We've ranked the best chess books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
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1
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
Bobby Fischer, Stuart Margulies, Don Mosenfelder
5.0
This book is essentially a teaching machine. The way a teaching machine works is: It asks you a question. If you give the right answer, it goes on to the next question. If you give the wrong answer, it tells you why the answer is wrong and tells you to go back and try again. This is called "programmed learning". The real authors were experts and authorities in the field of programmed learning. Bobby Fischer lent his name to the project. Stuart Margulies is a chess master and also a recognized authority on programmed learning. He is a widely published author of more than 40 books, all in the field of programmed learning, especially in learning how to read. For example, one of his books is "Critical reading for proficiency 1 : introductory level". Donn Mosenfelder is not a known or recognized chess player, but he was the owner of the company that developed and designed this book. He has written more than 25 books, almost all on basic reading, writing and math.
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2
How to Reassess Your Chess: Chess Mastery Through Chess Imbalances
Jeremy Silman
4.9
How to Reassess Your Chess has long been considered a modern classic. This 4th edition takes Silman's groundbreaking concept of imbalances to a whole new level. Designed for players in the 1400 to 2100 rating range and for teachers looking for a ready-made chess curriculum, the author shares a mind-expanding journey that takes the reader through imbalance-basics, ensures that every detail of all the imbalances are mastered, and leaves the player/lover of chess with something he always wanted but never believed he could achieve: a master-level positional foundation. Hundreds of games brought to life by instruction-rich prose, and stories that offer humor while highlighting various lessons, vividly illustrate all the book's topics in a manner that's both personal and fun.
Jeremy Silman is an International Master and a world-class teacher, writer, and player who has won the American Open, the National Open, and the U.S. Open.
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Recommended by Daveed Gartensteinross.
Daveed Gartensteinross
@timmathews @TheGreatCourses Thanks. Silman is phenomenal. In my opinion, his book "How to Reassess Your Chess" may be the best chess book ever written. https://t.co/2vigWWB0Ut [source]
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3
My 60 Memorable Games
Bobby Fischer
4.9
Recommended by Tyler Cowen, Adam Robinson, Adam Robinson, and 1 others.
Reflects a certain kind of classicism in thinking and method. Later, it was revealed much of the analysis was faulty and in part was from Larry Evans and not Fischer himself. [source]
Adam Robinson
I played over these games every night, these 60 games. [source]
Adam Robinson
I played over these games every night, these 60 games. [source]
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Logical Chess Move By Move: Every Move Explained New Algebraic Edition
Irving Chernev
4.8
"The novice who plays through Logical Chess can learn an ocean of basic chess wisdom."—Leonard Barden, English chess master and broadcaster
“Entertains . . . as it reinforces strategic lessons gleaned from chess titans. Illustrates effective middle-game plans.”—Library Journal
Having learned the basic moves, how exactly should a player improve? In this popular classic, the author explains 33 complete games, in detail, move by move, including the reason for each one. Playing through these games and explanations gives real insight into the power of the pieces and how to post them most effectively.
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5
Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games
László Polgár and Bruce Pandolfini
4.7
Win at chess with practical instruction from one of the world's leading teachers! With clever strategies for more than 5000 situations and clear diagrams, Chess is for the enthusiastic novice as well as the competitor taking the game to the next level.
Chess takes you through more than 5,000 unique instructional situations, many taken from actual matches, including 306 problems for checkmate in one move, 3,412 mates in two moves, 744 mates in three moves, 144 simple endgames, and 128 tournament game combinations. Organized by problem type, each combination, or game is keyed to an easy-to-follow solution at the back of the book.. More than 6,000 illustrations make it easy to see the possibilities regardless of where your pieces are on the board. The book also includes the basic rules of the game and an international bibliography. Chess is the ultimate book on winning the game.
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Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master
Jeremy Silman
4.7
For over 100 years, the world's leading chess players and teachers have told their students to study the endgame. This book teaches the students what they need to know at their current rating level, and builds on that knowledge for each subsequent phase of the player's development.
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7
The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery
Jeremy Silman
4.7
This book takes the student on a journey through his own mind and returns him to the chess board with a wealth of new-found knowledge and the promise of a significant gain in strength. Most amateurs possess erroneous thinking processes that remain with them throughout their chess lives. These flaws in their mental armour result in stinging defeats and painful reversals. Books can be bought and studied, lessons can be taken -- but in the end, these elusive problems always prove to be extremely difficult to eradicate. Seeking a solution to this dilemma, the author wrote down the thoughts of his students while they played actual games, analysed them, and catalogued the most common misconceptions that arose. This second edition greatly expands on the information contained in the popular first edition.
This amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive book synthesizes the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz with the historical legacies of statesmen, warriors, seducers, and con men throughout the ages.
These are the books I recommend people to listen to on @applebooks. [source]
Marvin Liao
Partner/500 Startups
My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]
There is no living writer (or person) who has been more influential to me than Robert Greene. I met him when I was 19 years old and he’s shaped me as a person, as a writer, as a thinker. You MUST read his books. His work on power and strategy are critical for anyone trying to accomplish anything. In life, power is force we are constantly bumping up against. People have power of over us, we seek power ourselves that we might be free enough and influential enough to accomplish our goals—so we must understand where power comes from, how it works and how to get it. But pure power is meaningless. It must be joined to mastery and purpose. So read his book Mastery so that you can figure your life’s task and how to dedicate yourself to it. [source]
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The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, or How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our Understanding of War, Art, Science and the Human Brain
David Shenk
4.6
A surprising, charming, and ever-fascinating history of the seemingly simple game that has had a profound effect on societies the world over.
Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its thirty-two figurative pieces, moving about its sixty-four black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1,500 years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful educational tool?
Nearly everyone has played chess at some point in their lives. Its rules and pieces have served as a metaphor for society including military strategy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, literature, and the arts. It has been condemned as the devil’s game by popes, rabbis, and imams, and lauded as a guide to proper living by different popes, rabbis, and imams.
In his wide-ranging and ever fascinating examination of chess, David Shenk gleefully unearths the hidden history of a game that seems so simple yet contains infinity. From its invention somewhere in India around 500 A.D., to its enthusiastic adoption by the Persians and its spread by Islamic warriors, to its remarkable use as a moral guide in the Middle Ages and its political utility in the Enlightenment, to its crucial importance in the birth of cognitive science and its key role in the new aesthetic of modernism in 20th century art, to its 21st century importance to the development of artificial intelligence and use as a teaching tool in inner-city America, chess has been a remarkably omnipresent factor in the development of civilization.
Indeed as Shenk shows, some neuroscientists believe that playing chess may actually alter the structure of the brain, that it may for individuals be what it has been for civilization: a virus that makes us smarter.
From the Hardcover edition.
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The Chess Struggle in Practice: Candidates Tournament, Zurich 1953
David Ionovich Bronstein
4.6
Recommended by Dominic Lawson.
Dominic Lawson
Bronstein was very nearly world champion. In 1951 he played a match that was drawn, and because he was the challenger, the titleholder Botvinnik kept the title. It was very controversial because Bronstein was one game ahead with two to play, and lost the penultimate game in rather strange circumstances. This was during the Stalinist period, and it was said that because he was distantly related to Trotsky, and his father had been in a gulag, the Soviet system didn’t want him to win. I don’t think he deliberately threw it, but he was under certain unusual pressures. Bronstein is a marvellous writer. He wrote the best books of the era, and this is by no means his only great book. [source]
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The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence
Josh Waitzkin knows what it means to be at the top of his game. A public figure since winning his first National Chess Championship at the age of nine, Waitzkin was catapulted into a media whirlwind as a teenager when his father's book "Searching for Bobby Fischer" was made into a major motion picture. After dominating the scholastic chess world for ten years, Waitzkin expanded his horizons, taking on the martial art Tai Chi Chuan and ultimately earning the title of World Champion. How was he able to reach the pinnacle of two disciplines that on the surface seem so different? "I've come to realize that what I am best at is not Tai Chi, and it is not chess," he says. "What I am best at is the art of learning."In his riveting new book, "The Art of Learning," Waitzkin tells his remarkable story of personal achievement and shares the principles of learning and performance that have propelled him to the top -- twice.
With a narrative that combines heart-stopping martial arts wars and tense chess face-offs with life lessons that speak to all of us, "The Art of Learning" takes readers through Waitzkin's unique journey to excellence. He explains in clear detail how a well-thought-out, principled approach to learning is what separates success from failure. Waitzkin believes that achievement, even at the championship level, is a function of a lifestyle that fuels a creative, resilient growth process. Rather than focusing on climactic wins, Waitzkin reveals the inner workings of his everyday method, from systematically triggering intuitive breakthroughs, to honing techniques into states of remarkable potency, to mastering the art of performance psychology.
Through his own example, Waitzkin explains how to embrace defeat and make mistakes work for you. Does your opponent make you angry? Waitzkin describes how to channel emotions into creative fuel. As he explains it, obstacles are not obstacles but challenges to overcome, to spur the growth process by turning weaknesses into strengths. He illustrates the exact routines that he has used in all of his competitions, whether mental or physical, so that you too can achieve your peak performance zone in any competitive or professional circumstance.
In stories ranging from his early years taking on chess hustlers as a seven year old in New York City's Washington Square Park, to dealing with the pressures of having a film made about his life, to International Chess Championships in India, Hungary, and Brazil, to gripping battles against powerhouse fighters in Taiwan in the Push Hands World Championships, "The Art of Learning" encapsulates an extraordinary competitor's life lessons in a page-turning narrative.
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Recommended by Bryan Callen, Chris Oliver, Dave Elitch, and 4 others.
I probably have recommended The Art of Learning and The 4-Hour Body, I'm not kidding, more than any other books. [source]
Chris Oliver
The Art of Learning as well is phenomenal. You're always learning new things in programming and startups so being good at learning is a crucial skill to have. [source]
Dave Elitch
I tell everyone I teach to get this book. [source]
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The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
4.5
Mikhail Tal, the 'magician from Riga' was the greatest attacking World Champion of them all, and this enchanting autobiography chronicles his extraordinary career with charm and humor.
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13
My System
Aron Nimzovich, Fred Reinfeld
4.5
For many years, Nimzovich was known as the "Stormy Petrel" of the chess world. Today, his profound theories of positional chess are accepted as a matter of course, and a knowledge of them is essential to every player who wants to improve his game.
My System describes a theory of chess; it also describes the character and genius of its author. It is a very readable book, for Nimzovich's methods sparkle with humor, pungent originality, and witty explanations.
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14
Chess Fundamentals
Jose Capablanca
4.5
Capablanca's Masterpiece now in Algebraic Notation
Written with the novice chess player in mind, Chess Fundamentals equips you with the essential opening, middlegame, and endgame techniques needed to advance your game. Capablanca writes with an ease of understanding that any chess player will grasp, and includes 14 full games annotated by the World Champion himself. A true mountain of knowledge, Chess Fundamentals will take you from just knowing the rules of chess to applying the principles used by the masters.
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15
Modern Chess Openings
Nick De Firmian
4.5
Modern Chess Openings is the best and most trusted tool for serious chess players on the market. First published over a half-century ago, this is a completely revised and updated edition of the book that has been the standard English language reference on chess openings. An invaluable resource for club and tournament players, it now includes information on recent matches and the most up-to-date theory on chess openings.
Modern Chess Openings is ideal for intermediate players ready to elevate their game to the next level or International Grandmasters who want to stay on top of recent chess innovations.
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16
Art of Attack in Chess
Vladimir Vuković
4.5
One of the finest chess books ever written, the Art of Attack has been transcribed into algebraic notation for the first time. In this revised edition of the great classic, the author expounds both the basic principles and the most complex forms of attack on the king. A study of this masterpiece will add power and brilliance to any chess enthusiast's play. (5 3/4' X 8 1/4', 352 pages, illustrations, index)
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17
Winning Chess Tactics, revised
Yasser Seirawan
4.5
The essential guide to the use of tactics, the watchdogs of strategy that take advantage of short-term opportunities to trap or ambush an opponent and change the course of a game in a single move.
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18
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
Mark Dvoretsky
4.5
The Fourth Edition of a Modern Classic When you are serious about improving your endgame skills, it is time for Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. Perhaps the best known and most respected instructor of world class chessplayers, Mark Dvoretsky has produced a comprehensive work on the endgame that will reward players of all strengths. For those ready to immerse themselves in endgame theory, there may be no better manual available today. But, even if you do not play at master level, the book has been designed to help your endgame too. Basic theories and "must-know" concepts are highlighted in blue. You may skip the more complex analysis, focus on the text in blue, and still improve your endgame technique. When it appeared in 2003, the first edition of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual was immediately recognized by novice and master alike as one of the best books ever published on the endgame. The enlarged and revised Fourth Edition is better than ever! "I am sure that those who study this work carefully will not only play the endgame better, but overall, their play will improve. One of the secrets of the Russian chess school is now before you, dear reader!" - From the Foreword to the First Edition by Grandmaster Artur Yusupov "Going through this book will certainly improve your endgame knowledge, but just as important, it will also greatly improve your ability to calculate variations... What really impresses me is the deep level of analysis in the book... All I can say is: This is a great book. I hope it will bring you as much pleasure as it has me." - From the Preface to the First Edition by International Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard Here's what they had to say about the First Edition: "Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual ... may well be the chess book of the year... [It] comes close to an ultimate one-volume manual on the endgame." - Lubomir Kavalek in his chess column of December 1, 2003 in the Washington Post. "Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is quite simply a masterpiece of research and insight. It is a tremendous contribution to endgame literature, certainly the most important one in many years, and destined to be a classic of the literature (if it isn't already one). The famous trainer Mark Dvoretsky has put together a vast number of examples that he has not only collected, but analysed and tested with some of the world's strongest players. This is a particularly important book from the standpoint of clarifying, correcting, and extending the theory
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19
Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall—From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness
Frank Brady
4.4
Endgame is acclaimed biographer Frank Brady’s decades-in-the-making tracing of the meteoric ascent—and confounding descent—of enigmatic genius Bobby Fischer. Only Brady, who met Fischer when the prodigy was only 10 and shared with him some of his most dramatic triumphs, could have written this book, which has much to say about the nature of American celebrity and the distorting effects of fame. Drawing from Fischer family archives, recently released FBI files, and Bobby’s own emails, this account is unique in that it limns Fischer’s entire life—an odyssey that took the Brooklyn-raised chess champion from an impoverished childhood to the covers of Time, Life and Newsweek to recognition as “the most famous man in the world” to notorious recluse.
At first all one noticed was how gifted Fischer was. Possessing a 181 I.Q. and remarkable powers of concentration, Bobby memorizedhundreds of chess books in several languages, and he was only 13 when he became the youngest chess master in U.S. history. But his strange behavior started early. In 1972, at the historic Cold War showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he faced Soviet champion Boris Spassky, Fischer made headlines with hundreds of petty demands that nearly ended the competition.
It was merely a prelude to what was to come.
Arriving back in the United States to a hero’s welcome, Bobby was mobbed wherever he went—a figure as exotic and improbable as any American pop culture had yet produced. No player of a mere “board game” had ever ascended to such heights. Commercial sponsorship offers poured in, ultimately topping $10 million—but Bobby demurred. Instead, he began tithing his limited money to an apocalyptic religion and devouring anti-Semitic literature.
After years of poverty and a stint living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, Bobby remerged in 1992 to play Spassky in a multi-million dollar rematch—but the experience only deepened a paranoia that had formed years earlier when he came to believe that the Soviets wanted him dead for taking away “their” title. When the dust settled, Bobby was a wanted man—transformed into an international fugitive because of his decision to play in Montenegro despite U.S. sanctions. Fearing for his life, traveling with bodyguards, and wearing a long leather coat to ward off knife attacks, Bobby lived the life of a celebrity fugitive – one drawn increasingly to the bizarre. Mafiosi, Nazis, odd attempts to breed an heir who could perpetuate his chess-genius DNA—all are woven into his late-life tapestry.
And yet, as Brady shows, the most notable irony of Bobby Fischer’s strange descent – which had reached full plummet by 2005 when he turned down yet another multi-million dollar payday—is that despite his incomprehensible behavior, there were many who remained fiercely loyal to him. Why that was so is at least partly the subject of this book—one that at last answers the question: “Who was Bobby Fischer?”
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Chess: The Complete Guide To Chess - Master: Chess Tactics, Chess Openings and Chess Strategies
Jeremy Silma
4.4
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Chess Story
Stefan Zweig, Joel Rotenberg, Peter Gay
4.4
Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig's final achievement, which was completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only a matter of days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological.
Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig's story.
This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work's unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.
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Chess for Dummies
James Eade
4.4
This is a hardcover format of Chess For Dummies, 3rd Edition. For all levels of chess players, Chess For Dummies, 3rd Edition, brings readers an updated guide to the wide world of chess. Offering easily-understood explanations of the game and its components, this book is a must have for those developing an interest or looking for an extra edge in chess. Chess For Dummies, 3rd Edition: Offers easily-understood explanations of the game and its components Provides introductory chapters and then introduces readers to different perspectives on chess from strategy and etiquette, to winning defensive and offensive secrets Contains approximately 25% new material, including updated chapters on computer chess games, playing chess online, new tournament rules and much more
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Play Winning Chess
Yasser Seirawan
4.4
An introduction to the moves, strategies, and philosophy of chess, with clear explanations of the games fundamentals, instructive examples, question-and-answer sections, sample games, and psychological hints.
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24
Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 1
Garry Kasparov
4.4
The battle for the World Chess Championship has witnessed numerous titanic struggles which have engaged the interest not only of chess enthusiasts but also of the public at large. The chessboard is the ultimate mental battleground and the world champions themselves are supreme intellectual gladiators. These magnificent compilations of chess form the basis of the first two parts of Garry Kasparov's definitive history of the World Chess Championship. Garry Kasparov, who is universally acclaimed as the greatest chessplayer ever, subjects the play of his predecessors to a rigorous analysis.
Part one features the play of champions Wilhelm Steinitz (1886-1894), Emanuel Lasker (1894-1921), Jose Capablanca (1921-1927) and Alexander Alekhine (1927-1935 and 1937-1946).
Part two features the play of champions Max Euwe (1935-1937) Mikhail Botvinnik (1946-1957, 1958-1961 and 1961-1963), Vassily Smyslov (1957-1958) and Mikhail Tal (1960-1961).
These books are more than just a compilation of the games of these champions. Kasparov's biographies place them in a fascinating historical, political and cultural context. Kasparov explains how each champion brought his own distinctive style to the chessboard and enriched the theory of the game with new ideas.
All these games have been thoroughly reassessed with the aid of modern software technology and the new light this sheds on these classic masterpieces is fascinating.
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25
The Luzhin Defense
Vladimir Nabokov
4.3
Vladimir Nabokov's early novel is the dazzling story of the coarse, strange yet oddly endearing chess-playing genius Luzhin. Discovering his prodigious gift in boyhood and rising to the rank of International Grandmaster, Luzhin develops a lyrical passion for chess that renders the real world a phantom. As he confronts the fiery, swift-swooping Italian Grandmaster Turati, he brings into play his carefully devised defence. Making masterly play of metaphor and imagery, The Luzhin Defense is the book that, of his early works, Nabokov felt 'contains and diffuses the greatest warmth'.
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Recommended by Dominic Lawson.
Dominic Lawson
The Luzhin Defense is far and away the best novel written about chess. [source]
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Understanding Chess Move by Move
John Nunn
4.3
This new title, the first of its type to explain the dynamic principles that underpin modern chess, uses more than thirty carefully selected games to help the reader understand the most important aspects of the chess struggle. John Nunn, a top-class grandmaster and one of the world's most highly regarded chess writers, explains every move using terms and phrases everyone can understand and shows how key ideas are handled by today's grandmasters. The book is divided into three main sections: Opening themes, Middlegame themes, and Endgame themes, with an emphasis on understanding principles. Detailed analysis is given only when it is necessary to illustrate key strategic and tactical themes. Anyone interested in learning how to play better chess will benefit from this step-by-step explanation of how chess games are won.
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Tal-Botvinnik 1960
Mikhail Tal
4.3
In 1960 Mikhail Tal defeated chess champion Mikhail Botvinnik in one of the most celebrated world championship matches of all time. In this volume, Tal sets the stage and explains every one of the 21 games, telling both the on- and off-the-board story of this clash of styles and thought.
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Think Like A Grandmaster
A A Kotov, John Nunn, Bernard Cafferty
4.3
A classic, now available in modern algebraic notation for the first time! Few books have had as much impact on chess literature as this: the first edition sold out within months, and it was immediately recognized as a masterpiece of chess instruction. Twenty years later, it remains a bestseller in the field and one of the best practical training manuals available.
From this book I realized you could think you understood a chess position, but then later learn you didn’t really understand it at all. A huge lesson, one I learned again and to a higher degree when high-quality chess computers came along. Most of the commentariat on economic and social affairs could use a reminder on this one. This book also taught me that you learn by doing — trying to solve actual problems — not so much from pure reading. Or the two in close conjunction. It may be the distortions of memory, but still I feel this is one of the best books I ever have read. Hail the Soviet training system! [source]
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Game Changer: AlphaZero's Groundbreaking Chess Strategies and the Promise of AI
Matthew Sadler, Natasha Regan, Garry Kasparov
4.3
It took AlphaZero only a few hours of self-learning to become the chess player that shocked the world.
The artificial intelligence system, created by DeepMind, had been fed nothing but the rules of the Royal Game when it beat the world’s strongest chess engine in a prolonged match. The selection of ten games published in December 2017 created a worldwide sensation: how was it possible to play in such a brilliant and risky style and not lose a single game against an opponent of superhuman strength?
For Game Changer, Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan investigated more than two thousand previously unpublished games by AlphaZero. They also had unparalleled access to its team of developers and were offered a unique look ‘under the bonnet’ to grasp the depth and breadth of AlphaZero’s search. Sadler and Regan reveal its thinking process and tell the story of the human motivation and the techniques that created AlphaZero.
Game Changer also presents a collection of lucidly explained chess games of astonishing quality. Both professionals and club players will improve their game by studying AlphaZero’s stunning discoveries in every field that matters: opening preparation, piece mobility, initiative, attacking techniques, long-term sacrifices and much more.
The story of AlphaZero has a wider impact. Game Changer offers intriguing insights into the opportunities and horizons of Artificial Intelligence. Not just in solving games, but in providing solutions for a wide variety of challenges in society.
With a foreword by former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and an introduction by DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.
Matthew Sadler (1974) is a Grandmaster who twice won the British Championship and was awarded an individual Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympiad. He has authored several highly acclaimed books on chess and has been writing the famous ‘Sadler on Books’ column for New In Chess magazine for many years. Natasha Regan is a Women’s International Master from England who achieved a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University. Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan won the English Chess Federation 2016 Book of the Award for their book Chess for Life.
Game Changer is simply the best book I've read this year. It's not only about one of the most exciting stories ever (how #AlphaGo and AlphaGo Zero were developed to beat the best players in chess and go), but it's also a detective story for #chess players -a cognitive orgasm! https://t.co/VCCazsNSKc [source]
Congratulations to all of the authors on this year’s shortlist for @ecfchess book of the year, including @gmmds & @NatashaRegan123 for Game Changer, their brilliant book about #AlphaZero https://t.co/chyv1Wa18N [source]
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Garry Kasparov on Fischer: My Great Predecessors, Part IV
Garry Kasparov
4.3
This book brings together the two greatest names in the history of chess. The author, Garry Kasparov, is the world number one, and by common consent, the greatest player ever. The subject of the book, Bobby Fischer, is the only American to have become world champion and is probably the greatest natural talent the world has ever seen.
In the period between 1955 and 1972, Fischer, more or less single-handedly, took on the might of the Soviet Chess Empire and won. During this time Fischer scored astonishing successes, the likes of which had not been seen before. These included 11/11 in the 1963/64 U.S. Championship and match victories (en route to the World Championship) by the score of 6-0 against two of the strongest players in the world, Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen. The climax of Fischer's campaign was his unforgettable match win in Reykjavik in 1972 against Boris Spassky.
However, Fischer is not only remembered for his achievements over-the-board, he is almost equally well-known for his temperamental behavior away from the board. He made extreme demands of all those around him, including tournament organizers. When these demands were not met he often refused to play. The 1972 match against Spassky required the intervention of no less than Henry Kissinger to smooth things over. In 1975, when he was due to defend his title against Anatoly Karpov, Fischer was completely unable to agree terms with FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and was defaulted. After this, he more or less gave up chess, playing only once, a "return" match against Spassky in 1992.
In this book, a must for all serious chess players, Kasparov deeply analyzes Fischer's greatest games and assesses the legacy of this great American genius.
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Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time
David Edmonds, John Eidinow
4.3
In the summer of 1972, with a presidential crisis stirring in the United States and the cold war at a pivotal point, two men - the Soviet world chess champion Boris Spassky and his American challenger Bobby Fischer - met in the most notorious chess match of all time. Their showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, held the world spellbound for two months with reports of psychological warfare, ultimatums, political intrigue, cliffhangers, and farce to rival a Marx Brothers film.
Thirty years later, David Edmonds and John Eidinow have set out to reexamine the story we recollect as the quintessential cold war clash between a lone American star and the Soviet chess machine - a machine that had delivered the world title to the Kremlin for decades. Drawing upon unpublished Soviet and U.S. records, the authors reconstruct the full and incredible saga, one far more poignant and layered than hitherto believed.
The authors chronicle how Fischer, a manipulative, dysfunctional genius, risked all to seize control of the contest as the organizers maneuvered frantically to save it - under the eyes of the world's press. They can now tell the inside story of Moscow's response, and the bitter tensions within the Soviet camp as the anxious and frustrated apparatchiks strove to prop up Boris Spassky, the most un-Soviet of their champions - fun-loving, sensitive, and a free spirit. Edmonds and Eidinow follow this careering, behind-the-scenes confrontation to its climax: a clash that displayed the cultural differences between the dynamic, media-savvy representatives of the West and the baffled, impotent Soviets. Try as they might, even the KGB couldn't help.
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32
FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings
Paul Van der Sterren
4.3
* The perfect survival guide to the chess openings * All openings covered * Detailed verbal explanations of plans for both sides * Up-to-date and featuring many tips and recommendations * Insights into the 'character' of each opening * Written by one of the world's foremost opening experts
The first moves of a chess game define the nature of the whole struggle, as both players stake their claim to the critical squares and start to develop their plans. It is essential to play purposefully and to avoid falling into traps or reaching a position that you don't understand.
This is not a book that provides masses of variations to memorize. Paul van der Sterren instead offers a wealth of ideas and explanation, together with the basic variations of each and every opening. This knowledge will equip players to succeed in the opening up to good club level, and provide a superb grounding in opening play on which to build a more sophisticated repertoire. The strategies he explains will, unlike ever-changing chess opening theory, remain valid as long as chess is played, and so the time spent studying this book will be rewarded many times over.
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33
Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 2
Garry Kasparov
4.3
The battle for the World Chess Championship has witnessed numerous titanic struggles that have engaged the interest not only of chess enthusiasts but of the public at large. The chessboard is the ultimate mental battleground and the world champions themselves are supreme intellectual gladiators.
This magnificent compilation of chess from the mid-20th century forms the basis of the second part of Garry Kasparov's long-awaited definitive history of the World Chess Championship. Garry Kasparov, who is universally acclaimed as the greatest chess player ever, subjects the play of his early predecessors to a rigorous analysis. This volume features the play of champions Max Euwe (1935-1937) Mikhail Botvinnik (1946-1957, 1958-1961 and 1961-1963), Vassily Smyslov (1957-1958) and Mikhail Tal (1960-1961).
However, this book is more than just a compilation of the games of these champions. Kasparov's biographies place them in a fascinating historical, political and cultural context. Kasparov explains how each champion brought his own distinctive style to the chessboard and enriched the theory of the game with new ideas.
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34
How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom
Garry Kasparov
4.3
One of the most highly regarded strategists of our time teaches us how the tools that made him a world chess champion can make us more successful in business and in life.
