Author: Peter Berger
Date: 11:57:55 07/23/01
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On July 23, 2001 at 12:59:37, mephisto wrote: >hi there, >i am looking for advise on chess books (opening/strategy/tactics/endgame). Maybe >you can give me some ideas. I play at 1400-1500 ELO. Since i am playing chess >not very long, i hope i can improve by reading some good books. Any sugestion is >welcome. >note: sorry to dissapoint, but i can read algebraic notation only. > >thanks for all contributions. Although your post is quite a little off-topic here it inspirated me to think about your question thoroughly . When I played at a similar level as a youngster I was eager to get a book that will me teach me _all_ that is necessary to play at GM level _at once_ ;-) ( like Fritz or so ) . Thinking about which books really helped me to improve and weren't a waste of time after all ( as many were ) I'd come up with this short list : I did a search on Amazon to find them and here is my very short list of books everyone should have IMHO : 1.) Paul Keres : The Road to the Top by Paul Keres, John Nunn (Editor) This should be some kind of reprint of Keres Games of 1931-1958 ( I hope so ) . This book got me going when I was about 12 . It offers not only thorough and well explained chess games but also explains the fascination of chess itself very well . You can learn loads of things - but you can learn _why_ it might be big fun to learn them also which helps your motivation. It's not a bad book to start with I think - and a fascinating one to get back to at later stages of development . 2.) Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer (Mass Market Paperback - October 1992) Again I hope ( and think ) this should be a reprint of the first chess book I ever really _studied_ . This one is special - it is _really_ written for players of your strength and can ( and should ) be studied without a chessboard . It starts with extremely easy positions and goes to more difficult ones that have similar ideas . You'll find yourself solving mates in 7 without problems and see your tactical ability improve very much . This definitely was worth some 200 points for me . 3. Chess for Tigers (Maxwell MacMillan Chess Series) by Simon Webb I found out : either you hate this one or you love it . This book was definitely 200 points for me , too . It is written for kids but its clear style is great for adults , too . It deals with the question : how to win with _my_ abilities ? How do I outperform my opponent and win more than I should due to my abilities maybe ? These three are beyond any doubt for me . After that it becomes more difficult ( remember you are a 1800-1900 player now :-)) ) . Like most others I started to waste my precious time with opening books now( believe me ; those who tell you _not_ to do this at this stage _don't_ want to fool you ): I'd go for : 4.) Chess Master Vs. Chess Amateur by Max Euwe, Walter Meiden (Contributor) (Paperback - March 1994) This definitely is a reprint of a great book . Cool stuff - every single move is explained very well in games of a master vs. a beginner . You learn how to play the openings of a chess game and you also get a clear idea about what makes the difference beween them . As the master is that much stronger you also see the ideas in their pure form . You get a first hold of positional play - everything is explained so that you can understand what is going on - and not fooling yourself that you to believe you nearly understand ;-) . If you still are interested in the game of chess and have gone this far, now it's time to try some more complicated stuff : 5. Pawn Power in Chess by Hans Kmoch (Paperback - December 1990) Average Customer Review: Usually ships in 24 hours Another reprint- I don't think this book is that great for kids . It is written for adults . This is a lecture on positional play . It's not _that_ hard to understand and again this one starts with very simple questions ; but it definitely goes far beyond this and tries to teach you lots of complicated things about positional play ( quite advanced stuff ) . It is a manageable challenge though for a 1600 player IMHO . OK - that's it . Once you've reached this stage , you'll choose your books for yourself anyway. I'd probably vote for some endgame stuff now ( I remember some cool and simple Mednis books or everything by Averbakh for what it's worth ) but probably now you really can't stop yourself to look and study some opening books . But now you already should have managed to learn and understand the game well enough that whatever you read it won't harm your skill much anymore . This is a very personal approach I didn't even follow myself . But I definitely think I should have :-) . Regards. pete
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