Books for Advanced Players - Chess Forums

NM MapleDanish

Dec 27, 2010

0

#1

I doubt I'm giving enough information to elicit a particularly useful response, but this should make for an interesting topic nonetheless. After a little more than 3 years of playing, I achieved a 2100+ rating. Blah blah blah... not important

What is important, is that after being away from the game for a few months now, I'm trying to get back into it and resume my attempt at a master title.

In said journey, I'm looking for a decent chess book. Besides How to Reassess Your Chess by Silman, My System by Nimzowitsch, and My 60 Memorable Games by Fischer, I have no other books in my library. I've also read pieces of Winning Pawn Structures by Barubin, which is no doubt the book which brought me the quickest improvement (not to mention an idea I found within which won me TWO critical games in my 'career').

Okay that's my library. Here's my long winded question.

I'm looking for a book that isn't about opening theory (I do my own preparation), and that is not designed for intermediate players (ie. Reassess Your Chess).

Any ideas???

NathanTJC

Dec 27, 2010

0

#2

Well, it sounds like you could possibly use a book on endgame theory?

NM MapleDanish

Dec 27, 2010

0

#3

Ugh. Endgames. I'll check it out. Thanks guys. Hi Adam :P

orangehonda

Dec 28, 2010

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#4

Just from what I've seen (so may not be true for your area) but class players are really terrible at endgames... like really really bad. So up through about expert level you can get away with only knowing the very basics... but (again from the players I've seen) there seems to be a jump around the 2200 level, and those guys actually know what they're doing in endgames (they don't immediately self-destruct). So if you want to make master I'd recommend eventually looking into some endgames.

Of course if you're really a great natural tactician, you can get to 22-24-2600 with very little endgame... so at least after your progress starts to slow down, look into it ;)

Dr_Pretorius

Dec 28, 2010

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#5

I am studying endgames right now, and it is a real eye opener. I really can't believe I played so many years with so little endgame knowledge. Knowing endgames better is starting to slowly shape how I play the middlegame. I have Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, but I am going with the basics before tackling that material.

Latvianfan

Dec 28, 2010

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#6

My Great Predecessors is good. Kasparov goes through hundreds of world champion games. It has several volumes.

Or you could try Devious Chess by Amatzia Avni if you like to have your adrenaline going during a game. Not the best annotations, but the games make up for it.

NM Splane

Dec 28, 2010

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#7

I think in general most players below master level have a poor understanding of what to do in queenless positions that have not yet simplified into basic textbook endings. Two books that I would recommend to fix that problem are Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky and Positional Chess Handbook by Gelfer.

The Shereshevsky book gives you principles to structure the way you think in the ending, for example the idea that you need to give your opponent two weaknesses to have winning chances, and teaches the steps in a typical winning process.

Gelfer gives you dozens of examples of how to win different types of endings, for example good knight versus bad bishop, so you quickly increase the number of patterns you recognize and understand. This is a great book to read after Shereshevsky.

shuttlechess92

Dec 28, 2010

0

#8

so you posted this before talking to me?

hmm...

Secrets of Modern chess strategy by John Watson. a modern twist on my system :)

if you liked that, then get the sequel (naturally): Chess strategy in Action.

How chess games are won and lost by Lars Bo Hansen - you'll be surprised by how good this is.

if you want more, just message me. I probably have one of the biggest libraries around :)

dashkee94

Dec 28, 2010

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#9

Tactics for advanced players by Yuri Averbach. A classic.

erikido23

Dec 28, 2010

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#10

Some great suggestions so far. A tactics book which helped me out quite a bit was forcing chess moves.

conolol

Dec 28, 2010

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#11

Some really good books were listed above, but all took one direction specifically, to improve your chess abilities (whether it be tactics, end-game, strategies, etc etc). I think another approach to looking for a book might not directly be a chess book, however a book on the psychology of dealing with a game and the pressures that come with it.

The book I am currently reading is How Life Imitates Chess by Garry Kasparov, another great book I have heard and would like to get my hands on is The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin.

I see it from this point of view... You have an incredible amount of skill when it comes to chess and your preparation is second to none (out prepping several NM/FMs in their pet lines "cough" dragon "cough" ). Therefore another way to improve your game is how you handle yourself, and the decisions you come to make in a game. Because let's face it, your coming very close to your Master's title, and as far as skill goes, you got it. It is more of a psychological barrier than anything in my opinion.

bondocel

Dec 28, 2010

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#12

Dvoretsky's books maybe too advanced, he is famous for bringing IM's to the GM level.

Please check "Dinamic chess strategy" by Mihai Suba. I think that he published a new, revised edition. I also think you should get an endgame book, and Silman's might be exactly what you need. Besides, it's a very cheap book for its size.

