(Part 2) Best chess books according to redditors
We found 749 Reddit comments discussing the best chess books. We ranked the 354 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
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?
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!
>It's not sound and every GM knows this.
False, it's 100% sound. The problem with it is that there are many lines within it for white that aren't sound, so you need to know what to play and what not to.
Here's some resources:
https://www.amazon.com/100-Endgames-You-Must-Know/dp/9056916173
It's also available in chessable
So weird... I just found out about this game yesterday. I was looking for books on chess history at Borders and ended up buying The Immortal Game. So then I watched it play out in Chessmaster. And now here it is on Reddit.
While we're on the subject, what's the name of that phenomena where you hear a new word/learn about a new thing and then immediately afterwards you start hearing the word/references to the thing.
Pawn Endgames
Rook Endgames: Lucena & Philidor
"100 Endgames You Must Know" by Jesus de la Villa companion to the book
Lichess Practice: Opposition
Some good looking studies from Lichess
Also the last section in the practice puzzles
Great post, and now I'm excited to read your book when it comes out! When I read chess books I transcribe them to PGN for future study, and usually there is a lot of editing that happens on the way from book to PGN. Lots of cutting, rephrasing, and digging to try to better understand some of the concepts.
I'm currently reading Simple Chess by Michael Stean and it's a breath of fresh air. Everything he writes feels valuable and important. He has a few Fischer games in there as well and I think did a great job with them.
Tactics time. Highly recommended for beginner-intermediate. Games are from class level games so actual situations you are more likely to see. IMHO beginning players need to spend 90% of non-playing/analyzing games time on tactics.
Tactics Time
There's a book called Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna which helped me a lot to recognize when it's time to spend time looking for tactics etc.
It was a huge turnaround for me personally.
There are lots of good "serious" chess books. The standard is Tarrasch, and the next one (in terms of teaching something completely different) is Nimzowitsch's My System.
There are chess-related mathematical things, such as infinite chess.
You're essentially asking how to play chess well. There is no easy answer to this question.
I would recommend the book Mastering Chess Strategy by GM Hellsten, as it's my favourite strategy book. I'd also recommend playing long chess games (perhaps 45+45) and analysing them afterwards (first without computer assistance, and then with an engine and an opening book). If you do all this, you'll start to understand how to play in the kinds of positions you're describing.
I also wanted to comment on something you said:
>I can analyze positions well enough (for the time being, at least) by looking at pawn structure, piece development and potential, space, etc
This sounds like what chess books have traditionally taught: this notion that we can understand a position by focusing on positional characteristics and forming a verbal breakdown of the position, with moves naturally following from this. But actually I don't think strong players think like this at all. I think strong players concentrate more on the moves available, noticing positional characteristics while or after focusing on the moves. This is the point IM Hendriks makes in Move First, Think Later.
You should study how your opponent played: It was almost literally textbook play. The formation your opponent achieved in the opening of Nc6 - d5 - e5 - Nf6 is right out of any introductory chess textbook. Notice how as in your game the knights are immediately available to leap to your fourth rank harassing your position, while the bishops can in one move also start making threats. Also the knights and the queen cover the center pawns, while you are already having to think about tactics to defend e4. Then your opponent moves his king's bishop out so he can castle and then his queen's bishop clearing his first rank of all of minor pieces. He is all prepared to go right after you on the attack, and after gaining material and space, finishing you off with his rooks which are free to move to whatever file is most useful, here the center ones. It doesn't get more textbook than this.
If your opponent is having tremendous success following textbook play, it would be wise to also have read and understood this textbook. There are many fine books on the market and some public domain classics legally available for free. My personal recommendation is first try one's local library where hopefully one can find a good beginner's textbook such as this one:
Pelts and Alburt, Comprehensive Chess Course, Vol. 2: From Beginner to Tournament Player in 12 Lessons
This book has dozens of complete (short) games illustrating among other things exactly the opening errors you are making and how you are being punished for them.
I recommend Simple Chess by Michael Stean. It's short and to the point. I've read most of the books recommended here. They're all good but Simple Chess helped me the most.
opening principles should be learned way before you try and focus on defined openings. you should already know what openings you keep seeing come up over and over (ruy lopez, italian game, QGD etc.) and then you come with the question, how can i get an advantage with this opening i have been playing against over and over.
80% tactics, 15% endgame, and 5% open will do you a lot better then the other way around.
this is one of the best chess books i have ever read
http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Three-Moves-Ahead/dp/0671211145
This is another great one by one of the masters
http://www.amazon.com/The-Game-Chess-Dover/dp/048625447X
look at the order he teaches chess,
Dr. Tarrasch begins with the endgame — because it's easier for a novice to deal with a few men than the entire 32. An important and extensive discussion of the middle game follows. Finally, the author deals with openings and offers enlightening comments on many historically important variations. Over 340 diagrams and 12 complete games.
When I was first learning, Logical Chess Move by Move was a huge eye opener for me. It explains every single move in the game in detail while going through full games. You get introduced to opening ideas, middle game planning, and endgame technique. The book is a very effective primer on a lot of key chess principles and it really teaches the beginner the importance of a single move since you get to read all of the ideas that go into every move.
When I was a low intermediate level player (I'd guess around 1300-1400), I read Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess and that had a huge impact on my playing level once I start to assimilate the knowledge. His coverage of the thought processes for middle game planning, move selection, and looking at material imbalances really opened my eyes to how I should be thinking about positions.
I've read probably 15-30 books in part or entirely over the years. Those two stand out the most to me. Beyond those instructional books, I think books of games collections are good to go through. My favorite were How Karpov Wins by Edmar Mednis (I am a Karpov fan) and Bronstein's Zurich 1953 book (one of the most highly regarded books of all time). Alekhine's Best Games was also a fun read, but it used old style notation I believe, which was a chore for me to learn and go through at the time.
Other special nods from me:
Your question is really like two questions. A general opening reference is useful for getting an overview of openings and to check certain lines but doesn't lend itself to actually learning an opening. For that, a specific opening book is much more useful.
The way I did it was to get the Batsford Chess Openings 2 way back when and read all the introductions to the various openings (getting this book now would be a mistake because it's long long out of date, but at the time it was good for a while) and try out a few of the lines. Then, once I'd decided what piqued my interest I got a hold of a book that was specific to that opening.
The reasoning for this is that a specific book will give much more depth and explanation (they're usually written by IM's and GM's that actually use the opening) about what lies in store when playing.
Edit: There's another class of opening books as well. They're called repertoire books and have a line for every response that an opponent makes. One of the better ones is called The Chess Advantage in Black and White. The author went all out with this production and was rightly hailed as someone that had done it the way it's supposed to be done. It's a complete system based on the play of top GM's and doesn't rely on trick lines whatsoever.
> The premise of a course designed for busy people without much time to dedicate to improvement resonates with me.
Here's another title with the same sales pitch:
Chess for the Gifted and Busy
OmicronperseiVIII wrote some great advice. If you want a book to help take your game to the next level, I recommend the Comprehensive Chess Course, Volume II. I think it's the ideal "second chess book," the first being a book on how to play. If you follow the structure of that book you'll improve really fast!
I would recommend Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry. Reading that book helped me crystallize many different concepts that are very important to the beginning and middle game (e.g. outpost squares, weak colors, imbalances, etc.)
The classic text on pawns is Kmoch's Pawn Power in Chess. Soltis has a similar book titled Pawn Structure Chess, but as the title implies it is more focused on various pawn structures.
https://www.amazon.de/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner-ebook/dp/B00H273OJS/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1525341653&sr=8-1&keywords=silman+endgame
that is what you are looking for
My favorite 2 books:
I think both of these books are really good at mastering the moves that you should be making to reach a good position. I don't consider them too advanced, but they assume you know things like reading algebraic notation, basic tactics and motifs.
Also agree with others that a good tactics book will provide with serious improvement in your game. But if you want to understand how to get a position that will provide tactical opportunities, these two books are great.
Looks like an endorsement to "Move First Think Later" school of thought ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Move-First-Think-Later-Improving/dp/9056913980 ).
The book that gave me the most chess knowledge at the beginning was The Mammoth Book of Chess.
I was going to recommend this book, but realized that it's more for lathe work than hand carving. There's some stuff in there applicable to carving, though, for the knights and king/queen tops. IIRC, it has some other good tips like proper sizing and weighting of the pieces.
I see there's also a few other books that get good reviews, but I have not personally read these:
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wooden-Chess-Sets-Kind/dp/156523457X
http://www.amazon.com/Wooden-Chess-Sets-You-Make/dp/1565231880
Welcome back to OTB chess!
Bowdler Attack? I've heard the early Bc4 in the Sicilian, without the semi-opening 3 d4, referred to as the High School Variation, although it should be attributed to 7-year-olds, given that I face 9-year-old FIDE 1600s OTB as often as adults.
Your idea of 5 ... Nxe4, followed by a ...d5 fork and piece recapture, has a name, The Center and the Fork Trick, coined by Hans Kmoch in his classic, Pawn Power in Chess, to which he devotes Chapter VII. More here and in the accompanying comments, another link. More on youtube.
Currently going threw this, if the English is your thing I recommend it so far. But I am not very far into it atm so I cannot give a full recommendation.
Yeah! Check this book out if you want to read more. I'm a very mediocre chess player but am really enjoying the book.
Dunno. Maybe Tactics Time by Tim Brennan?
Well, nice win! After checking out the game, here are some thoughts:
You should strive to play stronger opponents that will punish you when you play listlessly.In the game your development was pretty aimless but your opponent pretty much let you go scot free.A stronger opponent might probably have demonstrated the drawbacks of your position.
Planning in chess is a vast, complicated area obviously and there are no simplistic answers. The summary of what I've learnt is that it's easier (and better) to simply know the typical plans than to try and formulate them during a game*.So a lot of your training should be devoted to learning typical structures and the plans associated with them the same way you do with tactics e.g the h4 push in the Caro is a pretty standard theme.One way to do this would be to simply go through lots of master games in your favorite openings and increase your pattern bank.
A more effortful approach is to go through individual middle-games solitaire-style and try to predict the master's moves.Whenever you're wrong you should try and find out why(with an engine, stronger player, game annotations etc).
Obviously you should also try to improve your baseline positional knowledge by looking at books and going through annotated games from positional players.Finally, tactics are still king, especially at your level(as your game demonstrated).All the strategic plans in the world don't matter if you're dropping pieces to forks.Getting better at tactics and short-term calculation will make you a far better player than any profound planning ever will.So getting better at tactics should still be occupying most of your time for the foreseeable future.
- I'm doing a poor job explaining this so I will just recommend a very** good book on chess improvement theories and planning - https://www.amazon.com/Move-First-Think-Later-Improving/dp/9056913980
Some other recommended books:
Michael Stean's Simple Chess for basic positional play
Botvinnik's & Karpov's game collections
The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings by Reuben Fine is well thought of.
"Pawn Power in Chess" by Hans Kmoch
Didn't know what I was trying to do during the game (or my opponent) untill a read this book.
(here you can see the cover: http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Power-Chess-Dover/dp/0486264866)
This book was instrumental in improving my chess. It takes a concept, explains it, and then gives puzzles to reinforce the concept. Things like undiscovered attack, the knight fork, etc. Amazing book.
Winning Chess: How To See Three Moves Ahead https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671211145/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_U7KSBb8FZ712E
I'd recommend Dan Heisman's book for you
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
I think the best books for beginners are Comprehensive Chess Course vol1 and vol2 series by Lev Alburt. Even more advanced players can benefit from volume 2.
I think there are better books available for understanding the English opening - than Tony Kosten's now
E.g. Mihail Marin has 3 volumes:
Volume 1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grandmaster-Repertoire-English-Opening-v/dp/1906552045/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DB7B0QRBKGVS05A4WMDV
Volume 2: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grandmaster-Repertoire-English-Opening-v/dp/190655238X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=D14NERSEXY2ZRRW3CJ51
Volume 3: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grandmaster-Repertoire-English-Opening-v/dp/1906552592/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=E344D88T2BAZ20V4CPXM
The reason i mention this is that openings like the French defence and English opening do offer a lot of insight into chess generally because they are more positionally based. I have heard great things about Marin's books but didn't have too much time to read them.
If you’re still looking for something, I found this post as part of a search for the same thing and figured I’d come back and share this:
The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings: Algebraic Notation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812917561/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.SXYzbJ2VKQVN
A classic, apparently, updated with algebraic notation and with great reviews on Amazon. I’ve ordered a copy.
I think endgames are extremely crucial to get better. Check out this book by Jeremy Silman: https://www.amazon.com/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner-ebook/dp/B00H273OJS, it helped me quite a bit (not that I'm great at endgames myself, but at least I don't blunder completely won positions as often anymore). Personally, it takes me a lot of calculation and visualisation to figure out the right move, so I think being able to visualise a position without actually seeing it really helps. And I've also heard advice that one must play longer time controls so that they can calculate better and this get a better grip on the game
You're welcome. You might also want to borrow a copy of Silman's Endgame Course from your library. The first two chapters cover the engames you are likely to reach in most of the games at your level.
get the USED one of this
Not too hard and very decent strategies for novice and advanced alike.
The suggestions on here are all you really need to become a good player, but I wanted to mention a book that improved my game significantly when I read it years ago: Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry and Ed Eusebi.
Unless you play other seasoned players, it's likely that you'll be unbeatable among your friends after reading this book. Even among tournament players, if you take these lessons to heart and practice you'll be a formidable opponent.
Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry and Ed Eusebi is a masterpiece and will be at your level
I think most of the books being recommended are too complex for a chess.com 1200. I think you'd enjoy and get more out of something like The Mammoth Book of Chess (Amazon link). It explains all the essential ideas in short, clear sections. It's also remarkably cheap second hand.
Two books I'm familiar with and three I'm not:
Tony Kosten's Dynamic English as mentioned; recommends a 1. c4 2. g3 repertoire, featuring the Botvinnik system where possible. It's very useful, but it's growing more outdated over time and really needs a second edition, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. As usual, run computer analysis with a current engine like Stockfish 7 on the lines you want to play.
Grandmaster Repertoire 3 - The English Opening by Mihail Marin. This is a three volume set that covers the same repertoire as Dynamic English, though obviously in much greater depth. Warning, it seems like only the main lines were computer checked, be sure to run computer analysis on any lines you decide to play.
Mastering the Chess Openings Volume 3 I've seen this recommended several times. I haven't looked at it myself, but John Watson is very well regarded as an author.
Starting Out: The English by Neil McDonald. I'm not familiar with this one at all, but McDonald is another noted author who usually produces quality work.
The English: Move by Move by Steve Giddins. I haven't looked at this one yet. I'm ambivalent about the question and answer format of these move by move books. I get the feeling that it adds too much filler that takes up space that could be put to better uses, but some people really seem to like it.
It really depends on your style. I prefer positional lines and not too much memorization so I like https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Advantage-Black-White-Grandmasters/dp/0812935713.
The Game of Chess by Siegbert Tarrasch.
https://www.amazon.de/Game-Chess-Dover/dp/048625447X
If you're U1700 OTB and don't have a huge amount of time to dedicate to chess, then the Steps method as suggested by /u/Markussi should have a good ROI :-)
There's also this book, but I have no idea if it's good or bad :
https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Gifted-Busy-Comprehensive-Beginner/dp/1889323241
The Immortal Game is a great book. It is a history of chess written for the layman. It deals with broad ideas rather than dry details and presents several interesting anecdotes about the game of chess.
IMO, 3.Bc4 leads to a game with about even chances for both sides. I'm not sure what "manuals" you are referring to, but I would probably not trust them. You can find recent works on the King's Gambit on Amazon such as this and this.
My personal preference would be for 3.Nf3. I can tell you with pretty strong certainty that both are better options than 3.Qf3.
I actually bought this book
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wooden-Chess-Sets-Kind/dp/156523457X
The pattern came from this. I picked what I thought would be one of the raiser patterns. I was wrong it was hard.
Yes after they were all cut there many hours of fine sanding with some files and a little sanding strip thing I found at rocker.
I originally stumbled upon this endgame tactic in a Tarrasch book! I thought it was brilliant and it's one of the few things from that book I still remember. The book was The Game of Chess, and it used descriptive notation. I was about 12.
The Immortal Game: A History of Chess.
Have you tried tactical lines? Open sicilian against d6, Scotch, Italian d4 lines? What was the result?
While your repertoire is totally fine(I would switch Moscow to 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd 4 Qxd4! and maybe change the line against Petroff if it happens often enough, that's it) you are avoiding main lines which could be a bad thing for your development as a player.
The problem with lines like Rossolimo - it is hard for a person U2000 to understand what went wrong in the game and improve. When you are outplayed in a positional struggle you don't learn a lot. On the other hand open games are much easier to understand.
Good source for your white repertoire Is https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Advantage-Black-White-Grandmasters/dp/0812935713 - the old book that is a bit outdated but follows 90% of your lines(Everything except Petroff and sicilian e6).
> In chess books diagrams are always from white's point of view.
Um, wrong: http://i.imgur.com/pI8xw2D.png (the book is https://www.amazon.com/Tactics-Time-Chess-Everyday-Players/dp/9056914383/ just use the "Look Inside" feature)
Board recognition (wrong word but I hope the idea gets across) will come to you as you play, as will your ability to recognize tactics and form plans. Thus, I recommend that you just play a lot for now. If that isn't what you want then see below.
If you wish to learn strategy you need to learn the ideas behind openings, structures, and exercise your ability to create and execute a plan. This is because there isn't much of a point in playing any specific opening if you don't know what goals you're playing for with that opening. For this you may want to start with a beginner opening book and some endgame studies so you know what to do if you ever reach the longterm goals of the opening you choose to employ.
I asked around and came up with: Reuben Fine's Ideas behind the chess openings.
https://www.amazon.com/Ideas-Behind-Chess-Openings-Algebraic/dp/0812917561
There's also Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings.
https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Openings-Everyman/dp/1857443497/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491463301&sr=1-1&keywords=yasser+seirawan