Favourite chess books?

Sort:
Oldest
jaipoole

Hi! Just wanted to start a discussion on what books everyone loves/ would recommend and why! I’d love to hear everyone’s opinion happy.png

KineticPawn

1) Jeremy Silmans Complete end game course. 

It's a really practical way of approaching endgame studies for a casual player who wants to get better.  It begins with the basics and chapters build on each other.  He cuts a lot of fat out and gives you what you should know at the different rating levels so you won't waste time on some Dostoevsky position that's not practical for most players. 

RussBell

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

facecards

@kineticpawn

Thanks for the recommendation. I have been wanting an endgame book for a basic, hobbyist player like myself to round out my small collection and you always seem to offer good advice here. I will pick up a copy sometime as an endgame book is the one piece missing from my home library.

@jaipoole

Hello sir. Full disclosure: I am a less than mediocre chess player who would love to improve but for various reasons just doesn’t have the time. Also, where I live, I unfortunately don’t really have anyone to play with so I mostly just fiddle around here and lose all the time as I just can’t get the hang of playing on a computer (must be an age thing!)

Therefore, I only need a few books and I find it quite peaceful and enjoyable to sit down with a nice chess book, chess set…and the occasional stiff cocktail! 

That said:

1.  Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

2. FCO by Paul van der Sterren

3. The “Winning Chess” series by Yasser Seirawan 

4. 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar

There are a million chess books and it’s difficult to know what works. However, for my basic needs, I have found these four (soon to be five) to be fine and they contain enough information to keep me occupied for a very, very long time. 

Hope this helps and good luck!

MSteen

I've always recommended "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess" by Patrick Wolff. It covers every phase of the game and does so with so many diagrams that you can almost read it without a board. And every chapter finishes with a bunch of tests / puzzles to quiz you on the material you should have just absorbed. 

In addition, I have to agree with others who have posted here and HIGHLY recommend:
1. "5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games" by Laszlo Polgar
2. "Silman's Complete Endgame Course" by Jeremy Silman
Also
3. "Logical Chess, Move by Move" by Irving Chernev
4. The "Winning Chess" series by Yasser Seirawan.

realraptor

1. "Simple Chess" by Michael Stean is a very interesting book about position concepts like outposts, weak square network and minority attacks.  

2.  "Let me ask you, do you know?" is a set of 40 lessons on endgames published by Chess Informator.  Each lesson takes a particular material balance (like K + 2p vs K + 1p or K+R+p vs K+R), has one or two examples and then six problems which are solved in significant detail - many of the solutions include references to studies or similar positions.  What I particularly like about this is that doing a Lesson gives me a goal and a stopping point.  It might be the first endgame book I finish.

3.  Sicilian Labyrinth by Polygaevsky - 2 volumes on how to handle the (mostly open) sicilian including a survey of common sacrifice themes.

realraptor

Looking at your rating level, Chernev "Most Instructive Chess Games Ever Played" is probably high in the list of "candidate moves".

Tiguent
Blunders and brilliancies
BlackKaweah
Masters of the Chessboard by Reti and My System by Nimzovich
Sir_Blackfish

During a clean-up last year during covid lockdown I found a bunch of books from the 60's and 70's. Brought back a lot of memories and I picked up the descriptive notation so easily (how could you forget).  I just couldn't throw out yet so they are back in the shed.

My 3 favorites are:

Test your Chess - Gerald Abrahams - One of my early puzzle books, late 60's

How Fischer Plays Chess - David N.L.Levy - A great book at the time, about 1973.

1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and combinations - Fred Reinfeld - Another good puzzle book, Late 60's I think. AUD $2.25

And my favourite fun book

Great Short Games of the Chess Masters - Fred Reinfeld 1973 Cost AUD $1.25

 

laurengoodkindchess

My favorite chess books are:

1) 50 Poison Pieces

2) Queen For a Day: The Girl's Guide To Chess Mastery

Both books are available on Amazon.com and are endorsed by chess masters!

   

martinbchess

Predator at the chessboard 1 and 2 by Ward Farnsworth,  great books on how to see tactical opportunities in chess positions.

 

OldPatzerMike

I will always hold dear "Reshevsky's Best Games of Chess" by Samuel Reshevsky. It's long out of print and uses descriptive notation (which I know newer players hate), but that book alone got me to a 1550 OTB rating after my very first tournament in 1970.

For sheer pleasure, as well as great chess instruction, for me no book can compare with Bronstein's "Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953". As an added bonus, it uses algebraic notation.

Jordan2177

my 60 memrabole games

simple chess

MCH818

I have read all or part of 4 chess books and I can recommend them all:

1. My first book was Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. I like solving the puzzles/questions in the book.

2. The second book I read was Discovering Chess Openings by John Emms. I really like this book. The first 3 chapters discussed basic opening principles which one can use to build a basic opening repertoire.

3. I read half of Weapons of Chess by Bruce Pandolfini. I like this book because it was just a collection of essays about chess unlike many chess books out there.

4. Lastly, I like Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan. I only read the chapters related to space and pawn structure. It was really easy to read and Yasser writes about the 4 basic areas of chess. He discussed tactics, timing/openings, space; and pawn structure. The book doesn't just go through dry chess theory. Yasser threw in stories of great masters before him as well as the one or two lessons he learned throughout his own career. It was a really good book.

Shirley39

Chess Beatdowns

Alterego8

Guys and Girls,

Don't miss these gems -

Play better chess by  L Barden 1980 algebraic

Better chess by Bill Hartston,  alg.

My chess career by Capa,  Dover.

Modern Ideas in chess, Reti, Dover.

Best lessons of a chess coach by Sunil W.  Algeb.

Chess the hard way, by Yanofsky ( a bit special )

Great moments in modern chess by Fine (originally published as The world's a chess board ). Dover..  Fab old games.

Nigel Short - chess prodigy, by David Short...   Faber ?

Some will be out of print. I suggest they are ideal for intermediate level, and stronger players would love some of the games. There's not much in the way of reams of analysis and there's plenty of explanation by words.

Happy hunting to find.

tygxc

"Zürich 1953" Bronstein
One of the qualitatively and quantitatively best tournaments of all time with 210 games superbly annotated by one of the best players of all time.

Mysteriogo
The Fireside Book of Chess is a classic
RunningWild15

One of my favorites is Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess. I like how he breaks down all the different imbalances and discusses each in depth. Below is a list that has books by rating that I found helpful too.

https://www.chess.com/blog/chessbuzz/chess-books-by-rating

Forums
Forum Legend
Following
New Comments
Locked Topic
Pinned Topic