These books are too hard for you!
In some of my earlier blog posts, such as here, here, and here, I gave several recommendations for good beginner and intermediate books. In this post, I'd like to draw attention to some books that are very commonly recommended by others, but that I think are too hard for the audience that they are recommended to.
In fact, a couple of the books in this list were recommended in my other blog posts, but I am not guilty of over-recommending these books because I put them in their proper place in the progression of a study plan. The issue I have is when these books are recommended as starting points at certain stages of chess learning when there are more accessible resources available. I will point out my preferred resources as necessary.
So, let's get to the list...
1. Soviet Chess Primer by Ilya Maizelis
I often see this book suggested as a general introduction to all parts of the game for beginners. While the chapter titles of chapters one and two appear simple enough - how pieces move, how games are won, simple endgames, etc., the book quickly becomes too difficult for beginners. Sure, it makes sense for the author to start his discussion on tactics and strategy by introducing the idea of a plan, but the examples given are far too difficult for students who have just learned the rules and basic checkmates. This problem persists throughout the book - new concepts are introduced with examples that are far too difficult for people seeing those concepts for the first time. Most of the examples in this book would only start to really make sense at 1400 Elo or above. It's not a bad book, but it isn't at all a Primer.
For players under 1000 Elo who want a general introduction to all parts of the game, I can suggest much more accessible but equally entertaining books. Good recommendations are Jeff Coakley's Winning Chess Strategy for Kids. Yasser Seirawan's Play Winning Chess, Siegbert Tarrasch's The Game of Chess, or even Jose Capablanca's Chess Primer if you're looking for something more old-fashioned. I also wouldn't discount an exercise-based learning approach, like those used in Susan Polgar's Learn Chess the Right Way or The Steps Method. Any of these books would be a much better all-around primer than Maizelis.
2. The Woodpecker Method by Axel Smith and Hans Tikkanen
This book has generated much hype, and that may even be deserved. Extensive tactics training is a great way to quickly boost your rating, and the puzzle sets in this book are really great. The method the authors advocate is a great motivator and effective for committing patterns to memory for quick recall. The issue I have is that the puzzles in this book might be too hard for most beginners and even intermediates.
If you're getting this book for the method, you can easily learn the method in a short article of a few pages. And if it is the puzzles themselves you're after, you're better off finding a set that starts off very easy and progressively gets harder. Also, for the purpose of pattern recognition, I like puzzle sets that are specifically curated to capture the essence of the patterns. Often, these prototypical positions are from lesser-known players. Therefore, the authors' decision to take positions only from World Champions and their decision to order them chronologically rather than grouped by pattern or ordered by difficulty defeats the purpose of the book. They're good puzzles, but they're not ordered and presented in a way that matches the purpose of the book, and besides, they are simply too hard, even the "easy" chapter.
If you are looking for good puzzle sets to apply the Woodpecker method to, or if you simply want a good first tactics book with puzzles that are appropriate for lower-rated players, you can get Sergei Ivashchenko's The Manual of Chess Combinations, book 1 or 2 and start at the "stage" most appropriate for you, or you can try Susan Polgar's Chess Tactics for Champions, Jeff Coakley's Winning Chess Puzzles/Exercises for Kids, 1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners/Club Players, Anatoly Lein and Boris Archangelsky's Sharpen Your Tactics!, or any of the other exercise books I list here and here.
3. 100 Endgames You Must Know by Jesus de la Villa
This book has pretty much become the de facto go-to instructional text for theoretical endgames. I suspect that the popularity of this book stems from its satisfying title and from the fact that it was made into a Chessable course by IM John Bartholomew, who is an excellent chess teacher. However, I don't think this book is the best one for learning the basics of theoretical endings.
First of all, the book doesn't order the lessons by progressive difficulty. Instead, the chapters are organized by ending type: knight vs. pawn, queen vs. pawn, rook vs. pawn, etc. The result is that some very difficult endings are mixed in among more fundamental ones. Even within each chapter, the difficulties jump around a fair bit. This book isn't structured ideally if you want to work through all the endgames from 1 to 100 in order.
Also, I didn't find the author's style to be the clearest. Some people say this book explains things well, but I found it lacking. Perhaps it is because it is a translation, but I found the language somewhat awkward and ambiguous at times. And the explanations sometimes overcomplicate things.
