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Yusupov's books (Build up Your Chess and Boost Your Chess) are really interesting, and I'm working with them

However, I find the chess pocket Book (by Lev Alburt) and the How to Reassess your chess Workbook (Silman) complementary

Elo 1350 FIDE

Learning from these three books is time consuming. So here are my (two) question(s) : are the Yusupov books sufficient and are the two other books (tactics and strategy) really useful ?

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are the Yusupov books sufficient?

The Yusupov books are more than just two books. The ones you quote are each a series of three books and there is a third series, Chess Evolution.

The three books in each series are

  1. The Fundamentals
  2. Beyond the Basics
  3. Mastery

So, in the Build up Your Chess series you have Build up Your Chess: The Fundamentals, Build up Your Chess: Beyond the Basics and Build up Your Chess: Mastery.

There is an enormous amount of excellent material in these books from one of the world's best chess teachers. Just working through these books will improve your chess understanding and play.

They will definitely be sufficient to make you a better player. However, they are very unlikely to be sufficient to turn you into a GM or even an IM.

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  • I'm aware that i'll never be a GM.... and I have some knowledge about the Yusupov's serie ;-)
    – Sholmes49
    May 31 at 19:12
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The Yusupov series is really good and enough, so that you do not have to get other books. However, if you like, you can get some collection(s) of annotated games. Nevertheless, I would recommend Alburt that you could carry with you for "casual reading" when the chess board is not with you (since Yusupov recommends working on a chessboard).

I also recommend the Soviet Chess Primer.

I would not recommend Silman's books though. You may search r/chess on Reddit for some reasons.

Edit the Dutch Steps Method is also really good.

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  • The Reassess your chess Workbook seems to be more useful than The Reassess Your chess, thanks to the exercices.
    – Sholmes49
    Jun 1 at 12:44
  • Silman generates strong reactions: Some think he's great, others think he's terrible. Admittedly, I've not read much of his writing. However, he seems to have his own way of doing things, which likely appeals to some folks while annoying others. Instead of relying on the opinions of people on an online forum, I'd suggest reading one of his books and coming to your own conclusion about whether his way of doing things appeals to and works for you.
    – GreenMatt
    Jun 1 at 14:36
  • @GreenMatt Yes, I agree with you that one should actually read and come to his/her conclusions rather than relying on that of others. I already have some books I am working through (like Yusupov) and I got that advice from someone really close to her IM title. So I tend to trust her opinion on Silman.
    – hedgehog0
    Jun 2 at 13:12
  • @hedgehog0: It's good that you have something that is working for you. However, I can't help but observe that "I agree with you that one should actually read and come to his/her conclusions" doesn't match up with "I got that advice from someone ... I tend to trust her opinion on Silman."
    – GreenMatt
    Jun 5 at 14:53

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