You can get most of them. But they might be very pricey.

Hello all


Of course this is all a matter of opinion, but I would like to add my five cents worth:

Endgame Books: I would lean towards either Keres (PCE) or Dvoretsky's Engame Manual instead of Averbakh.

Middlegame: I would certainly not have the Silman book and probably not the Keres + Kotov book either (I bought that in 1973 for R1.10 !). A really difficult category but I would stick my neck out and pick Pachman's trilogy Complete Chess Strategy and Nimzowitsch's My System.

Games Collections: How can Fischer's My 60 Memorable games possibly be left out? The Nunn book is really good, but I would have preferred Secrets of Grandmaster Play by the same author (I have both). Serious contenders would be - not Chernev's Instructive Games which really is not in the same league - but Timman's Art of Chess Analysis or Speelman's Best Chess games 70-80.

"And Because" : I really cannot agree with the Fischer-Spassky book. The book was produced in a hurry to climb on the bandwagon of Fischermania at the time and is pretty skimpy on analysis. Timman has apparently written the definitive book on the match (which I do not have).
The other book can only be Polugaevsky's monumental work Grandmaster Preparation, part of which covers the birth of the razor-sharp Polu Variation of the Najdorf.

Howzit Scrubber,

I have PCE and Dvoretsky's Endgame manual. PCE is great, but I look on it more as a reference rather than instructional book. I think I mentioned the Dvoretsky in the artcle. Also the Carsten Muller gets some good reviews.

A few people have slated Silman. I love My System for nostalgic reasons, but would probably stick it in the 'and because' category.

60 Memorable Games got a mention as well. I value it, but suspect I'm the only person in the world who would consider leaving it out. You are right Chernev is not in the same league (although the choice of games is good).

I picked up a copy of the Art of Chess Analysis in Jo-ey! I played for a couple of months at Roosevelt Park (and went to a chess club one night in Rosebank Mall... met a wonderful girl there!). The book's great, but the pages fall out in my copy

Yep, I agree on Fischer - Spassky, and think there is something earlier on in this thread about Grandmaster Preparation (I called it the first chess blog).

Best regards, Roger

Thanks for your prompt reply.

My copy of Timman's book also has the pages falling out. Strangely enough in my old Dover Books this does not happen.

Has nobody else got Speelman's book (Best Chess Games 1970-80) it really is a good book though similar in style to Timman's book ?

A pity that Roosevelt Park club no longer exist. It is strange the the W Cape number of clubs is increasing but the number in Gauteng is going the other way.

aveumluhe, don't worry, you are not alone in this

From the learning standpoints, Fischer *games* are terrific, but not so his comments. Usually, one learns more by studying the Fischer games commented by someone else rather than Fischer, because Bobby's notes are too full of variations without pinpointing the crucial points.
Besides, he is often biased about this and that opening variation (just like Botvinnik), and often dogmatic in his assessments.

Alekhine's or Bronstein way of annotating is much more appealing for a student (and they look much more objective in their verbal statements)

I'd much prefer to include Bobby's book in the "just because" section, I find batter many other games collection.

As far as we talk of Chernev, obviously as a player he cannot be compared to Bobby, but as an annotator *for teaching purposes*, I think he was 400 elo points higher than most top GMs

Speelman's book is great, it "tells you a story": when playing through his games, you feel as you were really there, living the drama

Good choice

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I will add one more book in the list of "tactics": "Analyzing to win" by Byron Jacobs is a book with really cool exercises, which are not combinations puzzles, but rather a collection of positions that occurred over the board: you never know whether the good choice is a tactical solution or positional solution, and sometimes you even have to decide whather you have to play for the win or for the draw.

A very good exercices set, but better suited for 1800+ elo players (e.g. just imagine the tyope of difficulty that you meet in Dvorestsky books)

Scrubber: I was in Gauteng in 97/98; shame to hear about Roosevelt Park. I haven't been back to South Africa since 2001, which is also a pity. I take it Melville is still the place to hang out.

'My art of analysis' is a small blue Cadogan version, which I think I got from a book shop up at Four Lane Ends... maybe we both got the same bad batch!

Chamaco: We might have to disagree on Chernev (his annotations annoy me), but we'll agree on everything else! I haven't seen 'Analysing to Win', but bought a Jacobs book to help my children learn the game and it definitely seemed to be the best on offer.

aveumluhe:
I understand your feelings vs Chernev: it was the same for me at first.
Indeed, when I was only playing, Chernev's books looked to me too simplistic.

And they are indeed ! However, perhaps my judgement is biased by my coaching experience: this week, for instance, I am preparing a set of pupils (age 10-11) for the finals of the Junior Nationals Chships in Italy.

And indeed, the use of Chernev's "Logical chess move by move" and of "best lessons from a chess coach" (by Weeramantry and Eusebi) was very rewarding for the study of middlegames. (Silman's books would be way too advanced)

For the endgame, I selected for coaching Alburt's book "Just the facts"

How could I forget Weermantry's book? Especially when you consider his kid is Hikaru Nakamura.

These days I am going through Gibbins 50 Essential Lessons. Easy book that is very assessable. I have Jan Timman's book Power Chess with Pieces and will start that in the fall.

I ordered, and just received, the books Chess Openings for White, Explained and Chess Openings for Black, Explained, both by GM Lev Alburt. I can't wait to start reading them. For the endgame, a dutch IM (Johan van Mil) told me Silman's Complete Endgame Course would be a good book for me, so I got that one too. But now you said Alburt has a great endgame book too, I might get that one after I finished these three beauties.
Thanks for the tip!