Garry Kasparov was the highest-rated chess player in the world for over twenty years and is widely considered the greatest player that ever lived. In How Life Imitates Chess Kasparov distills the lessons he learned over a lifetime as a Grandmaster to offer a primer on successful decision-making: how to evaluate opportunities, anticipate the future, devise winning strategies. He relates in a lively, original way all the fundamentals, from the nuts and bolts of strategy, evaluation, and preparation to the subtler, more human arts of developing a personal style and using memory, intuition, imagination and even fantasy. Kasparov takes us through the great matches of his career, including legendary duels against both man (Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov) and machine (IBM chess supercomputer Deep Blue), enhancing the lessons of his many experiences with examples from politics, literature, sports and military history.
With candor, wisdom, and humor, Kasparov recounts his victories and his blunders, both from his years as a world-class competitor as well as his new life as a political leader in Russia. An inspiring book that combines unique strategic insight with personal memoir, How Life Imitates Chess is a glimpse inside the mind of one of today's greatest and most innovative thinkers.
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35
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played
Irving Chernev
4.3
Here are 62 masterly demonstrations of the basic strategies of winning at chess, compiled and annotated by one of the game's most admired and respected writers. Each game offers a classic example of a fundamental problem and its best resolution, described and diagrammed in the clearest possible manner for players of every level of skill. As Irving Chernev observes in the Introduction, "Who will doubt the tremendous power exerted by a Rook posted on the seventh rank after seeing Capablanca's delightfully clear-cut demonstration in Game No. 1 against Tartakower? And who will not learn a great deal about the art of handling Rook and Pawn endings (the most important endings in chess) after playing through Tarrasch's game against Thorold?" Chernev's lively and illuminating notes on each game reveal precisely how Capablanca, Tarrasch, and other masters — Fischer, Alekhine, Lasker, and Petrosian among them — turn theory into practice as they attack and maneuver to control the board. Readers will find their techniques improving with each lesson as Irving Chernev dissects winning strategies, comments on alternate tactics, and marvels at the finesse of winning play, noting at the end of his Introduction: "I might just as well have called this collection The Most Beautiful Games of Chess Ever Played."
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36
Pawn Structure Chess
Andrew Soltis
4.3
Some 250 years ago, the great Philidor wrote, "The pawns are the soul of chess." Although that statement is perhaps the most common cliche in the literature of the game, it is too often misunderstood.
Pawns are usually considered weak because of their limited range of movement. But the pawns' restricted mobility is precisely what makes them so important strategically: they form a semi-permanent structure -- often called a "pawn skeleton" -- that establishes the territorial lines of the coming battle and thus the nature of the battle itself. Understanding how pawns affect strategy is the subject of this important book. In it you will learn: -- how to handle the characteristic pawn structure of each opening "family" and each major variation -- how to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of pawn chains -- when to exchange pawns in the center -- and when not to -- how to cramp your opponent's position and what to do if your opponent cramps yours -- how to create and exploit pawn "holes"...and much, much more, all copiously illustrated by complete games from actual play.
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37
How to Beat Your Dad at Chess
Murray Chandler
4.3
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38
The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games. Graham Burgess, John Nunn, John Emms
Graham Burgess, Dr. John Nunn, et al.
4.3
Following the success of the 'Mammoth Book of Chess', this volume contains 125 of the greatest games of all time, analysed by a team of experts and illustrated with over 1000 diagrams.
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100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player
Jesus de la Villa
4.3
This is a new and improved edition of an all-time classic! The good news about endgames is that there are relatively few endings you should know by heart and that once you know these endings, that's it. Your knowledge never goes out of date! The bad news is that, all the same, the endgame technique of most players is deficient. Modern time-controls make matters worse: there is simply not enough time to delve deep into the position. Grandmaster Jesus de la Villa debunks the myth that endgame theory is complex and he teaches you to steer the game into a position you are familiar with. This book contains only those endgames that show up most frequently, are easy to learn and contain ideas that are useful in more difficult positions. Your performance will improve dramatically because this book brings you simple rules, detailed and lively explanations, many diagrams, clear summaries of the most important themes and dozens of tests.
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40
Searching for Bobby Fischer: A Father's Story of Love and Ambition
Fred Waitzkin
4.3
The inspiration for the iconic film, this memoir by the father of a prodigy reflects on chess, competition, and childhood.
Fred Waitzkin fell in love with chess during the Cold War–era showdown between Russian champion Boris Spassky and young American superstar Bobby Fischer. Twelve years later, Waitzkin’s own son, Joshua, discovered chess in Washington Square Park and began displaying the telltale signs of a prodigy. Soon, crowds gathered to watch the six-year-old, calling him a “Young Fischer.” An unstoppable player, little Josh was suddenly catapulted into the intense world of competitive chess. When Josh first sat down at a chessboard, he was a charming, rambunctious, rough-and-tumble child. Within weeks, he was playing the game with poise and constrained violence, as if there were a wise old man plotting moves inside him. Then, renowned coach Bruce Pandolfini discovered Josh in the park and began to refine the child’s game. In Searching for Bobby Fischer, Waitzkin recounts his journey with his son into the world of chess, from the colorful milieu of street hustlers to the international network of grandmasters. Looming large over their story is the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose mysterious disappearance from the chess world created a vacuum that would profoundly affect young Josh and his dad. Josh went on to win eight national championships before he turned twenty—but his achievements did not come without cost. In this memoir, Waitzkin explores his love and ambition for Josh, who faces pressures far beyond his years. Even as father and son travel to Moscow to watch Kasparov challenge Karpov, Waitzkin doubts his own motives: Is he pushing his son too hard? Is the game a joy to Josh, or is he just fulfilling his father’s wishes? Searching for Bobby Fischer is about more than chess. “A little gem of a book,” it is ultimately about the struggle we all face to love our families and do right by them while also setting our own paths as individuals (The New York Times).
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41
The Reassess Your Chess Workbook: How to Master Chess Imbalances
Jeremy Silman
4.2
International chess master Jeremy Silman provides 131 problems designed to test a player's strengths and weaknesses, cover openings, middlegames, and endgames. This workbook may be utilizes with or without Silman's earlier book "How to Reassess Your Chess". Illustrations.
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42
Winning Chess Strategies
Yasser Seirawan
4.2
A complete overview of proven chess principles that teaches readers how to deploy their pieces using the right moves at the right time to build small advantages into effective, long-range strategies.
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43
My Best Games of Chess, 1908-1937
Alexander Alekhine
4.2
World Champion from 1927-35 and again from 1937-46, Alexander Alekhine ranks as one of the four or five greatest players in chess history. Edward Lasker rates him the game’s supreme inventive genius; Euwe considers him the all-time greatest attacking player. A master of all phases of chess, his games were richly conceived and immensely complex. As Bobby Fischer observes in his writings, “He played gigantic conceptions, full of outrageous and unprecedented ideas.” This unequaled collection reproduces Alekhine’s 220 best games, his own personal accounts of the dazzling victories that made him a legend. Spanning almost thirty years of tournament play, it includes historic matches against Capablanca, Euwe, and Bogoljubov, and chronicles his brilliant ascent to world mastery, his surprising defeat in 1935, and his dramatic return two years later — the first deposed champion to regain his crown. Between 1927 and 1936 his successes in tournaments were unsurpassed by any master at any time in the history of chess. At San Remo 1930 and Bled 1931, in competitions that featured many of the world’s greatest players, Alekhine so outdistanced the field that he was indisputably in a class by himself. In a career including some seventy tournaments, he won first prize forty-one times, tying for first on nine occasions. He won or shared second prize fourteen times. Chess was Alekhine’s life; he lived for it alone. And although the final chapter of his career and his life were tragic, his achievements at the chessboard rank him as one of the game’s true artists. Filled with Alekhine’s own penetrating commentary on strategy and tactics, and enhanced by a revealing memoir, My Best Games is grandmaster chess at its most sublime. This volume belongs in the library of every serious student of the game.
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44
Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess
Bruce Pandolfini
4.2
From America's foremost chess teacher and author comes a new standard: a comprehensive course covering all aspects of the game, to improve your technique whether you are a newcomer or a longtime fan. One of America's best-known chess masters, Bruce Pandolfini has helped millions learn the intricacies of chess through his acclaimed books and workshops. In this exciting volume, he presents a complete overview of the entire game and its culture. Structured as a dialogue between a beginning student and an expert teacher, Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess takes the student step-by-step from fundamentals to advanced, highly strategic play. Combining easy-to-follow diagrams with trenchant and up-to-date analysis, Pandolfini puts a new twist on accepted chess theory, offering a seamless beginning-to-end approach, including: • a short introductory history of the game • the moves, rules, and contemporary notation forms • the basic principles of chess • how to develop an opening repertoire • the art of tactical play • pattern recognition and memory aids • traps and pitfalls to be avoided • middlegame play, strategy, and planning • defense and counterattack • transitions to the endgame and the endgame itself • computers and the future of chess • the best websites for playing chess online With Pandolfini's expert insight into the history and modern world of chess, as well as several appendices to enhance play and appreciation, Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess makes the perfect gift for players of all ages and will be the benchmark title for chess players for years to come.
