Looking for a book on how to evaluate a position

Hi,

chess player with approx 1200 ELO FIDE, about 1400 on lichess and 1000 here on chess.com.

I'm looking for the best book(s) on how to evaluate a position.

Many thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Regards

AG

Considering your rating in daily chess, I would not recommend a book just yet to help you in your aforementioned aspect. Besides, I know of few books that specifically focus on how to evaluate positions. From my personal experience, focus on positional play and watch videos of Romain Edouard and Sam Copeland here on chess.com, for positional play is what is often neglected by players of your rating. Personally, just spending one month doing this thing helped me to skyrocket from 1150 to 1400.

On a broader note, maybe check out Eugene Znosko-Borovsky's The Middlegame in Chess and Nikolay Yakovlev's Planning in the Middlegame.

Great many thanks

Oh yeah forgot to say that maybe Andrew Soltis's How to Choose a Chess Move would also be a good option

Evaluate like a grandmaster. By GM Eugene Perelshteyn & FM Nate Solon

I actually own such book. I haven't read it yet, maybe it's time to do so!

The Soltis book is a good one for your purposes. Soltis wrote a later one, "The Inner Game of Chess", that would also be very helpful to you.

The best book that I am familiar with for basic understanding and practice in evaluating positions is "Test Your Positional Play" by Robert Bellin and Pietro Ponzetto. It's unfortunately out of print, but used copies are available (about 20 USD plus shipping on abebooks.com, for example). The first section of the book, about 60 pages, explains how to analyze, evaluate, and form a plan in a position. The second section has 30 test positions. For each one, you are given a choice of 3 possible plans. After you've analyzed the position and decided on what you think is the best plan, you can go to the solution. The solution is about 2 pages of explanation of why the best plan is the best one and why the other 2 plans do not fit the position.

A more advanced book is "Test Your Chess Skills" by Sarhan Guliev and Logman Guliev. It contains 224 positions; in most of them, you are asked whether the side to play is better, equal, or worse. The solutions explain the correct evaluation.

Another advanced book is "Strategic Chess Exercises" by Emmanuel Bricard. Its focus is on planning in the given positions, 63 from middle games and 90 from endgames. The explanations given in the solutions include the evaluation that leads to the correct plan.

I hope this helps. Much success in your chess endeavors.

Many thanks guys for the excellent suggestions. I should have by now a bunch of books, to choose from. Hope to be able to improve soon, have a great day.

It is written that positional evaluation is one of the most important skills of a chess player. Many good books will help.

A book specifically on positional evaluation is  Chess Exam and Training Guide by Igor Khmelnitsky. It presents 100 positions with a multiple choice response, such as A. Black is slightly better, B. Nearly equal , C. White is slightly better , D. White is significantly better. Went through it ten years ago, when I was 1300 OTB, and got about half correct. Overall it was difficult & I thought some of his reasons were too subtle, at least for me.

Although not limited to positional evaluation, another educational book is Lessons with a Grandmaster by GM Boris Gulko. Fascinating discussions of positions by the GM and his student, psychologist Joel Sneed. What to do and why is hashed out between an amateur & professional.

Simple Chess by Stean is tiny, but page for page, the best chess book ever written.

@agatti1970 -

Based on your specific question...

"I'm looking for the best book(s) on how to evaluate a position."

I recommend to check out "Elements of Positional Evaluation" by Dan Heisman. I comment on the book in both of the following articles...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

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

Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

You could subscribed the Year Book , it fits for everyone include beginner to improve evaluate one position