What are some of the best chess books you have read recently (books that were published within the last 3 years or so)?
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Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, 2nd ed.
Chess Bitch, 7 Deadly Chess Sins, Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games, and Life & Games of Mikhail Tal.
I just finished The Kings of New York: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America’s Top High School Chess Team by Michael Weinreb. It is a great read!
For learning: I very much liked books from: Jeremy Silman, Jonathan Rowson, Lev Alburt…
For training I use: Chess Tactics for Champions by Susan Polgar, The Chesscafe Puzzle Book by Karsten Muller (and some other puzzle books but older…)
It’s not a book, but a very popular chess software to teach young kids about chess.
Fritz & Chesster – Part 1, 2, & 3.
Combinative Motifs by Maxim Blokh (Paperback – Feb 2006)
Chess 5334, Laszlo Polgar. Absolutely inexhausable. Seeing awsome progress from new student.
I’m a rather inexperienced chess player striving (!) to develop my opening moves from the basic stuff to excellence. Therefore, it would be much appreciated if an experienced chess player would recommend a few good books so that I can develop a full opening repertoire for both white and black!
‘It’s Your Move‘ by Chris Ward
2 useful books for training:
1) Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games – as men-
tioned by a previous post.
2) Rapid Chess Improvement: a
study plan for adult players by
Michael de la Maza
Shows a system by which a rather
weak adult player (1321 USCF)
became an expert (2041 USCF) in
just 2 years of study.
Donner: ‘The King’.
T.E.Lawrence: Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Kasparov – My great predecessors VOL 1-5
Palatnik – The Tarrasch Formula
The first because of its exhaustive and leading analysis of world champion’s games and the second because of it unique value to show how bad placement of pieces can have a detrimental effect on the entire game.
Someone asked about opening books, and although i would first want to stress the importance of learning tactics till you can see all the themes like adding numbers in your head, the books on openings written by the MacMillan Chess Library are the best in my opinion:
The “Read and Play” method
Mastering the King’s Indian
Mastering the Benoni and Benko Gambit
Mastering the Spanish
Mastering the Nimzo Indian
Mastering the French
There may be some more than im not aware of but surely these books you can read 90% Of them without using a chessboard because it explains most of the strategic and tactical themes and is grouped by pawn structures. GOOD LUCK!
I’ve enjoyed “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course,” and David Shenk’s “The Immortal Game.”
Openings books for inexperienced players? Don’t waste your time going through endless variations of openings, trying to develop an opening repertoire. Your time is much better spent learning some basic opening principles (e.g., “Discovering Chess Openings” by John Emms), tactics, and endgames. Also, general books on strategy are also helpful (Ed. Lasker’s “Modern Chess Strategy”, Sierawan’s book “Chess Stategies”, Em. Lasker’s “Manual of Chess”). Many very strong players recommend not studying specific openings and opening repertoires until you are rated above 1600 or even higher because until you develop a deeper insight into the game, a quick eye for tactics, and an understanding of strategies and opening principles, the study of openings too easily devolves into memorization of variations, which does very little to improve playing strength.
My vote is for Khalifman’s series on Anand’s openings as White. Not only are they great opening manuals, but if studied carefully they provide wonderful training on attacking – when to attack and when not to, how to conduct a successful attack, and how to defend. They provide literally years of study material, but of course require many hours of dedicated study. These aren’t books you “read”. They are course material for a graduate degree in chess.
Susan, great question! Could you please publish your choices?
These books are not for everyone. Probably they won’t be useful until you are class B or above…
I will list the books that really made me think differently about chess:
1. Learn from the Legends – Chess Champions at their best by Mikhail Marin. First of all, you can tell Marin wrote this book with much passion and it shows. Secondly, he reviews a stage of the game that is often overlooked in our openings-centric world: the complex endgames with many imbalances. such as winning in an opposite colored bishop endgame, winning with a rook and pawn vs. two pieces.
2. Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy: Advances since Nimvozowitch by John Watson. I guess I’m cheating, as this book was written in 1999. Has time passed so quickly???
3. The Road to Chess Improvement, by Alex Yermolinsky. He really opens up his thoughts on how a GM thinks. Very entertaining. The book is worth purchasing just on his “lecture” on his experiences with the exchange variation of the Queens Gambit.
Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors Vlol 1 to 5
How to calculate chess tactics, Valery Beim
Imagination in Chess: How to Think Creatively and Avoid Foolish Mistakes, Paata Gaprindashvili
Martin Weteschnik’s fairly new book, Understanding Chess Tactics, has been helpful.
Sam in Lubbock
chess books generally dont interest me. if i can get the first version of my 60 memorable games written by bobby fischer himself and not the butchered hack job by faber thats something I’d like to read.
wolverine
Reinfeld: Chess Traps, Pitfalls and Swindles
the art of attack in chess vukovic
Get:
–Sharpen Your Tactics, Archangelsky and Lein
–Chess Endgame training, Bernard Rosen
–The 4 positional play books by Marovic (static, dynamic, pawns..etc…)
–Soltis’ Bobby Fischer rediscovered + Capablanca’s Best Games (Golombeck), Tal-Botvinnik 1960.
–Fritz 8,9, or 10, set at 2200+.
Become an expert + in 2-4 years!
(If you are single, with no children, no job, and no friends outside of chess.)
Love,
–cyberpatzer (ICC)
Birth of the Chess Queen by Marilyn Yalom is a nice account of chess in the context of medieval Europe.
A good openings book is by Larry Kaufman, ‘The Chess Advantage in Black and White’. If it’s not for complete beginner’s it’s certainly for anyone beyond that level who is ambitious. Even if you don’t use his repertoire, it teaches a lot about chess openings, using recent games between grandmasters.
Hi,
S. Tartakower books and
‘The Chessplay’ S.Tarrasch
‘The chess manual’ E.Lasker
‘The chess manual’ R.Reti
‘My system’ A. Nimtzowitsch.
‘Play like a GM’ A.Kotow
and all Max Euwe’s books.
Rgards
Pony.
I agree with several people who mentioned Alburt’s books.
I am studying “Chess Openings for Black, Explained” written by a team of Alburt, Dzindzi and Perelshteyn.
It’s impossible to cover all lines. But, they have done a great job by providing a reader with complete and easy to learn repertoire with Black. It is possible to argue with suggested lines… Some main moves in sidelines are not even mentioned. But… Once again – its a skeleton upon which you build your own repertoire.
What I like the most – they explain ideas behind the moves and variations. The part which contains commented games is also widening my knowledge of the lines.
The only thing I regret – I didn’t buy their “Chess Openings for White: Explained”… 🙂
The last Bronstein´s book about King´s indian defence is ok for me…he used very old games,but the general planning is very clear and you can find very usual ideas in this book if you are starting,as me, with the sharp King indian.
alfil del rey said:
“The only thing I regret – I didn’t buy their “Chess Openings for White: Explained”… :)”
‘Ware dragons…
http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/jwatsonbkrev77.html
Looks great, but hopelessly unreliable.
cheers
DrDave, Exeter