what is a good chess book for a beginner ? (sub 1000)

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GoodBoyDaryl

i never read any chess books, i watched some youtube videos about some openings like the ruy lopez and you know queen's gambit, the italian game ect. but someone please suggest me a good chess book i want to improve in chess

mini_VAN

I would suggest:

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Chess-Course-Beginning-Reinfeld/dp/1941270247/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1526532699&sr=8-1

 

I ordered 10+ books from Amazon, read the contents and introduction and skim through the teaching/examples. I believe this book is the best for beginners. so I returned the rest. It is CHEAP ($20 for 586 pages) and is a year-long course if you really work through the examples. Of course there are better move-by-move books but I believe you need to at least understand basic ideas in chess play to work through those move-by-move books.

 

Good luck and have fun grin.png

 

Rocky64
PowerofHope wrote:

You dont read chess books until youre at least a class a (1800-2000) player, thats what I usually hear from experts and masters.

Such nonsense. The quickest way to improve from beginner's level to the casual player's (about 1200-1500) is to read the right books.

For the OP, see the great suggestions in this blog by RussBell: Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond

krikorian12

you'll find plenty of perfectly valid material on youtube and for free on this website if you're rated around there. I see you joined the site 13 days ago, it will mainly be a matter of you playing the game alot and gathering more experience, accompanied by some basic chess instruction, like opening principles , piece value, basic tactics. A book will probably be a waste in my opinion, good luck and happy chessing : )

MitSud
Checkmate! - By the Garry Kasparov himself for beginners.
kindaspongey
GoodBoyRiley wrote:

... someone please suggest me a good chess book i want to improve in chess

For one book, I would suggest A COMPLETE CHESS COURSE by Antonio Gude,
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/A_Complete_Chess_Course.pdf

but there really are a lot of possibilities:

Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess by Wolff
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708110052/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review587.pdf

The Mammoth Book of Chess
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093123/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review756.pdf

Journey to the Chess Kingdom by GM Yuri Averbakh and Mikhail Beilin
https://www.chess.com/blog/Natalia_Pogonina/book-review-quotjourney-to-the-chess-kingdomquot

Complete Chess Course by Reinfeld
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/3706.pdf

"Remember, if you like books--like reading them and owning them--there's no such thing as 'one chess book.' ... as you acquire one or two and read them through--even if you don't--you'll find yourself drawn to the chess section every time you walk into Walden's or Barnes and Noble or Borders. If you leaf through the books and compare their contents to what you need, you'll soon find yourself dedicating a shelf or two of your bookcase to chess books. You'll want to have all of Sierawan's books (as soon as they're back in print). You'll yearn to complete your collection of Alburt's series. You'll start haunting used book shops for old copies of Fischer's 'My 60 Memorable Games.' Your hair will gradually grow unkempt, and a distracted wild look will creep into your eyes. If you're separated from your books for too long, your hands will begin to twitch and you'll start plotting knight moves across the checkered tablecloth at the Italian restaurant where you're supposed to be wooing your wife / girlfriend. You've entered a perilous zone ... 'Chessbibliomania' is not a condition to be easily dismissed, and research has shown it isn't curable. Maybe you'll be better off just buying a gin rummy program for your computer and avoiding this chess book madness altogether. happy.png Happy reading!!"
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.chess.misc/msg/d96eccf5ddec3c33

kindaspongey

Possibly of interest:

Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090448/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review750.pdf
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf

LusineMkhitaryan95

Here are the best chess books for begginers. 

https://goo.gl/mbTN8e

ed1975

I have heard many good things about The Soviet Chess Primer, that it is good for beginners. But also that it gets quite complicated quickly, i.e. that it's not only just for beginners. 

 

kindaspongey

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/the-soviet-chess-primer/

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Soviet_Chess_Primer-extract.pdf

"... The title might suggest it is for beginners, but that is not the case. [The Soviet Chess Primer] does start off with some basic positions, but quickly moves on to much more advanced material including chapters on positional play and techniques of calculation." - IM John Donaldson

kindaspongey
BobbyTalparov wrote:

... Good initial books:

..., "Lasker's Manual of Chess", or ...