As for openings, unfortunately I know absolutely no good book. A book which would focus on ideas rather than dwelve into an enormous tree of variations.

Phelon

Jan 11, 2011

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#13

I'm not where you are at Sens, just recently became a class A player (1816 uscf), but I have been improving steadily and here are the books I own that I'm planning on covering heavily to make my way to master. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, 1001 winning chess sacrifices and combinations (have worked through it already, planning to go over it until I have each problem down cold), Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky, Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual, Studies for Practical Players by Dvoretsky, School of Chess Excellence 3: Strategic Play by Dvoretsky, Chess Exam and Training Guide by Igor Khmelnitsky, Pawn Power In Chess by Hans Kmoch, Turning Advantage into Victory in Chess by Andrew Soltis, and of course My System by Nimzovich.

While a few of the Dvoretsky books on strategy might repeat themselves, I am confident that once I finish going over these books I will be near or above master. I'm especially looking forward to finishing Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, and Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky. Based on the first 15 pages of the Manual I will say that it's been very challenging and very rewarding. If I wasn't so strong tactically I would not be able to make any headway into it at all. As it is, it takes me about 15 minutes to an hour to mostly figure out an exercise (though I will occassionally miss 1 or 2 small things). To put my tactical strength into perspective I'm 2525 on tactics trainer. If you are around that, I think you will be able to handle it.

Also here are a few books that I don't own, but would really like to get and add to that list. Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis, Winning Pawn Structures by Baburin, and a tactics book even stronger than 1001 wcsc.

SimonSeirup

Jan 11, 2011

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#14

Attacking Manual 1&2 by GM Jacob Aagaard and Fundamental Chess Endings is what i can think of.

rigamagician

Jan 11, 2011

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#15

Jonathan Tisdall's Improve Your Chess Now is an extremely interesting meditation on what order to look at candidate moves in, and also has sections on defending tough positions, mating patterns, visualization, etc. Keres and Kotov's Art of the Middlegame has some nice articles on attack and defence. Pretty well anything by Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Tal or David Bronstein is bound to have something of interest. For endgames, John Nunn has put out some good books lately with a lot of new ideas: Understanding Chess Endgames and Nunn's Chess Endings. I would second Dvoretsky as well, in particular Attack and Defence. Other books with useful ideas:

Vladimir Vukovic. The Art of Attack in Chess.
Andrew Soltis. Pawn Structure Chess.
Max Euwe and Haije Kramer. The Middlegame.
Alexei Suetin. A Contemporary Approach to the Middlegame.
Max Euwe. Judgement and Planning in Chess.
Alexei Suetin. Plan like a Grandmaster.

rigamagician

Jan 11, 2011

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#16

I do like Kotov's work although he tends to borrow examples from other places (notably the writings of Alekhine and Euwe) as well. Suetin's book is very different from Kotov's though. Suetin is interested in how modern opening theory has tried to forge systems that give black a chance at the initiative from early on in the game, a topic that I don't think Kotov deals with at all. Suetin's book strikes me as the work that paved the way for Suba's Dynamic Chess Strategy and Watson's Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, and helped to bolster the concreteness trend of recent years. Suetin is also very interested in the question of how to build a position with combinational potential, a neglected topic in my view. Suba likes to play possum in the hopes of a later counterattack, while Watson is overly caught up in static advantages. Suetin is more interested in how to generate complications, and take advantage of dynamic advantages. Also whereas Kotov is an affirmed Steinitzian looking for weaknesses before pouncing, Suetin is trying to establish a theoretical framework for the style of players like Tal or Bronstein who invite their opponents to fall into traps by putting the pressure on from early on.

Another topic he touches on is the use of a central pawn wedge to prevent the opponent from transferring pieces from side to side quickly, a favourite strategy of Kasparov's. I also like the way Suetin looks at the flow of pieces from one flank to the other, or centre to flank taking advantage of local weaknesses. Suetin is actual one of the few theorists I've seen who focuses on this idea of local advantage trumping overall advantage. Anyway, a very interesting book in my opinion.

RichardEdieBrock

Apr 8, 2019

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#17

Some free PDF?

AnimeSuperstar22

Apr 18, 2019

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#18

You became an NM though! Nice work. Try Applying Logic in Chess by Erik Kislik or try the new Shankland book

kevlevrone

Apr 19, 2019

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#19

Hi everyone. Can someone recommend any books for beginners? I have just started playing chess and do some puzzles here but in a real game, I usually lose

kindaspongey

Apr 19, 2019

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#20

kevlevrone wrote:

Hi everyone. Can someone recommend any books for beginners? I have just started playing chess and do some puzzles here ...

You would probably get more help for beginners in a thread with a name referring to help for beginners. Anyway: