Chess book recommendations for improvement

What?

This is another list of lists - list of lists of books recommended by chess players/instructors all over the internet

• GM Daniel Naroditsky

  1. Chess Strategy for Club Players by Herman Grooten
  2. Mastering Positional Chess by Daniel Naroditsky
  3. The Complete Manual of Positional Chess by Konstantin Sakaev & Kostantin Landa
  4. My System by Aron Nimzowitsch
  5. Silman’s Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman
  6. How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman
  7. Mastering Chess Strategy by Johan Hellsten
  8. Mastering Opening Strategy by Johan Hellsten
  9. Mastering Endgame Strategy by Johan Hellsten
  10. Chess Evolution 1: The Fundamentals by Artur Yusupov
  11. Chess Evolution 2: Beyond The Basics by Artur Yusupov
  12. Chess Evolution 3: Mastery by Artur Yusupov
  13. Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition by Arthur van de Oudeweetering

• GM Vidit Gujarathi

  1. Jacob Aagard books
  2. Dvoretsky /Yusupov - School of future champions
  3. Kasparov on Kasparov
  4. Jan Markos - Under the surface
  5. Boris Avrukh - d4 opening part 2 (only if you are playing)
  6. Jacob Aagard - Thinking inside the box
  7. Think like a grandmaster - Alexander kotov
  8. Jacob Aagard - Calculation
  9. Lev polugaevsky - Grandmaster preparation
  10. Mark Dvoretsky - Recognising your opponents resources

• NM Sahil Tickoo (Chess Assist)

  1. Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
  2. Winning Chess Tactics
  3. My System
  4. Bobby Fischer 60 Memorable Games
  5. 100 Endgames you must know
  6. Positional Chess Handbook
  7. Pump up your Rating
  8. Fundamental Chess Endings
  9. Game Changer
  10. Mastering Chess Strategy
  11. The Magic of Mikhail Tal
  12. Our Website Courses

• Chess Dojo (Classics ranked by Jesse, Kostya and David; 1 book per author)

  1. Tal-Botvinnik 1960
  2. Sixty Memorable Games
  3. Zurich 1953
  4. Test of Time
  5. 100 games
  6. My System
  7. Best Games
  8. Seven Deadly Chess Sins
  9. Road to Chess Improvement
  10. Art of Attack

