Yesterday, I posted here about the 10 most popular books of all time according to the Harris Poll. But what about chess books? Which 10 chess books would you rank among the all-time best? It could also be your 10 favorite chess books or the 10 chess books which are most helpful to you. What is your top 10?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
My system
Tarrasch, Dreihundert Schachpartien
Réti, Modern Ideas in Chess
Alekhine, My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923
Nimzowitsch, My System
Botvinnik, *complete works*
Bronstein, Zurich 1953
Fischer, My 60 Memorable Games
Keres, Dreispringerspiel bis Kònigsgambit
Kasparov, The Test of Time
Chess Informant
I hope to see many posts on this because this will be interesting. I posted numerous books by Same author because they are equal to each other really and deserving all of the top 10. Mine are really in no particular ranking order
1) My System Nimzovitch
2) Zurich 1953 Bronstein
3) Attack with Mikhail Tal Tal & Damsky
4) My 60 Memorable Games by Fischer
5) Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy by Watson
6) My Great Predecessors Vol 1-5 (ill count this as one for what its worth
7) Comprehensive Chess Endings By Yuri Averbakh
8) Learn Chess from the World Champions by Levy
9) Dvoretsky’s books Opening preparation, Secrets of Chess Training, Secrets of Chess Tactics, Positional Play, Training for the Tournament Player, Technique for the Tournament Player, Attack and Defence, etc.
10)Anthology of Chess Combinations by Informant 64
Jimmie Beatty
Maryland USA
Also The Oxford Companion to Chess by Whyld and Hooper is the best reference chess book.
My favourite is “School of chess excellence” by Dvoretsky. It helped me to get from 1800 to 2100. It really shows how the position should be analyzed.
Larsen: 50 Selected Games
Nimzovitch: My System
Kasparov: My great predecessors
Dvoretski: Endgame Manual
Kotov: Think Like a Grandmaster
Hansen: Foundations of Chess Strategy
Hartston: How To Cheat At Chess
Aagaard: Excelling at chess
Rowson: Seven Deadly Chess Sins
Keres&Kotov: The Art of the Middle Game
Chess Tactics for Champions!
Breaking Through!
I have little doubt that the dvoretsky’s books (School of chess excellence – Tactics, Strategy and Endgame manual) a total of 3 books are the best. I can see this is recommened by a few others as well in this post. Other than that, the books that I have benefited from are Kasparov my great predecessors (all 5 volumes + Modern chess revolution). The best way to use the 5 volumes, is to pick an opening (looking at the index) and study how its progressed from 1850’s to the current by looking at only those opening games through all the books. This helps to understand why the main line is really the main line and how others have been refuted before.
Rather than list what I consider to be the “universal greats” of chess, here are some of the books that I found most helpful or spent the most time with in my chess career:
– “Best Lessons of a Chess Coach” – Sunil Weeramantry
– “The Mammoth book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games” – Nunn et al.
– “Sharpen your Tactics” – Anatoly Lien
– “The Reassess your Chess Workbook” – Jeremy Silman
I read “My System”and “Chess Praxis”, Perused “Modern Chess Strategy”, own “Zurich 1953” and the first volume of Kasparov’s Series “OMGP”, and own and very much enjoyed “Tal-Botvinik 1960” as well as many of the others listed here, but, given my level or style of learning, didn’t get much didactic help from them.
Brad Hoehne
Brad Hoehne
“Chess Fundamentals” by Jose R. Capablanca is a great book. It enticed me back into the game of chess. While many people focus on the opening game (which can be memorized), in this book, Capablanca focuses on winning strategies in the end game which is what makes chess a thinking game.
Sami K
There are only a few good books on the market. All rest is outdated or not on the required level. Here they are, randomly highlighted:
1. Kasparov’s Fighting Chess 1993-1998
2. Judit Polgar Princesa Del Ajedrez
3. Endgame Virtuoso Anatoly Karpov
4. Kasparov’s Fighting Chess 1999-2005
5. Judit Polgar: The Princess of Chess
6. A World Champion’s Guide to Chess, and
7. Breaking Through
I have some chess books, but I didn’t read them. Friends tricked me into buying, not saying I also need to buy chess board and pieces, for which I didn’t want to spend my money on.
I’m new here, can you please first tell me how many books on chess have been written until now?
“Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy by Watson”
I don’t trust magicians who reveal their secrets to the public.
I like all books written by Ivanchuk, grandmaster.
“Capablanca focuses on winning strategies in the end game which is what makes chess a thinking game.”
When chess players seem to be thinking, they may be just daydreaming? Otherwise, how come so many blunders?
The President`s Crown of Thorns and Curse of Kirsan are good stuff.
“Chess can be an obsession that takes over your life, whether you are a wood-pushing novice or a superstar grandmaster. British journalist Sarah Hurst was infected with chess fever at the age of 20 and spent seven years exploring the mysterious world of the amateur and professional player. In pursuit of interviews she slid down an icy hill in Hastings to catch a Chinese women’s world champion, chased Garry Kasparov around London, chatted cheerfully with a manic depressive in Budapest, and roamed the Russian steppe with Kalmyk Buddhists.”
Chess (Basics, Laws and Terms) by B.K. Chaturvedi is #1.
The Batsford Chess Encyclopedia by Nathan Divinsky
Two books I don’t think have yet been mentioned that many consider to be classics:
Reti’s “Masters of the Chessboard”
Timman’s “The Art of Chess Analysis”
BLACK IS SO-SO! by Adorejan.
MY WORST GAMES by Alexander Alekwine.
THE DELIGHTS OF CHESS AND SCIENCE FICTION by Assiac Assimov.
QUICKEST CHESS VICTORIES SINCE THE DAWN OF MAN by Graham Cracker.
KNIGHT AND BISHOP AND ROOK ENDINGS by Yurrey Haverback.
HOW GOOD IS YOUR CHEST by Dolly Parton.
THE KILLER SIMSON by Michael Baseman.
15 DAMES AND THEIR STORIES by Mikhail Buttvinnik.
PROFILE OF AN ALLERGY by Grady.
CHESS FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES by Jose Casablanca.
ILLOGICAL CHESS, MOVE BY MOVE by Irving Chernoblev.
THE TWO DAYS AND NIGHTS DEFENSE by Jakov Estrogin.
CHESS CATHOLICISM by Larry Evens (introduction by Reverand Guy Lombardy).
CHESS THE EASY WAY OUT by Reuben Find.
HOW TO BEAT EDMAR MEDNIS by Bobby Fisher.
MY 60 MEMORABLE INTERVIEWS by Bobby Fisher.
MY 60 MEMORABLE YEARS by Bobby Fisher.
I WAS TORTURED IN A JAPANESE JAILHOUSE by Bobbie Fisher.
BOB E. FISHER PREACHES HESS by Bob E. Fisher.
THE COMPLETE CHESS ATTIC by Michael J Fox.
CHESS TOURNAMENTS (400 AD – 1848) by Jeremy Gage.
CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO CHESS by Dennis Hooper and Billy Whyld.
CHESS EXCUSES: THEORY AND PRACTICES by Al Whorowitz.
CHESS IS MY AFTERLIFE by Anna Toly Karpoff.
101 DOMINATIONS by Kasparovian.
THE LAST BLACK KNIGHTS TANGO IN PARIS by Georgi Orloff.
PRAWN POWER IN CHESS by Hans Smoch.
IN THE DARK ROOM by George Coltanowsky.
MODERN CHESS OPENINGS, 100TH EDITION by Walter Kornball.
SMELL LIKE A GRANDMASTER by Kotoff.
MY SIS TEMM by Arron Nimzobitch.
NONE CHESS OPENINGS by No One.
LET’S NOT PLAY CHESS by Bruce Lee Pandolfeeny.
THE COMPLETE CHESS INTERCOURSE by Freddie Reinfelt.
THE SPANISH INQUISITION by Eric Schillert.
TAKE MY BOOKS by Yes Sir Seiriwon.
CATALOG OF CHESS FOOD by Andy Soultis. .
MY 6 MEMORABLE GAMES by Marc Taminoff.
MY WELL HUNG ROOK by Mark Taimonov.
500 GROB MINIATURES by Beale Wall.
THE SCOTCH TAPE by Peter Walls.
HOW NOT TO PAY CHESS by Znosko-Borokosky.
SEARCHING FOR CARRIE FISHER by Josh Whiteskin.
