The Best Chess Books of all Time?
This article by IM Jeremy Silman came out a couple of weeks ago, and he offers his favorites along with those of GM Yasser Seirawan and IMs John Donaldson, Anthony Saidy, Daniel Rensch, Jack Peters, Cyrus Lakdawala, David Preuss and John Watson.
I may (or may not) someday offer such a list myself, but I approve of everything on Seirawan's list and an awful lot on Rensch's, Lakdawala's, Preuss's, Watson's and Silman's lists. Donaldson doesn't offer a list, while Peters offers a list but not the one Silman is after - he (Peters) lists books he found influential. Saidy offers the sort of list Silman requests, but most of his selections wouldn't be on my list - I find it too beginner-oriented.
Anyway, this is the place where I invite all of you to offer your lists. If you feel like adding your strength for the sake of a broader perspective, that could be helpful. Ready...begin!
Reader Comments (4)
Those lists are all a bit heavy on the classics, but lots of good books that's for sure.
A part of my own list:
- The King's Gambit for the creative aggressor by Thomas Johansson, the only opening book that ever succeeded in giving me a real understanding of the typical positions and surely the reason why I still massively over perform in the KG.
My triptych of dynamic chess:
- The life and games of Mikhail Tal
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Bronstein (Taught me exchange sac's for good.)
- Fire on Board by Shirov
(There was also a book on Morphy's best games - immensely entertaining.)
Fun reading:
- The seven deadly chess sins by Rowson
- Secrets of modern chess strategy by Watson
- Move first, think later by Hendricks
Serious Training:
- Yusupov's big series.
- Aagaard: Calculation, Excelling at positional chess, Excelling at chess … (Especially Exc. at pos. Ch. was an eye opener for me.)
Beginner's books (unfortunately no english edition):
- Ludek Pachmann: Schach für Alle, Schach für Aufsteiger.
Instead of explaining lots of simple things, Pachmann explains some complicated things very deeply, kind of like in "Amateur to IM". Those are the lessons that really stay with you.
The Endgame:
- Bernd Rosen: Chess Endgame Training, a little work book. Contains probably enough theoretical knowledge 'till GM and beyond.
- Amateur to IM: Explains a handful of endgames very thoroughly.
I am rated around 170 BCF (probably 1900s in the normal rating scheme) and I prefer books which are more verbose with respect to plans etc. And while I don't want the book to be inundated with diagrams, I don't want them to be too sparse either - typically, even when playing through games with a board and pieces, I tend to pause longer when the diagrams appear to take stock of what's happening. The reason I mention this last point is that though I am a huge fan of Tal and his games, my only complaint is that there aren't enough diagrams in the book. It might also be a general difference between older books and newer ones but it lets down his book somewhat.
Having said all that, my favourite chess books, in no particular order:
From Amateur to IM by Jonathan Hawkins
My Best Games of Chess by Vishy Anand
The World's Greatest Chess Games by Nunn et al
Kasparov's My Great Predecessor Series
The best chess books are the ones that you actually read, which to me are the ones that are fun, but make you work too. While I wish that I had worked my way through Alekhine's Best Games or Zurich 1953, I have only dabbled in them and they remain on my "someday" shelf. The ones that I have read and enjoyed the most are:
Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Euwe - my first aha book
Modern Chess Strategy by Pachman
Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge by Averbakh
Encyclopedia of Chess Middlegames: Combinations by Chess Informant
Garry Kasparov's Best Chess Games, vols 1&2 by Stohl
Understanding Chess: Move by Move by Nunn
Chess Choice Challenge by Ward and Emms
I don't think that these will appear on many best-of-all-time lists, but it's a matter of having the right book at the right time fall into your hands. For annotated games, I found that the depth of the annotations matter a lot and may depend on your level (1900 for me). I was totally engrossed in Stohl's Kasparov books, but his Instructive Chess Masterpieces didn't do much for me. It was just too much work to be enjoyable. Also, the quality of the annotations are much more important than the quality of the games. The games I can look up in a database; it's the explanations that make it a good book.
I would mention some books in my library that were not mentioned first before I got to the usual suspects:
The Complete Hedgehog by Shipov
Tiger Modern by Tiger
From London to Elista by Bareev
San Luis 2005, Gershon and Nor
Pal Benko My Life and Games
The Soviet Chess Conveyor, Sherevsky
Winning Pawn Structures, Baburin
Think Like a Grandmaster, Kotov
How to Reassess your Chess
Art of Attack in Chess, Vukovic