Best board games books according to redditors
We found 443 Reddit comments discussing the best board games books. We ranked the 192 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 443 Reddit comments discussing the best board games books. We ranked the 192 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
I play chess. My USCF rating is currently 2123... And I thought the sphere chess looked absolutely retarded at first too.
>Nah, I feel you should start from openings.
You shouldn't. Opening theory is quite dense and heavily influenced by computer analysis. You benefit more from trying to understand what you are trying to achieve, rather than trying to simply memorize some openings.
Logical Chess: Move by Move is a great book for anyone that has mastered the basics but is looking to learn more. You will pick up some opening knowledge along the way, learn how openings give rise to specific kinds of middle-games. And you will come across some endgames (although endgame basics are absent).
If you wish to seriously improve there are 3 parts:
There is quite a lot of chess literature. If you enjoy chess and wish to study and improve there are plenty of ways to do that. If competing in tournaments interests you check out the United States Chess Federation if you are in the states. If you are abroad, check out FIDE. And of course there are online options such as chess.com, the Internet Chess Club, etc...
Sorry... bit of an enthusiast :)
Ok, cutting and pasting my own post from early in the year. (Sorry about the formatting.) I originally composed this for a friend who claimed he was ready to work on chess for 20 hours/week. I don't think he's kept it up.
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Here's what I recently emailed someone in the same situation as you - well, his goal was year-end.
If you STUDY chess for 15-20 hours/week for a year, you should be 2000 strength by the end of the year, and 2200 (I expect - much better than me) by the end of next year. Studying is the same as for math and music - it does not include leisure time like playing blitz.
You can break down your chess study into five buckets:
Tactics (start now and continue forever)
Endings (start in April and continue)
Playing/competing (start in February / start reading in July)
Strategy/middlegame planning (start in August and continue)
Openings (start in November and continue)
I think you need to begin them in that order - overlapping, of course.
[1] Tactics - do these books in order. DO the problems, however long it takes - don't look up an answer until you have a solid solution. If the books offer clues on the page (e.g. this page is all pins and skewers), go through and black them out with a marker in advance.
[2] Endings
[3] Playing/competing Play slow games, at time controls of Game/60 to Game/120, preferably against stronger players. Keep score, then analyze and annotate those games in depth, without using a computer. Then go over the games and your analysis with a stronger player, e.g. bring it to Sunday chess club.
I should really stress this - chess is about playing, not just studying. You need to find a variety of strong players, not just computers, and play against them. You might also consider playing correspondence.
If you play in tournaments during this time, DO NOT THINK ABOUT YOUR RATING. Also, NEVER offer or accept a draw, EVEN if the option is losing. During the next two years, your only goal is to learn and improve. Learning comes from playing on.
After a few months of playing and analyzing slow games, read these books:
By "read" I mean go through them slowly, doing every exercise, thinking about every comment to every game. It's hard work.
[4] Strategy/planning
[5] http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Chess-Opening-Repertoire/dp/1901983897 [How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire]
Of course someone else could construct an equally valid study plan with hundreds of entirely different books, but ... the ones I've chosen are excellent, and I strongly believe that they are sufficient.
I don't mention computers very much. I think they can be most useful as sparring partners for learning your basic endings and (eventually) openings. But don't let your study center around computers or opening databases or internet blitz.
And of course ... don't let it stop being fun. :-) Maybe that's where some blitz comes in. Otherwise, what's the point?
Don’t study openings. Study fundamentals. Chess.com is a great way to get free information. This series is excellent https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Everyman/dp/1857443861
A) I'd recommend reading through 'Finite and Infinite Games' by Carse. It trends toward the general but a lot of it can be directly applied to the grand pursuit of human gamesmanship in the form of good gamers (infinite players) and bad gamers (finite players)...
"A finite player plays to be powerful; an infinite player plays with strength."
The best way to 'improve' your gaming is to be more playful, to be more engaging, to be more adaptable...
Because there is no definitive 'skill set' of specifics that makes for a good gamer...
But you still know a good gamer when you meet/play against one...
I love good gamers. I love fierce competitors. I love players who fight tooth and nail but when bested shake hearty hands while sincerely commending your strategy, praising your subterfuge or marveling at your luck... all while the light of rematch fire burns in their eyes and a near-visible thought bubble over their heads reads “Once more! I can take you next game!”
And you want to give them that game... because you know how close things were in a way that the final score cannot tell.
B) One game I simply can't seem to grok is Friday. Every game I start my plan is to adopt a new, winning strategy but I always fall back on old habits and trash when I should gain and win when I should lose... oh well, one of these flights I'll figure it out. :)
C) Don't worry about it... keep at it. Just like chess, the only way to get better, to become a grandmaster is to play the hell out of the game.
Congrats on your win!. Try this book https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481030940&sr=1-1&keywords=bobby+fischer+teaches+chess
It basically starts with one move to win, then two moves to win, then 3, etc. You'll start to notice patterns and see tactics. Write in the book and do everything in order. After I did this I was able to beat the computer easily and noticed my playing went up drastically online. However you have to keep it up so do the puzzles every day and when you're done with the book get more chess puzzles.
I don't know your level, but if you're a novice (as it sounds like you are) here's my advice:
As for the specific parts of the game, here are my suggestions. in order of importance:
Endgames: Learn to your level, then practice them on Chesstempo/friend/computer.
Tactics: It's tactics all the way down!
Openings: Play with the same openings. Don't spend too long on each, but maybe watch a few videos to get the ideas behind them.
Thought process:
That's all I got for now. Good luck!
Pathfinder Pawns might be a good start.
Monster Codex Pawns
Beastiary Box Pawns
If you're playing 5E they won't match up exactly, but $30 for 300 "minis" ain't bad. Otherwise start dropping $120 a brick for the official minis or check ebay for the occasional lot of prepainted plastics. They seem to be around $1-2 each at the moment.
If you're serious about it, you can find a coach on lichess.org/coach. A good one will guide your study and accelerate your learning.
Start solving tactical puzzles. A lot of them. All of them. As a total beginner, this is the best thing you can do to improve your game. It will take time, but it will yield results.
To learn basic tactics, check out Predator at the Chessboard which is a free online resource. Or get a book like Back to Basics: Tactics, or Judit Polgar's Chess Tactics for Champions, or Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations. All of them will introduce the major motifs and give you practice with them. Pick one and get to work. You can also find free puzzles at chesstempo.com. Consider getting an app for your phone, like CT-ART 4.0, so you can practice on the go. Seriously, tactics are the big focus right now.
As you start learning about chess, you'll see a lot of people talking about openings. It'll seem like a lot of fun to learn a particular opening and talk about "Oh, I'm an Open Sicilian man," or "I always play the Petrov and here's why . . ." Don't worry about any of that. For now, just learn the basic principles of the opening and concentrate on actually practicing them in your games. Most beginner's books (see below) and lots of videos on youtube will be able to introduce these to you.
There's another book you should get: Chess Fundamentals by José Raúl Capablanca. It'll take you through the basics of the game and will give you a solid foundation on which to build. Make sure it's in algebraic notation. Go through the book slowly, methodically. Make a study for it at lichess.org/study and go over the moves digitally. Go over the positions on a physical board. Take notes. Only move forward when you truly understand what Capablanca is talking about.
Practice what you learn by playing slow time controls. 15+15 games (or longer!) will give you the time you need to think about the moves you and your opponent are making. 5-minute games are fun, but they're not the best way to learn to play well. I mean, play whatever you want--it's a game, and it's meant to be fun. But know that the longer the controls, the more you will learn from your games. For that matter, google "how to analyze a chess game" and then analyze your games after the fact. That way you'll learn to avoid traps and pitfalls into which you fell.
All of this is my opinion, but I'm just some patzer, right? Take or leave this as you like. Or just get a coach and do what you pay them to tell you. Good luck; have fun!
I really like.
