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Which is the best chess book ?

"... Bronstein ... doesn't mention Boris Veinstein. Andy Soltis' work Soviet Chess 1917-1991 features Veinstein a good deal; in this book, he describes him as 'un-credited co-author, spymaster Boris Veinstein'. I don't know if this is the same person as 'Vainstein', a player whose name you run into in 1930s chess literature. At any rate, by most accounts, Veinstein wrote a great deal (some say nearly all) of Bronstein's book! In fact, someone who many years later was hosting Bronstein at his house told me that Bronstein admitted that he hadn't written a lot of Zurich 1953. My best guess is that ... Bronstein wrote the general observations and descriptions in the game notes, but that [the] sadly-forgotten [assistant] did much of the analytical work, probably in collaboration with the main [author]. But it's merely a guess, and we may never know. ..." - IM John Watson (2013)
https://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/john-watson-book-review-106-zurich-1953-by-najdorf

@Bellendo said in #9:

So if Logical Chess is the best book for a beginner.........what is a beginner? (I'm talking about classical because I don't consider the fast stuff to be real chess).

I don't know of any authority who declares that Logical Chess is the best book for a beginner. I suppose that, if someone did say that, it might make sense to wonder what that person meant by a "beginner", but, as it is, I think that the main point is that Logical Chess presents a lot of the common knowledge that is lacking in many who are struggling - things like 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 Nxe5 Qd4. I often suggest the book because of its introduction to 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 etc. A sample of Logical Chess can be seen at https://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640?asin=0713484640&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1 . In #6, I posted a sample from the Chernev commentary for game #6.

"... Bronstein ... doesn't mention Boris Veinstein. Andy Soltis' work Soviet Chess 1917-1991 features Veinstein a good deal; in this book, he describes him as 'un-credited co-author, spymaster Boris Veinstein'. I don't know if this is the same person as 'Vainstein', a player whose name you run into in 1930s chess literature. At any rate, by most accounts, Veinstein wrote a great deal (some say nearly all) of Bronstein's book! In fact, someone who many years later was hosting Bronstein at his house told me that Bronstein admitted that he hadn't written a lot of Zurich 1953. My best guess is that ... Bronstein wrote the general observations and descriptions in the game notes, but that [the] sadly-forgotten [assistant] did much of the analytical work, probably in collaboration with the main [author]. But it's merely a guess, and we may never know. ..." - IM John Watson (2013) https://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/john-watson-book-review-106-zurich-1953-by-najdorf @Bellendo said in #9: > So if Logical Chess is the best book for a beginner.........what is a beginner? (I'm talking about classical because I don't consider the fast stuff to be real chess). I don't know of any authority who declares that Logical Chess is the best book for a beginner. I suppose that, if someone did say that, it might make sense to wonder what that person meant by a "beginner", but, as it is, I think that the main point is that Logical Chess presents a lot of the common knowledge that is lacking in many who are struggling - things like 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 Nxe5 Qd4. I often suggest the book because of its introduction to 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 etc. A sample of Logical Chess can be seen at https://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640?asin=0713484640&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1 . In #6, I posted a sample from the Chernev commentary for game #6.

"Boris Veinstein"

  • Boris Samoilovich Vainstein also known as Queenabber was Bronstein's long time second and friend. As a KGB colonel he had worked for Lavrenti Beria. He was not so strong a player, but a first class chess analyst. He was not present at Zürich due to the death of Stalin and the arrest of Beria, so Bronstein was the only grandmaster in Zürich playing without a second. He is also the author of the book 'David Bronstein Chess Improviser', and he is mentioned in the 200th game of Bronstein's book '200 Open Games'.
"Boris Veinstein" * Boris Samoilovich Vainstein also known as Queenabber was Bronstein's long time second and friend. As a KGB colonel he had worked for Lavrenti Beria. He was not so strong a player, but a first class chess analyst. He was not present at Zürich due to the death of Stalin and the arrest of Beria, so Bronstein was the only grandmaster in Zürich playing without a second. He is also the author of the book 'David Bronstein Chess Improviser', and he is mentioned in the 200th game of Bronstein's book '200 Open Games'.

"Best" is a broad term...

"Best" is a broad term...

@IamNOTamod said ^

"Best" is a broad term...

Not to mention vague and, most important, highly subjective.

@IamNOTamod said [^](/forum/redirect/post/69kxg9xR) > "Best" is a broad term... Not to mention vague and, most important, highly subjective.

100 endgames you must know- Jesus de la Villea

100 endgames you must know- Jesus de la Villea

IMO, the best --instructional-- chess book (by its structure ) is still the old one ''The Art of Checkmate''. I am surprised that other books havent copied its format for explanations.
.
I just started ''Life and games on Tal'' and it is really good. Keres book of his annotated games is really good. My copy had a cheap glued binding. I completely destroyed the book working thru it long ago.
.
Learned a lot from Botvinnik and Geller's books of games but they dont sparkle with inspiration.
.
Chernev;s book on Capa's greatest endings is also really good. Zurich too (but I've only been thru half of it).

But ''best''-- I dont even know what that means when comparing books that are so different. Bill

IMO, the best --instructional-- chess book (by its structure ) is still the old one ''The Art of Checkmate''. I am surprised that other books havent copied its format for explanations. . I just started ''Life and games on Tal'' and it is really good. Keres book of his annotated games is really good. My copy had a cheap glued binding. I completely destroyed the book working thru it long ago. . Learned a lot from Botvinnik and Geller's books of games but they dont sparkle with inspiration. . Chernev;s book on Capa's greatest endings is also really good. Zurich too (but I've only been thru half of it). But ''best''-- I dont even know what that means when comparing books that are so different. Bill

"... everyone is different, so what works for one person may likely fail with another ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627084053/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf
"... Just because a book contains lots of information that you don’t know, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be extremely helpful in making you better at this point in your chess development. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
"... The books that are most highly thought of are not necessarily the most useful. Go with those that you find to be readable. ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)

"... everyone is different, so what works for one person may likely fail with another ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002) https://web.archive.org/web/20140627084053/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf "... Just because a book contains lots of information that you don’t know, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be extremely helpful in making you better at this point in your chess development. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2001) https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf "... The books that are most highly thought of are not necessarily the most useful. Go with those that you find to be readable. ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)