does reading book really improve you in chess?

Hi guys i am a beginer at 700 rating i recently have read how to beat anyone at chess by Ethan moore.This is my first book for chess.I was thinking does chess books really improve you?

It depends a lot on what you do with what’s in the book. Books are available for all different levels of player and present ideas in different ways. At 700 rating, the book you mention may be, if anything, a little basic, but I’d read it carefully to see what new ideas it has in it. Make sure to set up and slowly play through and analyze any series of moves listed in the books you read. To a beginner, it can feel like lists of chess moves are filler, but they are the core of most books’ content. At 700, your weakest points are likely to be basic opening principles (not memorized openings!) and tactics. I’m a big fan of “Discovering Chess Openings” by John Emms for opening principles, and “1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners” by Franco Masetti, for tactics.

You need to tell us, not the other way around. Doyou think the book made sense? Did you learn anything you didn't know before?

I personally find books very helpful and give me something to refer to. I mostly read opening books as they are easier to study than other books and they are very helpful when I complete them. My French and Queen's Gambit studies are my most completed and it is very useful if you for example face the Tarrasch Defense and you get beat by it. The study will be great to refer back to so you can see how you should continue and have an explanation as well and see a few moves in advance 

All beginners and intermediate players must start learning from books (or videos?). Database and engine analysis are for advanced players

"I don't care"

In another post, i was against reading books.  But I shouldn't be so negative.

There is two parts about chess which are knowledge and ability.  You need knowledge to have a high ability, but having knowledge does not necessarily mean you will have high ability.  High ability is obtained by doing drills.  This is very important and you need to remember that.  If you listen to my advice, you can go from beginning to class A in 2-3 years.

The thing is, you need a way to input knowledge somehow.  There is an enormous amount of knowledge that are out there for chess, but most of them don't apply to you.  The best way to input knowledge is to have a tutor or a coach.  A titled player charges a lot, but the truth is, you don't need a titled player to teach you what you need to know and some class A players can teach better than titled players.  You can find one for cheap.  

These days, there are so many ways to obtain knowledge, and a book is time consuming.  Also, everyone learns in different ways, and not everyone learns best from books.  Watching videos on youtube and follow streamers who explain why they do what they do is a quicker way.  You might even want to take notes or screen shots while watching the videos.  

But once you obtain all the basic, essential knowledge such as how pawn structures work, doing drills will improve your ability and your ratings, and further knowledge will not.  

There are a lot of drills you can find on the internet, and those are painful but extremely helpful.  Puzzles will improve your ratings only up to a certain level because puzzles don't help you to develop your positional sense.  By drills, I mean there are people who post very complicated positions and you suppose to sit down and explore all possibilities that are many moves deep and compare your conclusion with the right answer.  The right answer has to be right, contain strategic commentaries, and checked by engines.  

But in conclusion, doing drills will improve your ability.  To even being capable of doing drills, you need knowledge.  Also, you need to have access to the right answer.  A pure engine score is not enough.  All of those are provided by a chess coach.  The best way to improve is to have a good chess coach.  

I like books that are targeted - one for tactics, one for strategy, one for endgames.

Books are something of the past, like clay tablets, papyrus scrolls, parchment...
You need two kinds of books
1) Books with annotated grandmaster games, so as to learn from the grandmaster. A good example is "My Great Predecessors" by Kasparov or also the book by Kasparov on his matches against Karpov. However, you can also study annotated grandmaster games on websites like chessgames.com or you can also watch youtube videaos of grandmasters analysing after their game e.g; at the Yekaterinenburg Candidates.
2) You need an endgame book, as you need to know stuff you cannot reinvent behind the board, like Philidor position, Lucena position etc. A good book is "Funbdamental Chess Endings" by Karsten Müller. However, you can also study endgames from the 7-men endgame table bases.

Every time this topic comes up you get a load of people all pushing their views forward on "chess".

"Chess needs to be learned like this..." "Nobody learning chess needs to do this..." "The only way for a beginner to improve at chess is to..."

Chess is a huge topic that has been addressed and taught in countless ways over centuries and @notmtwain had the right idea here, it's entirely about you. If you are a good book learner, if you like sitting down and playing through variations with a book on your lap or you like reading chapters on theory before bed then get into books. I'm a book person personally and have Emms' opening principles, play winning chess by Yasser Seirawan and weapons of chess by pandolfini that I' recommended.

But if you're better at learning through videos, or  through training apps that let you practice exercises yourself or with an actual human being teaching you or by engaging in dialogue with other learners or just by going out and playing a tonne of games and learning by doing and failing... All these things are available to you and can be used to help you improve...

 

 

Yes reading chess books improved my game.  In my opinion choosing what chess books to read is very important. And  how you read it is like a correct gym program that will build your muscles faster. I never had a coach I hope I am doing it right.

I enjoy studying from a range of sources including internet sites and you tube but I love and feel I get the most benefit out of working with books. Good books have bags if character. Two caveats, the book needs to be suited to your ability or rating. I've got this wrong a few times and have books that are pitched well above my ability. I hope I'll get to them eventually. Second one is not all books are good books. Some chess authors aren't necessarily good writers or good educators which is particularly important for beginners, less so if you are an independent learner (at chess). Again, I've got this wrong a few times. So do some research and take a punt but if you are struggling with a book, dont worry, put it back on the shelf (or send it too the local charity shop) and try another. You'll know when you've got it right because you'll read it cover-to-cover. I've one or two I'm planning to go through a second time, just in case I missed something.

yes

Hi! My name is Lauren Goodkind and I'm a chess coach based in California: www.ChessByLauren.com.  

  Yes, books does help people improve.  After I read tactic books, my rating jumped over 300 points in several months!  That's from 1200 to 1500!  

   If I was you, I would try to find a book that will help you.  People have different learning styles, so if a book doesn't help you, then find another way for help.