Challenges for Game Designers by Brathwaite and Schreiber: https://www.amazon.com/Challenges-Games-Designers-Non-Digital-Exercises/dp/1542453313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493469101&sr=8-1&keywords=challenges+for+game+designers
Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Design-Workshop-Playcentric-Innovative/dp/1482217163/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1482217163&pd_rd_r=C4KTX74FX6FRDX63HCJQ&pd_rd_w=EuUkE&pd_rd_wg=y877F&psc=1&refRID=C4KTX74FX6FRDX63HCJQ
*Kobold Guide to Board Game Design: https://www.amazon.com/Kobold-Guide-Board-Game-Design/dp/1936781042/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493469414&sr=1-1&keywords=kobold+guide+to+board+game+design
I think Art of Attack is the definitive book for attacking play.
There ARE several good books, I would highly recommend
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
BUT neither of those books actually teaches you mechanics and balancing, they just explore problems and ideas that you might run into. Playing games is how you learn different mechanics and how they combine, and balancing is just a thing that happens naturally as you playtest and observe what players do.
The coolest part of board game design is it doesnt require any previous training. Just grab some notecards and a pen and start exploring ideas. When you find something that seems fun, explore deeper into that idea.
You also might wanna check out /r/tabletopgamedesign
[Edit: Spelling]
Solving for mate and studying pawn/rook endgames should be studied from day one. Both of them help immensely with visualization, and will make your entire game stronger. The Polgar book with 5334 problems is a classic, and I strongly recommend it, because it goes from easy mate in ones to harder mate in threes and so on:
https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549
It's a monster volume at 1,100+ pages, and will put some strain on your bookshelf, but it's only $21 at Amazon. You're not going to find better value as a beginner.
Despite its title, Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games by Stewart Woods is a great book about all genres and the current state of hobby board gaming.
Lots of tactics.
This book is good for beginners
https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549
This one is also very good (and better IMO), a bit more advanced but still good for beginners.
https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Exercises-Kids-Coakley/dp/1895525101
The general consensus for novice chess players is to do a few things:
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So let's look at each of those items quickly.
Playing as much as possible.
If you can't play OTB, you still have a billion options. Here are some online options:
Don't have wifi and still need a game? There are plenty of apps for your phone/tablet:
Analyzing your games.
This is crucial. When you are done with your games, go over them and analyze the moves yourself. Where did you/your opponent go wrong? What did you do right? Did you miss tactics or mates? Did your opponent play an opening you were unfamiliar with? Did you reach an uncomfortable endgame and not know how to proceed? If your opponent played the same moves again in a different game, what would you do differently? Answering questions like these on your own will help you in future games.
After your initial analysis, you can then show it to a stronger player (you can submit your games to this subreddit to get criticisms, if you provide your initial analysis along with the PGN) and/or using a program to run a deeper analysis for you. Lichess provides free computer analysis on their site and I also made a quickie SCID/Stockfish tutorial a while back if you want more control over the depth of analysis.
Studying tactics.
"Tactics is almost undoubtedly the most productive single area that beginners and intermediates can study to improve their game - the more practice, the better." -- Dan Heisman (PDF)
There are a ton of places to study tactics online and you should make use of them.
Chess Tempo seems to be the gold standard when it comes to online tactics training. I would start with their standard set (Which means that time isn't a factor. You can stare at a board forever until you find the tactic, and the time won't affect your rating.) at first, but eventually play the other sets as well. I do a mix of each of them every day. Don't make it homework though, or you'll burn out, and chess will feel like a chore.
Don't forget to make use of their endgame trainer. After the first 20, you can only do 2 per day, and I recommend making it a top priority. Studying endgames, even for just a few minutes per day, will be very beneficial to your play.
Chess.com also has a tactics trainer, and for free users you get 5 tactics per day. At the very least, do the 5 chess.com tactics and the Chess Tempo endgames. You can find time for this every day, I assure you.
As a side note, this isn't really tactics but lots of people like this Lichess Coordinates Trainer for learning the names of the squares. If you do this once a day, for both black & white, it will take you about 1 minute. Easy.
Developing your pieces in the opening.
Read Dan Heisman's Beginner Guidelines, which I copied into this thread. At this stage, you don't need to study opening lines. However, whenever you read a point in the opening that you are unfamiliar with, you should look it up in an opening book, database, or online to find the common moves in that position. This will help you spot errors in your play and will set you up for success when you play that line in the future.
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There are a ton of other resources that you should look into.
For videos, I would recommend these channels:
As for books, the ones that seem to be promoted for you level the most are:
There are a bunch of great chess columns out there, but I suggest starting with ChessCafe.com, and specifically Dan Heisman's Novice Nook.
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Well fuck. I thought I was just typing out something quick, but I turned it into a novel. Sorry about that.
Time to eat some pumpkin bread and watch Sunday Night Football!
Are you looking for how to make games? Not just programming, but actually make them? I have some suggestions, but they often aren't about programming. There is a million books about programming, but finding those that talk about the ideas and ways to successively improve is a better point to start from.
Making video games is easy. Put the pitchfork down and let me explain. Anyone can open unity and load some assets and call it a game. Making good games is difficult, and even if you are not looking at card/board games, you should be prepared to test your game on paper. It is easier to make iterative improvement if you can look for mechanical and mathematical issues by scrawling some notes on paper cards.
For a book that covers both programming and game design, I also suggest this one.
These books will cover the psychology, the pitfalls, etc that come with making a game. You do not need a class to make a game portfolio. You can often get things done faster by a book, because it's goal is to teach as you read, not set a timer for 15 weeks. It can assume you will do it over 26 weeks or more if the book is huge.
Anyway, this is a much larger reply than I intended. Hopefully these are informative. If nothing else, they are significantly cheaper than a class.
How to start a game at the beginner level is based around learning certain principles rather than tactical training or reading a book on openings. Opening principles such as:
And there are more. Instead of a strait-up opening book (which wouldn't help you), I'd recommend a book that teaches you basic principles. Find a book for beginners; something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Morphy-Frisco-Rosario/dp/1412039061/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1346069965&sr=8-4&keywords=paul+morphy
Or if you don't want to spend money, you could look at sample games to get an idea of what to do. Chessgames.com and chess.com are options; there are others out there.
Some people live and die by telling beginners to only look at tactics. Yes they're important, and yes they should take up the majority of a beginers' time, but definitely not all of it. Once you start playing comfortably, you can start seeking stronger opponents and seeking their advice as to how you'll improve.
This is a fantastic book, but probably not for complete beginners. Maybe from (approximatively) 12k up to 1 dan, altough I think weaker players can enjoy it too.
Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go
hah.
yeah. let me point out something you said... " I've been trying to get better for a couple of days" & " I would assume ... a huge improvement spike"...
not so man. not so. you can do this self-taught to a fair degree, but you're still going to have to read and practice. hundreds of games, not a few days worths.
There are some base concepts and tactics that can help, once you see them in use. it's kinda like any other interest, there is a language and skill-set all it's own. I highly suggest Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. It hits home 3 very important concepts. Some of it is overly simple, but it does hit home those 3 big tools. You'll also read through it, get done, and not ever see the need to og re-read it. I suggest it only because you seem to be having some basic-level troubles. Here's a PDF Version.
Tesjui the Book
I suck at go and am definitely lower ranked than you. But I have a copy of Second Book of Go that I flip through from time to time and my impression is that it is a good survey of all the various topics one might need to improve at to get really good at Go.
https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
You've made a great choice deciding you want to play this game. It's awesome.
The above book (it's a 5 part series) was my introduction and was very helpful for helping me get stronger. See my posts in :
https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/bed32g/learn_to_play_go_post_brain_tumor_surgery_version/el76mlm/?context=8&depth=9 (click "show parent comments" to see the whole conversation)
Also, I would recommend playing online, you can get more progress by playing (and reviewing) games with real people. I recommend KGS, the Kiseido Go Server, it's a pretty social Go server, so there's almost always people who will review your games with you, if you ask. I'm on there as LeGoSam if you'd like me to teach you, although I'm not too strong. \^\^
Anyway, I hope I can help this way!
