The Search for Chess Perfection

Chessville - Reviews - CJS Purdy's Fine Art of Chess Annotation and Other Thoughts Volume One, Revised Second Edition - by CJS Purdy - Reviewed by David Surratt

The above two sites contain reviews of the two Purdy books mentioned here - both are highly in favour of these books.

The algebraic version of Bobby Fischer's My Sixty Most Memorable Games and New York 1924 are out.

New York 1924 is especially welcome as the older version is quite frankly hard to use.

I believe Russell Enterprises also came out with an algebraic edition of St Petersburg 1909 in addition to New York 1924.

Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Chernev- it's a very instructive book.

I Own the following books & they are all highly recommended:

How to Beat Your Dad at Chess by Murray Chandler
Chess Tactics for Kids by Murray Chandler
Chess for Everyone by Robert Snyder (Chess for Everyone Series)
Winning Chess Tournaments by Robert Snyder (Chess for Everyone Series)
Winning Chess Traps by Robert Snyder (Chess for Everyone Series)
Unbeatable Chess Lessons by Robert Snyder (Chess for Everyone Series)
More Unbeatable Chess Lessons by Robert Snyder (Chess for Everyone Series)
Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan (Winning Chess Series)
Winning Chess Openings by Yasser Seirawan (Winning Chess Series)
Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan (Winning Chess Series)
Winning Chess Strategies by Yasser Seirawan (Winning Chess Series)
Winning Chess Combinations by Yasser Seirawan (Winning Chess Series)
Winning Chess Endings by Yasser Seirawan (Winning Chess Series)
Winning Chess Brilliancies by Yasser Seirawan (Winning Chess Series)
Lasker’s Manual of Chess by Emanuel Lasker
Chess Fundamentals by J. R. Capablanca
Understanding the Chess Openings by Sam Collins
Chess for Tigers by Simon Webb
The Amateur’s Mind by Jeremy Silman
The Art of Planning in Chess : Move by Move by Neil McDonald
Chess : The Art of Logical Thinking by Neil McDonald
Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn
Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving Chernev
Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy by John Watson
Chess Strategy in Action by John Watson
The King in Jeopardy by Lev Alburt
Winning Chess Endgames: Just the Facts! by Lev Alburt
Capablanca’s Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev
Storming the Barricades by Larry Christiansen
Nunn’s Chess Openings by John Nunn
Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Walter Meiden
Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir Vukovic
How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman
Reassess Your Chess Workbook by Jeremy Silman
My System by Aron Nimzowitsch
Chess Praxis by Aron Nimzowitsch
Art of the Middle Game by Paul Keres & Alexander Kotov
Silman’s Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman
Modern Chess Strategy by Ludek Pachman
Josh Waitzkin’s Attacking Chess by Josh Waitzkin
Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar
The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book by John Emms
1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations by Fred Reinfeld
1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate by Fred Reinfeld
The Art of the Checkmate by Georges Renaud
My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer
Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by Mikhail Tal
Attack with Mikhail Tal by Mikhail Tal
Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games by Graham Burgess
My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 by Alexander Alekhine
My Best Games Of Chess 1924-1937 by Alexander Alekhine
My Great Predecessors Volume 1 by Garry Kasparov
My Great Predecessors Volume 2 by Garry Kasparov
My Great Predecessors Volume 3 by Garry Kasparov
My Great Predecessors Volume 4 by Garry Kasparov
My Great Predecessors Volume 5 by Garry Kasparov

Books I still need to buy:

My Best Games by Anatoly Karpov
Modern Chess, Part 1: Revolution in the 70's by Garry Kasparov
Modern Chess, Part 2: Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-1985 by Garry Kasparov
Modern Chess, Part 3: Kasparov vs Karpov 1986-1987 by Garry Kasparov
Basic Chess Tactics by Robert M Snyder (Chess for Everyone Series)

A perfect example of a quality book collection.

How many have you read?

Wow. That is a LOT more chess books than I thought imaginable. That's more than three times all the chess books in my collection, my local public library, and the library at school COMBINED.

For me, about 17 or 18 books.

Thanks zatoichi. There are still some more books that I plan on getting just from recommendations from all of you guys. Bobby Fischer said that he read over 1,000 Chess Books so my collection is nothing compared to that. A lot of people with big collections have mostly books on openings but I'm still trying to work & improve on my Tactics, Middlegame & Endgames. I'll just stick to a few openings & when I'm ready I'll learn more & get some more opening books. All the books in my collection are highly recommended on amazon & chessville so definitly check them out.