words words words *
today was stage 16 on the tour, which ends sunday. holy crap, what drama. vinokurov, who came back to win not just the time trial but a stage, has withdrawn for testing positive for a blood transfusion. now, i think he got the transfusion to clean out his knee, which had gone totally septic. michael rasumussen, to my surprise, retains the yellow, and today, i thought contador would take it, but NO! contador tried, coudln’t do it, and rasumussen pulled away and further cemented his lead. one last time trial to go, barring some freak accident, or a really bad ride, it looks like rasmussen will win the tour. but it’s still close enough to be surprised, so there is that.
ok, chess….
i know i have all the books i need, i now need to study them and learn. so what did i do? i bought more. but these are the last i will buy, i SWEAR!
first, hanging out in a bookstore, i bought “imagination in chess” by paata gaprindashvili. it’s a book of 756 positions, taken from actual games. all you do is study them and try to figure out what the next moves will be. kind of like a tactics book, but it’s not just tactics, there are regular positional moves and such. i need this and like it, a great book to have while waiting in line or at a red light or between commercials on tv.
next, yesterday the mailman delievered TWO books by mark dvoretsky, “Secrets of chess training” and “Strategic play.” i got them becuase josh waitzkin mentioned dvoretsky in “the art of learning.” i’ve looked through both of them, and i love them immediately. they are like workbooks, with lectures and puzzles and these two books alone could and will take me a year to really learn from them, and even then i won’t have all they have to offer. they are like graduate level text books. no, i definately do NOT need any more books.
here is a list of my chess books:
“Secrets of chess training” - mark dvoretsky
“Strategic play” - mark dvoretsky
“imagination in chess” - paata gaprindashvili
“complete book of chess strategy” jeremy silman
“Amateurs mind” - silman
“my system” - nimzowitsch
“chess openings for white, explained” - lev alburt
“chess openings for black, explained” - alburt
“chess strategy for the tournament player” -alburt
“practical chess analysis” - mark buckley
“think like a grandmaster” - alexander kotov
“logical chess move by move”- irving chernev
“capablancas best chess endings” - chernev
“winning chess, how to see 3 moves ahead” - chernev and reinfeld
“the most instructive games of chess ever played” - chernev
“combinations, the heart of chess” - chernev
“the life and games of mikhail tal” - tal
“grandmaster chess move by move” - john nunn
“mammoth book of the worlds greatest chess games” - grahm burgess, john nunn, john emms
“art of attack” - vladimir vukovic
“understanding chess tactics” - martin weteschnik
“chess tactics for champions” susan polger
“chess the art of logical thinking” - neil mcdonald
“chess the mechanics of the mind” - helmut pfleger and gerd treppner
“”500 master games of chess” - dr. s. tartakower and j. du mont
“alexander alekhine master of attack” - alexander raetsky and maxim chetverik
“alexander alekhine games 1902 - 1922″ (just game moves and positions, no commentary or anything)
” zurich tournament 1953″ - david bronstein
“new york international tournament 1924″ - alekhine
“the gruenfeld defense revealed” - michael khodarkovsky
“the modern benoni revealed” - richard palliser (thanks wang)
“starting out: the king’s indian” - joe gallagher
“mastering the middlegame” - angus dunnington
“concise chess openings” - neil mcdonald
“chess openings the easy way” nick de firmian
“teach yourself better chess” (i like this, it’s a fun little book with reminders and tips and small bite size lessons, two pages long).
and that, i think, is everything. for now.
if you have any comments on the books, if you know some of the info is bullshit, if you have any questions about the books, whatever, please please, resspond away. let it become a discussion. i’d like to hear everyone’s opinion.
*allusion to shakespear, pretty classy, huh?
Tenebride said,
July 25, 2007 at 11:50 am
Nice collection!
Let’s make some regrouping…
1. Openings
- “chess openings for white, explained” - lev alburt
- “chess openings for black, explained” - alburt
- “the gruenfeld defense revealed” - michael khodarkovsky
- “the modern benoni revealed” - richard palliser (thanks wang)
- “starting out: the king’s indian” - joe gallagher
- “concise chess openings” - neil mcdonald
- “chess openings the easy way” nick de firmian
2. Tactics
- “winning chess, how to see 3 moves ahead” - chernev and reinfeld
- “understanding chess tactics” - martin weteschnik
- “chess tactics for champions” susan polger
- “combinations, the heart of chess” - chernev
- “imagination in chess” - paata gaprindashvili
3. Chess strategy
- “complete book of chess strategy” jeremy silman
- “Amateurs mind” - silman
- “chess strategy for the tournament player” -alburt
- “mastering the middlegame” - angus dunnington
- “Strategic play” - mark dvoretsky
- “my system” - nimzowitsch
- “art of attack” - vladimir vukovic
4. Instructive games collections
- “logical chess move by move”- irving chernev
- “the most instructive games of chess ever played” - chernev
- “grandmaster chess move by move” - john nunn
- “chess the art of logical thinking” - neil mcdonald
- “mastering the middlegame” - angus dunnington
5. Chess games collections
- “500 master games of chess” - dr. s. tartakower and j. du mont
- “mammoth book of the worlds greatest chess games” - grahm burgess, john nunn,
john emms
- “the life and games of mikhail tal” - tal
- “capablancas best chess endings” - chernev
- “alexander alekhine master of attack” - alexander raetsky and maxim chetverik
- “alexander alekhine games 1902 - 1922″ (just game moves and positions, no
commentary or anything)
- ” zurich tournament 1953″ - david bronstein
- “new york international tournament 1924″ - alekhine
6. Thought process
- “practical chess analysis” - mark buckley
- “think like a grandmaster” - alexander kotov
- “chess the mechanics of the mind” - helmut pfleger and gerd treppner
7. Unclassified
- “Secrets of chess training” - mark dvoretsky
- “teach yourself better chess” (i like this, it’s a fun little book with reminders and tips
and small bite size lessons, two pages long).