It might be a bit simple, but Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. I'm reading it right now, but it is mostly "can white mate in this position". Not sure if it would be too easy for 1200. But no board or knowledge of notation required.
The Second Book of Go helped me a lot.
Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games by Stewart Woods is great. As the title might suggest, it focuses of Eurogames, but the first half of the book covers the history of table-top gaming including RPGs, wargames, and the modern reemergence of board games. The second half is a really interesting sociological study of board gamers, and investigates issues such as why gamers play board games, what defines a good game, and opinions on issues of etiquette such as king-making, kvitzing, and playing to win. I highly recommend it!
If you and her together go through the book "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" just $8 on Amazon there'll be less of a chance of her getting crushed, and you too will come up to speed
Eurogames: The Design, Culture, and Play of Modern European Board Games is a great scholarly study of the topic.
> I’m learning chess with a few books from the library and there is one book called 5534 chess variations or something like that and it’s all just hundreds of puzzles mainly for the endgame like checkmate in 2 moves, checkmate in 3 moves etc.
It sounds like you're describing CHESS by Polgar. This is calculation training, it is nothing to do with endgame play . Even though some of the positions may occur during an endgame.
The purpose of solving these problems is to train yourself in being able to perfectly calculate short variations (1, 3 or 5 moves for M1, M2 or M3 problems respectively). Which is an essential skill if you ever want to get out of the "beginner" stage.
As a quick note, add two spaces after your links in order to create a line break for your headings.
Another good resource for icons is http://game-icons.net/.
The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design is a solid repository of advice for designers.
Also, this is a bit specific to me and won't have the same impact for every designer, but this was the single most important piece of advice I've ever read regarding game design: http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11885/you-have-have-guts-ask-question
The single biggest issue I had with designing when I started is that I would solve design problems by adding new rules to cover any edge cases that came up. "This thing is exploitable? Let's add a new mechanic that fixes that." "This part is confusing? Let's add another system that helps the player better understand the existing system." There was some amount of give and take, but it largely just boiled down to bloated designs. Ever since I started designing with the philosophy that no rule is sacred in mind, I became a much more competent designer basically overnight.
This book does a great job on giving industry tips and tricks on game design in the form of topic based essays and is in my opinion the best way to get immersed in the culture of game design as a newbie. https://www.amazon.com/Kobold-Guide-Board-Game-Design/dp/1936781042
On the topics of game balance, theory, pitfalls, tips, I think I speak in line with many users of this and other game design communities when I say: "Just get something out that is broken and messy and put it in front of a group of unbiased playtesters." Once you get your game/RPG system in front of real players you'll quickly find out what their experiences are with what you've built and where to take your design for its next iteration.
In general:
"Playtest early and playtest often."
I'm also a scholar working with board games, except I'm coming at it from a Professional/Technical writing background. My approach would be to include a chapter or section in your written treatment of the game that talks about what games have influenced your design. Give a short description of its mechanics and goals, and what specifically you drew upon when making your own game. Basically, build a map of published games and situate your game within that map. How do these games connect to your own creation? It might even be useful to create an actual visual map that shows how different elements of other games have come together in your own creation. Remember: all great art is theft of some kind; own your influences and be secure in the knowledge that whatever you've created necessarily differs from your influences, even if you're wholesale copying mechanics from them.
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In my prospectus for my dissertation, I have a short section that goes over the modern history of board games to help give my project some context (here is the book I used as my core text for that). My committee found that extremely useful for understanding games outside of family games like Sorry! and classic modern games like Catan. I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your committee, but I've actually sat down and played games over a few pints with my dissertation chair. This helped me bridge the gap between my extensive board game knowledge and their extensive theoretical/production knowledge. We not only talked about how the game functioned in terms of mechanics but also had a lot to discuss in terms of how the game signposts important information or uses visual language to communicate complex ideas. It sounds like you could benefit a lot from such a connection with your advisors.
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If you ever want to talk shop, I'd be thrilled to discuss approaching board games from an academic perspective with you. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to talk through your design. I actually teach a class on board game design and love giving feedback. Good luck on the grind, friend.
The biggest bang for your buck that you'll get right now is solving tactics. Next, you should play slow games, and review those games. Double check your analysis with preferably a stronger player, but if you don't have one, use an engine. The key is in detecting and exploiting tactical shots (or defending them).
As for strategy, I would recommend Seirawan's book on strategy in the "winning chess" series. I didn't find the series itself very helpful, but the "strategy" installment is a gem. Here's the amazon link for it: https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Strategies-Everyman/dp/1857443853
It's great for beginners, as the chapters are broken into strategic themes, each having very clear cut illustrations in the games provided. There's more explaining of the position with words rather than with variations, which I think is really helpful for those more fresh on their chess journey. You should still go through the variations on a board in front of you, though. It's a great book to help nail down some strategic fundamentals.
A word of warning: Strategy in chess is like learning to write poetry in a foreign language. However, if you struggle speaking the language, or don't know enough of the words, the sophistication is wasted on you. In chess, if you play strategically sophisticated ideas only to blunder to some tactical shot, the sophistication wasn't so helpful. For most efficient improvement, spend more time studying tactics.
It's one of my only regrets in chess; early on I obsessed over strategy, and was frustrated to find that my opponent would play inferior ideas and win tactically anyway, or that the positions in which I had an advantage would fizzle into nothing, because I lacked the ability to capitalize on the advantage with tactics. Tactics really should come first.
If you have the cash, you might want to consider splurging on a book like Logical Chess: Move by Move or A First Book of Morphy.
https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Strategies-Everyman/dp/1857443853
Pick up the book The Second Book of Go.
http://www.amazon.com/Second-Book-Beginner-Elementary-Books/dp/4906574319
Agreement. This may be a better book for tactics at the OP level.
https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Everyman/dp/1857443861
Seirawan books deserve more love. Much better than the oft lauded Silman tomes.
Excuse the shameless self promotion but Eurogames - The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games is based on my PhD thesis.
Whilst it doesn't deal with mathematical game theory, the last third of the book looks at how players approach issues such as kingmaking, cheating, self handicapping etc.
Don't worry about openings for now. You can have perfect opening knowledge and still get killed by weak players with a basic grasp of tactics and an ability to find threats. Those areas are the starting point.
To that end, assuming you know the rules already, and can read chess notation, start with a VERY simple book on tactics. Go through "Simple Checkmates" by A. J. Gilliam (Amazon link) seriously at least seven times--preferably about 10 to 20 times--until you can instantly see the right move in each diagram.
Learning chess is all about building up your knowledge of basic patterns, and I've yet to find a book that gives such a good grounding in the most fundamental and important of these basic patterns.
More advanced (but still cheap) books that are good for learning to see patters in chess would be 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate, by Fred Reinfeld (ignore any books of his that don't consist of just diagrams, though) and the excellent Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions, by Lev Alburt.
I found Winning Chess Strategies, by Yasser Seirawan helpful as an introduction to strategy when I first started out, but some people think his writing style is more suitable for kids.
How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess-Mastery Course, by Jeremy Silman or The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery, also by Silman are big touchstones for chess learners in the late-beginner phase. A less-known author that I highly recommend is C. J. S. Purdy. He wrote quite a while ago, but he's incredibly insightful in teaching amateurs to break bad chess habits and generally understand how to think in chess. Here's an Amazon search result for his books. (By the way, I don't necessarily endorse Amazon as the best place to buy chess books, but the links are convenient.)
Main thing is, get the basics down. Build up the basic patterns. Go over the simpler diagrams over and over until you know them cold. Then move on to strategy, more advanced tactics and endgames, then worry about openings.
According to the Polagar patriarch, he has up until the child's third birthday. No need to rush.
Until that time, I recommend drilling the infant with tactics: https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549/
The Angry GM did a very good article recently on metagaming. (If you're unfamiliar with Angry, he has a very different style than most gaming writers. If you're able to get past his "f&%$s" and "s@#&s," you'll find some very well researched and reasoned advice, and some good humor as well.)
I've been actively DMing for about four or five months now, and one of my players is the group's original DM and a DM for a Roll20 group. She uses the more prevalent definition of "metagaming," while I use Angry's, and it's been an interesting transition in the group.
Essentially, if the players are able to come to the correct conclusion about a major part of the storyline, while circumventing all of the deflections and delays I had put in their path (as happened recently), I don't see any reason to punish that. I rewarded that player with additional XP for clever thinking, even if I had to jump well passed what I had planned. If the bard knows a monster's weakness, they probably heard about it in some ballad. If one player acts on information on another player that they haven't formally discussed in character at the table, well, they've been traveling together for the better part of a year in game; the characters must have talked about it in the would-be-boring travel scenes that I gloss over.
As far as the monster inventory situation is concerned, I recommend getting some Pathfinder Pawns (I've linked to the two boxes I have on Amazon). They let you surprise your players with a huge variety of them. If you go on Paizo's website, you can buy printable versions for cheaper. The art is pretty good, and it's hard to beat the variety you get for your dollar.
In the end, everyone has a different playing style. I prefer to resolve differences when I can. Encourage some frank, open discussion at the table and away from it. If you can't resolve your different styles with your roommate, it might be best if they don't continue with the group. The overall group's fun level is really the deciding factor.
You're going to have to be more specific with what you mean by endings.
If you meant it in the sense of...
http://www.amazon.com/Garry-Kasparov-Great-Predecessors-Part/dp/1857443306
There are five books.
Play Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seriawan (&Jeremy Silman)
A fantastic beginners book, and he's got a whole series out there that are very easy to read, filled with tests and practice and examples. Each chapter starts out with a different tactic, some personal story from Yasser, and then tests at the end of every chapter to reinforce what you learned.
The end of the books have biographies of famous tacticians and advanced tests where you put everything you have learned together. The answers and explanations are complete in the book. I found it a great book to begin learning with and have often recommended it to others. I have some of the Silman books recommended in this thread, and I don't think any of them are as good for beginners as Yasser's.
I also recommend in the same series Play Winning Chess Openings and Play Winnings Chess Strategies They are all on Amazon or ebay for purchase.
Reading a book on tactical patterns could help you; the free Chess Tactics Explained or Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics aretwo good options.
Another thing that helped me recently was taking some time off, and when I came back, taking more time to solve each puzzles. Instead of playing the first move that looks good and reacting to the computer's move, figure out in advance what the computer can play and how you can keep on going. It makes problem solving longer, can make you pull out your hair, but is extremely rewarding when after 20 minutes you figure out the complete sequence of moves.
Good luck!
Can use something like this printed on card stock:
https://www.patreon.com/PrintableHeroes
Pick up a pack of pawn bases on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.ca/PAIZO-INC-Pathfinder-Pawns-Assortment/dp/1601256698
Chess by Lazlo Polgar.
I can't be sure but they look an awful lot like pathfinder pawn bases
Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Assortment-Paizo-Staff/dp/1601256698
It is a good book, even though the real authors are the two psychologists. It has made many people better players.
Another good beginning book that was really written by a World Champion is Chess Fundamentals by José Raúl Capablanca. Capablanca was the 3rd World Champion and went undefeated for an incredible eight years, so you cannot have a better teacher than that, and it was considered the greatest chess book ever written by Mikhail Botvinnik, who was the 6th World Champion and the teacher of the 12th, 13th, and 14th World Champions, so you cannot have a better endorsement than that.
Also, for theory, FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings is a good one-volume starter book on all but the most exotic openings. It rarely goes more than ten moves into a line. It's helpful in developing a general understanding and deciding where to focus your energy when you want to study individual openings, and of course, committing some of these lines to memory may sometimes help you save time and avoid a catastrophic blunder in the first ten moves. You don't have to sit down and read about two hundred opening variations, but when you play over, say, the Evergreen Game, which begins with the Evans Gambit, take a few minutes to read what van der Steeren says about the Evans Gambit. When you play over the Opera Game, which opens with the Philidor Defence, read what van der Steeren says about the Philidor Defence. When a player in some classic game plays a move that is "out of book" (i.e., not a theoretical line), pay attention to how that move worked out for them and why it is probably not in the book. General principles are definitely to be learned first, and they will always help you find safe moves in an unfamiliar opening, but people would not go to the trouble of analysing and naming all these lines if it weren't helpful in both playing your own games and appreciating the games of others, and this kind of study of concrete openings and games helps build understanding of the general principles. There is no need to flee from picking up some basic theoretical knowledge as you start out.
Ik gebruik Pathfinder pawn bases; goed formaat voor standaard battlemats, en heel makkelijk om toepasselijke pionnetjes mee te maken. Pizzadozen hebben de ideale dikte voor die dingen; dat kan bijna geen toeval zijn toch?
That book is pretty good but just know that I feel like its target audience isn't really people very involved in the hobby, it's shallow but it gives a nice overview of the important stuff. It has a chapter about Avalon Hill if I'm not mistaken though.
Another one I would recommend that's much more in-depth and has some neat analysis about euros and their mechanics is the one that's already been mentioned, Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games.
I gave you some advice for each book at each level. Of course all of these books can be switched around and if you want to read Dvoretsky (A very advanced author) at your level you're welcome to. Although a 1300 rating on lichess.org is still at a beginner level so I suggest you start from that section.
---
Beginner:
Play Winning Chess By: Yasser Seirawan
Logical Chess Move by Move By: Irving Chernev
How to Reasses Your Chess By: Jeremy Silman
---
Intermediate:
Practical Chess Exercises By: Ray cheng
The Art of Defense in Chess By: Andrew Soltis
Pawn Structure Chess By: Andrew Soltis
---
Master:
Fundamental Chess Endings By: Karsten-Müller and Frank Lamprecht.
Art of Attack in Chess By: Vladimir Vukovic
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual By: Mark Dvoretsky
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Assortment-Paizo-Staff/dp/1601256698
As an alternative, the Elementary Go Series is pretty good too. You should check out Tesuji and Life and Death. Personally I found these more helpful as a beginner since things are organized and explained.
Or, for totally free you can work through Cho Chikun's Encylclopedia of Life and Death (avilable here) which is a ridiculously good resource for learning to read.
My favorite is "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go", by far!
I got a lot out of the following books:
Opening Theory Made Easy As its title suggests, this is limited to the opening but is still a great way to improve your game and easy for beginners to comprehend. I think I first read through this when I was around 17-18k and got a lot out of it. It's not about josekis but moreso principles to keep in mind in the beginning with a lot of great examples and explanations.
Second Book of Go This book was essentially tailor-made for people like you looking to proceed from elementary materials. The only problem is it seems to be out of print. I picked it up for about $20 2 years ago but I can't find it for under $100 on either Amazon or GoGameGuru.
Learn to Play Go Volume II This is part of a 5 book set that is pretty hit-or-miss for me. Volume I is good but probably covers the same materials as Go For Beginners. Volume II is a nice overview of the major extensions from stones (one point jump, knight's move, etc.) with a 20-25 assessment section at the end. Learn to Play Go Volume III isn't very good but I thought Volumes IV and V in the series were worth buying.
Go by Example This is the only book on my list written by a non-pro (well actually I don't think Richard Bozulich ever played professionally but the guy is responsible for the English translation of every go book ever and has written a fair share on his own so I'm guessing he's a decently strong player) and I think he's around an 8k or something, or at least was last time I checked. He plays online and has some specific insights for people playing online (such as not following the pace of your opponent) and reviews games he found on KGS. It has a bunch of examples and analysis and takes a different approach than the other older books I listed.
Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go You'll probably get more out of this once you're at around 16k or so but it's widely considered the best book on go. Plus Kageyama is a pretty entertaining (and very opinionated) writer. Covers all aspects of the game.
If you have an iPad, it might be a bit soon, but SmartGo Kifu has a ton of graded problems. And it's never too soon to look at pro games. You don't have to study them, but it's better to play through them then watch random games on IGS/KGS.
For a book about the core foundations of go, Kageyama's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate_pattern
http://chesstempo.com/chess-forum/tagging_discussion/checkmate_pattern_tags-t4899.0.html
Many of these names where coined by VV https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Attack-Chess-Vladimir-Vukovic/dp/1857444000 although the patterns themselves are well known from much earlier.
A very good summary with diagrams: http://chesstempo.com/tactical-motifs.html
You can read about them also in Tisdall's book (Appendix 1 - page 185): https://archive.org/details/Improve_Your_Chess_Now
Since no one has tossed out this idea yet, I would look into Janice Kim's books as well http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372733697&sr=8-1&keywords=janice+kim. They are well organized and concise. More appropriate for you if you're just looking for broad points about the game. If you've decided to get compulsively stronger though, then you will definitely need other books.
And if you're feeling overwhelmed by all the suggestions, my question to you is how serious you are about the game. If this is just for fun and casual play, definitely start with Janice Kim's book. Most of the other advice given is for players looking to become as strong a player as possible.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.
I like the Silman endgame book. It goes from beginner to IM or GM endgame level.
Once you're done with it and understand it 100% you can do the Dvoretsky.
Just be warned though that in a recent interview even Caruana was completely overwhelmed by it.
It's a monster of a book. 4th edition came out recently.
In the meantime the Silman is very good at all levels for basically all chess players.
https://www.amazon.com/Dvoretskys-Endgame-Manual-Mark-Dvoretsky/dp/1941270042/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
My recommendation: read the Second Book of Go and get on IGS and play a lot of games.
Honestly, get a tactics book. Start with a beginner one and do the puzzles. All of them. Make sure you understand them, especially the ones you get wrong. This will easily put you above 1000. Then you can get a more advanced one.
Here is a good one that covers the basic tactical motifs and then some:
https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Everyman/dp/1857443861
Seriously, don't ignore tactics.
I do recommend picking up extra bases for them though. I think the box only comes with like 8 or 12. Paizo sells them and you can get them pretty cheap on Amazon. There are a lot of DIY solutions too like binder clips etc.
It's £29 for the monster box, which has ~300 pawns in it, so you're paying a really small amount per pawn.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/
This particular box has:
I'm not entirely sure where £36 is coming from, but I have a feeling you might have looked at the actual bestiary- the pathfinder monster manual- rather than the pawns.
Bestiary 1 is more expensive, but that's due to it being out of print atm if I remember.
Just because of the nature of chess and go outside Asia, there's a lot more terrible chess players out there. If your friends aren't serious, you could probably at least give a good fight to all of them after going through this book. (corollary: if they are serious, you will probably never beat them unless you're serious about chess too).
There is always an opportunity cost, though. If you REALLY want to get good at go, splitting your time into another game is always going to hurt you.
Once you decide to get in into chess, no matter how good you are, you start to notice just how many people participate in global chess beyond a game occasionally played with friends/family. If you want to get into chess, you should really buy yourself a couple of books, starting at a child's level, and go from there. I would really suggest Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer himself as a good, easy, interactive starting point to learning how to solve chess logic puzzles and situations. I didn't know about chess puzzles until I got into them, and I like them more than Sudoku and Crossword Puzzles now. After understanding a bit, then you can really benefit from the tons of videos online. And of course, nothing beats playing chess just by itself to learn!
Paperback, in stock edition of the Polgar book: http://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549/
Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games-ebook/dp/B00DWK544C/
Would it not be just as easy to ask /r/chess?
Anyway, in addition to what /u/Dazvac has said, you'll also want to learn about tactics; this is probably the most important part of chess. You can learn about them here and practice them here. Read through the first few pages of each chapter of the former site, then see if you can obtain the answers to the rest of the pages in each chapter. When you're fairly confident with the material in it, then train with the latter site. Don't worry if you fail the first 200 problems or so; you'll soon get to a point where the tactics are at your level (if you create an account).
As for reading material, I would suggest the two books "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" and "Logical Chess Move By Move". You can easily find pirated PDF copies online, but you can also buy them here and here. "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" mainly focuses around checkmating the king; "Logical Chess Move By Move" walks through games explaining EVERY SINGLE MOVE. It's also best if you have a chessboard set up when you read "Logical Chess", as it sometimes lists variations.
So here is, in summary, what the full list is:
From the FAQ on the right side ---------->
1) Chess Tactics for Students by John Bain
3) Back to Basics: Tactics (ChessCafe Back to Basics Chess) by Dan Heisman
4) Winning Chess Tactics, revised (Winning Chess – Everyman Chess) by Seirawan
8) 1001 Tactics Time! From the Games of Everyday Chess Players by Tim Brennan and Anthea Carson
Very first thing - you need to be aware of ladders!
Kageyama says "If you want to capture stones, hold up two fingers and say to yourself: 'Can I capture with the net?' and 'Can I capture with the ladder?'"
Ladders are really easy - they're an unbranching sequence - so you should learn them and avoid embarrassment like the sequence starting at 16. You run into this repeatedly in the game - even if you don't see the ladder right off, you should recognize early that you're in one and stop and play somewhere else.
Even more important, you should always be thinking of trying to join your stones together. Time and again your opponent cuts you!
You also allow your opponent to control what's happening. If you're going to lose one or two stones, ignore them - play somewhere else that takes a lot of territory.
And play a lot of games!
Good luck...
Combine with blank cards, your own blank folding game board, some neutral pawns, and/or a set with pawns, tokens, timers, and more, and you're set!
Need inspiration? Do a Little. Reading.
Two things. First, to learn, playgo.to will teach you the very basics of the game. Then, play a few games just to get an idea of how little you understand of the game.
When you're done, get yourself the very aptly named Second Book of Go by Richard Bozulich. It'll give you a quick overview of the most important concepts : the opening, life and death, joseki, etc.
Oh, and doing go problems will help you a lot.
From there, well, you're on your own. :) See you on KGS !
Link to the book on Amazon for those who care: https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Fundamentals-Beginner-Elementary-Books/dp/4906574289/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lessons+in+the+Fundamentals+of+Go&qid=1564164912&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Sorry, typo. I meant Kageyama
https://www.amazon.com/Tesuji-James-Davies/dp/4906574122
This is a good book to start with...
I would suggest OP purchase:
I feel like the inclusion of the PHB and MM are self-explanatory.
The battemat is something I own and I have used to great effect - It's supremely durable, survived multiple moves, and still looks great. I'm moving more towards tiles now that I have a little bit more money to spend on D&D, but the mat was one of my biggest tools when I was first starting out as a DM.
The token bases are from pathfinder, a related tabletop RPG, but can easily be used in DnD 5E. Simply print out pictures of the monsters that you've found online, cut them out, and place them in the bases, and viola - instant miniatures! They can help tide your players over while you build your own miniature collection.
N.B. I agree with many of the other posters here that the use of a map and miniatures is not at all necessary for doing D&D, however, I have found that using them greatly enhances the experience, and it is my opinion that I like them. If you feel so inclined, OP, instead of the battlemap and bases, purchase the DM's Guide, which contains great advice in building and running your own adventures and campaigns, which might interest you down the road if it doesn't already.
Total cost: $95.86 on amazon.
These two might be good, but I can't really speak from personal experience.
http://daveschloss.com/chesskid.htm
https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153
Saw them on a Chess.com beginner recommendation list or something like that.
A nice slow(-ish) introduction to Go is from Janice Kim and Soo-Hyun Jeong:
Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game (Volume I) (Learn to Play Go Series). It was the book that helped Go click for me.
As far as books go, I highly recommend the "Kobold Guide to Board Game Design:"
https://www.amazon.com/Kobold-Guide-Board-Game-Design/dp/1936781042
It has a bunch of articles from board game designing veterans and will give you some great tips on everything from how to get started, to how to polish up your prototype for publishers.
As for making a board game from an existing franchise... that's something where the owner of the IP reaches out to you, not the other way around. They'll typically be looking for industry veterans who have had several best-selling games over the course of several years. So unfortunately for 99.99% of us, designing a product for a franchise like Warcraft or Game of Thrones will never be anything more than a dream.
https://www.amazon.com/My-Memorable-Games-Bobby-Fischer/dp/190638830X
​
https://www.amazon.com/Garry-Kasparov-Great-Predecessors-Part/dp/1857443306/
​
https://www.amazon.com/Pump-Your-Rating-Axel-Smith/dp/1907982736
You can sign up and play on these websites.
1.chess.com
2.lichess.org
3.chess24.com
​
Watch beginner videos on youtube. You can subscribe to these channels and watch their videos regularly. Many of these channels are not entirely aimed at beginners. You can watch them for entertainment and learn chess history too.
1.https://www.youtube.com/user/AGADMATOR
2.https://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork
3.https://www.youtube.com/user/STLChessClub
4.https://www.youtube.com/user/wwwChesscom
5.https://www.youtube.com/user/RosenChess
6.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqLLqbclDQ6IQg39Wsgy-4w
7.https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess
8.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWRXqVXhkHYp9HU9gJATgJA
Check out these books that are great for beginners and intermediate players.
1.https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/
2.https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Tactics-Champions-step-step/dp/081293671X/
This. I'm the same way--I slay at tactical puzzles, but haven't put in the time to learn positional analysis and memorize historical games in a way that would get me anywhere worth mentioning. I can't exactly say I've had stellar experiences around competitive chess players, either...let's just say it's not my scene and leave it at that.
If you don't have it yet, get Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games and you'll be glad you did. If I had choose to a handful of "desert island books", this one would definitely be in there.
I think they're still talking about Art Of Attack: http://smile.amazon.com/Art-Attack-Chess-Ladimir-Vukovic/dp/1857444000/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1417206123&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=art+of+attack+vukovich
It's possible to hire people to do it - there are companies that specialize in finding people to do focus-group testing of various products - but that's a bit expensive.
This book on board game design has a couple chapters on playtesting that would be relevant: http://www.amazon.com/Kobold-Guide-Board-Game-Design/dp/1936781042
Agreed that learning the logic of tactics and strategy are essential to playing good chess. Playing faster should never be a goal. Blitz chess etc. are just a way of challenging yourself and keeping the game interesting in my opinion, but not at all a learning tool. I would really focus on learning more about the classic openings and the classic endgame patterns. Horowitz's book Chess Openings and Polgar's book on recognizing endgame mating patterns are a great place to start. Once you are familiar with the common patterns that occur in chess, you play through those at lightning speed, and you can take your time when it comes to the middle game.
I'm currently reading Chess by László Polgár It starts with the rules and then has tons of problems to help you think about your game. It has mates in one, two, and three moves. It also contains games. It claims to be able to train you up to ELO 2200. It is a huge book though, but interesting nonetheless. With 5334 exercises such as problems, combinations, and games, you're bound to learn something.
Yeah, sure.
It depends on a few things. How seriously do you want to take it, and what are your goals. If you want to just casually learn about the game and kind of play it from time to time, that's greatly different from someone that wants to try and get really good etc.
I guess, what does get into chess mean to you? ;)
I'll give a more detailed writeup after that, haha.
edit: Some starter info I guess!
There can be more details etc but that's basically it.
Ok, here is what I recommend:
Start with a book like "Logical Chess: Move by Move". It is a very instructional book with every move annotated and will help you understand why certain moves are made. It is very basic and would be a great place to start, it's only assumption is that you already know how the pieces move. Go through at least one game a day, go through it slowly, and play it out on a board.
Second, study tactics. Make sure you start with a beginning tactics book, stuff you can solve. I recommend picking up Winning Chess Tactics and Chess Tactics for Students.
After that, just play games. Lots of slow games, not fast. When I say slow, I mean at least 60 minutes a game so you have time to think. Make sure you think about every single move, don't play any of them fast. A good rule of thumb is divide the time you play the game by 40 (so a game with 60 minutes per side would mean you should spend roughly a minute and a half on every move).
Chess is hard. To be honest I don't really remember how I got over that initial hump in the learning curve myself where things started to make sense to me, but I'll link you a video that will probably be somewhat helpful to you.
It's a deep game though, don't think that you can just watch some videos and get good. You need practice and study. Practice chess tactics and learn some basic opening principles. The first chess book I ever got was this one.
If I recall correctly it is pretty beginner friendly. Once you know the rules and how the game works knowing basic tactical patterns will help you.
When you play games, longer time controls will be better for a beginner. It gives you more time to think and plan. If you are playing blitz or bullet games, there is not much instructional value to be gleaned from them, especially for a beginner. I'd say 15 minutes +.
James Davies (same author of Attack and Defense)
http://senseis.xmp.net/?TesujiTheBook
http://www.amazon.com/Tesuji-James-Davies/dp/4906574122
Also, you can get all of these books directly from kiseido (http://www.kiseido.com/go_books.htm) which is cheaper than amazon.
Kiseido currently has an offer going on: "Until March 1, Kiseido is having a sale of all books on this page. Orders of five (5) books or more will be given a 10% discount off the applicable listed prices with free shipping."
If you're just starting, silman's endgame course is the best book. Silman's endgame course starts from absolute beginner up to ~2000. If you go through silman's endgame manual and dvoretsky's endgame manual, should be the only books you need for endgames until ~2400
Dvoretsky's endgame manual is universally known as the gold standard for what a player needs to know about the endgame. But it's hard to understand, so take time to ease into it.
A First Book of Morphy looks really good. I haven't read it though.
Chess: 5334 Problems
Thanks for the great question! I'll answer the way my mother always answer my long emails...
Ok, but why should somebody work with you if you've barely done any work on your own idea? Like /u/Bastiaan-Squared mentioned, most people are more excited to work on their own ideas, which they are constantly prototyping, refining, reworking etc, than to help you sit down and decide what mechanisms might work well in whatever setting you think is cool. You're better off spending your own time hammering out some potential mechanisms you might find interesting then approaching somebody and refining what you've done.
Here are a couple books that might help you out:
It's anything but terrible. It's limited, yes. But knowing back rank mates and how to avoid them are very useful for a beginner.
Seirawan's "Play Winning Chess would be a good supplement.
Thanks for responding :) Are you talking about this one and does it give example games I could look at?
When I was in middle school. I enjoyed reading bobby fischer teaches chess!
http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404435265&sr=8-1&keywords=bobby+fischer+teaches+chess
Foreword of his book.
https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549
Well, no real help from me, but:
Amazon? Lots of stuff there, especially if you don't mind 2D minis.
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469029534&sr=8-1&keywords=pathfinder+pawns
Personally I got them on Amazon EU. Dunno if it's just the stock but the prices there seems a bit lower.
 
The Monster Codex is showing on Amazon US for like $27 here and most of the others can be found there as well for a moderately lower price.
 
I will agree the one off price seems higher in comparison to say a small box of mini's for $10, but the mini per dollar value is just superb. You're looking at $0.10, per mini for one of the $30 dollar boxes, not including postage, as they average 250-300 tokens per box.
 
If the price is putting you off there are a few ways you can have a similar effects making your own, assuming you have a printer. Example, just search about in the various DnD subreddits (/r/dndnext , /r/dnd, /r/DnDBehindTheScreen etc.) for paper craft mini's and such.
Start with this book, then the tactics book, then endgames or strategies, then openings. https://www.amazon.com/Play-Winning-Chess-Yasser-Seirawan/dp/1857443314/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=yasser+serieqein+chess&qid=1565450924&s=gateway&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1-fkmr0
https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Out-Kings-Indian-Everyman/dp/1857442342
It’s by Joe Gallagher, a GM who has played the KID for decades.
We are starting regular tournaments for this subreddit, you have missed out this time but in a few weeks we will start afresh, you should join in, we have several beginners taking part, plus you will get your games reviewed.
Also join your local club, it'll work wonders for your interest.
As for books this series are great for getting your head around the first concepts, if you buy why not share with your friends to lower the costs?
I would recommend you start with Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess as a starting point.
Yes, he turned into a freakshow, but the man could play some chess. You're not going to learn to be a champion by reading this, but it will help you learn the basics and, more importantly, teach you what you need to learn.
Then go out and play. Pick up a decent chess set you can carry around and get as many people to play as you can. Take notes. Learn from your mistakes. And keep playing.
A stalemate is when it's your opponent's move, and they have no legal move left. That's exactly what you've done: white cannot move without putting their king in check from either the queen or the rook. Ergo, a stalemate.
In a tournament a stalemate scores one half of a point for each player, just like a tie.
No offense intended, but based on the fact that you don't know what a stalemate is, and you couldn't manage a checkmate with an overwhelming advantage in material, you have a lot to learn about chess :) If you can find a used copy of "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" for a couple bucks I suggest you buy it - it's all checkmate exercises. And it's the end of the game that counts.
study tactics man. get a book or 2 off of amazon and go through the whole thing.. problems and all.
http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Everyman/dp/1857443861/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407472357&sr=1-1&keywords=winning+chess+tactics
This book will help you understand common tactical themes and when to look for them.
then after this one, get a more advanced one. ask if you want more suggestions.
I think you mean 1, 3, and 5 are from the same series.
Of the list above I'd recommend #1, winning chess tactics.
But I'd REALLY recommend something different:
http://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Morphy-Frisco-Rosario/dp/1412039061
Good luck!
no it is a good way to teach structured thinking. Get a copy of BOBBY FISHER TEACHES CHESS. It is a really fun read and it will improve your game immensely in one reading, more with a reread. After that, if she kicks your ass you just lose at chess but win as a dad.
http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409024153&sr=1-1&keywords=bobby+fisher+teaches+chess
I had a similar problem when I was starting out. I read [this](https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Masters-Guide-Ultimate/dp/1453632891/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518124564&sr=8-1&keywords=learn+to+play+go
) book and found I had a much better grasp of the game and was able to progress.
I recommend Yasser Seriawan's book 'Play Winning Chess', especially the chapter on 'Time'. The concept of developing with threats and winning tempos is dealt with in there, and there are some great examples. Having read this and played through the examples, I'm much less worried about seeing a queen come out on move three or four, and see it as a challenge to gain a lead in development.
https://www.amazon.com/Play-Winning-Chess-Everyman/dp/1857443314
ok, so it's not like you are stuck at 20k after playing a few hundred games. This is really just about learning the fundamentals and practicing.
Personally, I like Janice Kim's "Learn to Play Go" series. http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
They are simple, easy to read, and cover the information in a clear, progressive way. Most times I teach people, I have them go through the whole series twice while playing a few practice games a week and doing go problems. Usually by that time they are mid teen kyu and starting get grasp the strategy.
I also use Goproblems.com a lot. You need to learn strategy and tactics. Strategy you get from studying high level games, reading, watching videos. tactics you get from practicing, and goproblems help a ton here!
Good luck!
Good to hear it. you might consider springing for some custom heroforge minis for your players characters if/once you and your friends start a campaign that is going to be somewhat long-lasting, though they do cost a bit more.
if you are just starting and don't want to spring a ton of cash for minis, a good alternative is to get some packs of pathfinder pawns.
They're basically monsters printed on a piece of cardboard which you can stand upright in a plastic holder.
Though they are for pathfinder - that was basically built on the back of 3rd edition, and many of the creatures are the same or similar.
For example, a pack with 300(!) creature pawns will only run you ~30 dollars, which is a lot cheaper then what 300 actual 3d minis would run you :
http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1458153012&sr=8-3&keywords=Pathfinder+Pawns
I'm a big fan of Janice Kim's Learn to Play Go series.
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
I just got [these] (http://www.amazon.de/Pathfinder-Pawns-Assortment-Paizo-Publishing/dp/1601256698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457173156&sr=8-1&keywords=paizo+pawn+base) original Paizo bases, which work perfectly!
Just print on some heavier paper, i think i chose 250g.
Then if you fold the minis and fold the bottom once again you can perfectly fit them into the base.
And you'll end up with this
sorry for the quality of the first picture :D
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
One of the finest books on chess EVAH! Not just endgames. But all chess books.
https://www.amazon.com/Dvoretskys-Endgame-Manual-Mark-Dvoretsky/dp/1936490137
Does he have a favorite player? There are lots of “Best games of [insert player]” books. Other than that, this endgame manual is full of great information.
I really like the king's Indian. If you have specific opening questions about it just ask. Here is the first book I read on it and it really held up
https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Out-Kings-Indian-Everyman/dp/1857442342
>https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
>You've made a great choice deciding you want to play this game. It's awesome.
>The above book (it's a 5 part series) was my introduction and was very helpful for helping me get stronger. See my posts in :
>https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/bed32g/learn_to_play_go_post_brain_tumor_surgery_version/el76mlm/?context=8&depth=9 (click "show parent comments" to see the whole conversation)
>Also, I would recommend playing online, you can get more progress by playing (and reviewing) games with real people. I recommend KGS, the Kiseido Go Server, it's a pretty social Go server, so there's almost always people who will review your games with you, if you ask. I'm on there as LeGoSam if you'd like me to teach you, although I'm not too strong. ^^
>Anyway, I hope I can help this way!
Thanks so much!
I think I understand what you are trying to experiment. You are asking if 2 beginners start playing chess while reading different beginner books, how will their play styles and understanding of the game change? I think this is a very interesting idea, and although I hypothesize that "no matter how different the books are, the difference will be because of the players, not the books" I will gladly suggest some ideas for your experiment.
There are plenty of chess books that are written by classical GMs that many people still find amazingly helpful.
"Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals" is still a very good for learning strong end game and good idea of how pieces work together. His end games are still considered some of the cleanest. He was somebody who could take puzzling situations and make them simple. It's very satisfying to following his games.
"My System" by GM Nimzowitsch is a bit different. Where as Capablanca relied more on classical openings and simplified situations with strong piece control, Nizomwitisch was of the hypermodern school which focused more on challenging the old classical fundamental beliefs and positional superiority.
If both of you start with one of each book, it'd be interesting to see how both of you end up playing. But honestly as beginners, (I'm a low level asshole myself aka patzer) some of the higher level things we're talking about here may not even mean anything for a long time.
Honestly, everybody in life has a certain chess style. Some play for the tactics, some for positions, some for the calculations, while others for the pattern recognition, some play sharp while some play loose, some play meek while some play aggressively. It really depends on you as a player, and I think that in the end, no matter which book you start with, you will end up the player you are going to be anyway.
As for other books that may be of interest for both of you, as they always say in chess "tactics, tactics, tactics": it may be a good idea to supplement both of your books with a tactical book such as https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Everyman/dp/1857443861 or https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Tactics-Champions-step-step/dp/081293671X or this https://www.amazon.com/Predator-At-Chessboard-Field-Tactics/dp/1430308001
and also supplement tactics with mating motifs like this: https://www.amazon.com/How-Beat-Your-Chess-Gambit/dp/1901983056
I hope you and your friend have a lot of fun playing and learning together. I have definitely enjoyed playing with my work mates. If you guys haven't chosen an online platform already, I suggest lichess.org or chess.com. Both are very great sites for playing chess for free. One is absolutely free and offers some very cool features for self analysis and community study material, while the other has paid premium memberships which offer a breadth of learning material in videos and articles.
I know this is not an Android game, but I would recommend working your way through this book if you want to learn: http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153
I loved my copy of Bobby Fisher Teaaches Chess... Buy it... its like a wierd puzzle book, and after you know how to kick ass at chess the right way.... https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=mt_mass_market_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me= GREAT TEACHER....easy for beginer, then you become the master.
