How do you read chess books?

OK, I know this is a stupid question.  I know I should be able to figure this out all by myself. However, I have been playing for several years now and still can't read and remember the moves listed in books.  I can understand each indiviual move as it is written, but once I have read a new move I have forgotten what preceded it. And on and on until I give up!

So my questions are simply 1) Am I totally hopeless? 2) Have any of you had the same problem and then solved it? 3) If you solved it can you tell me how? PLEASE?

I am not an expert but I think many have this problem. Understanding the idea behind the move is more important I think

I have the same challenge.  So I have started to use game editor and the blog feature here on chess.com.  I go through a game and I use the game editor to record the moves and some of the notes and variations.  Then later I play the games over and over.

Not sure if that will work for you, but maybe you can give it a try.  Good luck.  

Hi Kramercito.  Your idea makes some sense and might help me in reading that particular game, but I know that some (most?) players can make sense as they read through the game and visualize the layout as they go. I don't know if what you suggest will improve my ability for the next game(s).  I rather doubt it.  What I really want is to get better at being able to visualize as I proceed through the game. And then (gradually) have the ability to do so whenever I read a set of game notations.  I'm sure that is a talent that most skilled players possess.

It´s natural to forget the previous moves, I think. Because when you look at a new move you are putting in a lot of thought to try and understand it.
It´s the same for me.

When I am finished checking a game, I do a quick review. I will still forget the games and moves soon, but because I understood the reason why certain moves were made, I will be able to play better in the future and not just copy the moves.

Keep at it!

Use a board.

I alternate between using a board and pieces and going through the game on a computer screen. Both have their advantages. As much as possible, I try to imagine the board from the notation before actually moving the pieces on the board or screen.

Same advice i had from every master i know in my entourage, i probaly  failed to improve because i didnt follow the advice. If you are like me and too lazy (or just not having the time) to make so many moves with real pieces, just use computer with analysys diagrams.

Either I am just plain wrong in trying to describe my expectations or what I expect (hope for) is unreasonable.  I can't believe that really good players can't/don't do what I am trying to say.  I'm not trying to remember the moves (although that would be fine too) so much as I am trying to remember what the board looked like after I made my most recent move. Isn't that what very good players (and even some just average players) can accomplish???

I have always heard from stronger players that once you become a stronger player this will happen automatically. So the answer is, to read chess books and follow the variations without a board, you must get better at chess. It's kind of a catch 22. Once you can understand more advanced chess concepts, you stop seeing individual moves, and instead you see a variation and you see the plans, and it has some strategic meaning to you. It's like, if a guy broke into your house and chased you around with a knife, you could tell the police exactly what happened, you say, "I ran from my front door into the kitchen and down the hall and out the back door". But if you just learned how to walk, you would say, "he moved his right foot, then his left foot, then his right foot again..." Right now you, and most of us, think about chess like a baby who lacks understanding. Once we get more experience, we can think in bigger chunks and variations start having meaning.

Many books are not really well written. Tons of analysis leading to a white-is-better/black-is better conclusion is pretty much worthless to anyone below Expert level. No one can remember all that crap. That's why one of the best books ever is Reuben Fine's Ideas Behind he Chess Openings. The general themes and ideas are described and the rest is just going to be fumbling around OTB anyhow.

That's a good book, but I would suggest someone learning the game, or trying to improve their game, take up and study Dr Fine's "Basic Chess Endings."

Try to visualize as many moves as possible  when you reading through a book without moving the pieces on the chess board. You study a particular game and let's say you can visualize up to 3-5 moves or whatever..., then use your chess board and play the moves you actually visualized. Then start again the same practise from that point until you finished the game, slowly step by step. Try to make a vivid picture in your head of you actually moving the pieces.On the next day do the same excersise with the same game you did yersterday and you'll see you can visualize a move or two fearther than the day before. Over time you'll see a significant improvement, it's like a muscle.You can try studying this way a couple of games or even more in a day but it is importand to repeat the same games for few days to check your improvement.

I've got a few chess books and the best one yet is 'Openings for Amateurs' by Pete Tamburro. It's basic premise is that, like himself, the reader has a full time job and doesn't have the time to memorise long lines of opening theory. He gives the basics of openings and the ideas behind them. I'm currently learning the scholastic openings - Colle, Zukertort variation, and All-Purpose defense for Black.

Once these are memorised (easy by the way) he suggests you move onto some systems that don't require too much memorization - Closed Sicilian, Alapin Sicilian, Hungarian Variation, and the Rossolimo Attack. You can then move on to the 'big boy' openings from these.

Pete Tamburro is very sympathetic to us amateurs that simply don't have the time or inclination for lots of memorization. I carry around a mini magnetic chess set and his book, and when my wife wants me to accompany her to a shopping centre, I go and find a cafe and get out the board and book and practice, practice, practice the openings that Pete suggests. Then on to Chess.com to play some games using these openings. I'm having an awesome time doing it too.

When a variation occurs in a game that I didn't know how to handle, then I use the Explorer on Chess.com to look further into that variation. I now love it when a variation occurs!

Pete's book has made chess that much more fun for me. On using Pete's book, I just skimmed through until I found what I wanted - some basic openings to try - then I move back and forward through it as I need to.

Also, Pete isn't touting his book as all you'll ever need. He says that once you've progressed you might want to buy books on the systems your learning. Go and buy it from Amazon and have fun!

Don't read chess books, play them!

This is great advice.  Chess training is very much like physical training.  It takes time to build up those intellectual "muscles".  It's true that some very strong players can indeed play through an entire game in their head without a board, or even play blindfolded, but you have to work up to that level. 

If you follow the method Yiannis outlined above, you really can't help but improve.  It will be very mentally taxing, but as with weight lifting or cardio training, pushing yourself to your threshold is what builds up those capabilities.

I use a physical-book or an e-book on mobile/tablet, and a pocket-magnetic-chess-board or some lightweight-two-player-chess-app on mobile/tablet. I personally find the old descriptive English notation more useful, practical, and imaginative than the recent mathematical algebraic one Recently, I've been just opening Emanuel Lasker's Manual on my Tablet, and an ultra-lightweight-two-player-chess-app on my Android Phone to simultaneously read and re-enact the positions from the openings.

"I personally find the old descriptive English notation more useful, practical, and imaginative than the recent mathematical algebraic one "

Me too!  

Your a chess player enjoy the highs and lows