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45
Modern Chess Strategy
Ludek Pachman, Allen S. Russell
4.2
Every chess player hopes to set off brilliant combinations and win games in a blaze of glory. Such combinations do not come into being by themselves, however; they appear only as the result of proper chess strategy. It is therefore surprising that so few books deal with this highly important subject, and understandable that Pachman's modern classic has been so enthusiastically received by chessplayers at all levels. Ludĕk Pachman, a Czech grandmaster, has long had an international reputation as a chess theorist, but until now his work has not been available in English. This present volume, which condenses his great Modern Schachstrategie, presents his ideas and theories in a form that the English-speaking world can assimilate easily. Beginning with basic concepts and the rules of the minor and major pieces, it covers the use of the Queen, the active King, exchanges, various kinds of Pawns, the center and its use, superiority on the wings, minority attack, strategical points and weak squares, methods of attack and defense, and similar topics. Pachman elaborates the various kinds of strategy that can be employed, and shows how each leads to tactical opportunities. It has been said that his section on the Rook alone make his book indispensable to the serious chess player, since the Rook is so important in both middle and endgames. Pachman presents his method in the form of a thorough, systematic, analytical text, which draws upon scores of great games for exemplification. Both classical and very recent masters are included, although stress is on the moderns: Capablanca, Alekhine, Dr. Lasker, Rubinstein, Nimzovich, Botvinnik, Reshevsky, Bronstein, Smyslov, and Spasski.
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46
Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins
Garry Kasparov
4.2
Garry Kasparov's 1997 chess match against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue was a watershed moment in the history of technology. It was the dawn of a new era in artificial intelligence: a machine capable of beating the reigning human champion at this most cerebral game. That moment was more than a century in the making, and in this breakthrough book, Kasparov reveals his astonishing side of the story for the first time. He describes how it felt to strategize against an implacable, untiring opponent with the whole world watching, and recounts the history of machine intelligence through the microcosm of chess, considered by generations of scientific pioneers to be a key to unlocking the secrets of human and machine cognition. Kasparov uses his unrivaled experience to look into the future of intelligent machines and sees it bright with possibility. As many critics decry artificial intelligence as a menace, particularly to human jobs, Kasparov shows how humanity can rise to new heights with the help of our most extraordinary creations, rather than fear them. Deep Thinking is a tightly argued case for technological progress, from the man who stood at its precipice with his own career at stake.
The great Garry Kasparov takes on the key economic issue of our time: how we can thrive as humans in a world of thinking machines. This important and optimistic book explains what we as humans are uniquely qualified to do. Instead or wringing our hands about robots, we should all read this book and embrace the future. [source]
Garry Kasparov's perspectives on artificial intelligence are borne of personal experience - and despite that, are optimistic, wise and compelling. It's one thing for the giants of Silicon Valley to tell us our future is bright; it is another thing to hear it from the man who squared off with the world's most powerful computer, with the whole world watching, and his very identity at stake. [source]
Max Levchin
Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor
A highly human exploration of artificial intelligence, its exciting possibilities and inherent limits. [source]
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Winning Chess Openings
Yasser Seirawan
4.2
Start every game with confidence!
The two greatest challenges for beginning chess players are not only to survive the openings phase, but also to choose appropriate attack and defence formations in the process. Winning Chess Openings shows players how to do both. In Yasser Seirawan's entertaining, easy-to-follow style, they are shown formations that can be used with other White or Black pieces.
Winning Chess Openings explains how to: *Build a safe house for a king *Estimate losses of ten moves or fewer *Utilise the elements: time, force, space, and pawn structure *Plan strategy based on time-tested opening principles of play *Employ a defence for Black against any White opening *Apply an opening for White used by World Champions
Winning Chess Openings will help readers develop a solid understanding of opening principles that can be applied to every game they play--without having to memorize a dizzying array of tedious and lengthy opening lines.
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48
Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition
Michael Stean
4.2
Written by a young Grand Master, this introduction to chess strategy is aimed primarily at players for whom a game plan is utterly enigmatic. By isolating the basic elements and illustrating them through a selection of Master and Grand Master games, Simple Chess breaks down the mystique of strategy into plain, easy-to-understand ideas — only a knowledge of basic chess terminology is assumed. More than a lesson in chess fundamentals, this book illustrates an increasingly prevalent and successful style of play — a method that begins by slowly accumulating small but permanent advantages, saving the outright attack for later in the game. Newly converted into the current algebraic chess notation, this edition of Simple Chess offers a strategic weapon for players at every level of expertise.
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49
Build up your Chess 1: The Fundamentals
Artur Yusupov
4.2
A book for chess players who want to build their skills on solid foundations. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles.Artur Yusupov was ranked No. 3 in the world from 1986 to 1992, just behind the legendary Karpov and Kasparov. He has won everything there is to win in chess except for the World Championship. In recent years he has mainly worked as a chess trainer with players ranging from current World Champion Anand to local amateurs in Germany, where he resides.
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50
Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 3
Garry Kasparov
4.2
This magnificent compilation of play from the 1960s through to the 1970s forms the basis of the third part of Garry Kasparov's long-awaited definitive history of the World Chess Championship. This volume features the play of champions Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969) and Boris Spassky (1969-1972).
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Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 5
Garry Kasparov
4.2
This book, the fifth in Garry Kasparov's magnificent history of the World Chess Championship, catalogues the "post-Fischer" period in the 1970s and early 1980s. This period was dominated by the Anatoly Karpov (world champion from 1975 to 1985) and his three-time challenger, Viktor Korchnoi.
Anatoly Karpov gained the right to challenge Bobby Fischer for the world title by winning through the Candidates series in 1974. As is well known, Fischer refused to defend the title and in 1975 Karpov became champion "by default." Although he did not have to contest a Championship match to gain the title, Karpov proved that he was a worthy champion by winning virtually every major tournament over the next decade.
In this book, a must for all serious chess players Kasparov analyzes deeply Karpov's greatest games and assesses the legacy of this great Russian genius. Also under the microscope are the games of Viktor Korchnoi who was at his peak during this period and twice challenged Karpov for his world title.
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52
Lasker's Manual of Chess
Emanuel Lasker
4.2
Emanuel Lasker was probably the greatest chess player of modern times. Certainly no man has ever held the world championship longer — 28 years — or kept his powers so long. In his sixties, Lasker began what amounted to a fresh career in chess by playing his first serious game in ten years, and defeating Max Euwe, the man who was the following year to become world champion. The secret behind his extraordinary abilities may perhaps be found in Lasker’s wide knowledge of every phase of the game, and his ability to be independent of schools or fashions. This knowledge is reflected in the Manual of Chess, making it one of the great studies of the game, acclaimed by the chess world almost from the day it appeared. The book is one of the most thorough studies ever written, and though its main appeal is to the intermediate to skilled player, it begins its explanations at a level that can be understood by the beginner. Lasker analyzes basic methods of gaining advantages, exchange value of pieces, combinations, position play, the aesthetics of chess, and almost every other important aspect of the game. He examines dozens of different openings, including the Petroff Defense, the Hungarian Defense, King’s Bishop, Ponziani, Giuoco Piano, and Four Knights’ Game. He constantly illustrates his discussions with games played by the great modern masters. Lasker is always delightful reading, revealing a mind as quick to entertain and philosophize as it is to explain. One of the most rewarding features of the book is Lasker’s illumination and elaboration of the theories of William Steinitz. An interesting sidelight is that although Lasker always thought of himself as a disciple of Steinitz, he was actually an original, more versatile player, inclined to take calculated risks. His exposition of Steinitz’s thought and maxims, his principles of attack and evaluation, however, cannot help but be profitable to any chess player.
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53
The Queen's Gambit
Walter Tevis
4.2
Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she's competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as she hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting. Engaging and fast-paced, The Queen's Gambit speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four.
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54
1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations
Fred Reinfeld
4.2
Reprint. Originally published: New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1955.
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55
Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy
John Watson
4.1
It is now seventy years since Nimzowitsch wrote his monumental work My System. While it remains a fundamental work on chess strategy, the way chess positions are handled has changed greatly since Nimzowitsch's time - both refinements to existing ideas, and completely new concepts. John Watson's book fulfils the need for a thorough, profound work on the modern handling of chess positions, and how Nimzowitsch's theories - still controversial and revolutionary at the time My System was written - have been refined and used alongside classical concepts.
The first section of the book discusses how the understanding of classical themes, such as pawn majorities, the centre, and structural weaknesses, have been refined. Watson then moves on to discuss new concepts, including the willingness of modern players to accept backward pawns in return for dynamic play, the idea of a good 'bad' bishop, knights finding useful roles at the edge of the board and the exchange sacrifice idea that became prevalent with the post-war Soviet champions. This profound yet thoroughly practical work is rounded off with sections on prophylactic thinking, dynamism, modern concepts as they apply to the critical contemporary opening systems, and some thoughts on the future of chess.
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The Seven Deadly Chess Sins
Jonathan Rowson
4.1
An investigation of the main reasons why chess players sometimes go astray - the seven deadly chess sins: Drifting (losing the plot); Perfectionism (leading to time trouble); Egoism (overestimating your chances); Failure to spot the critical moment; Deafness (failure to listen to intuition); Dogmatism (failure to think creatively or dynamically); and Attachment (to particular ideas). This is a thought-provoking look at the psychological errors that lead chess-players to disaster and keep them from reaching their full potential.
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Chess Tactics for Champions: A step-by-step guide to using tactics and combinations the Polgar way
Susan Polgar and Paul Truong
4.1
Susan Polgar became the first female Grandmaster at age 15—and it wasn't luck that got her there. Her use of tactics, combinations, and strategy during her games gave her the critical advantage she needed against her opponents. In Chess Tactics for Champions, Polgar gives insight into the kind of thinking that chess champions rely on while playing the game, specifically the ability to recognize patterns and combinations. With coauthor Paul Truong, Susan Polgar teaches the tactics she learned from her father, Laszlo Polgar, one of the world's best chess coaches.