Chess for Match Players (William Winter)
New Ideas in Chess (Evans)
Basic Chess Endings
Practical Chess Endings (Keres)
Fundamental Chess Endings
My 60 Memorable Games
Survival Guide to Rook Endings
1993 Times World Chess Championships: Official Bulletins News International 0 1994
1993 United States Open Chess Championship Chessworks 0 1993
1993 World Open Chessworks 0 1993
1994 United States Open Chess Championship Chessworks 0 1994
1995 United States Open Chess Championship Chessworks 0 1995
An Autolexical Account of Subordinating Serial Verb Constructions University of Chicago 0 1993
Attacking the Castled King The Chess Player 0906042616 1986
Batsford Chess Openings Batsford 0713421142 1982
Batsford Chess Openings 2 Henry Holt 0805034099 1989
Black to play Classical Defenses and Win Chess Digest 0875682197 1993
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Chess Enterprises 0931462525 1985
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: Bogoljubow Variation Chess Enterprises 0945470460 1995
Cambridge Springs Defense Chess Enterprises 0931462614 1984
Cambridge Springs Defense: Expanded and Updated Edition Chess Enterprises 0931462320 1994
Caro Kann: 4…Nd7 Chess Enterprises 0931462266 1987
Catalan Chess Enterprises 0931462266/ 1983
Catalan (Revised Edition) Chess Enterprises 0931462754 1988
Complete Defense to King Pawn Openings Cardoza 0940685809 1998
DejaVu Chess Library Chessworks Unlimited 0 1994
DejaVu Chess Library Chessworks Unlimited 0 1993
Dr. Schiller’s Chess Game Zane 0 1997
Dr.Schiller’s How-To-Play-Chess Zane 0 1996
Easy Steps to Winning Chess Saitek 0 1990
Edward Lasker Memorial International Grandmaster Chess Tournament Marshall Chess Club 0 1981
Fianchetto Against the West Indians Chess Enterprises 0931462797 1988
First Chess Openings Cardoza 1580421520 2005
Frankenstein-Dracula Variation Chess Enterprises 0945470754 1999
French Winawer Poisoned Pawn Chess Enterprises 0931462746 1988
Gambit Opening Repertoire for Black Cardoza 0940685795 1998
Gambit Opening Repertoire for White Cardoza 0940685787 1998
Gruenfeld Defense: Russian Variations Chess Enterprises 0931462444 1985
Gruenfeld Defense: Russian Variations (Revised Edition) Chess Enterprises 0931462843 1988
Handbook of Tricky Opening Strategies in Chess Hardinge Simpole 1843821494 2004
How to play Black against the Staunton Gambit Chess Digest 0875682367 1993
How to Play the Albin Countergambit Chess Enterprises 9045470195 1991
How to Play the Belgrade Gambit Chess Digest 0875682944 1997
How to Play the Chigorin Defense in the Queen’s Gambit Declined Chess Enterprises 0945470118 1991
How to Play the Dilworth Attack Chess Enterprises 0945470525 1995
How to play the Fischer Attack in the Najdorf Sicilian Chess Digest 0875682545 1995
How to Play the From Gambit Chess Enterprises 0945470142 1992
How to Play the Goering Gambit Chess Enterprises 0945470630 1995
How to Play the King’s Indian Attack Chess Enterprises 0931462959 1989
How to Play the Queen’s Indian Chess Enterprises 0931462770 1995
How to Play the Reti Chess Enterprises 0931462789 1987
How to Play the Scotch Gambit Chess Enterprises 094547024X 1992
How to Play the Torre Attack Chess Digest 087568199/ 1991
How to Play the Torre Attack (Revised) Chess Digest 087568199 1995
How to Play the Winawer Countergambit Chess Digest 0875682723 1995
How to Win with Hypermodern Chess Strategy Hardinge Simpole 1843821052 2005
Improve Your Endgame Chess Enterprises 0945470665 1995
Janowski Indian Chess Enterprises 0931462975 1988
Joel Benjamin: Selected Games of the United States Champion Chess Enterprises 0945470738/ 1998
Kasparov’s Opening Repertoire Batsford 0713457449 1995
Learn from Bobby Fischer’s Greatest Games Cardoza 1580421202 2004
Learn from Garry Kasparov’s Greatest Games Cardoza 1580421466 2005
Modern Defense: Averbakh Lines Chess Enterprises 0931462819 1991
Modern Stonewall Dutch Chess Enterprises 0931462967 1989
Orthodox Variation Queen’s Gambit Declined Chess Enterprises 0931462347 1984
Panov Attack: Volume 1 Chess Enterprises 0945470436 1994
Panov Attack: Volume 2 Chess Enterprises 0945470479 1995
Panov Attack: Volume 3 (Fianchetto Var.) Chess Enterprises 0947470673 1998
Play the Tarrasch Pergamon 0080297471 1984
Saving Lost Positions Batsford 0020537700 1987
Sicilian Classical Richter Rauzer Chess Enterprises 093146272X 1987
Sicilian Defence: Yugoslav Attack with 9 Bc4 Chess Enterprises 0931462681 1987
Sicilian Modern Richter Rauzer Systems Chess Enterprises 0931462517 1986
Sicilian Richter Rauzer: Systems with 7…a6 Chess Enterprises 0931462665 1987
Spanish Gambits Batsford 0020290209 1987
Spanish Inquisition I: Zaitsev Variation Chess Enterprises 0931462894 1989
Spanish: Schliemann (Jaenisch) Batsford 0713442484 1983
Standard Chess Openings Cardoza 0940685728 1997
Strategy for Advanced Players Chess Digest 0875682022 1992
Tarrasch French: Guimard Variation Chess Enterprises 0945470029 1990
The Aggressive Nimzowitsch Sicilian Chess Digest 0875682456 1994
The Alekhine for the Tournament Player Batsford 0713415967 1985
The Alekhine for the Tournament Player (2nd ed.) Batsford 071346951X 1991
The Best of CLS: A selection of out of print papers from 1968 to 1975 Chicago Linguistic Society 0914203273 1988
The Big Book of Busts Hypermodern 1886040133 1995
The Big Book of Combinations Hypermodern 1886040141 1995
The Chessplayer’s Laboratory Volume 1 Hays 0486202909 1992
The Classical Caro-Kann Rejuvenated Chess Enterprises 0945470347 1994
The Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom (1st ed.) Cardoza 0940685930 1998
The Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom (2nd ed.) Cardoza 0940685930 2000
The Official Rules of Chess Cardoza 1580420257 2001
The Schliemann Defense Volume 1: Tartakower Variation Chess Enterprises 0945470320 1993
The Schliemann Defense Volume 2: Classical Variations Chess Enterprises 0945470606 1996
The Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack II Chess Enterprises 0931462886 1989
U.S.S.R. versus Rest of World The Chess Player 0906042585 1984
United States Chess Championship Bulletins Chess Digest 0 1972
Unorthodox Chess Openings Cardoza 0940685736 1997
Unorthodox Openings Batsford 0020165900 1987
Von Hennig-Schara Gambit Chess Enterprises 0945470207 1992
White to Play 1.e4 and Win Chess Digest 0875682065 1992
Who’s Afraid of the King’s Gambit Chess Enterprises 0931462908 1989
Who’s Afraid of the King’s Gambit (2nd Edition) Chess Enterprises 0945470681 1998
Wie spielt man Damenindisch Walter Rau Verlag 3791902687 1987
Wie spielt man die Reti-Eröffnung Walter Rau Verlag 3791902792 1988
Wie spielt man Katalanisch Walter Rau 3791902490 1986
Win with the Djin! Chess Enterprises 0945470401 1994
Winning with the Hypermodern Batsford 0713468742 1994
World Champion Openings Cardoza 0940685698 1996
“A GOOD CHESS BOOK IS A MATTER OF OPINION. There are thousands and more out each day! Pick ones that suit your style. Consider also other media like web pages, CDs, chess videos, chess audios to play in the car, etc.”
http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/
Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm
Sorry, but I simply can’t choose ten only.
A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire –Summerscale
The Chess Advantage in Black & White- Kaufman
Winning with the Najdorf –King
Complete Defense to Queen Pawn Openings Schiller
Winning with the Schliemann –Tseitlin
Dutch Defense: New and Forgotten Ideas-Minev, Donaldson
Complete Defense to 1.Pk4(A study of the Petroff’s Defense) –Hooper
Complete Defense to King Pawn Openings: Caro-Kann –Schiller
The Ruy Lopez: Winning Chess with 1. PK4 –Barden
The Benoni –hartston
The Modern Defence –Keene, Botterill
The King’s Indian Defense-Barden,Hartston, Keene
The Siclian Defense Book1 –Gligoric, V. Sokolov
The Siclian Dragon –Levy
The Sicilian Sozin – Kottnauer, Botterill, Harding
Ideas behind the Chess openings-Fine
Caro-Kann Defence- Suetin
The Classical Caro-Kann-Kasparov, Shakarov
The Gruenfeld Defence-Hartston
The Dynamic Caro-Kann –Silman
The Meran System –Pedersen
The Slav Defense –Sadler
The Ultimate King’s Indian Attack –Dunnington
Starting out: Benoni Systems –Raetsky,Chetverik
Winning with the Gruenfeld –Adorjan, Dory
The Complete benoni –Psakhis
An Unbeatable White repertoire –Evans, Smith
Trends: Benko Gambit –Jacobs
Nunn’s Chess openings-Nunn,Burgess,Emms,Gallagher
The Chigorin Queens Gambit –Dunningtopn
B12 Caro-Kann –Seirawan
The Sicilian Scheveningen –Kasparov,Nikitin
The Grand Prix Attack –Lane
The Ruy Lopez Exchange –Panczyk, Ilczuk
How to play the Albin Counter Gambit- Schiller
New Ideas in the Four Knights –Nunn
Mystery of Najdorf – Raicevic,Jukic,Boto
Chess Informant No. 2, 20,21
New In Chess No. 80
Open Ruy Lopez C80-81 –Korchnoi
Chess openings traps and zaps –Pandolfini
Winning with the closed Sicilian –Lane
Surveys: 34 Opening Variations
Grandmaster Secrets: Endings –Soltis
Granmaster Secrets : Openings –Soltis
Chess Fundamentals –Capablanca, de Firmian
Analyzing th end game –Speelman
The Middle game Book 1 –Euwe,Kramer
My System –Nimzovich
Turning Advantage into victory in chess –Soltis
Winning Chess Tournaments for juniors –Snyder
The Middle Game in chess –Fine
200 Challenging Chess Puzzles –Greif
Combinations The Heart of Chess-Chernev
The King Hunt –Cozens
Development of a chessmaster-Schiller
The Final Countdown- Hajenius,van Riemsdijk
Practical Knight Endings – Mednis
Practical Chess Endings: Keres
Chess Endings Essential Knwoledge – Averbakh
The Chess Sacrifice –Vukovic
303 Tactical Chess Puzzles-Wilson,Albertson
Master The Game of Chess – Sehgal
Winning with chess Psychology –Benko, Hochberg
From Beginner to expert in 40 Lessons –Kostyev
Training For the Tournamnet Player-Dvoretsky,Yusupov
How to play good opening moves-Mednis,Hochberg
Chess Catechism –Evans
Alexander on Chess –Alexander
The Art of Defense In Chess- SOltis
The Art of Positional Play –Reshevsky,Hochberg
3 Steps To Chess Mastery –Suetin
Attack & Defence in Modern Chess Tactics-Pachman
The Art of Chess –MASon
Easy Endgame Stategies – Robertie
The 10 Common Chess Mistakes –Evans
A World Champions Guide to Chess –Susan Polgar
Chess Tactics For Champions –Susan Polgar
Guide to Good Chess – Purdy