Fortunately, there is an alternative for beginners and intermediate players that is so good that there really is no need to settle on a sub-par book like this one. The alternative I'm talking about. of course, is Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course. That book is so good - in large part because of the chapters aimed at each skill level - that there really isn't a need for any other endgame book until you are in need of something much more advanced. At that point, there are many options, such as Karsten Müller and Frank Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings. There are many other great endgame books that cover different aspects of the endgame, like practical strategy (Shereshevky's Endgame Strategy), tactics (Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics), and so on. But in terms of a basic instructional text on the basic theoretical endings, de la Villa doesn't really fill a niche that other books don't do better.
4. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer
As one of the greatest classics of all time, this book is featured on so many book lists. Beginners often run out to buy this one, and it ends up sitting on the shelf. I wouldn't say it's a super hard book, but most beginners aren't ready for modern game collections by World Champions. Again, you might be able to handle this one, but this book is so over-recommended that it makes it on so many beginners' bookshelves and never gets read. Instead, get a good instructive game collection that has games curated for beginners with lengthy verbal explanations.
I give many suggestions for good instructive game collections here, but some of the best for beginners are Irving Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move, Alper Efe Ataman's Instructive Chess Miniatures, and Dan Heisman's The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book. If you want something about one of the champions of the past, Frisco Del Rosario's A First Book of Morphy is only a bit harder. Irving Chernev's The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played, or any of Neil McDonald's or Steve Giddins's books are great. If you want something from a modern master that is easy enough for an intermediate player to follow along, I really like Judith Polgar's How I Beat Fischer Record. Once you feel comfortable enough reading game collections, Fischer's Memorable Games will be easier to understand.
5. How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman
You might be surprised to see this book on a list of over-recommended books, and I even surprised myself with this inclusion. In fact, I myself included this book on several of my lists. But the reason I put this here is not that I think this book is bad, but only because I think it is recommended too early. In fact, I met a much lower-rated player at the club last week who was reading this book, and he told me this is the first chess book he has ever read. It's a great book, but it isn't the best first book or even the best first positional strategy book. For starters, it is a big book and quite a big undertaking. Also, the exercises can be somewhat challenging for beginners.
Until you reach about 1300 Elo, most of your learning should be focused on tactics, with only a little basic strategy sprinkled in. For this, Yasser Seirawan's Play Winning Chess, or the basic strategic concepts covered in books like Jeff Coakley's Winning Chess Strategy for Kids or Siegbert Tarrasch's The Game of Chess is sufficient. Once you do reach that "intermediate" level and want to be introduced to positional concepts like superior minor pieces, outposts, and pawn structure, there are some gentler books you can read before How to Reassess Your Chess. For example, Michael Stean's Simple Chess is a good brisk intro, as is Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Strategy. And Jeremy Silman himself has The Amateur's Mind, which is a good book to read before this one.
6. All Opening Books
I am being deliberately provocative by showing an image of this particular book, but I really mean that all opening books are over-recommended. I get it, beginners need something to get them started, but I don't think repertoire books are the solution. And certainly, in-depth books on particular openings (like the Grandmaster Repertoire series) are far beyond the scope of any beginner, even the new style of opening books that are essentially game collections. It's not that I'm absolutely against any opening study whatsoever, but books just aren't the way to do it. More important is learning the basic plan of the opening in general, and how to calculate in the opening when there are no many non-forcing options.
A presentation of my recommended approach to learning openings for beginners is beyond the scope of this article - and I may write a blog post about this topic one day, but in the meantime, if a beginner really does insist on getting a book on openings, I could suggest Discovering Chess Openings by John Emms, which is super simple. If you want a general reference, Paul van der Sterren's Fundamental Chess Openings is a good reference to keep on your shelf when you need to look something up.
7. Any Dvoretsky Book
I don't think I need to belabor this point because I think people get it by now: Dvoretsky's books are too hard for you. It doesn't matter if it's Endgame Manual, School of Chess Excellence, or Recognizing Your Opponent's Resources. Don't get me wrong, they are excellent books, but they are extremely difficult.
Normally, I wouldn't have to say this, but it surprises me that I still see beginners going out and buying Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. I think people are over this by now, but then I see the Dvoretsky curse rear its head again. Often, a beginner will jump onto a chess forum with the innocent question, "I find that I often miss my opponent's ideas. My coach told me that I have to practice looking for my opponent's resources. What's a book that will help me recognize my opponent's resources?" and inevitably, someone will pop in with "Oh, how about Dvoretsky's Recognizing Your Opponent's Resouces!". Except for the title, this answer doesn't address the questioner's dilemma one iota.