Uuf…tired
Chessloser, can i ask you 2 questions?
1. Your current ELO.
2. Your CTS rating.
And another question. Can you tell me the title of the first chapter of “Secrets of chess training” ? Because i think thre were two different books with almost the same titles.
Tenebride said,
July 25, 2007 at 11:53 am
Oh, sorry, i put “mastering the middlegame” into two different groups. It shall be in
“Instructive games collections” for sure.
Sciurus said,
July 25, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Hi! No suggestion here but a question: What strategy book would you recommend to teach the basics? I was just told yesterday by a pretty good player on ICC that “My System” by Nimzowitsch would be great for beginners but I have also heard other things like it would be way too difficult as an intro text. What do you think?
As for le tour - the reporting on cycling at the moment looks more like a report on the latest pharma products than a sports event - too bad because it is such a great sport. Nothing left than doing it myself so I took a nice 2hour ride last weekend ending up with a sore butt. Chess is certainly bad for my (physical) shape! But maybe I am just getting old…
liquideggproduct said,
July 25, 2007 at 5:09 pm
“Winning Chess” by Irving and Reinfeld is a good introduction to the basic tactical ideas of chess, like forks and discovered attacks, if you don’t already know them.
I do like Silman’s books, but they won’t make you instantly better because it takes longer to understand how to implement the ideas. Besides, at the level of your (and my) play, more games are lost to tactical blunders than more subtle strategic errors. Still, it’s important to get an idea of strategy even with only a hazy understanding–it will get clearer later, or so I’ve heard.
If you started with one book from each of Tenebride’s groupings 1, 2, and 3, you’d probably be in good shape. And I’d recommend getting an endgame book, too. *shrugs* But I’m no expert.
chessloser said,
July 25, 2007 at 8:36 pm
tenebride - i have a provisional rating of 1124, which should be a bit higher after the talley of the last tournament, so let’s say….1190. my cts rating was as high as 1507, now in the low 1400’s as i’ve been going slow to get more percentage correct. the first chapter starts with “the chess player’s virtues and deficiencies, and thier influence on the course of the game . the book says “volume 22 of the ongoing series.”
scurius - “my system” by nimzowitsch is EXCELLENT for beginners, it lays a strong foundation and teaches the importance of pawn structure, among other things, which i am learning is huge. your pawn structure is the mirror of the endgame, and affects the game way more than you think. i dont’ think it’s too difficult, but if you want something a bit easier, the silman book is a good beginners book, very basic, covers a lot, but i don’t know how “strategical” it is. i hope that helps…
liquideggproduct - yeah, i need to focus on endgames. i was kinda hoping i would learn endgames from the capablanca book…..
Blunderprone said,
July 25, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I commnet on these books often on my blog… My system, Logical Chess, TLAG etc…
What I want to comment on is…. Why don’t we a Tour De Chess tournament… where after every “leg” ( round) The yellow jersey is worn by the leader into the next round…. we could even get down to the pink and black jersey…. sponsors with logos on the backs …My sponsor would be “Grecian Formula” … BDK could be “Hostess” … Tempo …let’s see …hmmm…. Oh! “Mr. Clean: and of course …Chess Loser would get funding from none other than Band-aid.
Now let’s see…who’d get sponsored by the folks at Preparation H?
Wahrheit said,
July 25, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Blunderprone–as a guy who has had to use the stuff, I’d be proud to be sponsored by Preparation H…as long as they provide a private jet. And I get to hang out with the Prep H girls–heh, I don’t even want to picture that…
ANYWAY, on to books; I don’t have all of these but quite a few (I’ve been buying this stuff for 27 years, but very sparingly the last few). No Dvoretsky, for instance. But I highly recommend the following: Art of Attack, any tactics book, GM Chess Move by Move and Mammoth Book of the Great Games–add Dvoretsky if ya like ‘im. I know you felt New York 1924 had partly dry and drawish games, but Mammoth Book has nothing but excitement, attack and also some beautiful endings. I’m leaving out some great books, but those I’d recommend focusing on.
dutchdefence said,
July 26, 2007 at 12:34 am
Sciurus,
Consider getting yourself Pandolfini’s “Weapons Of Chess“. Definitely makes a great introduction on the subject of strategy.
