Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond
There are many good tactics books suggested in the article. Most take the form of puzzle books, the better ones organizing them by tactical themes - pins, forks, double attacks, etc. IMO, the one that comes closest to being a "de facto" standard and which does an exceptional job of addressing tactical thinking conceptually and procedurally is Dan Heisman's "Back to Basics" Tactics".
As I said in the article, "Chess Tactics from Scratch: Understanding Chess Tactics" By Martin Weteschnik is a relatively advanced book in tactics suitable for intermediate players and beyond (Elo 1400+). I suggest Dan Heisman's book, at the least, before tackling Weteschnik's book.
Finally, you might check out my blog for other articles related to openings and positional-strategic (i.e., mostly middlegame) concerns.
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell
Hi! My name is Lauren Goodkind and I’m a respected chess coach and chess YouTuber who helps beginners out :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP5SPSG_sWSYPjqJYMNwL_Q
-I recommend one book for you: “50 Poison Pieces” You have to figure out why taking an unprotected piece is a mistake. This book are available on Amazon.com. This books are endorsed by chess masters!
I hope that this helps.
"Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" - Fischer
How to beat your dad at chess is a good kickstart.
Chess Fundamentals by José R. Capablanca will give you a solid foundation if you take the time to study it thoroughly. It is available free for onscreen reading on Chess Tempo, or you could buy the paperback from Everyman.
Irving Chernev, Logical Chess, every move explained - Even though it's not modern, reading material where you recreate the game on a board and have every single move explained to you is invaluable as a beginner. This book quickly got me from 1200-1400 and was very easy to read.
Irving Chernev, Logical Chess, every move explained - Even though it's not modern, reading material where you recreate the game on a board and have every single move explained to you is invaluable as a beginner. This book quickly got me from 1200-1400 and was very easy to read.
This book is a good followup to Capablanca’s Chess Fundamentals.
I might also add that many players above 1600 (give or take a few hundred) think (are told) that these books are pitched to weaker players. If you skipped them on the way up, go back and study them. I read both as a solid A Class (USCF) and learned a few things.
Irving Chernev, Logical Chess, every move explained - Even though it's not modern, reading material where you recreate the game on a board and have every single move explained to you is invaluable as a beginner. This book quickly got me from 1200-1400 and was very easy to read.
You can get a good impression of this book by reading through this thread: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-analysis/logical-chess-move-by-move-1
I recommend Graham Burgess's book The Mammoth Book of Chess. It is a general book that provides a good foundation in openings, middlegame and endgame. Useful up to at least 1500 level.
Dan Heisman's A Guide to Chess Improvement: The Best of Novice Nook is also a useful general book to get.
For focusing on tactics, there is John Bain's Chess Tactics for Students, and Peter Giannatos Everyone's First Chess Workbook.
I had a quick look at the except of the book you mentioned https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess-Tactics-Scratch-excerpt.pdf and it looks pretty decent.
There is also a free chessable course called Typical Tactical Tricks: 500 ways to win which starts off super easy and gradually get more sophisticated. By the end of that your tactics should be good enough to get you to 1000 quite easily.
silman's 'reassess your chess' should be required reading for every new player.
i suggest getting a diamond membership & then using all the features; especially puzzles & lessons.
the silman endgame book mentioned is also top-notch... i've read it all & it taught me a LOT. 🙂
One book that I wish I had gotten as a beginner was Chess Fundementals. It really has everything you need to get to 1600, maybe even 1800, and even 2000! The author writes and explains everything in an easy to understand manner.
Me too. I had it when I was C Class, but only really read it recently. I did adopt some structural ideas from it in my teaching about fifteen years ago, but based on a superficial reading of the book itself.
I am a firm believer in the sequence Capablanca employs: basic checkmates, elementary endings, middle game tactics, opening principles, repeat, … then whole games.
Hello, I've been playing chess for about a month and my score is around 800 at the moment. I know that my game is lacking in pretty much every aspect, but what feels the worst to me is having no vision on what to do after my opening.
So i usually try to play London System and i have studied some popular lines there to get an idea of where my opening should evolve, but i feel that this doesn't help me much because these beginner games are so far away from popular lines. Sometimes my opponent just leaves his king in the middle with a messed up pawn structure and I feel like I should be able to take advantage of that a lot better.
So my thinking is that my tactical vision and thinking are things that i should work on foremost. Is there a "de facto" standard book that is recommended for beginners for tactical thinking?
I've done some research and read some similar topics and my current idea is to get "Chess Tactics from Scratch: Understanding Chess Tactics 2nd edition".
But before doing that I wanted to check with you guys if maybe there is a better recommendation for me out there.