inexpensive chess books
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Aug 18, 2007
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#2
Yeah, buying used chess books through the internet seems the best way, I agree.
Use Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com (they have used books as well). I buy all my books used since they are cheaper and I can get a few different books for the price of one. I've also downloaded a number of good chess books free at some of the ebook sights. You'll need the Adobe reader to read most of them. Be careful when going to these sites since a few of them will have strings attatched to them.
I've bought a few chess books at a used bookstore near my house. I've also downloaded quite a few chess ebooks in pdf form. However, I prefer either Foxit Reader or Sumatra PDF viewer to Adobe's version. Adobe Reader is too slow and bloated for my taste.
And don't forget your local public library. The one here in Chapel Hill, NC, has about 30 books on chess!
The library is a great, free, place for chess books. I forgot about them. Shame on me!!
Hi to all
Another great place for used books is www.abebooks.com (USA) or www.abebooks.co.uk (UK). These sites have links to similar sites in other countries. I just did a search using the keyword "chess" and it found more than 65000 books for sale.
However, I agree that we should all use our local libraries whenever possible! 
I'll disagree with all of you on this one. While I like amazon.com for all the reviews, and I do buy from them for some things, I don't get chess books from them.
I do most of my chess book buying at tournaments. When I'm playing regularly, I play in decent sized tournaments (weekend tourneys with 100+ people) about once every two months or so. All of these tournaments have a vendor there selling books and other chess equipment. This is a great opportunity to look through the books before you buy, compare opinions on books with the sellers and other players at the tournament, and to spend your money supporting a business that exists specifically to serve the chess community. And many of these vendors buy and sell used books, on top of their selection of new ones, so you can often find some pretty good deals there.
--Fromper
Another great resource for buying used chess books, or any kind of book, is www.fetchbook.info Type in the name of the book you are interested in, or the author, and the site will bring up about a dozen places online where you can buy them used. They'll even compare the prices!
Value>Price
It's important to remember this. One fantastic book which costs a little more is probably more beneficial than five average books which were cheap.
I recently purchased "Fourty Years At The Top" by Senior Master John Curdo who is a legend in New England. I paid one hundred dollars for a (rare) signed copy. I generally buy second hand chess books on Alibris or Amazon.
Here are some chess OPENING books on amazon.com that cost between 1 cent and $2:
The Ultimate Pirc: Comprehensive Coverage of an Exciting Modern Opening
Play Anti-Indian Systems (Cadogan Chess Books)
Beating the Caro-Kann (Batsford Chess Library)
The Classical King's Indian (MacMillan Chess Library)
Play the Benko Gambit (Cadogan Chess Books)
Caro-Kann Defence (Tournament Player's Repertoire of Openings)
The Spanish Exchange: An Instructive Survey of a Bobby Fischer Favorite
Beating the Grunfeld (Batsford Chess Library)
The Slav for the Tournament Player (Tournament Player's Repertoire of Openings)
The Complete Benoni (Batsford Chess Library)
An Active Repertoire for Black: King's Indian Defense and Sicilian Defence (Scheveningen Variation)
Winning With the Benko (Batsford Chess Library)
How to Play the Nimzo Indian Defence (Batsford Chess)
The Pirc for the Tournament Player (The tournament player's repertoire of openings)
Chess Openings for Black, Explained (A Complete Repertoire)
New Ideas in the Sveshnikov Sicilian (Batsford Chess Library)
Beating the French (Batsford Chess Library)
Catalan Opening (Batsford Library of Tournament Openings)
New Ideas in the Four Knights (Batsford Chess Library)
The Sicilian for the Tournament Player (Batsford Chess Books)
If you want to look at some more chess books on amazon then search it and then put next to "Sort by" Price: Low to High.
If you enjoy reading about chess as I do but find the prices of the books a bit out of line, you might consider amazon.com. Their selection of USED chess books is outstanding. They often have readers give reviews of these books and sample portions of the actual book are often offered so you're not buying blindly. A warning: don't purchase until you've checked the seller rating. I never purchase anything unless the seller has an outstanding rating. Taking books from the library is okay but of course you have a time limit and you can not write all over the book.