Tenebride said,
July 26, 2007 at 2:19 am
Chessloser, i do not think that all this is the last instance of the truth.
Just my personal ideas…
1. Opening repertoire.
At this level the most important thing is that you shall stick firmly to your choice!
You cannot switch between d4 and e4 every week.
You need to develop a system against each opening!
It is not necessary to follow the mode, but you systems shall be playable!
2. Endgame.
This stage is completely missing and it is not good.
If one is not familiar with the basic endings, there is no point
in studying “capablancas best chess endings”.
Something relatively simple, like “How to win in the chess endings” by
Horowitz or “Chess endings essential knowledge” by Averbakh will suit you nicely.
The question is: How to study the endgame?
I believe that at this level, the best thing is to play the positions from
these books against a computer program. I do not see any other way to grasp
the basics firmly.
3. Tactics.
For me the first stage of the tactical traing shall be as follows:
1.Solve all the problems from “winning chess, how to see 3 moves ahead” or
“chess tactics for champions”. Choose the one that is closer to your actual level.
2.Continue with “understanding chess tactics”.
I can can suggest you two personal tips on tactics training:
1. If you can hold a diagram in you mind, try to solve it without looking at the board!
2. Once you have solved the tactical problem, try to understand what positional features made the combination possible (weak squares, disgarmony in the coordination of the pieces and so on).
To be continued (If it is interesing to the author of the blog!)
chessloser said,
July 26, 2007 at 6:33 am
Blunderprone - a yellow jersey for the current leader of the tournament! that is GENIUS. i wonder when chess will get the amount of doping scandals cycling has….
wahrheit - the new york was a bit dry, but had some great games and positions to study, i like it, but yeah, the mammoth book is pretty exciting….
tenebride - please, continue…
Sciurus said,
July 26, 2007 at 8:03 am
Thanks for the book tips guys! I will look into Nimzo’s classic and Pandolfini’s Weapons even though I vowed not to buy new chess books before I read the old ones… Eh, just a few more won’t do any harm, right?
Tour de Chess - cool idea! And I am sure that after the first upset “doping” rumors will surface like a hidden endgame book in the restroom or some high-tech Fritz implant. Anyway, anybody interested in an informal blogger tour de chess?
Blue Devil Knight said,
July 26, 2007 at 11:10 am
I agree with Weapons of Chess.
Idiot’s guide to chess also has good strategic ideas, more systematic than pandolfini.
Best endgame book I own, hands down, is Silman’s Complete Endgame Course. I own many others, but this is the best, most practical, entertaining, not just a position dump but lots of explanatory prose.
chessloser said,
July 27, 2007 at 6:28 am
blue devil knight - i will get silmans complete endgame course cause you reccommended it. thanks.
HardDaysKnight said,
July 27, 2007 at 7:18 am
If you’re going to get Silman’s Endgame Course, be sure to get his errata:
http://tinyurl.com/2nsgje
Silman’s is excellent, and practically it may be the best, but I still prefer Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, (http://tinyurl.com/295spy), but your mileage may vary.
I’m not a fan of Alburt’s opening books (although, I do like his tactics, strategy and end game books). For openings you should look at Watson’s Master the Openings (I and II): http://tinyurl.com/2hlbb8
You might enjoy from Rowson’s Zebras book. It certainly sparked some creative thinking about chess for me. http://tinyurl.com/2ehp75
Regards, HDK
Tenebride said,
July 27, 2007 at 8:24 am
Too busy to write , so i’ll just finish with the tactics.
So once “understanding chess tactics” is finished you will need to pass throught a lot of exercises.
You do not need to buy any new books for this. There are 3400 positions here: http://dejascacchi.altervista.org/exercises.htm.
Only after that you can try to solve positions from “imagination in chess” , which is in fact a very nice book. But the problems from this book are reallly complicated!
Most of the time the solution does not lead to a forced sequnce of moves!
By the way, there is a book by Shumilin, which is very close to the Paata Gaprindashvili’s concept and not so long ago the electronic version appeared on the Internet (in pgn or cbh format). I found that the positions from the Shumilin’s book are relatively simplier . But i do not think that you can get a copy of the book by Shumilin because it was printed in 1993.
Returning to the endgame study.
Chessloser , you need to master the basic positions. At first 30-40 , then 100. and so on. But you need to be able to play them correctly even against Fritz10.
Sorry, need to return to my work
David K, Seattle said,
July 31, 2007 at 4:30 am
WHERE on earth did you get a copy of Alkehines New York International Chess Tournement book? That is either a hard one to get, or very $ expensive $.
Nice list.
Add: Postional Chess Handbook, Gelfer. Wow! Check it out, fits with GM Ram and Pocket Chess.
chessloser said,
July 31, 2007 at 9:09 am
david - i got the alekhine book from amazon, pretty decent price too…i’ll look into the positional chess handbook, thanks for the tip…