# Teach Yourself Visually Chess –Edwards
*Complete Chess Strategy 1 -3 –Pachman
*Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur-Euwe, Meiden
Master Class Typical Mistakes –Mcdonald
Mastering Chess Tactics –Mcdonald
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess –Wolf
Comprehensive Chess Endings 1 -5 – Averbakh,Maizelis,Kopaev,Chekover
Chess For Beginners –Horowitz
Chess Board Magic –Chernev
Planning in Chess- Flesch
Chess for Fun & Chess for blood- Ed Lasker
Chess Endings Made Simple –Snape
Wining Chess –Chernev, Reinfeld
Inside the Chess Mind-Aagaard
Secrets of Rooks Endings-Nunn
Understanding Chess Move by move –Nunn
Improve Your Chess now- Tisdall
New Ideas In Chess –Evans
Winning Chess Tactics For Juniors –Hays
Chess Endings For the practical player
School of Chess Excellence VOl. 1 to 4 –Dvoretsky
Secrets of Chess Training –Dvoretsky
Attack and Defense- Yusupov, Dvoretsky
The Middle Game book 2 –Euwe,Kramer
Play Like a GM –Kotov
Think Like a Gm –Kotov
Train Like a GM –Kotov
The Soviet School of Chess- Kotov, Yudovich
A Contemporary Approach to the Middlegame –Suetin
Plan Like a GM –Suetin
Understanding the Sacrifice-Dunnington
Chess Endgame training –Rosen
Pandolfinis’ Endgame Course –Pandolfini
How to use Computers to Improve Your Chess –Kongsted
Understanding Pawn play in chess –Marovich
The Art of Chess Combination- Znosko-Borovsky
The Soviet Chess Conveyor-Shereshevsky
The Art of planning in chess-Mcdonald
Defence and Counterattack- Florian
Why You lose at chess –harding
How to calculate chess tactics-Beim
The Art of Attack in chess –Vukovic
The brilliant touch in chess –Korn
Winning Chess Tactics –Seirawan,Silman
Chess At the top 1979 to 1984 –Karpov
Beyond the 13th Move –Torre
Gary Kasparov’s Fighting Chess-Kasparov,Speelman,Wade
My Best Games of Chess 1935-1957-Smyslov
Reshevsky’s Best games of chess- Reshevsky
Jon Speelman’s Best Games of Chess – Speelman
Devlopment of a GM –Adams
Morphy’s Game of Chess –Sergeant
The Chess Games of Adolph ANderssen –Burnett,Pickard
John Nunn’s Best Games –Nunn
Chess Praxis –Nimzovich
Nimzovich –The Hypermodern –Reinfeld
Grandmaster Achievement –Polugaevsky
Mikhail Tal’s Best Games of Chess –Clarke
The Closed Openings in action –Karpov
The Development of A Chess Style –Euwe,Nunn
My Life and Games –Kramnik,Damsky
My 300 Best Games –Karpov
The Games of Anatoly Karpov –O’conel,Adams
My Best games of chess VOl 1 1908 -1923 –Alekhine
100 Instructive games of Alekhine –Reinfeld
CJS Purdy;s Fine art of Annotation Vol. 1 to 3 –Purdy
My 60 Memorable Games –Fischer
Learn from Bobby Fischer’s Games –Schiller
How to beat Bobby Fischer –Mednis
Bobby Fischer: from genius to legend –Gufeld
Profile of A Prodigy –Brady
How Fischer Plays Chess- Levy
Bobby Fischer and His approach to chess-Agur
The Immortal Games of Capablanca –Reinfeld
The Art of Sacrifice in chess –Rudolph Spielman
Botinnik’s 100 Selected Games 1926-1946 –Botvinnik
Kasparov’s VOl. 1-6 –Chess Asia
Tigran Petrosian: His life and Games –Vasiliev
Spassky’s 100 Best Games –Cafferty
The Games of Robert James Fischer – O’Connell
Kasparov’s Chess Openings-Borik
#Achieving the aim –Botvinnik
Interview with a GM –Summerscale
My best Games –Karpov
A Memorial to Steinitz –Devide
The Test of Time –Kasparov
My 50 Years of Chess- Marshall
Fire on Board: Shirov’s Best Games – Shirov
Why Lasker Matters-SOltis
The Blockade-Nimzovich
William Steinitz:Selected Chess Games –Devide,Hooper
My Chess Carrer-Capablanca
Anatoly Karpov: His road to the world championship –Botvinnik
The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal- Tal, Nunn,Chandler
Gary Kasparov:His career in chess-Yudovich
Tigran Petrosian : Master of Defense 1946 to 1963 –Clarke
Aron Nimzovitch: Master of planning –Keene
These chess books are the only worthwhile reading. Why? Because they have won awards, so they are not junk in any way. You know, like Oscars?
Aagaard, Jacob • Excelling at Chess • ChessCafe Award 2002
Anand, Vishy • My Best Games of Chess • BCF Award 1998
Bronstein, David & Tom Furstenberg, • The Sorcerer’s Apprentice • BCF Award 1996
Burgess, Graham • The Mammoth Book of Chess • BCF Award 1997
Denker, Arnold • The Bobby Fischer I Knew & Other Stories • Cramer Award 1996
Dvoretsky, Mark • Secrets of Chess Training • BCF Award 1991
Gershon, Alik and Igor Nor • San Luis 2005 • ECF Award 2007
Hilbert, John • Essays in American Chess History • Cramer Award 2002
Hilbert, John • Napier: The forgotten chessmaster • Cramer Award 1998
Hilbert, John • Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker • ChessCafe Award 2000
Hilbert, John • Young Marshall • Cramer Award 2003
Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld • The Oxford Companion to Chess • BCF Award 1993
Kasparov, Garry • My Great Predecessors, Part I • BCF Award 2003
Kasparov, Garry • Kasparov on Fischer : My Great Predecessors, Part IV • BCF Award 2005
Khmelnitsky, Igor • Chess Exam and Training Guide • Cramer Award 2005
Korchnoi, Victor • My Best Games (Games With White) • BCF Award 2001
Marin, Mihail • Learn from the Legends • ChessCafe Award 2005
Muller, Karsten & Frank Lamprecht • Fundamental Chess Endings • BCF Award 2002
Nunn, John • John Nunn’s Best Games • BCF Award 1995
Nunn, John • Understanding Chess Move by Move • ChessCafe Award 2001
Nunn, John and Peter Griffiths • Secrets of Grandmaster Play • BCF Award 1988
Sadler, Matthew • Queen’s Gambit Declined • BCF Award 2000
Schultz, Don • Chessdon • Cramer Award 2000 (memoirs)
Silman, Jeremy and Pal Benko • Pal Benko : My Life, Games, and Compositions • BCF Award 2004, ChessCafe Award 2004, Cramer Award 2004
Dude, everybody knows the oscars are shit! They gave Best Film to “Rocky” the same year they had “Taxi Driver” and “All The President’s Men”. You just proved the point by talking about Kasparov’s book. Advice about the whole series has been really uneven, but there were so many flawed analysis and historical inaccuracies in the first volume that he even got Dvoretsky (founder of some of the flaws) to join him for the next volumes. Check, for example, the review on the second volume by Taylor Kingston in Chess Cafe Archives:
http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/reviews.htm
Nobody talked about Vukovic’s “Art of Attack In Chess”, which is a GREAT book! “Life And Games Of Mikhail Tal” is also priceless!
Bruno
to Anonymous of
Thursday, April 10, 2008 10:13:00 AM CDT
This post was great fun for me. I liked particularly
MY WORST GAMES by Alexander Alekwine.
PROFILE OF AN ALLERGY by Grady.
CHESS THE EASY WAY OUT by Reuben Find.
I WAS TORTURED IN A JAPANESE JAILHOUSE by Bobbie Fisher.
CHESS EXCUSES: THEORY AND PRACTICES by Al Whorowitz.
CHESS IS MY AFTERLIFE by Anna Toly Karpoff.
101 DOMINATIONS by Kasparovian.
THE LAST BLACK KNIGHTS TANGO IN PARIS by Georgi Orloff.
PRAWN POWER IN CHESS by Hans Smoch.
IN THE DARK ROOM by George Coltanowsky.
MODERN CHESS OPENINGS, 100TH EDITION by Walter Kornball.
SMELL LIKE A GRANDMASTER by Kotoff.
MY SIS TEMM by Arron Nimzobitch.
NONE CHESS OPENINGS by No One.
LET’S NOT PLAY CHESS by Bruce Lee Pandolfeeny.
THE COMPLETE CHESS INTERCOURSE by Freddie Reinfelt.
THE SPANISH INQUISITION by Eric Schillert.
TAKE MY BOOKS by Yes Sir Seiriwon.
MY 6 MEMORABLE GAMES by Marc Taminoff.
SEARCHING FOR CARRIE FISHER by Josh Whiteskin.
Just a remark on a side – I know players who barely read chess books and they still can play on a master level. On the other hand, a good friend of mine has a chess library in his house and he’s a complete amateur..
Re: “I know players who barely read chess books and they still can play on a master level. On the other hand, a good friend of mine has a chess library in his house and he’s a complete amateur..”
Different people have different learning styles. I feel I have been helped immensely by books. I have friends that became very good players just playing. (Whereas I struggled to develop a “theory of chess” in my mind.)
Nakamura claims that he never read a chess book. I wonder if this is true.
Brad Hoehne
“Anonymous said…
Just a remark on a side – I know players who barely read chess books and they still can play on a master level. On the other hand, a good friend of mine has a chess library in his house and he’s a complete amateur..”
Yes, but I bet he has more money than you. Many non-professional chess masters are pretty much stuck financially unless they apply their knowledge of chess more to real life than the 64 squares.
Your friend mastered a different kind of chess. Ask him if he wants to be a sponsor for chess tournaments.
Dvoretsky – secrets of chess training
Dvoretsky – endgame manual
Silman – complete endgame course
Silman – reasses your chess
D. Lemoir – How to become a deadly chess tactician
Mark Buckley – practical chess analyse
Jonathan Tissdall – improve your chess now
1. Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
2. My 60 Memorable Games
3. Tal-Botvinnik WC 1960 (Tal’s book)
4. Chess the Easy Way (R. Fine)
5. Secrets of Rook Endings (Nunn)
6. Achieving the Aim (Botvinnik)
7. A Primer of Chess (Capablanca)
8. Masters of the Chessboard (Reti)
9. Computer Chess 1 and 2 (Welsh and Baczynskij)
10. Inside Deep Blue (Hsu)
10 Books I would like to burn:
Sex Marchers (Book about legions of children running away fm “Uncle” Sam Slaoni)
Khowar English Dictionary (Sams first attempt at picking up desert women. He got lucky with one and a three legged camel.)
Chinese Chess for Beginners (Since he’s no good at classical chess)
How to Take over an American Public Company (or destroy a Chess Federation)
The Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson (aka the multi-colored children of Sam)
The Farm Book by Thomas Jefferson with light notes and annotations
(Sam’s illicit fun with animals)
Mafia Moll: The Judith Exner Story, The Life of the Mistress of John F. Kennedy (Crib notes from Sam’s mother’s working notes)
Pedophilia on a budget. (No explanation required)
How to be a rat and steal the cheese. (That dirty rat, Sam)
Old men and the chess players who hate them. (Typical Slaoni garbage)
Anything by Reinfeld must make the list.
If you want to really learn the basic and understand the different layers that exist in Chess, Jeremy Silman’s “How to reassess your Chess” should be up there with the best of them.
