Which books do you find best to improve?
I know a book called "Practice".
The best books are those who open your eyes why other books fail, meaning there‘s no big improvement by only reading books.
„Chess for Zebras“ & „Move First Think Later“ are two splendid ones.
There are lots of good books on the market, they are fun, they sound reasonable - but you won’t improve much.
„Chess for Zebras“ & „Move First Think Later“ are two splendid ones.
There are lots of good books on the market, they are fun, they sound reasonable - but you won’t improve much.
Lots of great chess books around - the Artur Yusupov "Build up your chess" series is great, though a lot of work required to get through even one of them. "My System" by Nimzowitsch is a classic. I've heard good things about Jeremy Silman's "How to Reassess Your Chess" but not read it yet. I do agree with Sarg0n that whilst these and other books are great, don't be surprised if you read them but don't see any great improvement in your playing.
First book I read was logical chess move by move. Irving Chernev. It's good because it literally explains every game move by move. Even the first moves e4, d4 etc.
Thank You all
You may benefit best from a book that stresses basic chess principles. Your game will blossom greatly when you start to understand and apply these in your play. An example...Can you mate with only a king and rook vs lone king? If you understand basic end game principles...its a simple win, but if you don't know how to do it...Its tough. Just so you know ...this site offers basic chess courses in the training section. One very good book is "The Complete Chessplayer" by Fred Reinfeld. :]
Jeremy Silman - Reassess Your Chess
This is *THE* chess encyclopedia that's designed for players in your range between 1000-1700. Frankly, ANY rating could benefit.
If you somehow made it to 2100 without that book, reading it might well set you on the road to being titled.
When you work through that book, (an hour a day for a few months), you will see so many things about this game that you simply do not have the tools to yet understand.
When I hear Grandmasters evaluate and annotate live chess, I get the feeling that they've all read the book and have all agreed that Silman's book is the 'goto' in terms of referring to defined ideas.
Where you might hear a Grandmaster today make comments about space, initiative, backward pawns, bad bishops, center control, king safety, imbalanced positions, closed centers, semi-open centers, open files, bishop pair, opposite colored bishop ending being drawn despite someone being down 2 pawns, doubled pawns as a general disadvantage, the exceptions wherein they are of some benefit, so on and so forth...Jeremy's book goes through them all and explains all of the ideas one by one for you.
Right now, given your rating, chess is not too much more than "complex checkers" for you.
Read Silman's book, and you'll see how chess is more like a court case wherein you're the criminal and the plaintiff, the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney, the jury, the judge, and the spectators.
You'll turn from someone watching a movie, to the person that produces it.
The whole entire context of every move will be, "I argue that this move, putting this piece, on this square, is the best move for my position." Your opponent, the antagonist, will do their best to argue and prove that it is not.
You'll see how it's more like movie making and mathematics.
You'll see how it's more like story telling.
You'll see how there are action games, thriller games, comedy games, mystery games, drama games, and all the rest.
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Silman's book will set you on the right path.
The biggest benefit to his book? Right from when you first sit down and read it, you'll immediately begin to see your mind change. So the more you read, the more your perspective will shift, and it will become very obvious that you are taking in information that you can use.
For every 1 titled player that knows the book and condemns it, you'll find 10 that highly recommend it.
It's that simple.
Reassess Your Chess - Jeremy Silman.
Silman will show you a fundamental appreciation of every move that you make.
"Fundamental." That's the word for that book. Silman's book will teach you the fundamentals.
This is *THE* chess encyclopedia that's designed for players in your range between 1000-1700. Frankly, ANY rating could benefit.
If you somehow made it to 2100 without that book, reading it might well set you on the road to being titled.
When you work through that book, (an hour a day for a few months), you will see so many things about this game that you simply do not have the tools to yet understand.
When I hear Grandmasters evaluate and annotate live chess, I get the feeling that they've all read the book and have all agreed that Silman's book is the 'goto' in terms of referring to defined ideas.
Where you might hear a Grandmaster today make comments about space, initiative, backward pawns, bad bishops, center control, king safety, imbalanced positions, closed centers, semi-open centers, open files, bishop pair, opposite colored bishop ending being drawn despite someone being down 2 pawns, doubled pawns as a general disadvantage, the exceptions wherein they are of some benefit, so on and so forth...Jeremy's book goes through them all and explains all of the ideas one by one for you.
Right now, given your rating, chess is not too much more than "complex checkers" for you.
Read Silman's book, and you'll see how chess is more like a court case wherein you're the criminal and the plaintiff, the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney, the jury, the judge, and the spectators.
You'll turn from someone watching a movie, to the person that produces it.
The whole entire context of every move will be, "I argue that this move, putting this piece, on this square, is the best move for my position." Your opponent, the antagonist, will do their best to argue and prove that it is not.
You'll see how it's more like movie making and mathematics.
You'll see how it's more like story telling.
You'll see how there are action games, thriller games, comedy games, mystery games, drama games, and all the rest.
-
Silman's book will set you on the right path.
The biggest benefit to his book? Right from when you first sit down and read it, you'll immediately begin to see your mind change. So the more you read, the more your perspective will shift, and it will become very obvious that you are taking in information that you can use.
For every 1 titled player that knows the book and condemns it, you'll find 10 that highly recommend it.
It's that simple.
Reassess Your Chess - Jeremy Silman.
Silman will show you a fundamental appreciation of every move that you make.
"Fundamental." That's the word for that book. Silman's book will teach you the fundamentals.
Yep, I've heard a number of people recommend Silman's book (including my own coach). Just bear in mind that many of the concepts it discusses that you mention will be mentioned in plenty of other books too, so just because someone talks about space, initiative, backward pawns etc. doesn't mean they've read his one.
+1 for Silmans How To Reassess Your Chess. While he certainly didn't invent these concepts, his writing style is highly enjoyable; his endgame book is also really nice!
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