chess relatied books since starting, but neither are training in anyway, just for fun.  I'd reccomend them both if you want a more rounded chess education (Since I am an old starter I figured if I wasn't going to be grandmaster I might as well fun read too)So if you need a book to read on your commute then here you go.

The Immortal game: a history of chess by David Shenk was an easy read that gives a pretty simple history of the game going back all the way and although it is not a training book it does use the immortal game with nice annotations as a back story to history.  A couple other goodies are there too with other annotated "legendary" games and Ben Franklin's Morals of Chess (a cool addition especially for us Americans).

And

Game of Kings by Michael Weinreb: about a year with the kids of Murrow High School definitely does not teach any tactics, but is a nice read none the less about the culture of chess in the U.S. and NYC today.  I really enjoyed it and made me wish I had played chess in highschool instead of the math team!

Anyways I know thats not exactly what you were looking for, but thats what I've read recently.

Have fun learning again,

Joe

Start with the 303 tatical puzzles books. This gives you a lot of boom for your buck. Anything else takes a lot of study coupled with trial and error. The tatical puzzles help you to recognize threats and create real threats. Without this you can't be effective. Openings should be next followed by some simple ending knowledge.  

 Surely not for a novice!

I was just about to buy the Pandolfini book on Amazon and spotted this review.

Simple: Pandolfini is someone who is a great name in chess, and yet he allowed Chapter 3 of the book (which gives the reader 20 chess puzzles to solve) and yet some 50% of them, have the wrong or inaccurate answers! The occasional error, is acceptable, when it comes to chess puzzles. But when the author is a Chess Master, allowing half of the first set of puzzles to go to print, with incorrect answers, is not on! It makes you wonder if the rest of the book is any more accurate. (For the most part, it is. But still....!)

It that correct?

 I agree that doing tactics puzzles is great practice, but the 303 puzzle books are certainly not the best out there. There are many others that give you a lot more good puzzles than that for the same amount of money. There's a reason both of Reinfeld's 1001 puzzle books are still considered the ultimate classics. 

And I agree that My System is probably too advanced for beginners, even though it's probably the one and only book in the world that I would be willing to bet has been read by every single grandmaster.

--Fromper 

I agree that Play Winning Chess is a great book for beginners.  It's actually part of a whole series, and I would recommend reading Winning Chess Tactics and Winning Chess Strategies to go along with the first.