“Nakamura claims that he never read a chess book. I wonder if this is true.”
He lies, as did President Clinton when asked about being perverted.
TITLE AUTHOR COPYRIGHT # OF PAGES
HarDback
or
PaperBack
1 1000 Best Short Games Of Chess, The Chernev 1955 563 pb
2 1001 Brilliant Ways To Checkmate Reinfeld 1955 224 pb
3 107 Great Chess Battles – 1939-1945 – Alexander Alekhine Winter 1980 254 pb
4 1990 World Chess Championship – Karpov vs. Kasparov, The Wall 1991 105 pb
5 365 Ways To Checkmate Gallagher 2004 208 pb
6 500 Caro-Kann Miniatures Wall 1991 102 pb
7 500 French Miniatures Wall 1984 125 pb
8 Adventures Of Chess, The Lasker 1949 296 pb
9 All About Chess Horowitz 1958 197 pb
10 Amateur’s Mind, The Silman 1995 274 pb
11 Anatoly Karpov: The Road To The World Chess Championship Byrne 1976 177 pb
12 Application Of Chess Theory, The Geller 1984 263 pb
13 Art Of Chess Combination Znosko-borovsky 1959 212 pb
14 Art Of Chess, The Mason 1947 278 pb
15 Art Of Defense In Chess, The Soltis 1975 262 pb
16 Art Of Positional Play, The Reshevsky 1976 333 pb
17 Art Of Sacrifice In Chess, The Spielmann 1951 197 pb
18 Art Of The Middle Game, The Keres/Kotov 1964 238 pb
19 Attack And Counterattack In Chess Reinfeld 1954 154 pb
20 B-12 (Caro-Kann) Seirawan 1993 93 pb
21 Baroque Chess Openings (How To Play Your Betters At Chess) Wincor 1972 116 hd
22 Basic Chess Endings Fine 1941 573 pb
23 Battle Of Chess Ideas Saidy 1972 160 hd
24 Beating The Caro-Kann With The Advance Variation Soltis 1993 103 pb
25 Beating The Grufeld Karpov 1992 192 pb
26 Benko Gambit, The Benko 1973 143 hd
27 Benoni, The Hartson 1969 111 hd
28 Best Chess Games Of Boris Spassky, The Soltis 1973 288 hd
29 Best Lessons Of A Chess Coach Weeramantry/Eusebi 1993 322 pb
30 Best Of Chess Life And Review Vo1 2, The Pandolfini 1988 583 pb
31 Best Of Chess Life And Review Vo1 I, The Pandolfini 1988 611 pb
32 Best of Lone Pine 1971 – 1980 Grefe/Waterman 1981 235 pb
33 Bird-Larsen Attack Soltis 1989 106 pb
34 Bishop v Knight – The Verdict Mayer 1997 224 pb
35 Bobby Fischer Goes To War Edmonds/Eidinow 2005 342 pb
36 Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories, The Denker/Parr 1995 359 pb
37 Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess Fischer 1966 334 pb
38 Bobby Fischer vs. The Rest Of The World Darrach 1974 240 hd
39 Bobby Fischer: Profile Of A Prodigy Brady 1965 435 pb
40 Book Of The Nottingham International Chess Tournament, The Alekhine 1937 291 pb
41 Botvinniks Best Games Of Chess 1947-1970 Botvinnik 1972 237 hd
42 Cambridge Springs Defense Schiller 1984 101 pb
43 Capablanca’s 100 Best Games Of Chess Golombeck 1978 265 pb
44 Caro-Kann 4…N-KB3 (pamphlet) Chess Digest 1982 54 pb
45 Caro-Kann Defence Suetin 1983 159 pb
46 Catalog Of Chess Mistakes Soltis 1979 213 pb
47 Catastrophe In The Opening Neishtadt 1980 271 hd
48 Center Counter Grefe/Silman 1983 95 pb
49 Center Counter Uprising Dunne/Taylor 1990 49 pb
50 Center Counter! Hodges 1994 67 pb
51 Chess – A Celebration Of 2000 Years Finkenzeller, Ziehr 1989 208 hd
52 Chess – 5334 Problems, Combinations, And Games Polgar 1994 1104 pb
53 Chess Brilliancy – 250 Historic Games From The Masters Damsky 2002 224 pb
54 Chess Catechism Evans 1970 250 pb
55 Chess Coaching Littlewood 1991 153 pb
56 Chess Combination As A Fine Art Golz/Keres 1989 255 pb
57 Chess Combination from Philidor to Karpov, The Keene 1977 162 hd
58 Chess Companion Chernev 1968 287 pb
59 Chess Competitors Handbook, The Kazic 1980 229 pb
60 Chess Computer Book, The Harding 1981 215 pb
61 Chess For Beginners Horowitz 1950 132 pb
62 Chess For Fun & Chess For Blood Lasker 1942 224 pb
63 Chess From Morphy To Botvinnik – A Century Of Chess Evolution Konig 1950 202 hd
64 Chess Fundamentals Capablanca 1949 246 pb
65 Chess Is My Life Korchnoi 1978 167 hd
66 Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur Euwe/Meiden 1963 315 pb
67 Chess Master vs. Chess Master Euwe/Meiden 1997 367 hd
68 Chess Master…At Any Age Wetzell 1994 300 pb
69 Chess Of Bobby Fischer, The Burger 1975 345 pb
70 Chess Of Gligoric, The Levy 1972 191 hd
71 Chess On The Net Crowther 2001 127 pb
72 Chess On The Web Hurst 1999 144 pb
73 Chess Openings For You, The Evans 1975 155 pb
74 Chess Openings: Theory And Practice Horowitz 1964 789 pb
75 Chess Sacrifice Vukovic 1968 219 hd
76 Chess Secrets I Learned From The Masters Lasker 1951 428 pb
77 Chess Strategy In Action Watson 2003 288 pb
78 Chess Struggle In Practice, The Bronstein 1978 498 pb
79 Chess Tactics And Strategy Burgess 1997 537 hd
80 Chess Tactics For Advanced Players Averbakh 1992 328 pb
81 Chess The Easy Way (two copies) Fine 1942 186 pb / hd
82 Chess Traps, Pitfalls, And Swindles Horowitz,Reinfeld 1954 243 pb
83 Chess World Championship 1972 – Fischer vs. Spassky Evans 1973 261 pb
84 Chess: The Way To Win! Young 1960 191 hd
85 Chessmastery By Question And Answer Reinfeld 1961 185 pb
86 Classic Chess Problems By Pioneer Composers Howard 1970 108 pb
87 Classical Caro-Kann, The Karparov/Shakarow 1984 166 pb
88 Colle System Koltanowski 1990 87 pb
89 Colle’s Chess Masterpieces Reinfeld 1936 92 pb
90 Combination Challenge! Hays/Hall 1991 230 pb
91 Combinations: The Heart Of Chess Chernev 1960 245 pb
92 Complete Benko Gambit, The (first edition and the second edition) Fedorowicz 1990 233 pb / pb
93 Complete Book Of Chess Openings, The Reinfeld 1956 182 pb
94 Complete Book Of Chess Stratgems Reinfeld 1958 188 pb
95 Complete Book Of Chess, The I.A. Horowitz/RoThenberg 1963 372 pb
96 Complete Chessplayer, The Reinfeld 1953 292 pb
97 Complete Defense To Queen Pawn Openings Schiller 1998 276 pb
98 Complete Pirc, The Nunn 1989 215 pb
99 Comprehensive Chess Openings Vol I Estrin/Panov 1980 271 hd
100 Comprehensive Chess Openings Vol II Estrin/Panov 1980 192 hd
101 Comprehensive Chess Openings Vol III Estrin/Panov 1980 278 hd
102 Comprehensive Chess Strategy Vol I Pachman 1975 166 pb
103 Comprehensive Chess Strategy Vol II Pachman 1976 181 pb
104 Computer Chess Pachman/Muhnmund 1980 186 pb
105 Computer Chess Compendum Levy 1988 440 pb
106 Confessions Of A Chess Grandmaster Soltis 1990 365 pb
107 Decisive Games In Chess History Pachman 1972 259 pb
108 Development Of Chess Style, The Euwe 1966 152 pb
109 Developments In The King’s Gambit 1980-88 Bangiev 1988 60 pb
110 Duals Of The Mind – Twelve Best Games Of Chess, The Keene 1991 96 hd
111 Dutch Defense Christiansen/Silman 1989 217 pb
112 Dynamic Caro-Kann, The Silman 1989 182 pb
113 Dynamic Chess Coles 1966 195 pb
114 Emanuel Lasker – The Life Of A Chess Master (two copies) Hannak 1952 320 pb / hd
115 Encyclopedia Of Chess, The Sunnucks 1970 587 pb
116 End Game Lawson 1994 253 hd
117 Endgame Challenge! Hall 1995 222 pb
118 Essential Chess Endings Explained Move By Move – Volume I (revised 2nd edition) Silman 1988 221 pb
119 Essential Chess Endings Volume II Ken Smith 1992 292 pb
120 Essential Chess Quotations (pamphlet) Knudsen 1998 48 pb
121 Evans On Chess Evans 1974 125 pb
122 First Piatigorsky Cup Reshevsky/Kashdan 1965 204 hd
123 Fischer Favorite: The King’s Indian Attack, A (pamphlet) Tangborn ? 32 pb
124 Fischer Spassky: NY Times Report Roberts 1972 218 pb
125 Fischer versus Spassky Golombek 1973 138 hd
126 Fischer vs Spassky Gligoric 1972 128 pb
127 Fisher v. Spassky Alexander 1972 144 pb
128 French Defense Gligoric 1975 309 pb
129 From The MiddleGame Into The EndGame Mednis 1987 220 pb
130 Gambits Burgess 1995 112 pb
131 Game Of Chess, The Tarrasch 1935 423 pb
132 Garry Kasparov – New World Chess Champion Kasparov/Neat 1986 115 pb
133 Grandmasters Of Chess Schonberg 1972 345 hd
134 Great Chess Upsets Reshevsky 1977 312 pb
135 Grunfeld Defence, The Hartston 1971 182 hd
136 Guide To Chess Endings, A Euwe/Hooper 1976 248 pb
137 Guide To Tournament Chess Lombardy/Daniels 1978 132 pb
138 How Chessmasters Think Schmidt 1949 125 pb
139 How Computers Play Chess Levy/Newborn 1991 246 pb
140 How Fischer Plays Chess Levy 1975 158 hd
141 How Karpov Wins Mednis 1975 383 pb
142 How Not To Play Chess Znosko-borovsky 1959 119 pb
143 How To Be A Winner At Chess Reinfeld 1954 180 pb
144 How To Beat Bobby Fischer Mednis 1974 246 pb
145 How To Become A Candidate Master Dunne 1986 250 pb
146 How To Defeat A Superior Opponent Mednis 1989 312 pb
147 How To Get Better At Chess Evans/Silman/Roberts 1991 254 pb
148 How To Get The Most From Your Chess Computer Kaplan 1980 138 pb
149 How To Improve Your Chess Horowitz/Reinfeld 1952 198 pb
150 How To Learn From Your Defeats Karpov 1985 105 pb
151 How To Open A Chess Game Evans/Gligoric/Reshevsky 1974 227 hd
152 How To Play Black Against The Staunton Gambit Shiller/Colias 1993 142 pb
153 How To Play Chess Like A Champion Reinfeld 1956 192 pb
154 How To Play Good Opening Moves Mednis 1982 128 pb
155 How To Play The Caro-Kann Defense Keene 1988 107 pb
156 How To Play The King’s Indian Attack Schiller 1989 102 pb
157 How To Play The Middle Game In Chess Littlewood 1974 192 hd
158 How To Play The Opening In Chess Levy/Keene 1974 224 hd
159 How To Play The Torre Attack Schiller 1991 156 pb
160 How To Play Winning Chess Reinfeld 1962 188 pb
161 How To Reassess Your Chess (2nd Edition) Silman 1996 225 pb
162 How To Win At Chess Horowitz 1968 234 hd
163 How To Win In The Chess Endings Horowitz 1957 234 hd
164 How To Win In The Chess Openings Horowitz 1951 191 pb
165 How To Win In The Middle Game Of Chess Horowitz 1955 190 pb
166 Ideas Behind The Chess Openings Fine 1943 240 pb
167 If You Must Play Chess Denker 1947 190 hd