• Teaches players how to calculate the effect of a move in order to gain an edge over an opponent
• For intermediate to advanced chess players of all ages
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58
Capablanca's Best Chess Endings
Irving Chernev
4.1
Chess endings have an immediacy lacking in chess endgame or chess problems: endings are not theoretical or composed, but actual board positions, the point in every game when the superfluous falls away, leaving only the essential. José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942) had no need for isolated artistic theory or compositions — he composed and created chess art as he played. All of his genius — intuitive, tactical, strategic, logical — all of his art shines clearest in his endings, as he himself was proud to declare, advising others to study them carefully. "In order to improve your game," he said, "you must study the endgame before anything else; for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame." The best way to follow Capablanca's advice is through this — the only book devoted to his great endings, 60 complete games emphasizing the grand finale but annotated throughout. Irving Chernev communicates in his notes the mystery and wonder as well as the delight in discovering again and again the original, fertile mind of chess's greatest born player. "Virtuoso," "exquisite," "profound," "inspired," "elegant," and "fiendish ingenuity" describe match and tournament games and endings against Alekhine, Steiner, Marshall, Nimzowitsch, Lasker, Réti, and others, the best in the contemporary chess world. Capablanca's eleventh game in the 1901 Cuban championship (which he won, aged 12) "surpasses any accomplishment by such other prodigies as Morphy, Reshevsky, and Fischer." From age 12 through the last game in the book (nearly four decades later against Reshevsky at Nottingham, 1936), Capablanca fashions endgames in tense tournament atmosphere that seem like delicate, precise instruments dreamt at leisure. Here then is the essence of Capablanca, analyzed for the instruction of players and the pleasure of chess connoisseurs. Included are indexes of openings, themes in the endings, and opponents, as well as a bibliography and record of tournament and match play. Capablanca: for players, the epitome of the endgame; for readers, a classic chess study.
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59
Mastering the Chess Openings volume 1
John Watson
4.1
For many chess-players, opening study is sheer hard work. It is difficult to know what is important and what is not, and when specific knowledge is vital, or when a more general understanding is sufficient. Tragically often, once the opening is over, a player won't know what plan to follow, or even understand why his pieces are on the squares on which they sit. John Watson seeks to help chess-players achieve a more holistic and insightful view of the openings. In his previous books on chess strategy, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy and Chess Strategy in Action, he explained vital concepts that had previously been the domain only of top-class players. Moreover, he did so in ways that have enabled them to enter the general chess consciousness of club players. Here he does likewise for the openings, explaining how flexible thinking and notions such as 'rule-independence' can apply to the opening.
In this major four-volume work, Watson presents a wide-ranging view of the way in which top-class players really handle the opening, rather than an idealized and simplified model. This volume, focusing on king's pawn openings, is a book that will make chess-players think hard about how they begin their games, while offering both entertainment and challenging material for study in openings such as the Sicilian and Ruy Lopez.
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60
Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy
Ray Cheng
4.1
Raise your chess to the next level with this program of 600 instructive and challenging exercises covering all aspects of the game. This book will sharpen your tactical vision, deepen your positional understanding, and enrich your knowledge of theoretical positions. It will also strengthen your analytical skills, and instill a sound move selection process. Win more games and increase your enjoyment of chess!
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61
Masters of the Chessboard
Richard Reti, Sam Sloan, Horace Ransom Bigelow
4.1
Widely regarded as the best chess book ever written, "Masters of the Chessboard," discusses the playing styles of each of the leading grandmasters of history up until that time. Richard Reti was one of the strongest and certainly was the most original player of all time. He defeated at least once almost every leading player of his era. He defeated Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Rubinstein, Bogoljubov and Tartakower in tournament games. He invented new and successful opening systems and brilliant endgame studies. He was also a gifted and entertaining writer. In this book, Reti examines the technique of each of the great masters of his era and explains what enabled them to reach the top levels of competitive chess. This 2008 edition includes a new introduction explaining Reti's contributions to modern chess theory.
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Recommended by Dominic Lawson.
Dominic Lawson
Réti was a very strong player, who died at the age of 40, unfortunately. He once played 29 games simultaneously, blindfolded. He was a tremendous talent. His particular claim to fame is that he was a great theoretician, and invented his own opening, which still bears his name – the Réti opening. He was one of the leaders of a revolutionary philosophical movement in chess, called the hypermodern school. The hypermoderns overturned certain preconceptions which had become, perhaps, too rigidly adhered to, like the view that you had to occupy the centre at all costs. [source]
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Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-1985
Garry Kasparov
4.1
The history of sport has seen many great gladiatorial clashes: Ali v Frazier in boxing, McEnroe v Borg in tennis, Prost v Senna in motor racing. None however can quite compare to the intensity of the rivalry between those two great world chess champions: Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. Between 1984 and 1990 they contested an astonishing five World Championship matches consisting of 144 individual encounters. This volume concentrates on the first two of those matches.
• The epic 1984/85 contest which was lasted six months before being controversially halted “without result” by the then President of FIDE Florencio Campomanes.
* The 1985 match when Kasparov brilliantly won the final game to take the title and become – at the age of 22 – the youngest ever world champion.
Great chess contests have often had resonances extending beyond the 64 squares. The Fischer v Spassky match was played during the Cold War with both champions being perceived as the finest products of their respective ideologies. The Karpov v Korchnoi battles (three matches between 1974 and 1981) were lent an edge with Karpov being a Russian hero of the pre-Glasnost era whilst Korchnoi was the disaffected dissident. The Kasparov v Karpov encounters mirrored a battle between the new Russia and old Russia with Kasparov seen as a symbol of the new ideology emerging under Gorbachev whereas Karpov was seen to represent the old regime of die-hard Communists such as Brezhnev.
In this volume Garry Kasparov (world champion between 1985 and 2000 and generally regarded as the greatest player ever) analyses in depth the clashes from 1984 and 1985, giving his opinions both on the political machinations surrounding the matches as well as the games themselves.
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Chess Praxis
Aron Nimzowitsch, Ken Artz
4.1
All the Everyman Chess books are organized in a structured style and are also presented in a series of levels. The styles encompass Openings (O); Games Collections ((G); and Training (T). The levels are arranged as follows: Children [C]; Novice (N); Club (C); and Advanced (A).
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How to Win at Chess: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond
Levy Rozman
4.1
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Learn chess from International Master and YouTube’s top chess teacher Levy Rozman (aka GothamChess) in this refreshing and fun guide for beginner and intermediate players.Clever and informative, How to Win at Chess teaches you everything you need to know about the game, including all the important moves and strategies to start off strong and keep you thinking several steps ahead.Full of Levy Rozman's signature charm and humor that have made him beloved by millions of fans, the first half of this unique guide introduces rising players (0-800 Elo rating) to the four key areas to consider when playing chess—openings, endings, tactics, and strategy—and the second half builds upon these core skills for more experienced players (800-1300 Elo rating). Brimming with practical and easy-to-follow tips for improving your game, How to Win at Chess includes over 500 instructional gameplay illustrations to help you better visualize the board, as well as chapter-specific QR codes for exclusive bonus content on Chessly, Rozman’s teaching platform.Whether you want to become a recreational chess player or are training to be a Grandmaster, How to Win at Chess is the perfect interactive introduction to the world of chess!
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess
Patrick Wolff
4.1
Don't make a move without it.
Written by a U.S. Chess Champion, International Chess Grandmaster, and longtime instructor, this book includes information for both novice and expert, including over 400 illustrated chessboards and photos; over 20 pages of detailed answer key notes; a completely new chapter on new evidence about chess and its impact on brain power; a guide to the art of chess collectibles; and more.
• Foreword by Larry Evans, former International Grandmaster and author of 20 highly acclaimed chess books and a popular monthly advice column in Chess Life
• Strong sales for previous editions • For the beginner or the champ, and for young and old • Author has a high profile in the chess community
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Chess for Zebras
Jonathan Rowson
4.1
Jonathan Rowson, author of the highly acclaimed Seven Deadly Chess Sins, investigates three questions important to all chess-players: 1) Why is it so difficult, especially for adult players, to improve? 2) What kinds of mental attitudes are needed to find good moves in different phases of the game? 3) Is White's alleged first-move advantage a myth, and does it make a difference whether you are playing Black or White? In a strikingly original work, Rowson makes use of his academic background in philosophy and psychology to answer these questions in an entertaining and instructive way. This book assists all players in their efforts to improve, and provides fresh insights into the opening and early middlegame.
Rowson presents many new ideas on how Black should best combat White's early initiative, and make use of the extra information that he gains as a result of moving second. For instance, he shows that in some cases a situation he calls 'Zugzwang Lite' can arise, where White finds himself lacking any constructive moves. He also takes a close look at the theories of two players who, in differing styles, have specialized in championing Black's cause: Mihai Suba and Andras Adorjan. Readers are also equipped with a 'mental toolkit' that will enable them to handle many typical over-the-board situations with greater success, and avoid a variety of psychological pitfalls.
Chess for Zebras offers fresh insights into human idiosyncrasies in all phases of the game. The depth and breadth of this book will therefore help players to appreciate chess at a more profound level, and make steps towards sustained and significant improvement.
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Pump Up Your Rating
Axel Smith
4.1
Any man in the street knows how to increase his physical strength, but among most chess players confusion reigns when it comes to improving their playing strength. Axel Smith's training methods have guided his friends, teammates and pupils to grandmaster norms and titles. Hard work will be required, but Axel Smith knows how you can Pump Up Your Rating.
Every area of chess is covered - opening preparation, through middlegame play, to endgame technique. Smith delves into both the technical and psychological sides of chess, and shows how best to practise and improve.
