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The Books GMs Really Read.
Sort:
The Caro-Kann For Geniuses
20 Great Moves Class Players Know Nothing About
100 Games Completely Over the Head of Anybody under 2500
(Of course, I've never actually seen copies of any of these. I've only heard rumors.)
Opening books are certainly important. The latest series of books by Quality Chess - the Grandmaster Repertoire - feature a variety of suggestions/novelties, some of which have been tested out in competition the past few years, e.g. a line in the g3 Gruenfeld in Boris Avrukh's 1. d4, and Luke McShane used an idea from Mihail Marin's book on the English to win a beautiful game against Magnus Carlsen at the London Classic a couple of years ago.
The Sahovski Informator was a mainstay of study and information for decades. Bobby Fischer once complained the series contained too few games! It probably still is useful for GMs, although I am unsure how much now because of the internet, Chessbase and the possibility to download the very latest games via a website like the Week In Chess.
New In Chess Yearbook is certainly a favourite with GMs.
It's worth noting game annotations by the players in magazines or the forewards they write for books. They mention a book they have read.
Some examples. Questions of Modern Chess Theory by Isaac Lipnitsky is a Soviet classic, studied by Fischer and Karpov et al. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by Tal has always been popular. Tigran Petrosian loved the books by Nimzowitsch. Kasparov studied the collected games of Alekhine as a youth. Levon Aronian recently worked on John Nunn's two volume endgame book.
There are those who don't own many books because the older stuff doesn't interest them! Anish Giri likes On My Great Predecessors by Kasparov but otherwise studies chess using databases and engines.
Not comprehensive but it does give an idea of what the masters have and do read: sophisticated, good quality literature.
That's good mr webbs! but I was hoping for somthing more "subtle"...
By the time you're a GM I don't think you read many chess books lol. I'm guessing they read informants, "this week in chess" website, and maybe subscribe to Timman's "New in Chess" publications.
Off the top of my head:
1. There's no market for it, so no one writes to them anyway.
2. A player of that level will test ideas themself, and so a book full of someone else's analysis isn't worth much.
Mar 19, 2012
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#7
waffllemaster wrote:
By the time you're a GM I don't think you read many chess books lol. I'm guessing they read informants, "this week in chess" website, and maybe subscribe to Timman's "New in Chess" publications.
Off the top of my head:
1. There's no market for it, so no one writes to them anyway.
2. A player of that level will test ideas themself, and so a book full of someone else's analysis isn't worth much.
wouldn't they also subscribe to chessbase as well ?
Mar 19, 2012
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#9
arjendoefke wrote:
Didn't Bobby Fischer read ALOT of chessbooks as well?
that because there weren't any good computer around at that time.
arjendoefke wrote:
Didn't Bobby Fischer read ALOT of chessbooks as well?
The question would be how many he read after becoming a GM...
kco wrote:
waffllemaster wrote:
By the time you're a GM I don't think you read many chess books lol. I'm guessing they read informants, "this week in chess" website, and maybe subscribe to Timman's "New in Chess" publications.
Off the top of my head:
1. There's no market for it, so no one writes to them anyway.
2. A player of that level will test ideas themself, and so a book full of someone else's analysis isn't worth much.
wouldn't they also subscribe to chessbase as well ?
Yeah, that too. They probably spend a lot of time managing their databases I'm guessing... preparing against opponents and such.
of course, what an IM or GM reads often depends on the nature of their chess work. Obviously Glenn Flear reads a bit because he is a reviewer. Or Jan Timman will quote and correct analysis as an author.
But going beyond the blooming obvious....
Peter Heine Nielsen reviewed the Attacking Manual by Jacob Aagaard for material he could use when Anand was preparing to play Topalov in the World Chp. match 2010 -- PH has seconded Anand on a number of occasions. He picked out exercises for Anand to work on.
Mark Dvoretsky has his famous files of positions and analysis, illustrating important themes, that he employs in training his students. These positions range from interesting games from collections to endgame studies which he has collected from books and magazines through the decades.
Mar 19, 2012
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#13
waffllemaster wrote:
arjendoefke wrote:
Didn't Bobby Fischer read ALOT of chessbooks as well?
The question would be how many he read after becoming a GM...
Well I've watched the documentary 'Bobby Fischer Against The World'. There's an interview when someone close to him says something like that Fischer spent alot of time reading chessbooks . And Fischer was already a famous adult by then.
GM Ipatov has a good opinion on Avrukh´s opening series, and also Watson´s book on strategy ("Modern Strategy on action" more or less) is known to be very popular between young masters (Carlsen when he was a teenager).
Dvorotetskys endgame manual might not be studied by GM's, but it sure is by FM's, and anyone above 2000 trying to reach higher.
LordNazgul wrote:
The ones they write.
Before or after?
Mar 19, 2012
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#19
Cainite wrote:
I can't get enough of the absolute beginner's books, the principles really are very important, and I feel like I understand them more deeply with every read through of several books. Logical chess move by move being the most basic one, and one that I support heavily!
+1
I suspect that certain periodicals, New in Chess and Chess Informant, comprise most of the reading done by most GMs. But, I suspect that many are voracious readers of chess books, and that consume everything.
Cainite wrote:
I can't get enough of the absolute beginner's books, the principles really are very important, and I feel like I understand them more deeply with every read through of several books. Logical chess move by move being the most basic one, and one that I support heavily!
That reminds me of Tal saying how he used to watch beginners' programs on TV all the time. Which led me to two thoughts: 1) wow, really? he does?!; and 2) wow, really? they have chess shows on TV?! 
There are a lot of chess books out there but non-masters like us simply don't know what master really read. Do you know what books masters really read, and what are stuffs that could just be learned OTB?