168 Illustrated Dictionary Of Chess, An Brace 1977 320 hd
169 Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces Stohl 2001 320 pb
170 Invitation to Chess – A Picture Guide To The Royal Game, An Chernov/Harkness 1945 221 hd
171 Invitation To Chess, An Chernev 1945 221 hd
172 John Nunn’s Chess Puzzle Book Nunn 1999 208 pb
173 Joys Of Chess, The Reinfeld 1961 288 hd
174 Judgement And Planning In Chess Euwe 1953 190 pb
175 Kasparov And Deep Blue – The Historic Chess Match Between Man And Machine Pandolfini 1997 171 pb
176 Kasparov v Deeper Blue King 1997 112 pb
177 Kasparov v Karpov Kasparov/Geller/Lein/Chepizhny 1991 150 pb
178 Killer Grob, The Basman 1991 175 pb
179 King Pawn Openings Marovic/Susic 1972 272 hd
180 King Power In Chess Mednis 1982 356 pb
181 King’s Gambit As White Raingruber/Maser 1995 206 pb
182 Kings Indian Attack Smith/Hall 1991 247 pb
183 King’s Indian Defence, The Barden/Hartson/Keene 1973 334 hd
184 Kings Of Chess – Chess Champions Of The Twentieth Century Winter 1966 271 pb
185 Lasker’s Manual Of Chess Lasker 1932 349 pb
186 Learn From Garry Kasparov’s Greatest Games Schiller 2005 240 pb
187 Leningrad Dutch, The DeVault 1992 266 pb
188 Leningrad Dutch, The Ehlvest 1993 139 pb
189 Leningrad Dutch, The Harding 1976 179 hd
190 Lessons From My Games Fine 1958 225 hd
191 Lessons With The Masters Evans/Smith 1989 133 pb
192 Lisitsin Gambit, The Gordon 1994 74 pb
193 Logical Chess – Move By Move Chernev 1957 250 pb
194 Mammoth Book Of Chess Burgess 1997 537 pb
195 Mammoth Book Of The World’s Greatest Chess Games, The Burgess/Nunn/Emms 1998 624 pb
196 March Of Chess Ideas Saidy 1994 321 pb
197 Master Game, The James/Barden 1979 136 pb
198 Mastering The French With The Read And Play Method McDonald/Harley 1997 191 pb
199 Mastering The King’s Indian Defence With The Read And Play Method Bellin/Ponzetto 1990 204 pb
200 Mastering The Modern Benoni & Benko Gambit With The Read And Play Method Bellin/Ponzetto 1990 165 pb
201 Mastering The Nimzo-indian With The Read And Play Method Kosten 1998 141 pb
202 Mastering The Spanish With The Read And Play Method King/Ponzetto 1993 245 pb
203 Mate In Two Moves – The Two Move Chess Problem Made Easy Harley 1931 216 pb
204 Middle Game In Chess, The Fine 1952 442 pb
205 Middle Game, The – Book One: Static Features Euwe/Kramer 1994 253 pb
206 Middle Game, The – Book Two: Dynamic… Features Euwe/Kramer 1994 279 pb
207 Mikhail Tal – Tactical Genius Raetsky/Chetverik 2004 160 pb
208 Modern Approach To Bird’s Opening, A (pamphlet) Picket 1975 28 pb
209 Modern Chess Opening Traps Lombardy 1972 336 pb
210 Modern Chess Openings (12th Edition) Korn 1982 457 pb
211 Modern Chess Strategy Lasker 1951 217 pb
212 Modern Chess Strategy Pachman 1963 314 pb
213 Modern Ideas In Chess Reti 1943 181 pb
214 Modern Ideas In The Chess Openings Horowitz 1953 167 pb
215 Modern Openings In Theory And Practice, The Sokolsky 1972 241 hd
216 Most Instructive Games Of Chess Ever Played, The Chernev 1965 277 hd
217 Move By Move (pamphlet) Abramov 1973 37 pb
218 My 60 Memorable Games Fischer 1969 384 hd
219 My Best Games Of Chess 1908-1937 Alekhine 1927 284 pb
220 My Best Games Of Chess 1924-1937 Alekhine 1939 285 hd
221 My Best Games Of Chess 1935-1957 Smyslov 1958 154 pb
222 My System Nimzovich 1930 372 pb
223 New Ideas In Chess Evans 1972 185 pb
224 New Ideas In Old Settings (3 Q-B3 Against The Caro-Kann) Goldman – 77 pb
225 official Rules Of Chess – Second Edition Morrison 1978 122 pb
226 Open Gambits Botterill 1986 141 pb
227 Opening Repertoire for Black, An Marovic/Parma 1978 156 hd
228 Opening Systems For Competitive Chess Players Hall 1992 192 pb
229 Pal Benko – My Life, Games And Compositions Benko/Silman 2003 667 hd
230 Pawn Power In Chess Kmoch 1959 304 pb
231 Penguin Book Of Chess Positions, The Alexander 1973 171 pb
232 Picture History Of Chess, A Wilson 1981 182 pb
233 Play The Benko Gambit Ravikumar 1991 204 pb
234 Play The Dutch Defense (against 1.c4 And 1.Nf3) DeVault/Hickman 1993 195 pb
235 Playing Chess Wade 1984 160 pb
236 Polgar Sisters, The Forbes 1992 177 pb
237 Positional Ideas In Chess Love 1992 242 pb
238 Practical Chess Endings Keres 1973 262 pb
239 Principles Of Chess Mason 1946 366 pb
240 Principles Of The New Chess Pandolfini 1986 143 pb
241 Psychology In Chess Krogius 1976 243 pb
242 Psychology Of The Chess Player, The Fine 1956 74 pb
243 Queen And Pawn Endings Averbakh 1975 137 hd
244 Queen’s Gambit Pachman 1964 252 hd
245 Queen’s Gambit Accepted Gufeld 1986 120 pb
246 Queen’s Gambit, The (two copies) Tevis 1983 243 hd
247 Reasses Your Chess Workbook Silman 2001 423 pb
248 Reshevsky On Chess Reshevsky 1948 272 hd
249 Reshevsky’s Best Games Of Chess Reshevsky 1948 272 pb
250 Reti 1976, The (pamphlet) Weinstein 1976 52 pb
251 Road To The Expert Title, A Tangborn 1995 79 pb
252 Road To The Master Title, A Tangborn 1995 96 pb
253 Rook Endings Levenfish/Smyslov 1971 224 hd
254 Rubenstein’s Chess Masterpieces / 100 Selected Games Kmoch / Winkelman 1941 192 pb
255 Russian Chess Pandolfini 1987 219 pb
256 Scandinavian, The John Emms 1997 144 pb
257 Searching For Bobby Fischer Waitzkin 1984 226 hd
258 Second Book Of Chess: The Nine Bad Moves Reinfeld 1953 124 hd
259 Second Piatigorsky Cup Kashdan 1968 228 pb
260 Secrets From Russia Olbrich 1993 477 pb
261 Secrets Of Rook Endings Nunn 1992 320 pb
262 Secrets Of The King’s Indian Gufeld/Schiller 2000 312 pb
263 Sicilian Dragon, The Levy 1972 202 hd
264 Solitaire Chess Horowitz 1962 128 pb
265 Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Brontstein/Furstenberg 1995 304 pb
266 Spassky’s 100 Best Games Cafferty 1972 254 hd
267 Stategy And Tactics In Chess Euwe 1973 172 pb
268 Strategy In The Chess Endgame Reinfeld 1964 128 pb
269 Tarrasch’s Best Games Of Chess Reinfeld 1960 385 pb
270 Technique In Chess Abrahams 1961 215 pb
271 Test And Improve Your Chess Alburt 1989 128 pb
272 The Gambit Guide To The Benko Gambit Pedersen 1999 176 pb
273 Thousand Chess Endings – Vol 1, A Tattersall 1973 211 pb
274 Title Chess – The 1972 U.S. Chess Championship Hochberg 1972 229 hd
275 Total Chess Spanier 1984 231 hd
276 Trends In The London System, Stonewall Attack & Colle (pamphlet) Wade/Gkountintas 1992 42 pb
277 Trompowsky Attack, The Soltis 1995 132 pb
278 U.S. Championship Chess Lombardy/Daniels 1975 362 hd
279 U.S. Chess Federation’s Official Rules Of Chess Redmand 1987 196 pb
280 U.S.S.R. v Rest Of The World – Challenge Match Keene/Goodman 1984 143 pb
281 Underhanded Chess Sohl 1973 113 pb
282 Understanding Chess Move by Move Nunn 2001 239 pb
283 Understanding The Open Games (Except Ruy Lopez) Soltis/Mednis/Peters/Hartston 1980 142 pb
284 Unknown Bobby Fischer, The Donaldson/Tangborn 1999 191 pb
285 Unknown Capablanca, The Hooper/Brandreth 1973 201 pb
286 Unorthodox Openings Benjamin/Schiller 1987 154 pb
287 Vulture And Associated Opening Systems, The Bucker 1986 178 pb
288 Weapons Of Chess Pandolfini 1989 287 pb
289 White Opening System – Stonewall Attack, Colle System, Torre Attack Soltis 1992 129 pb
290 Wijk aan Zee Grandmaster Chess Tournamen 1975 Kavalek 1976 272 pb
291 Willam Steintz – Selected Chess Games Devide 1974 109 pb
292 Winning Chess Chernev/Reinfeld 1948 231 pb
293 Winning Chess Brilliancies Seirawan 1995 257 pb
294 Winning Chess Openings Reinfeld 1961 265 pb
295 Winning Chess Tactics Illustrated Horowitz 1963 ? pb
296 Winning With 1.d4 Soltis 1988 143 pb
297 Winning With 1.f4 Soltis 1992 97 pb
298 Winning With The Benko Jacobs 1995 144 pb
299 Winning With The Benko Gambit Accepted – Semi Accepted – Declined Smith/Hall 1994 105 pb
300 Winning With The Bishop’s Opening Lane 1993 152 pb
301 Winning With The Center Counter Smith/Hall 1991 91 pb
302 Winning With The Colle System Smith/Hall 1990 260 pb
303 Winning With The Dragon Ward 1994 208 pb
304 Winning With The King’s Gambit Vol II – Declined Soltis 1993 151 pb
305 Winning With The Leningrad Dutch 7…Qe8 Soltis 1993 71 pb
306 Winning With The Modern Norwood 1994 145 pb
307 Winning With The Reti Opening Smith/Hall 1993 147 pb
308 Winning With The Scandinavian Harman/Taulbut 1993 145 pb
309 World Champion Openings Schiller 1997 373 pb
310 World Chess Championship 1954 Golombeck 1954 166 hd
311 World Chess Championship: 1948-1969, The Gilgoric, Wade 1972 191 hd
312 World Chess Championship: Korchnoi/Karpov, The Keene 1978 159 pb
313 World Chess Shampionship – Kasparov v Anand Keene 1995 128 pb
314 World Cup Chess – The Grand Master’ Grand Prix Kavalek 1990 285 hd
315 World Of Chess, The Saidy/Lessing 1974 247 hd
316 World’s Great Chess Games, The Fine 1951 397 pb
Naka may not have read a chess book; he might have studied it 🙂
Silman is just another chess fraud:
Jeremy Silman is going to radically alter his book Reassess Your Chess, fixing many of its problems (some of which stem from lack of computer checking). What follows is a quote from an article he recently wrote called Reassessing how to reassess your chess:
[There are] positions in HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS that, in my view, were not explained properly in the book, and one even featured a small typo. It was this kind of error, a lack of computer checking (strong chess engines didn’t exist when I wrote this book), and the availability of a wealth of new examples (thanks to the wonders of databases, another thing that didn’t exist when this book was written) that has convinced me to totally rewrite HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS (yes, a 4th Edition due out at the end of 2007).