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Best Lessons of a Chess Coach
Sunil Weeramantry, Edward V. Eusebi, Bruce Pandolfini
4.1
Weeramantry is perhaps best known for training his stepson Hikaru Nakamura. An innovative book on game-winning strategy for players at the intermediate level--from a master chess coach. Every truth about chess must be coached in context, and the book's interactive teacher-student dialogue does just that. Weeramantry teaches how to think during a chess game. 300 diagrams.
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Positional Decision Making in Chess (Grandmaster Repertoire Series)
Boris Gelfand
4.1
Positional Decision Making in Chess offers a rare look into the mind of a top grandmaster. In his efforts to explain his way of thinking, Boris Gelfand focuses on such topics as the squeeze, space advantage, the transformation of pawn structures and the transformation of advantages. Based on examples from his own games and those of his hero, Akiba Rubinstein, Gelfand explains how he thinks during the game.
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70
One Hundred Selected Games
Mikhail Botvinnik, Stephen Garry
4.1
The 100 outstanding games in this volume are Mikhail Botvinnik's own choices as the best games he played before becoming World Champion in 1948. They cover the period from his first big tournament — the USSR Championship of 1927, in which the 16-year-old Botvinnik became a master — to the International Tournament at Groningen in 1946 — in which he demonstrated his qualifications for winning the world championship. Botvinnik, an expert analyst as well as a champion, had annotated these games himself, giving a complete exposition of his strategy and techniques against such leading chess players as Alekhine, Capablanca, Euwe, Keres, Reshevsky, Smyslov, Tartakower, Vidmar, and many others. In a foreword, he discusses his career, his method of play, and the system of training he has adopted for tournament play. A careful study of these 100 games should prove rewarding to anyone interested in modern chess. A full variety of the most popular modern-day opening is provided, including the Ruy Lopez, Sicilian Defense, French Defense, Queen's Gambit Declined, Nimzo-Indian Defense, and others. This volume also includes a long article on the development of chess in Russia, in which Botvinnik discusses Tchigorin, Alekhine, and their influence on the Soviet school of chess; the author's six studies of endgame positions; and Botvinnik's record in tournament and match play through 1948.
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71
Pandolfini's Endgame Course: Basic Endgame Concepts Explained by America's Leading Chess Teacher
Bruce Pandolfini
4.1
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72
Winning Chess: How To See Three Moves Ahead
Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld
4.1
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73
Boost Your Chess 1: The Fundamentals
Artur Yusupov
4.1
Artur Yusupov's complete course of chess training stretches to nine volumes, guiding the reader towards a higher chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. To make sure that this new knowledge sticks, it is then tested by a selection of puzzles.The course is structured in three series with three levels. The Fundamentals level is the easiest one, Beyond the Basics is more challenging, and Mastery is quite difficult, even for stronger players.The various topics Tactics, Strategy, Positional Play, Endgames, Calculating Variations, and Openings are spread evenly across the nine volumes, giving readers the chance to improve every area as they work through the books.This book is the second volume at the Fundamentals level."
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Studying Chess Made Easy
Andrew Soltis
4.1
Study is a necessity for competitive chess players, and acclaimed chess author and International Grandmaster Andrew Soltis explains how it should be done. In his trademark witty, accessible style, Soltis provides tips on everything from the need for memorization to the use of computers-and even how to develop that indefinable thing called intuition.
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Endgame Strategy
Mikhail Shereshevsky
4.1
Shereshevsky's masterful guide to endgame play is an essential work for every aspiring player. Using classic examples from grandmaster practice, together with modern illustrations and instructive games by lesser-known players, Shereshevsky lucidly explains the basic principles of the endgame: king centralization, the role of pawns, exchanging pieces, suppressing counterplay, two weaknesses, and much more.
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76
Ideas Behind the Chess Openings: Algebraic Edition
Reuben Fine
4.1
In the opening, each player tries to control the center, set up a flexible pawn structure, develop the pieces rapidly and harmoniously, sometimes even go for direct attack. But there are so many complicated variations -- how can you memorize them all?
You can't -- and you don't have to! If you understand the basic goals of the opening you're playing, you will know which moves fit logically into its overall scheme. This classic, best-selling volume, now completely reset in modern algebraic notation, explains everything you need to know to play the opening sensibly and successfully.
Reuben Fine, an International Grandmaster, is one of the world's top players and a leading theoretician of chess. He is the author of over half a dozen books, including the definitive Basic Chess Endings.
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Fundamental Chess Endings
Karsten Müller, Frank Lamprecht
4.0
In a major event in chess publishing, two German endgame experts have produced a masterly one-volume encyclopaedia that covers all major endgames.
This is the first truly modern one-volume endgame encyclopaedia. It makes full use of endgame tablebases and analytical engines that access these tablebases; where previous authors could only make educated guesses, Müller and Lamprecht have often been able to state the definitive truth, or get much closer to it.
New time-controls involve competitive games being played to a finish in one session, so it is especially important that chess-players understand the key endgame principles. This book provides comprehensive assistance for any players wishing to study the endgame. In addition to a feast of detailed analysis, the authors emphasize the practical side of endgame play, describing rules of thumb, principles, and thinking methods.
Fundamental Chess Endings is both the ideal endgame reference work, and a book that can profitably and enjoyably be read from start to finish.
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Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur
Max Euwe, Walter Meiden
4.0
These 25 chess games played between master and amateur were chosen, arranged, and annotated to help amateurs improve their games. What better way could the amateur have of learning to exploit the weak play of fellow amateurs than to study how a master would handle such situations? Selected by former World Chess Champion Max Euwe and Walter Meiden, a typical amateur player, the games point out graphically how the chess master takes advantage of characteristic errors of the amateur. In general, the games have been presented in order of the degree of skill of the amateur. The early games were played against beginners; later games, against "coffeehouse" players of various skill levels; the last games, against amateur "book" players. Each game, with commentary by Dr. Euwe, was chosen to illustrate a specific aspect of chess, from various openings to a number of typical chess situations. By carefully studying these games, the amateur player will learn how to recognize and avoid a variety of weak strategic and tactical moves. Dr. Euwe's helpful and informative commentary on each contest consists of a discussion of significant moves in the game, an analysis of the opening used and explanations of important chess concepts as they arise. Often, he includes a detailed analysis of tactical variations that might have been played as alternatives. The result is an indispensable aid for amateurs seeking to raise the quality of their games as well as a book that can be read with profit by chess players at every level of expertise.
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The Art of the Middle Game
Paul Keres, Alexander Kotov
4.0
Superb guide to neglected area of chess. Two formidable grandmasters cover attacking the king, defense, importance of pawn structure, analysis, much more. Authoritative introduction by Harry Golombek. Belongs in the library of every serious chess enthusiast. Indexes of players and middle-game themes.
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Weapons of Chess: An Omnibus of Chess Strategies
Bruce Pandolfini
4.0
With Weapons of Chess, National Master and highly acclaimed teacher Bruce Pandolfini brings us the most accessible and easy-to-use chess strategy book ever. Written for beginning and intermediate players, Weapons of Chess is the first encyclopedia of chess strategies that doesn't rely on the usual baffling chess notation. There are no symbolic chess moves, no charts or sequences in chess notation: every move is explained in words. Arranged alphabetically for easy use and based mainly on pawn formation, the incredibly detailed and thorough entries in this book talk a player through dozens of common strategic dilemmas, such as "doubled pawn," "bishops vs. knights," and "hanging pawn pair." Diagrams illustrate the terms, first showing the basic position and then strategically moving to more complicated versions of it. Players will learn how to formulate plans once they have reached a middlegame, enabling them to make wiser strategic decisions after the first few moves of the game. Designed for use as a ready reference during actual practice games, and usable without a chess board, Weapons of Chess is a unique and invaluable resource for any developing chess player.
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Attack with Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal, Iakov Damsky
4.0
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82
Chess Openings: Traps And Zaps
Bruce Pandolfini
4.0
Fireside Chess Library In the first completely instructional book ever written on chess openings, National Master Bruce Pandolfini teaches players how to take charge of the game's crucial opening phase. Of the three traditional phases of chess play -- the opening, the middle-game and the endgame -- the opening is the phase average players confront most often. Unfortunately, though, many openings are not completed successfully, partly because until now most opening instruction has consisted of tables of tournament level moves that offer no explanations for the reasons behind them. Consequently, these classical opening patterns can serve as little more than references to the average player. In Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps, Bruce Pandolfini uses his unique "crime and punishment" approach to provide all the previously missing explanation, instruction, practical analyses, and much, much more. The book consists of 202 short "openers" typical of average players, arranged according to the classical opening variations and by level of difficulty. Each example includes: * the name of the overriding tactic • the name of the opening • a scenario that sets up the tactic to be learned • an interpretation that explains why the loser went wrong, how he could have avoided the trap, and what he should have done instead • a review of important principles and useful guidelines to reinforce each lesson. Also included are a glossary of openings that lists all the classical "textbook" variations for comparison and reference and a tactical index. Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps is a powerful, pragmatic entry into a heretofore remote area of chess theory that will have a profound influence on every player's game.
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83
Chess for Kids
Michael Basman and Mary Ling
4.0
A children's step-by-step visual guide to the rules, skills and strategies of chess--by International Master and renowned chess tutor Michael Basman.
From the history of chess and the aim of the game to essential tactics and taking it even farther in clubs, tournaments, and championships, Chess for Kids covers it all. Before explaining techniques, the book details each piece--pawns, bishops, the king, and more--to ensure kids have a comprehensive understanding before they begin to play. Chess board graphics illustrate different scenarios and support the text explanations so readers can visualize different moves and their potential outcomes as they go.