• IM Kostya Kavutskiy

  1. Overrated books
     • Margulies, Mosenfelder, Fischer - Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
     • Nimzowitsch - My System
     • Silman - How to Reassess your Chess
     • Dvoretsky - Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual
     • Kotov - Think Like A Grandmaster
  2. Chess Fundamentals
     • Ilya Mazelis - The Soviet Chess Primer (0 - 1800)
     • Irving Chernev - Logical Chess Move by Move (0 - 1800)
     • Irving Chernev - The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played (1000 - 1800)
     • John Nunn - Understanding Chess Move by Move (1500 - 2000)
     • John Watson - Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy (1600 - 2000)
     • R.B. Ramesh - Fundamental Chess: Logical Decision Making (1400-2200)
  3. Tactics & Calculation
     • Susan Polgar - Learn Chess The Right Way (5 books, 0 - 1400)
     • Alburt & Palatnik - Tactics for the Tournament Player (1200 - 2000)
     • Vladimir Vuckovic - The Art of Attack (1400 - 2200)
     • Spielmann & Muller - The Art of Sacrifice in Chess (1400 - 2200)
     • Maxim Blokh - Combinative Motifs (1400 - 2200)
     • Smith & Tikkanen - The Woodpecker Method (1600 - 2400)
     • Jacob Aagaard - Excelling at Chess Calculation (1800 - 2200)
     • Volokitin & Grabinsky - Perfect Your Chess (2200+)
     • Chessking software/apps (PC, Apple, Android) - Tactics For Beginners, CT-Art (1400-1600), and CT-Art 4.0 to name a few but there are many others.
  4. Middlegame Play
     • Jeremy Silman - Reassess Your Chess, 4th edition (1200 - 1800)
     • Johan Hellsten - Mastering Chess Strategy (1400 - 2200)
     • Mauricio Flores Rios - Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide (1600 - 2200)
     • Alexey Suetin - A Contemporary Approach to the MIddlegame (1800 - 2200)
     • Israel Gelfer - Positional Chess Handbook (1800 - 2200)
     • Landa & Sakaev - The Complete Manual of Positional Chess 1 & 2 (2000 - 2400)
     • Boris Gelfand - Positional Decision Making in Chess & Dynamic Decision Making in Chess (2000+)
  5. Endgame Play
     • Jeremy Silman - Complete Endgame Course (0 - 2200)
     • Mikhail Shereshevsky - Endgame Strategy (1200 - 2200)
     • Johan Hellsten - Mastering Endgame Strategy (1400 - 2200)
     • Jesus de la Villa - 100 Endgames You Must Know (1200 - 2400)
     • Mark Dvoretsky - Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual (2200+)
  6. Openings
     • Quality Chess - GM Repertoire series (1800+)
     • Chess24/Chessbase/Chessable courses (level greatly varies)
  7. Series of Books - (for players who want a structured training program)
     • Yasser Seirawan - Winning Chess (1000-1600)
     • Artur Yusupov - Build Up Your Chess/Boost Your Chess/Chess Evolution (1400-2200)
     • Jacob Aagaard - Excelling at Chess (1800-2200)
     • Mark Dvoretsky - School of Chess Excellence & School for Future Champions (2100+)
     • Jacob Aagaard - Grandmaster Preparation (2200+)
  8. Game Collections (suitable for all levels with the exception of Kasparov)
     • Mikhail Tal - Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
     • Bobby Fischer - My 60 Memorable Games
     • Alexei Shirov - Fire on Board 1 & 2
     • Vladimir Kramnik - My Life and Games
     • Garry Kasparov - My Great Predecessors I-V & Kasparov on Kasparov 1-3 (1800+)
     • Simen Agdestein - Wonderboy Magnus Carlsen
     • Alekhine - My Best Games (Not rated)
     • Capablanca - Endgames (Not rated)
     • Rubinstein - Life and Games (Not rated)
     • Bronstein - Zurich 1953 (Not rated)
     • Botvinnik - One Hundred Selected Games (Not rated)
     • Karpov - Karpov’s Strategic Wins (Not rated)

• IM Eric Rosen

  1. Kids & Beginners
     • Al Woolum - The Chess Tactics Workbook
     • Jeff Coakley - Winning Chess Strategy for Kids
     • Murray Chandler - How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess)
  2. Middlegame & Strategy
     • How to Reassess Your Chess: Chess Mastery Through Chess Imbalances by Jeremy Silman
     • Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Games (Dover Chess) by Israel Gelfer
  3. Game Collections
     • The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games: New edn (Mammoth Books) by John Nunn
  4. Tactics & Calculation
     • Forcing Chess Moves: The Key to Better Calculation by Charles Hertan
     • Find the Checkmate (Batsford Chess) by Gary Lane
     • Sharpen Your Tactics: 1125 Brilliant Sacrifices, Combinations, and Studies by Anatoly Lein and Boris Archangelsky
     • Laszlo Polgar - Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games
  5. Endgame
     • Jesus De La Villa - 100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player
     • Silman’s Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master by Jeremy Silman

• Annotated Chess Games Collections - Recommendations

  1. Robert James Fischer – My 60 Memorable Chess Games

     A famous game collection by the great American. Noteworthy because he includes a couple of his own losses. The annotations are of the highest quality and very objective.

  2. Mikhail Tal – The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

     Tal was not only an entertaining player, but also a very talented and witty writer. Throughout this book, you will enjoy both on-the-board events and the stories behind.