Playing winning chess - https://www.amazon.com/Play-Winning-Chess-Yasser-Seirawan/dp/1857443314 - is a must
There are lots of other Pathfinder pawn sets on Amazon.com at the moment, such as the Monster Codex Box for $30. The monsters for Pathfinder are pretty much the same as for D&D, since it's a version of D&D, so Wizards has no real reason to make their own it seems.
At price per mini, you might look at Pathfinder pawns: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1601257171/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_7u5azbKAZ4PBP
There are also lots of paper minis if you check out Pinterest, like this board: http://pin.it/CdYyBU1 just print on card stock and fold over or glue to a washer or penny to stand up. I also found some cool art and just used paint to copy it onto one of these sheets to make character minis
I enjoyed Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. It is a straight forward book that concentrates on mating moves. It starts assuming you don't know how to play, but it teaches you how to recognize first one move mates, then two, and so on. The big take away I took from the book was how to recognize positions that lead to mate. This lets you know what to avoid yourself and what to take advantage of when your opponent does it.
Wow, this is a fantastic list!! One book that I had been considering is Go For Beginners. There has been a lot of debate between that and Janice Kim's Learn to Play Go series. I'll be checking out a lot of these from the perspective of a completely new player. If you'd like, I can check back in with you periodically and let you know how they've worked for me, so you can know which ones to recommend (and not!) for any other new players you come across. Thank you again for the extensive list, this is a huge help!
I use the Polgar book. It's not an app but it works.
He may be right in the part about Magic, but he COMPLETELY misses the point in chess and it would be some of the worst chess advice you could get. He pretty much said "forget tactics, study openings", which is the opposite of what you should be doing if you are not at least a FM (some people would even argue a GM).
The first puzzle is much, much more important than knowing what to do in the opening position. Chess is not about how common a position is, but how useful are certain patterns. The patterns the puzzle is teaching: Queen Sac (yes, it is ok to lose your queen in some situations), smothered king (yes, putting pieces around your king may actually make you lose, instead of protecting him), forced moves (notice how black must play forcing moves or lose) and knight movement (knights are weird). The exact position is not going to happen, but the patterns happen again and again.
On the other hand, learning/memorizing which are the best 1-5 is close to useless if you have problems with real game patterns (like the puzzle is trying to teach). Playing a "good/best" first move give you a very, very small advantage compared to actually knowing what to do during the game (here is Miles taking down Karpov with 1... a6: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068157 or Larsen taking down Petrosian with 1. f4: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106394, both "subpar" moves)
However, he is trying to make a parallel that doesnt exist. The current problem with magic puzzles is that they are not teaching you the right patterns, a lot of the time they are trying to be cute instead. There are those is chess too, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_chess_problem).
What he is missing is that for chess you must learn game positions because most of your decisions will happen in the middle game, as chess games go in average 40+ moves. The very important ones are probably happening only in 20+. And you can only make decisions like "Should I sac my queen?" if you actually know there are positions you should be saccing your queen, which only puzzles can teach you. By not doing puzzles, not only you will be choosing the wrong moves, but you aren't even going to consider/calculate the right move. You are going to be stuck on a beginner's mind forever.
However, in MTG you should study opening positions because most magic games are fast, with around 6-7 turns and the most important decision is "should I mulligan?". So, you should be studying mulligan and early turn puzzles, but they are still puzzles.
TLDR: The author has no idea of what he is talking about when it comes to chess. He is at least right when it comes to MTG. And yes, quantity is very important when it comes to puzzles, in both chess and MTG. Number of puzzles in a chess book can easily run into the 1000s, and you should solve them all (for example: https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VDKM7BWJN2YG1TQK7G1F). Today, websites likes Chesstempo are easier tough. Patterns are not about "how common the situation happens?" but "how useful is knowing this?" (which he misses when talking about chess. By a lot.)
My first chess books and they laid a great foundation IMO.
Winning Chess Tactics (Winning Chess - Everyman Chess) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1857443861/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6cxuyb72M9N01
Winning Chess Strategies (Winning Chess - Everyman Chess) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1857443853/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Kdxuyb38ZVT8B
For a puzzle book, there's only one answer: [Laszlo Polgar's Chess](Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games https://www.amazon.com/dp/1579125549/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zc9pybH4QPQBS) . As for entertaining books I'm not sure.
The slot is specifically for the Pathfinder cardboard pawns, which are really good if you want a lot of figures for cheap. Each box contains roughly 50 or more monsters and/or NPCs, that fit snuggly in their bases, and cost roughly $35-50 USD per box. [Here's an example of the most recent pawn box.] (http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453164499&sr=1-1&keywords=pathfinder+pawns)
The boxes usually come with bases included. I probably wouldn't worry about adding the vertical slot to the base, unless you want an easy way to shove in printouts.
Speaking of bases, do you plan on sharing your models? I'd be interested in trying to get some printed out myself as they'd be good generic token holders.
If you want the best stuff, then two books should be your foundation
First, Silman's Complete Endgame Course is strong. Silman is known for explaining things in an easy-to-digest manner. His book covers endgame ideas from beginner level up to ~2200 rating level. Despite the fact that you may not get much out of it (and so it will be a quick read), it is important to have all of his ideas understood before moving on, because the ideas he writes about are essentially basic.
Then, move on to Mark Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. It's important to note that this book is not written by some patzer or some GM who knows how to play but not how to teach. Mark Dvoretsky is a well-known elite chess trainer who has trained some of the best players in the world, so you know that his writing is strong. The purpose of Silman's book becomes clear when this book is recommended: this book is for turning ~2100+ players into elite endgame masters. This book probably should not be read or understood until essentially basic endgames are understood.
If you want to go oldschool (with a book), I used Lazlo Polgar's Chess years ago and liked it.
I don't know why I never thought of applets for chess puzzles... I'm going to have to try some of these out.
Since you're asking this kind of question, I would say the first step is to read and listen to all the interviews and literature that's out there first first. Having a base knowledge of the industry is going to help you with all future steps you've listed.
Kolbold's Guide to Board Game Design is a great book to kick off the journey.
There's also many board game design podcasts out there that I found extremely helpful:
The Board Game Design Podcast
Ludology
Tuesday Knight Podcast
not super math related but you should introduce him to chess, im sure he would love it. the internet is very helpful for improving at chess, but if screen time is an issue there are many great chess puzzle books/ strategy books out there e.g. Laszlo Polgar’s book:
Chess
If you want free, go to a library and get this book, though I believe it only has sections for mate in 1, 2, or 3.
Hey Agadmator. I'm a big fan of yours and have been watching your channel for a year or two now and i have started too look for some open theory books on amazon. I was hoping you would reccomend either one of those and that series over the other?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1857442342/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kings-Indian-Attack-Move/dp/1857449886/ref=pd_sbs_14_3/261-2359806-1508121?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1857449886&pd_rd_r=142f24b0-58a6-11e9-99d8-fb133e14f13b&pd_rd_w=vKNW5&pd_rd_wg=olIb1&pf_rd_p=18edf98b-139a-41ee-bb40-d725dd59d1d3&pf_rd_r=RM4GBFDDCKYVYJDJ0M6N&psc=1&refRID=RM4GBFDDCKYVYJDJ0M6N
​
and perhaps a good book on sicilian since i quite like that one.
​
Thank you so much!
Read this book:
The Second Book of Go, what you need to know after you've learned the rules.
This is a very good book, but it's in the old descriptive notation. If OP has trouble with that and wants to get an algebraic version, then you can't do better than the Cadagon 1994 edition, which is a pure algebraic conversion with no bastardization of the text. DO NOT GET THE NEWEST (2006) EDITION!
You want this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1857440730?pldnSite=1
See if you can get it from your local library first.
The book Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess. Easy and it walks you through some great strategies in a simple fashion.
just get him this: Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess.