Reading Chess Books

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rwil_360

I have a decent collection of chess books, but I've only been able to finish a couple of them. There are so many variations of moves that it takes me forever just to get through a few pages. If I have a diagram of the position the example starts from(or set it up on a chess board) I can usually play out 6-10 moves in my head, but soon as the author describes a variation on the previous example I get lost. Are there any techniques that would help me to read faster? Is it even possible to read one without using a chess board?

andy-inactive
I know what you mean.. I havent finished even 1/4th of the chess books I've purchased. One thing that might be very helpful to you is some chess software (I personally use ChessBase). You can enter in the moves, including all variations, and save them. You then have the ability to bring up any move or variation instantly, and go over the part you are studying. For me, this is a lot easier than using a 'real' chessboard.
rwil_360
Good suggestion. I've used chess programs in place of a board to play out the moves before, but never to enter the primary moves and the variations for replay. I'll have to toy around with mine(Chessmaster 9000) to figure out how to do it, but this should definitely save me time. Thanks. =)
andy-inactive
No problem. I am pretty sure Chessmaster has that ability.. and I know it can save games in .PGN format, which can be reloaded at a later date with almost any chess software. What I do is enter all the moves in before I really make an attempt to study. After I have all the moves entered in, then I go back and start actually reading the book, so I can quickly and easily play through the game (and variations) while reading the book.
batmanmg
i have a horrible mental board  (and memory in general)     and read most often while im on the go  (away from computer and chess boards)        is there any hope for me?
andy-inactive
Doesn't sound good, batman.
erik
i agree. all book publishers should be required to put in a diagram at least every 6 moves!
rwil_360
Chessmaster 9000 doesn't have an option to save variations. Are you using ChessBase Light Andy? Also I'm curious if you are talking about actually saving variations in a game or saving the main line moves then playing out the variations as the come up in the book?
rwil_360
I downloaded the trial version of ChessBase for free and figured out how to save variations. The problem is that it won't let you save games until you upgrade to the full version.
travis1010
There was a website somehwere that had the chessbase files for a ton of books, to make it easier to follow along.  I can't seem to find it now though, so if anyone knows it please let us know :).
tactician

i think u can insert different variations on Chessmaster 9000 and an arrow pointing down comes up by the move. All you do is enter the main line first, then you can go back to where you want to enter the variation and u just do the move that is the variation and the arrow will come up by that move. If you click that arrow it will show you all the different variations you entered, and you can add more moves to that variation.

El_Piton
Try G. Ossimitz: Chess Page. (In Google) It has ChessBase files for a lot of old chess books.
ATJ1968
I've got loads of chess books i havn't read, if i could keep off this site then i may get chance too!
justice_avocado
or you could just learn all of your chess theory from chess.com, and spend your reading time on dostoevsky and hemingway!
travis1010

Book's games already in chessbase or pgn files:

 

http://www.gambitchess.com/semi/db1.htm

 http://wwwu.uni-klu.ac.at/gossimit/c/book.htm

verusamo
Hemingway! Now there is a pure magician with words!
ATJ1968
Hemingway? Might be abit over my head there. I'll stick to my VIZ comics thanks!
Manoj
I had similar problems when I started  now-a-days I use software. I learned this game when I was doing my 8th grade these days. There's a 8 year old boy in my locality he learns all the variations by-heart and recites them to me. I donno if its good or bad. I feel first children should apply thinking then they should learn theory.
chessme
 I have a been reading the Yasser Seirawan books. Only need three more for the intire set. One thing that bugs me is that, I read chess books and it seams that white allways wins. Is it that black never wins?  Plain on getting the rest of the Yasser Seirawan books.
chessme
  I have been reading what others have for electronic chess sets. The one that I have is Excalaibur. Hard for me to beat. Also tried to download the chess mentor 3 no go, is there another software that teaches and plays? The one that I have is chessmaster 8000.  Please help. Want to get really good.
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