Let Chess for Kids and International Master Michael Basman teach you how to play chess and turn you into a champion chess player.
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84
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part 1: 1973-1985
Garry Kasparov
4.0
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, part 1 is the first book in a major new three-volume series. This series will be unique by the fact that it will record the greatest chess battles played by the greatest chessplayer of all-time.
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The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster
Tim Crothers
4.0
Based on a popular ESPN magazine article selected by Dave Eggers for The Best American Nonrequired Reading and a finalist for a National Magazine Award, the inspiring true story of Phiona Mutesi, a teenage chess prodigy from the slums of Kampala, Uganda.
PHIONA MUTESI sleeps in a decrepit shack with her mother and three siblings and struggles to find a single meal each day. Phiona has been out of school most of her life because her mother cannot afford it, so she is only now learning to read and write. Phiona Mutesi is also one of the best chess players in the world.
One day in 2005, while searching for food, nine-year-old Phiona followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende, who had also grown up in the Kampala slums. Katende, a war refugee turned missionary, had an improbable dream: to empower kids through chess—a game so foreign there is no word for it in their native language. Laying a chessboard in the dirt of the Katwe slum, Robert painstakingly taught the game each day. When he left at night, slum kids played on with bottlecaps on scraps of cardboard. At first they came for a free bowl of porridge, but many grew to love chess, a game that—like their daily lives—means persevering against great obstacles. Of these kids, one stood out as an immense talent: Phiona.
By the age of eleven Phiona was her country’s junior champion and at fifteen, the national champion. In September 2010, she traveled to Siberia, a rare journey out of Katwe, to compete in the Chess Olympiad, the world’s most prestigious team-chess event. Phiona’s dream is to one day become a Grandmaster, the most elite title in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world’s most unstable countries, a place where girls are taught to be mothers, not dreamers, and the threats of AIDS, kidnapping, and starvation loom over the people.
Like Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, The Queen of Katwe is an intimate and heartrending portrait of human life on the poor fringes of the twenty-first century.
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86
The Middlegame, Book 2: Dynamic & Subjective Features
M. Euwe, H. Kramer, Lou Hays
4.0
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87
Pawn Power in Chess
Hans Kmoch
4.0
"One of the few books…which, at a glance, one can recognize as an immortal." — Chess. The proper use of pawns — of paramount importance in chess strategy — sometimes even puzzles experienced players. This profoundly original and stimulating book by an International Master and prolific chess writer offers superb instruction in pawn play by isolating its elements and elaborating on various aspects. After a lucid exposition of the fundamentals and the basic formations of one or two pawns that virtually constitute the keys to winning chess strategy, the reader is shown a multitude of examples demonstrating the paramount significance of elements of pawn manipulation. The author’s masterly explanation makes it perfectly clear to the beginner as well as the advanced player how the fate of a game depends on pawn formation and how pawn power holds the proceedings under its remote control. Over 180 games and diagrams illustrate the author’s theory and make it easy to follow the points made in the text. Hans Kmoch played with distinction in several international tournaments and is the author of a number of books and columns on chess and chess tournaments. “We consider it the best publication on chess strategy since the end of World War II.” — Die Welt.
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The Flanders Panel
Arturo Perez-Reverte, Margaret Jull Costa
4.0
While restoring a 15th-century painting which depicts a chess game between the Duke of Flanders and his knight, Julia, a young art expert, discovers a hidden inscription in the corner: Quis Necavit Equitem. Translation: Who killed the knight? Breaking the silence of five centuries, Julia's hunt for a Renaissance murderer leads her into a modern-day game of sin, betrayal, and death.
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The Mammoth Book of Chess
Graham Burgess
4.0
A guide to the main opening gambits in chess along with hundreds of test positions for players at various levels. It includes: sections on online chess, computers and openings; courses in tactics and attacking strategy; analysis of some of the greatest games ever played; and, information and advice on club, national, and international tournaments.
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90
Chess for Beginners: Know the Rules, Choose Your Strategy, and Start Winning
Yelizaveta Orlova
4.0
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91
The Game of Chess
Siegbert Tarrasch
4.0
"I have always a slight feeling of pity for the man who has no knowledge of chess, just as I would pity the man who has remained ignorant of love. Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy. The way to this happiness I have tried to show in this book." — Author's Preface While there are many chess instruction books available, few have achieved the lofty stature of the present volume. Fewer still have been written by a legendary International Grandmaster whose pedagogical skills rivaled the chess prowess that enabled him to demolish opponents at the board. An immediate success upon its first publication, The Game of Chess has become one of the game's enduring classics, considered by some critics the finest book ever written on the game. Part of its success stems from Dr. Tarrasch's unorthodox approach to teaching chess: "I employ quite another method and one analogous to that a mother uses to teach her child to talk. I play with the beginner from the very start in that I put before him simple positions and from them explain the fundamentals of chess. It is the intuitive method of instruction. In this way the pupil learns chess quite easily, of that I am convinced." To make it easier for the beginning student, Dr. Tarrasch also reverses the order in which the game is usually taught. Instead, he begins with the End-Game, since "obviously it is easier for the beginner to deal with a few men than the entire thirty-two." Then follows the heart of the book, an important and extensive discussion of the Middle Game. Analyzing the most important parts of hundreds of games, Tarrasch presents a comprehensive treatment of combination play, an aspect of chess for which he was especially renowned. Finally, he deals with the most complex part of the game — the Opening — and offers enlightening comments on many historically important variations. Illustrated with over 340 diagrams and including 12 complete games, The Game of Chess remains one of the standard texts, a careful reading of which will improve the game of any player.
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92
Tactical Play
Mark Dvoretsky, Ken Neat
4.0
In this second book in his School of Chess Excellence series, Mark Dvoretsky looks at combinations and tactical techniques and suggests methods for developing a player's ability to calculate. Using a number of fascinating examples, he also analyzes methods of attack and defense. The book also includes special test positions and questions to engage and instruct the reader. This book includes essays earlier released in Dvoretsky's Secrets of Chess Tactics book.
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93
Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking: From the First Move to the Last
Neil McDonald
4.0
Grand master and prolific chess author Neil McDonald explains every single move made in 30 striking tactical or strategical games played over the last quarter century. Each of these games has been carefully chosen for its consistent logical thread, so that the reader will get prime instruction in the art of conceiving appropriate plans and attacks and carrying them out to their natural conclusion: in short, players will learn to think logically. Watching these games unfold will prove an education and inspiration to readers who can then try to play in the same purposeful way, with a corresponding improvement in their own game.
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94
The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book
John Emms
4.0
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95
Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: Fifty Tantalizing Problems of Chess Detection
Raymond Smullyan
4.0
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96
Grandmaster Preparation - Calculation
Jacob Aagaard
4.0
Have there been times during a game when you have calculated a position for half an hour, only to find out that most of what you were thinking about was of little use? If you have not, maybe the only way to improve your calculation is to upgrade your processor. But if you are human, then this book will offer you practical advice and an effective training plan to think differently and make decisions far more efficiently. In Calculation thinking methods such as Candidates, Combinations, Prophylaxis, Comparison, Elimination, Intermediate Moves, Imagination and Traps are explained to the reader, and ownership of them is offered through a carefully selected series of exercises. "There is no shortcut to the grandmaster title, but there is a well-known route that many people have walked over the years. Jacob offers to guide you on part of this journey and I hope you will take him up on the offer." From the foreword by Boris Gelfand Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard won the British Championship at his first and only attempt. He has received the Guardian, ECF and ChessCafe Book of the Year awards and the FIDE Senior Trainer title. His training material is used by amateurs and grandmasters alike.
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97
500 Master Games of Chess
Dr. S. Tartakower, J. du Mont
4.0
This compilation of 500 master games is the greatest standard collection of chess games ever published. Ranging over 150 years of master play, these games include masterpieces of every kind by such master players as Anderssen, Morphy, Blackburne, Pillsbury, Lasker, Marshall, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Alekhine, Capablanca, Spielmann, Tartakower, Rubinstein, Réti, Nimzowitsch, Euwe, Botvinnik, and many more. There are also once-in-a-lifetime matches, such as Franz-Mayet (1858) and Bowdler-Conway (1788), and other interesting examples. Fully annotated, arranged by opening for easier study.
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98
Winning Chess Endings
Yasser Seirawan
4.0
Winning Chess Endings teaches endgame strategies in an exciting new way--by putting the player in the middle of the action with firsthand stories taken directly from famous matches. Pull up a chair and watch the world's most exciting chess endings. Then become an endgame master!
Winning Chess Endings explains how to: *Relentlessly find checkmates, from easy to hard, in all basic endgame patterns *Master the intricacies of King and Pawn Endings *Win consistently in the most common endgame--the Rook ending *Master the pros and cons of Bishop vs. Knight Endgames *Seize the advantage in Rook Pawn and Queen Pawn endings *Play like a grandmaster in solitaire endings
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99
The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine
Tom Standage
4.0
This is the true account of the 18th-century mechanical man, powered by clockwork, dressed in a Turkish costume, and capable of playing chess. Created by a Hungarian nobleman, the machine-man known as The Turk traveled Europe and America, made the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin, Catherine the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Edgar Allan Poe.
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100
Winning Chess Brilliancies
Yasser Seirawan
4.0
Get a taste of the most dazzling chess combinations, devious strategies, and downright cruel blows as world champions throw caution to the wind and risk it all! Readers will delight as the author takes these awe-inspiring and controversial games and makes them enjoyable and easy to understand.
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