  3. Alexander Alekhine – My Best Games of Chess, 1908 – 1937

     Alexander Alekhine was often cited by Kasparov, but also by Fischer as a player who has had the greatest influence on their own playing style. And indeed, Alekhine is known for his “difficult”, dynamic chess, which made his games incredibly interesting and attractive. Similarly as with Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games, the big plus for My Best Games of Chess is the absence of computer-generated analysis. The reading of the book “flows” and the number of diagrams makes it easy to follow the “human variations” given by Alekhine.

  4. Irving Chernev – Logical Chess, Move By Move, Every Move Explained and The Most Instructive Games Of Chess Ever Played

     Irving Chernev was not an outstandingly strong player, but he was an outstanding chess writer. In these books, he adopts the move-by-move approach – he guides the reader through a number of famous games with simple and clear annotations after every move. This approach is especially valuable for beginners.

  5. David Bronstein – Zürich International Chess Tournament 1953

     David Bronstein was the World Championship challenger in 1951. In this historic book, he takes us through the Candidates Tournament in 1953. He annotates every single game played in this dramatic event.

  6. Garry Kasparov – On My Great Predecessors Series

     Last, but not least, Kasparov’s epochal series, devoted to entire chess history. The reason we have put it in the last place is its complexity – it is definitely not suited for beginners. But we firmly believe every chess player should read these books at least once in his life

• Adult chess improver:
  • Recommended books:
    1. Lev Alburt - Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions
    2. Lev Alburt - Chess Training Pocket Book II: 320 Key Positions for players of all levels
    3. John Nunn, Learn Chess Tactics
    4. László Polgár - Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games
    5. Susan Polgár - Chess Tactics for Champions
    6. Axel Smith & Hans Tikkanen - The Woodpecker Method
    7. Michael De La Maza - Rapid Chess Improvement
    8. Emmanuel Neiman - Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna
  • Recommended chessable courses for pattern recognition:
    1. Common chess patterns
    2. “… on the Attack” courses from AlanB
    3. Tactics Time 1
  • Recommended chessable courses for advanced tactical training:
    1. Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna
    2. The Woodpecker Method
    3. 1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners
    4. 1001 Chess Exercises For Club Players

• Reddit r/chess’ book recommendations - https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/wiki/books

• Shivam Yadav(shivamnimzo)

  1. Ray Cheng - Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy
  2. Susan Polgar & Paul Truong - Chess Tactics for Champions: A step-by-step guide to using tactics and combinations the Polgar way
  3. Jeremy Silman - The Amateur’s Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery
  4. Jeremy Silman - How to Reassess Your Chess
  5. Lev Alburt - Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas
  6. Yasser Seirawan & Jeremy Silman - Winning Chess Strategies
• Aman Goyal
  1. Read later
     • Ray Cheng - Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy
     • Vladimir Vukovic - Art of Attack In Chess
     • Jesus De La Villa - 00 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player
     • I’m still exploring…however I’m complacent with where I’m at. I don’t want the information OD.
  2. Currently reading
     • Susan Polgar & Paul Truong - Chess Tactics for Champions: A step-by-step guide to using tactics and combinations the Polgar way
     • Murray Chandler - How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess)
     • Yasser Seirawan & Jeremy Silman - Winning Chess Strategies
  3. On hold
     • Lev Alburt - Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas - (Check out my lichess study on this - ~will add the link here in future~)
     • Jose Capablanca - Chess Fundamentals
  4. Finished reading
     • lol
  5. Dropped
     • Irving Chernev - Logical Chess Move by Move -> Didn’t really like it. Maybe because it’s for complete beginners. I went through the first 2 games, but found it really boring (and also inaccurate by engine. The first game ended with White resigning, while the last move by Black was a complete blunder resulting in a draw according to the engine). I might pick it up later, but dropping this for now.

I’ll keep this list updated with more lists that I find online.

Read more on my journey of chess improvement here

Future blog on my review of the books I’ve read -

That’s all folks!

Aman Goyal

A Man who never has enough time

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