If you want difficult calculation/positional puzzles, you're better off with Ray Cheng's Practical Chess Exercises or Eugene Perelshtyn & Nate Solon's Evaluate Like a Grandmaster. If it is insights into training your thought process, then try Alexander Kotov's Think Like a Grandmaster and Jonathan Tisdall's Improve Your Chess Now! Although those are more advanced than beginner level, I just mean they're better places to start with the mechanics of thought process than Dvoretsky. If you want something on thought process for beginners, check out Dan Heisman's books and YouTube channel.
8. Most Jacob Aagaard books
The same goes for most of Jacob Aagaard's books: they're probably too hard for you. Now, in the case of Aagaard, this assertion is more qualified than in the case of Dvoretsky. Aagaard does have some books that are quite approachable for non-grandmasters, but even then, you'll need to be quite strong to appreciate them.
Specifically, from his Grandmaster Preparation series, intermediates can get a lot out of Thinking Inside the Box, but even then, the exercises and examples are still quite deep. Intermediates can stick to the prose and stories in that book, but then you're only getting half the value of the book. I also found his Excelling at Chess to be quite readable. But in general, Jacob Aagaard's material tends to be quite demanding, and I wouldn't recommend them to most players below 1900-2000 Elo.
9. The Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir Vuković
Like in the case of Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess, I surprise even myself with this inclusion. Again, this is an excellent book. The problem is that it's too hard for those for whom it is often recommended, and there are better instructional books to read first on this subject.
This book is great for teaching you how to conduct an attack on the enemy king. The most important prerequisite skill for this is being able to recognize the basic checkmate patters quickly. Vuković covers these in the introduction, and I suspect it is this excellent introduction that attracts people to this book. But then the book gets much more difficult, and the examples are quite complex and involved for lower-rated players.
If it is a book on checkmate patterns that you're after, Murray Chandler's How to Beat Your Dad at Chess is an excellent first book. Georges Renaud & Victor Kahn's The Art of Checkmate presents the same patterns but supplies many full games as examples. Siegbert Tarrasch's The Game of Chess also spends much of the chapter on middlegames on basic attacking plans against the king. Jonathan Tisdall's Improve Your Chess Now! includes a reference to the basic checkmate patterns in an appendix. A more advanced book that covers many of the common sacrifices that lead to checkmate is David LeMoir's Essential Chess Sacrifices, but this one is more advanced. There are several good books on the theme of attacking chess, but The Art of Attack is on the more difficult end of these.
10. Build Up Your Chess/Boost Your Chess/Chess Evolution by Artur Yusupov
Again, I feel terrible including this series on list of over-recommended books, because they are excellent. But again, I must include it because it is too hard for the target audience. Even though this series starts from #1, it is by no means a course for beginners. By 1500-1600 Elo you might be ready for this series. It's a very good thing that it's demanding - especially the requirement that you write down all your answers in full and mark yourself - but for many people, it's hard to stick with it. I think most people understand that these books are more difficult than they seem, but I still see them being recommended to beginners.
If you're looking for a series that is structured like a "course," I recommend Lev Alburt and Roman Pelts's Comprehensive Chess Course. These are much more suitable for beginners and will bridge the gap before you are ready for the Yusupov series. Also good as a "course" is Susan Polgar's Learn Right Way and The Steps Method.
Notable Exclusion: My System by Aron Nimzowitsch
Notably, I've excluded this one from my list. I appreciate some of the criticisms of this book - Nimzo's style is peculiar, and some of the ideas in this book might be outdated. But I actually think this book is under-recommended. I think it gets such a bashing that people are reluctant to recommend it anymore. But I think it's actually quite good and the style is entertaining. Nimzowitsch govers some ideas that I don't think get covered the same way in other books. For example, I prefer his definition of the outpost, which includes even squares that could be attacked by pawns if advancing those pawns will provoke weaknesses in the opponent's structure. And his example of making a perpetual with a rook and knight is really fun.
I agree that this book is old, and there is new stuff available today that doesn't require you to put up with Nimzo's diatribes, but I think Nimzo covers some things in a way that you can't find in other books. And I don't think the book is terribly difficult. You can probably read it at the same stage in your development that you would read Silman's Amateur's Mind or How to Reassess Your Chess.
So there you have it. That's my list of over-recommended books. The books on this list are all excellent, but I think they are too often recommended to players who are not ready for them.
