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It seems that Nunn (who is undoubtedly a stronger player than Chernev was) is correct in his criticisms of certain instances of analysis in Chernev's book, and also correct in pointing out that Chernev is sometimes too quick to dogmatically conclude an overarching general principle that doesn't properly allow for exceptions. But I don't believe this should ...
22
Basically, no.
It was co-authored by Stuart Margulies and Don Mosenfelder, and while Fischer may have contributed a little, it is generally accepted that he just lent his name to the project.
Soltis, Andrew (2003). Bobby Fischer Rediscovered. B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 10. ISBN 0-7134-8846-8.
17
This depends on a lot of things, but most importantly: your playing level and the topic.
For example, if it is an opening book, it heavily depends on the opening. Some opening variations which are main stream today, didn't even exist in the seventies, or were rarely used (like the Berlin Wall in Ruy Lopez). Others haven't seen that much development (QGD, ...
12
The International Chess Congress, St. Petersburg, 1909 is a classic by World Champion Emanuel Lasker was written in 1910 and is in the public domain.
[EDIT] ISBN: 1888690097, can be viewed online or downloaded in PDF at http://archive.org/details/internationalche00lask
12
There are two excellent modern surveys of openings: Sam Collins' Understanding the Chess Openings and Paul van der Sterren's Fundamental Chess Openings. They both cover every major opening, demonstrating the main ideas and variations. I would start with Collins, since it is shorter and easier to read through in its entirety, but both are highly recommended.
11
A book often recommended to beginners is Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev. It contains 33 games with text explanations for every single move.
Dan Heisman also recommends other books in his web site, here are a few:
Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking - Neil McDonald
A First Book of Morphy by del Rosario
Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever ...
11
Since you are a 1400, Silman's book is the way to go. His book will give you the solid endgame foundation that you need. Only once you read his book up to "Endgames for Class A" should you get the other book.
11
I think there are number of reasons why these are so popular:
It is easy to start learning openings. You can read about ideas and memorize some lines. It is not so easy to learn middle game or end game in similar fashion.
A lot of players want to get an edge from the start- hence the focus on openings.
People enjoy reading them
They are easier to write than ...
10
Learn Chess by John Nunn. A highly respected chess author. Do not be put off by the title!
Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman. A modern classic, improvement in the endgame will improve your whole game, I should recommend studying up to the Part Five then saving the rest for later.
Tactics Time! by Tim Brennan and Anthea Carson. Tactics is an ...
10
First of all, there is no method that will just make you half an Elo point stronger each and every day. Chess improvement usually happens in leaps and bounds with long phases of seeming stagnation in between.
The reason you feel overwhelmed is that you focus on the result instead of the process. And you realise that between the desired result and your ...
9
Let's start by saying that that's a subjective question. What is "too many" for one person may be just right for another.
That being said, let's take a ridiculous case: A diagram for every move, whether main line or variation. The diagrams would get in the way of the exposition. It's safe to say that very few chess players would benefit from such a book.
...
9
I am aware of ISBN 5278004010
Cons:
the book is in Russian, I don't know if there's an English translation
Pros:
contains all match games, most of them annotated (some games aren't annotated, contain just some short comments about particular moves at the end)
annotations by Alekhine himself
contains other games played by Alekhine in tournaments before ...
9
To me one move was clear -
Nxd5
But after 1...cxd5 2.Rc7, although the knight is pinned for a move, Black can easily unpin it by moving the queen to d6, d8, e6, or e8. In fact, the knight is not even fully pinned - Black could move it to c5 and force a queen trade. You've sacrificed the knight for a pawn, and get no lasting pin.
Why 1. ......
8
Well, here's a link that contains the game, probably. I'd guess it's example #1. This may give you more information for your research.
8
Tim Harding's The Kibitzer column on Chesscafe.com recently had an article about finding old chess books online. Basically he goes to Google Books and Forgotten Books, and searches for chess. See the article for details.
In the article, he says he's found the following old chess books this way, although whether they are available to you or not depends on ...
7
It's a bit old, but I cut my teeth on "Chess Fundamentals" by former world champion JR Capablanca. Moreover, it's one of the few books in the public domain, so you can access it online.
7
You can find more books at the following sites:
http://chesszone.org/lib/lib.html
http://www.chessville.com/downloads/ebooks.htm
http://www.chessmaniac.com/chess_ebooks/index.shtml
http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=chess&as_brr=1
7
Chernev is one of the best chess writers out there. I started learning chess very late in life in my 30's. If am even still trying to learn and play this game, it is because of Chernev's writings. I own about 200 chess books. Some of the grandmaster writings soon become esoteric for a beginner trying to get enough of the basics to continue developing and ...
7
Winning Chess Strategy for Kids by Coakley is EXACTLY what you want.
Barely a few pages explaining basics. Then tons of practical content that even adults will find useful. Wastes no time in getting intermediate lessons in strategy/tactics presented in an astonishingly kid-friendly way. :)
7
I believe it helps to focus more on enjoying the game rather than learning. If you enjoy the game, you learn a lot in the process.
So, my advice would be to enjoy your chess. Find players that are roughly your skill level and play many games. Once you've played a few dozen games, you will gain some experience and then you will be ready to start learning ...
7
Open Chess Books is a site that aims to “republish classic chess books, with all diagrams transformed in animated boards, and release them for free.”
They only have two books at the moment (Modern Ideas in Chess and Chess Fundamentals), but it's a great resource so far.
Predator at the Chessboard by Ward Farnsworth is a great primer on chess tactics that's ...
7
Well, Aaron Nimzowitsch wrote a book called "My System" in the late 1920's, and it's still worth reading today, so just because a book is old doesn't mean it's bad.
It's hard to say whether a book has stood the test of time just knowing what year it was published, but one thing is for sure: many lines can be faulty, as computers were not used to verify ...
7
They are both great, I agree that you should get both.
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is perhaps more instructive since it has slightly more explanatory text and tries to organize the material around rules for reader to learn, while Fundamental Chess Endings has more examples in about the same number of total pages. They both focus on practical examples from ...
7
I disagree with the other answer that it's not the book but the hours you put in - if the book is off-putting and difficult to follow, it will affect your motivation to put in the hours required.
IM John Watson has a fantastic review of Dvoretsky's work which I recommend you read before committing either way.
I must emphasize that this is a terribly ...
7
She wrote two autobiographical books while in Argentina: "Así juega una mujer", Buenos Aires 1941 and "Yo soy Susann", Buenos Aires 1946. Susanna was her real first name.
Bibliographic data in WorldCat:
https://www.worldcat.org/title/asi-juega-una-mujer-impresiones-y-recuerdos-de-la-carrera-ajedrecistica-de-la-autora-y-psicologia-de-los-ajedrecistas/oclc/...
6
I was asking myself who else tried to use Kmoch's terminology; I never find in my books other authors using most of his terms (only some of them).
I am probably the only guy who thinks that the terminology is useful. We all are used to works like "candidates", "Luft", "Zugzwang", "passed pawns", "pawn chain". We could also say that these terms are not ...
6
EDIT: Answer to Revised Question Below
Based on the way you described it, it makes sense to simply open up the PGN along with any engine and go through it line by line. I do not believe there's an automated way to iterate through all the moves and ensure their individual accuracy.
I'm curious as to how you generated your book to begin with - did you do it ...
6
There are several excellent books covering the French Defense.
Unfortunately, you cannot avoid complications, despite how much you want to, there are going to be complications, just because you play this line, doesn't mean the game can't somehow explode into a tactical mess.
Also how can you be a French player if you don't want to play the critical f7-f6 ...
6
The two books by John Watson about strategy. These themes are considered from a historical viewpoint usually in contrast to the way they are presented in textbooks. Even if you find a favorite textbook then later you should verify everything against John Watson's books because he always gives counterarguments and counterexamples to what is established as the ...
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