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5856bd64ff7c50433c3803db/t/5a0dcda2ec212de097e22482/1510854051856/lasker%27s_manual_excerpt.pdf

Lastrank

The book you should get above all others is Chess Fundamentals by Jose Capablanca.  Botvinnik called it the greatest chess book ever written.  It was the first chess book Karpov read cover to cover.   It was written by one of the greatest players of all time. It will set you on the right track.

kindaspongey

"... 'Chess Fundamentals' ... does not deal so minutely as this book will with the things that beginners need to know. ..." - from Capablanca's A Primer of Chess
"... For let’s make no mistake, what ground Capablanca covers, he covers well. I enjoyed reading Capablanca’s presentation of even well-worn and standard positions. ...
Still, when compared with other instructional books for beginners and intermediate players, Capablanca’s Chess Fundamentals would not be my first choice. Other books cover the same or similar ground with a less confusing structure and more thoroughness. The following works come to mind as equal or in some ways superior: Lasker’s Common Sense in Chess; Znosko-Borovsky’s series of books; and Edward Lasker’s Chess Strategy. Later works that equal or surpass Chess Fundamentals would include Reuben Fine’s Chess the Easy Way and any number of Horowitz tomes.
Capablanca’s work has historical interest and value, of course, and for that reason alone belongs in any chess lover’s library. But there are better instructional books on the market. Certainly the works of Seirawan, Silman, Pandolfini, Polgar, Alburt, etc. are more accessible, speak a more modern idiom, and utilize advances in chess teaching and general pedagogy, etc. ..." - David Kaufman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20131010102057/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review564.pdf

kindaspongey
IM pfren wrote:

... who is this David Kaufman?

A person with an alternative to the view of Lastrank? We also have:

"... 'Chess Fundamentals' ... does not deal so minutely as this book will with the things that beginners need to know. ..." - from Capablanca's A Primer of Chess

kindaspongey
IM pfren wrote:

Only people who love been spoonfeeded could find the Maizelis book "hard". It isn't hard, at all. 

It simply requires to be read carefully, and dedicating quite some work on every exercise.

I think it is precisely the work part that makes some people think it is "hard", but no work= no progress - simple as that. ...

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/the-soviet-chess-primer/

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Soviet_Chess_Primer-extract.pdf

"... The title might suggest it is for beginners, but that is not the case. [The Soviet Chess Primer] does start off with some basic positions, but quickly moves on to much more advanced material including chapters on positional play and techniques of calculation." - IM John Donaldson

kindaspongey
[COMMENT DELETED]
kindaspongey
IM pfren wrote:
kindaspongey έγραψε:

A person with an alternative to the view of Lastrank?

In that case, why don't you ask Lyudmil Tzvetkov for his view?

My guess is that he knows more about chess than this guy.

We have been given details to consider:

https://web.archive.org/web/20131010102057/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review564.pdf

We also have:

"... 'Chess Fundamentals' ... does not deal so minutely as this book will with the things that beginners need to know. ..." - from Capablanca's A Primer of Chess

Ashvapathi

If you are under 1000(or even upto 1500), then avoid chess books. Dont fall into the habit of collecting chess books. You will gain little from it and waste money and time in it. Instead, watch YouTube chess channels. I recommend GJ_Chess.

Anyway, mainly, practice tactics daily.

kindaspongey

"... Batsford's new edition of Logical Chess: Move by Move, written in 1957 by Irving Chernev, ... is definitely for beginners and players who are just starting to learn about development, weak squares, the centre, standard attacking ideas, and the like. In many ways, it would a wonderful 'first' book (or first 'serious' book, after the ones which teach the rules and elementary mates, for example), and a nice gift for a young player just taking up chess. ..." - IM John Watson (1999)

http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/assorted-recent-books

punchy_mcbam
my favorite is The Catcher in the Rye. But, if you are looking for something more chess-oriented, I would suggest bypassing the book and really just exploring all the wonderful content on this sight. Also, play a lot of daily games and stay away from blitz.