chess books

Hi, i was just wondering what are some good tactics books and some other good books for begginners, i have been playing for 2 - 2 1/2 weeks now. My tactics trainer rating is now 960 but i want to do some tactics while on the toilet to =). Thanks

You can hear Grandmaster Julio Becerra recommend a few books in this audio interview I did with him this week: choice of 2 links.. 1st one requires downloading, 2nd one doesn't.

http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/u1600-matches2?ncc=1#first_new_comment

http://www.vimeo.com/9871111

I heard him recommend:

1001 Checkmates

1001 Chess Combinations

But I can't catch the name of the 3rd book he recommends... you might have better luck than me... I have asked him to message me the name... If you want to know, send me a message and when I find out I can let you know.

Thx, any other reccomendations?

Chess by Lazlo Polgar. It's megagigantic

Reinfeld's 1001 combinations, Horowitz's book on the endgame, and a few years of internet blitz are what I started with.  Horowitz's book may be a bit older (and in descriptive notation) but it covers all the basics.  Reinfeld's book has stood the test of time and is good to get.

Many players end up with more books on chess than they will ever read.  Silman's books are good eg Amateur's mind, his Endgame Course, and later look into the Reassess books.  Seriwan's winning chess series (7 books in all) are all good and pitched at a beginner level (and covers whatever you want to know, tactics, endgames, openings, etc)  Logical chess by Chernev explains every move of every game, every time.  Even after the 30th game that opens with 1.e4 he finds something to say about it, so this book comes highly recommended.  Master vs Amateur by Euwe is another that helps carve out what thinking is good vs bad.  Weapons of chess by Pandolfini covers all the basics of strategy.  Then there are classic game collections of strong tournaments (eg Zurich 1953) or world championship matches (eg Tal Botvinnik 1960) which are sometimes bought as much as for collecting as study it seems.

And if you throw any of these into amazon you'll find other recommended books on each page, read the reviews and see what you like.  In truth no one needs 20 book to start out, I'd say leave the game collection books for later and get a tactics book + endgame book or choose one of the logical books eg Silman's Amateur's mind or one of the move by move books (Chernev's or Euwe's).

For tactics the books are all relatively similar.  It's just problems and getting used to spotting various themes and patterns.