My intention is to gut dozens (as much as 80%!) of the existing examples, and even toss a whole chapter or two into the rubbish bin! There are several reasons for doing this: the endgame chapter is useless and never belonged in HTRYC in the first place. It’s also redundant since my new (upcoming) book, SILMAN’S COMPLETE ENDGAME COURSE, will give you everything you need to know about the endgame, and much, much more. The enormous amount of new examples I intend to make use of in the 4th Edition of HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS gives fans of the 3rd Edition more study material, and allows me to make the many key points about imbalances fresh and compelling.
Most importantly, I have changed many of my views over the years and now have new theories and ideas that I would like to present, making REASSESS (4th Edition) the teaching tool that I always wanted it to be.
Compare Silman’s sentiments with de la Maza’s criticism of the book:
Pick any analyzed position in Jeremy Silman’s Reassess Your Chess, the book that has become famous for teaching class players positional concepts, set up the position on your favorite computer program, and play the side that is winning according to Silman. After a few moves the computer will deviate from Silman’s analysis. Feel free to check Silman’s book or any other source for advice on what to do about the computer’s “new idea.” You will quickly learn that the computer has busted Silman’s plan and a new plan is required. Now what do you do? If you are a GM you can create a new plan (provided that you didn’t reject Silman’s plan from the start), but if you are a class player there is little that you can easily do to learn about the new position.
In Yermolinsky’s The Road to Chess Improvement, a runner up for
this year’s British Chess Federation Book of the Year award, Yermo spends
several pages denigrating simple set ups such as the Grand Prix Attack. He argues
that a chess player must be willing to dedicate a substantial amount of time to
studying a “real” opening.
To practice simple forks and skewers use an exercise that I call the Concentric
Square. Begin by placing the black king on d5 and a black rook on d4. Now
sequentially place the white queen on every square where it safely forks or
skewers the black king and rook. Once you have determined that there are no
such squares move the rook in a square around the king (squares e4, e5, e6, d6,
c6, c5, and c4) and look for forks and skewers. When you find such a square
physically lift up the white queen and place it on the square. Involving your body
in this process is critical because it helps to cement the connection between the
position and the key square.
De La Maza is a chess fraud also. I tried his methods and got laughed out.
Anything and everything by Eric Schiller!
The only book I know that concisely makes a smooth transition from beginner to advanced strategy is An Invitation to Chess, by Irving Chernev and Kenneth Harkness.
Suitable for ages 9-10 and up.
Here are some books about the cultural and fun side of chess, as opposed to instructional books and best-games collections:
1. I.A. Horowitz and P.L. Rothenburg, The Personality of Chess
2. Irving Chernev, The Chess Companion
3. Terence Tiller, ed., Chess Treasury of the Air
4. Edward Lasker, The Adventure of Chess
5. “Assiac”, The Delights of Chess and The Pleasures of Chess
6. Andy Soltis, The Great Chess Tournaments and Their Stories (to represent his many engaging books of that kind)
7. Hans Ree, The Human Comedy of Chess (not all comedy!)
To round out my ten, chess problems and puzzles:
8. Kenneth S. Howard, The Enjoyment of Chess Problems
9. A.J. Roycroft, Test Tube Chess
10. Raymond Smullyan, The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and sequels.
I will probably add Kasparov’s How Life Imitates Chess and Joel Benjamin’s American Grandmaster, after my next birthday :-).
Back to the subject of instructional books, the theme I’d most like to see could be titled Miserable Pawn Structures. And finally I may as well mention the beguiling book that probably did the most to keep me from becoming a GM:
13. Richard Wincor, Baroque Chess Openings.
My top ten chess books as of now:
1. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer
2. My System by Nimzovitch
3. Tal vs Botvinnik 1960 by Tal
4. Garry Kasparov’s Greatest Games: Volume 2 by Stohl
5. How to Calculate Chess Tactics by Beim
6. Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual by Dvoretsky
7. Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 by Bronstein
8. Art of Attack by Vukovic
9. Chess Tactics for Advanced Players by Averbakh
10. Lasker’s Manual of Chess by Lasker
“And finally I may as well mention the beguiling book that probably did the most to keep me from becoming a GM:
13. Richard Wincor, Baroque Chess Openings.”
You must mean “Broken” Chess Openings!
Yes, yes! Groan! You know you liked that pun!
THE 1001 BOOKS BY REINFELD
COMPLETE BOOK OF CHESS STRATAGEMS BY REINFELD
MOST INSTRUCTIVE GAMES OF CHESS BY CHERNEV
CHESS MINIATURE BOOKS BY WALL
CHESS 5334 PROB,COMBOS AND GAMES.
LOGICAL CHESS MOVE BY MOVE
PAWN POWER IN CHESS BY KMOCH
COMBINATION CHALLENGE BY HALL
BASIS OF COMB IN CHESS BY DUMONT
Susan,
It would be so interesting if you wrote about the books you have studied once in a while.
The book your dad wrote CHESS, is amazing.
Ha, ha, Anon 10:13 AM. Very good, very good.
Maybe I can add ‘THE PUKE DEFENCE’ by Keen on Bottle.
I have not read many of the books of the last 20 years, so mine will mainly be an older selection.
For reference, Jeremy Gaige’s ‘Chess Tournament Crosstables’ – 4 volumes 1851 to 1930 was a fantastic achievement. Gaige has never received due recognition for these. (Does anybody know if he is still alive?)
Also, as an earlier poster mentioned, Hooper and Whyld’s ‘The Oxford Companion to Chess’ is very good. And much better than many of the so-called ‘Encyclopaedias’. Divinsky’s Encyclopaedia in particular is dreadful. Chock full of errors.
And the methodology used in Keene and Divinsky’s ‘Warriors of the Mind’ is just absurd. Alekhine 18th best ever?? That alone is a warning bell that something is suspect.
Generally anything by Botvinnik, Keres and Reshevsky is very good. Reshevsky in particular seems to have a positional understanding of chess.
Anything by Nunn, Tim Harding, Emms, Craig Pritchett and Gerzadowicz is also generally very good. [haven’t seen Wells, Davies, Palliser, Cox, Dvoretsky.]
‘Dynamic Chess Strategy’ by Suba.
Books by M. Thomas for ‘The Chess Player’ I always found good.
Gligoric’s ‘Selected Chess Masterpieces’ was very good. (This was a compilation of his ‘Game of the Month’ in ‘Chess Review’ from 1966-1969. ‘Chess Review’ was a great mag until combined with the USCF ‘Chess Life’ and ruined, never to recover, in the second half of the 1970’s by USCF.)
Alekine’s ‘My Best Games of Chess 1908-23’ is certainly a classic. His follow-up effort was not as good.
Capablanca’s ‘Chess Fundamentals’ is superb. And his games in it are refreshing and amazingly modern-like. (This was before he went all conservative after winning the Title in 1921.)
I remember ‘An Invitation to Chess’ by Chernev and Harkness as my first chess book. And it was very helpful.
Not sure what to make of Nimzovitch’s ‘My System’. I found it difficult and cranky. I’m not sure it helped develop my chess.
Also cannot get into Silman. Unattractive and not easy going. Borrowed it from the library, but never got through it.
Fischer’s ‘My 60 Memorable Games’ is way overrated in my opinion. I bought ‘Larsen’s Selected Games of Chess 1948-69’ [a very good book] about the same time and learned far more from it.
I think Fischer’s book gets on so many lists because of who the author is rather than what’s in it. Another author, and it wouldn’t be anything special in terms of popularity.
There are several weak games in it; Fischer gives away very little in the openings; and seems to spend a good portion of it quoting other players’ comments rather than supplying his own.
I am not overly fussed about ‘My Great Predecessors’. Kasparov does not have a good grasp on chess history (or on history in general!) and there are far too many errors here. For accurate chess history, look elsewhere! Kasparov’s strength is in chess annotating and this is where the value is here.
Kasparov and Nikitin’s ‘Sicilian:…e6 and…d6 Systems’ was very good.
John Watson is superb.
Especially his 4 volume series on the English Opening that came out about 1980. He has not had sufficient credit for these. Puts most other English Opening books to shame (Particularly Bagirov’s).
The only criticism of this series is that Watson did not do a proper coverage of 1.c4 c6. But most ‘English’ books don’t even bother to cover 1…c6 or 1…e6 at all! -palming these lines off as ‘Reti’.
And it is beyond my comprehension why Tony Kosten’s ‘The Dynamic English’ gets such rave reviews. Although he does cover those lines, he does so very skimpily, and his recommendations are just simply useless (or worse), as is his recommendations against 1…c5, and also Black attempt to get King’s Indian Defence. About the only value in this book is some of his suggestions against 1…e5.
Keene produced several good books in the 1970’s including ‘Flank Openings’.
Unfortunately, about 1980, Keene decided to get greedy and started producing rubbish books to make a quick buck.
Other ‘Utter Crap’ (to use Tony Miles’ famous comment) authors, who flood the market with rubbish and are generally to be avoided like the plague are Schiller, Gufeld, Pandolfini, Plaskett, Reinfeld, Kapitaniak, and the ‘Chess Digest’ pair Ken Smith and John Hall.
A good number of Soltis’ and Gary Lane’s openings offerings are pretty dubious, too.
The 10th Edition of ‘Modern Chess Openings’ by Larry Evans (1965) was a great book for its time, and ‘The Bible’ at the time. Subsequent editions of MCO were a disappointment.
The first editions of ECO were great. Again the follow-up was less than impressive.
‘New In Chess’ is fantastic. I think it is better than ‘Informator’
It puzzles me why Fine’s ‘Ideas behind the Chess Openings’ is often recommended. Apart from being nearly 70 years out of date, it is extremely dogmatic and prejudiced. In today’s climate, most of its ‘ideas’ would be very bad ones!
I’m surprised that Lev Alburt’s “Comprehensive chess course” (or any of the volues in the series) were not included in any of the posts.
I know most everyone here knows of GM Alburt’s “Comprehensive Chess” series and I also know that everyone certainly has an opinion.
I would appreciate all objective opinions as to this series. Can it, if studied properly over time, truly “turn an amateur into a master” as it states?
I’ve got each book but have dozens of other books I want to finish first before tackling this series as it takes months or years to thoroughly go through multi-volume chess books and get anything much out of them.
So, for those that know GM Alburt’s series….can you mention what you thing are BOTh the good aspects of the series and the bad?
It would certainly be most appreciated.
Thank you.
“Charlemagne”
I’d like to defend Silman somewhat Silman was the first author who made me really “get” positional chess and chess planning. Up until encountering his work, I, in my chess career, applied a poorly understood hodge-podge of positional dictums (find an outpost, control the center, knights before bishops, two bishops = good etc,.) in my games in hopes that, by doing so, things would just “work out” all by themselves. Of course, I never knew when to apply these dictums, and I never had any sort of idea when one idea should be applied and another not.
Silman’s “imbalanances” technique helped me pierce though all that confusion. Though the technique might be incomplete in the world of modern chess strategy, it got me off on the right foot towards an understanding of chess, rather than a rote application of poorly understood “maxims”. I think I became a better player as a result.
I own four of his books, but of these, only three I have found very helpful.
The three helpful books:
“The Amatuer’s Mind”
“Complete Endgame Course”
“The Reassess your chess Workbook”
These books by Silman are superbly produced, have a light easy-going, verbose style that I enjoy (The guy can be funny). They explain their concepts clearly and just redundantly enough that they stick better. The typesetting and layout of the books are exceptionally clear for a chess book. The book production is high quality as well- I love the player photos in “HTRYC:WB.”
On the other hand, the one that I’ve never liked much:
“How to Reassess your Chess (pre-2007 edition)”
This book is, comparatively speaking, ugly. It feels sloppily put together. Unlike the above three books, its run-on, unhighlighted, typesetting makes it difficult to read. Moreover, even I, a middling player, am able to find a few instances of weak or bad analysis (or just plain typos.) Finally, it just doesn’t explain its concepts very clearly.
I think Silman got better as he moved past “HTRYC”- which, I believe, was published first of these above listed books.
Those of you who own “HTRYC”, and have never perused Silman’s other books, might be suprised. I find I understand Silman’s “imbalances” technique a lot better now that I’ve put it to work in “HTRYC:WB” and followed it through Amateur action in “TAM”, than I ever did reading “HTRYC”.
His endgame book is the clearest, easiest to read endgame book I’ve ever encountered. Like the the other two “helpful” tomes, I find his style breezy, clear and light, and the production of the books superb.
Brad Hoehne
“Can it, if studied properly over time, truly “turn an amateur into a master” as it states?”
Nope. If it could, he’d be a millionaire by now.
“Fischer gives away very little in the openings; and seems to spend a good portion of it quoting other players’ comments rather than supplying his own.”
Good for him! Ain’t mad to show opening secrets to enemies, is he? Quoting other masters is a gift, not a sin!
Ask in english, get in english, sometimes with bad english translations. Learn russian, like your fellow American Mr.Fischer did! And then, read these:
1. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Безлимитный поединок»
2. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Мои великие предшественники. От Стейница до Алехина». Том 1
3. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Мои великие предшественники. От Эйве до Таля». Том 2
4. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Мои великие предшественники. От Петросяна до Спасского», Том 3
5. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Мои великие предшественники. Фишер и звезды Запада», Том 4
6. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Мои великие предшественники. Карпов и Корчной», Том 5
7. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Два матча»
8. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Дебютная революция 70-х»
9. Каспаров Гарри Кимович – «Испытание временем»
10. Каспаров Гарри, Никитин Александр – «Сицилианская защита. Схевенинген»
Those are the asked for TOP TEN in my list!! Any comment?
“It takes months or years to thoroughly go through multi-volume chess books and get anything much out of them.”
Then get someone to help you in translating! Learn speedreading! Guess you’re 40+ years old, right? Then forget about improving your chess, it’ll stay as lousy as you think it is. I read any book max in 1hr and I get a lot out of it instantly! I use the opening tricks to beat all my friends for at least next two weeks! And they don’t know what hit them!
“It takes months or years”
That’s a good one! As if they were like similar closely. Next time try “It takes days or weeks”, might get someone to actually read your whole posting.
To Anon of 12:51:00:
Is there good stuff- gems of chess- that we’re missing because they haven’t been translated into decent English?
To Anon 12:55pm,
Why do you say that if your 40 yrs old you can’t improve your game? I play a relative who is 68 and a beginner and has learned alot very quickly.
“When in Rome…be as the Romans.”
When in America, learn English. If you want to speak Russian…go to Russia and stay.
If you choose to live in the USA, learn English. In England, it is the official language.
The idiot Dem’s here don’t want to make it our official language. I lived in Germany for 4 years and learned German.
So, if you come to the USA learn English. Or stay where you came from.
And next time “mr. Anon” you want to try to pretend to “write Russian,” don’t go to Alta Vista’s language translator and fake it…because it always proves you don’t really know Russian or any slavic language and the grammar is horrible….
which shows it’s from an online translator.
All you have to do is “cut and paste” it into the translator…it’s fake…and you’re a fake and can’t really speak, read, nor write Russian.
“And next time “mr. Anon” you want to try to pretend to “write Russian,” don’t go to Alta Vista’s language translator and fake it…because it always proves you don’t really know Russian or any slavic language and the grammar is horrible….”
And what is your point? You speak fluent Russian? You can wait in bread lines longer than most people on earth? Your president is a dictator anticrist? More than half of your male population are alcoholics and another half of your female population rather sta barren than have children?
Yes, I have been totally educated by you. BTW, It wasn’t Alta Vista, it was Google Babel Fish. Don’t kill the messenger.
Word.
Русские будут самыми лучшими игроками шахмат.
Шахмат игры русских хороший с собой. Мир наносит поражение русским игрокам. Anand разрушит Kramnik. Также, русские женщины большие, уродские, и имеют пенис.
Cant stop laughing for half an hour now!!!!!!
Я люблю вас, слишком.
Спасибо! Я люблю также! Наилучшие пожелания!
“Yesterday, I posted here about the 10 most popular books of all time according to the Harris Poll.”
I’d be more happy if you’d post your own choices of top 10 chess books, But you’ll NEVER do that will you?
“and you’re a fake and can’t really speak, read, nor write Russian.”
Blog off, loser.
Although I was never fortunate enough to take part of the chess club… anywhere… I have always loved the game intensely. Some of my fondest growing up memories are of me and my dad playing chess for long hours at a time. However, I’ve never really progressed much through the years, and haven’t taken the time to try to improve. Well, having gotten my clock cleaned a few times on FICS, I’ve decided it’s time to read a bit.
So I started out with the deprecatingly-titled Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess. Definitely a good book and I recommend it as a good first read. Towards the end, the author recommended some good “next” books to read. I was painfully aware that I was completely ignorant about opening sequences, so I pre-ordered…
Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition. This was highly touted–both by the author of my first book and by those who have reviewed it on Amazon. I’ll say this… It’s very complete and completely overwhelming. I don’t yet have a nice chess set, and don’t really have a way to look at the board layout in the midst of all of the notations, so it’s just not manageable for me… yet. I definitely feel that it’s a solid book to have and will keep looking at it as I get more used to reading algebraic notation and being able to hold a mental picture of the board layout while reading.
The next book I’m reading through is the REALLY cool Tal-Botvinnik, 1960. I actually bought it on a whim as I was buying MCO, since I wanted to spend enough for free shipping… =;) But MAN, it is SO cool! It’s very well-done technically and Tal does a very nice job of explaining each move of the matches in detail, which is helping me learn all the more. But what’s really cool is the inside look into Tal’s mind! Tal’s writing style is easy and flows well and I’m really enjoying the behind-the-scenes look at how he prepared for the epic battle and what was going on in his head throughout the process. Awesome!
And lastly, probably in frustration with my inability to really dive into MCO and grasp it just yet, I found Winning Chess Openings (Winning Chess – Everyman Chess) at the local Barnes and Noble. I was looking for something that had a lot more description (you know… in words!) of the opening sequences. Now, to be fair, the level of depth that Yasser is able to achieve in this book can’t possibly rival MCO. But I am already enjoying the easy style that Yasser writes in, and I’m looking forward to get some good understanding of some of the more important opening series by both white and black.
Alekhine – My Best Games of Chess (3 vols.) [Bell/Batsford] Descriptive (new one-volume Algebraic edition)
Avni – Danger in Chess [Pergamon]
Basman – Chess Traps (J) [Pergamon]
Batsford Chess Yearbooks 1975,1976 [Batsford]
Botvinnik – 100 Selected Games [Dover] Descriptive
Bronstein – The Chess Struggle in Practice [Batsford] Descriptive
Chernev – Logical Chess [Faber] Descriptive
Chernev – The Most Instructive Games of Chess ever Played [Faber] Descriptive
Dubois – Steinitz Best Games of Chess [Dover] Descriptive
DuMont – 200 Modern Chess Miniatures [Bell] Descriptive
Dvoretsky – Training for the Tournament Player [Batsford]
Euwe & Kramer – The Middle Game I/II [Bell/Batsford] Descriptive
Evans – The Chess Opening for You [R.H.M.] Descriptive
Fine – Basic Chess Endings [?Bell] Descriptive
Fine – The Ideas behind the Chess Openings [Batsford]
Fischer – My 60 Memorable Games [Faber] Descriptive [Batsford] Algebraic
Gligoric – The Nimzo-Indian Defence [Pergamon]
Hartston – The Kings of Chess
James & Hartston – The Master Game
Keene & Edwards – The Chess Player’s Bedside Book [Batsford] Descriptive
Keene & Kasparov – Batsford Chess Openings [Batsford]
Korchnoi – Chess is my life [Batsford]
Kosteev – 40 Lessons for the Club Player [Batsford]
Kotov – Think Like a Grandmaster [Batsford]
Kotov – Plan Like a Grandmaster [Batsford]
Krogius – Psychology in Chess [R.H.M.] Descriptive
Littlewood – Chess Coaching [Crowood]
Lombardy – Snatched opportunities at the chessboard [] Descriptive
Mednis & Crouch – Rate your Endgame [Pergamon]
Nunn & Griffiths – Secrets of Grandmaster Chess [Batsford]
Nunn – My Best Games of Chess [Batsford]
Nimzovitch – Chess Praxis [Bell] Descriptive
Nimzovitch – My System [Batsford]
Pfleger and Treppner – Chess: the Mechanism of Mind [Pergamon]
Reinfeld – Improving Your Chess [Faber] Descriptive
Reti – Masters of the Chessboard [Dover] Descriptive
Reti – Modern Ideas in Chess [Dover] Descriptive
Schoenberg – Grandmasters of Chess []
Shatskes – English Opening [Chess Player] Descriptive
Sokolsky – Pawns in Chess [Chess Player] Descriptive
Soltis – The Art of Defence in Chess [] Descriptive
Speelman et al. – Batsford Chess Endings [Batsford]
Stean – Simple Chess [Faber] Descriptive
Taimanov – Winning with the Sicilian [Batsford]
Tartakower & DuMont – 500 Master Games of Chess [Bell/Batsford] Descriptive
Tartakower & DuMont – 100 Master Games of Modern Chess [Bell/Batsford] Descriptive
Tal & Damsky – Attack with Mikhail Tal [Cadogan]
Walker – Chess Openings for Juniors [Oxford UP] (J)
Walker – Test Your Chess: Piece Power [Oxford UP] (J)
Walker – Attacking the King [Oxford UP] (J)
Webb – Chess for Tigers [Pergamon]
Vukovic – The Art of Attack [Pergamon] Descriptive
Znosko-Borovsky – How to Play the Opening in Chess [Dover] Descriptive
What a major waste of time reading though all this! Call Roman D., ask him, and start reading.
After so many comments it is difficult to write something. There remain chance of simply – just not being noticed. Anyway, these would be my own list:
A) Top ten:
1. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer (original edition)
2. Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by Mikhail Tal
3. My Great Predecessors Volume 1, 3, 4 and 5 by Garry Kasparov
4. Zurich 1953 by David Bronstein
5. My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 by Alexander Alekhine
6. Art of Attack by Vladimir Vukovic
7. Chess Master vs Chess Amature by Maz Euwe and Walter Meiden
8. Capablanca’s Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev
9. Silman’s Complete Endgame Manual
10. Fire on Board volume 1 and 2 by Alexei Shirov
B) Most helpful 10 Chess Books
1. Modern Chess Self Instructor volume 1, 2 and 3 by Viktor Pozharsky
2. Fundamental Chess Ending by Karsten Mueller and Frank Lamprecht
3. Mastering the Sicilian by Danny Kopec
4. Play the French by John Watson
5. Bronstein on the King’s Indian by David Bronstein and Ken Neat
6. Excelling at Chess by Jacob Aagaard
7. Power Chess by Paul Keres
8. ChessBase Magazines
9. Revolution in the 70’s by Garry Kasparov
10. Opening for White According to Anand volume 1 and 2 by Alexander Khalifman
C) Most Provocative 10:
1. Test of Time by Garry Kasparov
2. The World Greatest Chess Games bu Burgess et al
3. How to Reassess your Chess by Jeremy Silman
4. Think Like a Grandmaster by Alexander Kotov
5. Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn
6. Curacao 1962 by Jan Timman
7. Tal’s winning Chess Combinations by Mikhail Tal and Victor Khenkin
8. Fandamentals of Chess, My Carrer in Chess, Chess Primer and Capablanca’s last chess lectures by Jose Raul Capablanca
9. The art of Planning in Chess Move by Move by Neil McDonald
10. Beating the open games by Mihail Marin
Alimuzzaman
My two favorite books are
SUPER NEZH Rashid Nezmedinov by Alex Pishkin
and
ATTACK with Michael Tal
I am an amateur; I find these books instructing inspiring and entertaining.
When I was first learning positional chess, I benefitted much from John Love’s “Positional Ideas in Chess.”
I read other technical books too, but I find INFORMANTS and master games from CHESS magazine more fun to read than books.
I didn’t list ten.
I don’t follow instructions.
=)
Mrgn Patrickovich
Chess for Beginners by IA Horowitz was the single best book that took me from novice to a decent player. It has the basics of all types of strategy, in 132 pages.
I like Lasker’s and Nimzowitsch’s books. As well as Capablanca’s chess fundamentals. All these books, it’s like the author discovered and defined new ideas. Or ideas that weren’t defined, everything is fresh.
I also like Jeremy Silman’s book “the amateur’s mind”.
It’s interesting that some books disagree with others. Like Jeremey Silman states to analyze the imbalances then search for candidate moves, while other books by grandmasters will say time is of the essence and is factored into decision making, therefore by intuition list the candidate moves first and then do some calculations and look at the arising position.
Complete beginner->Expert.
1.Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess-Fischer
2. How to Beat your Dad at Chess-Chandler
3. Chess-Lazlo Polgar
4. Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual-Dvoretsky
5. The Amateur’s Mind-Silman
6. Latest Version of MCO/NCO/One volume opening reference.
Start with 1 and 2. Then do all the mates in 1 from Chess. Then go through the 600 miniature games in Chess while going through Amateur’s mind. Then King/pawn and Rook endings in Dvoretsky’s endgame manual when Amateur’s mind is done. Then learn some openings with MCO before going to tournaments. After many years and many chess books I believe those are the only six you would need to get to an expert level strength. Beyond that computers and databases would likely be needed.
Kombinationen – Kurt Richter
My System – A.Nimzowitsch
My Best Games of Chess – A.Alekhine
The Road To The Top & The Quest for Perfection – P.Keres
Think like a Grandmaster – A.Kotov
The Life and Games of M.Tal – M.Tal
The Middlegame – M.Euwe
Questions of Modern Chess Theory – I.Liptnisky
My Great Predecesors – G.Kasparov
So, susan, with all this info, is it time to make complilation list with the top ten?
I like these…in no particular order:
1. Nimzowitsch A Reappraisal – Keene
2. Art of the Middlegame – Keres/Kotov
3. Capablanca’s 100 Best Games – Golombek
4. Think Like a Grandmaster – Kotov
5. Chess for Zebras – Rowson
6. My Sytsem – Nimzowitsch
7. Capablanca’s Best Chess Endings – Chernev
8. What it takes to become a Chess Master – Soltis
9. My 60 Memorable Games – Fischer
10. Alexander Alekhine – Kotov
Hope this is of interest
Fraser Musson
(random order)
1. Aron Nimzowitsch: On the Road to Chess Mastery, 1886-1924
Per Skjoldager & Jorn Erik Nielsen
Mc Farland
2. Frank Marshall: United States Champion A Biography with 220 games
Andy Soltis Mc Farland
3. Lessons With a Grandmaster Vol 1 & vol 2 Gulko & Sneed Everyman Chess
4. San Luis 2005 Alik Gerson & Igor Nor Quality Chess
5. Life and games of M. Tal Tal Everyman Chess
6. Pal Benko: My life, games and compositions
Benko, Silman, Watson Siles Press
7. Karpov’s Strategic Wins Vol 1 & Vol 2 Tibor Karolyi Quality Chess
8. My System Aron Nimzowitch Quality Chess
9. The Mammoth book of World’s Greatest Chess Games (new expanded edition)
Nunn, Burges, Emms Cadogan Chess
10. Carlsen’s Assault on the Throne
Kotronias & Logothetis Quality Chess
(random order)
1. Aron Nimzowitsch: On the Road to Chess Mastery, 1886-1924
Per Skjoldager & Jorn Erik Nielsen
Mc Farland
2. Frank Marshall: United States Champion A Biography with 220 games
Andy Soltis Mc Farland
3. Lessons With a Grandmaster Vol 1 & vol 2 Gulko & Sneed Everyman Chess
4. San Luis 2005 Alik Gerson & Igor Nor Quality Chess
5. Life and games of M. Tal Tal Everyman Chess
6. Pal Benko: My life, games and compositions
Benko, Silman, Watson Siles Press
7. Karpov’s Strategic Wins Vol 1 & Vol 2 Tibor Karolyi Quality Chess
8. My System Aron Nimzowitch Quality Chess
9. The Mammoth book of World’s Greatest Chess Games (new expanded edition)
Nunn, Burges, Emms Cadogan Chess
10. Carlsen’s Assault on the Throne
Kotronias & Logothetis Quality Chess
What book if u can only choose one?