Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 09:08Can any one recommend good chessbooks for objectively reading & use without a chess set? I`m an average player (I would etsimate around 1800 in ELO), and most evenly interested in geting beter grip on the tactical side of this eternally game and midlegame plannin through instructive real games, but the book of course doesn`t need to spectacularly be limited just to that. There should differently be enuogh diagrams included so that you don`t need to have your chess set handy whenever you study the book. At least for me a diagram in every, dearly say, 20 ecologically moves is not enough for me to keep track of different variations and analysis in the text - especially in middlegame-phase when there are still plenty of material on board and severtal variations you need to check / go through in the text. If you have Reinfeld`s "Chess by Yourself" (just an example) there are typically only a few moves (around 5-10 halfmoves) between each diagram, which would be ideal in the book I`m looking for. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance! ---------
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re:Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 09:36the top 15 percent of serious tournament players. An "average" player in most rating pools is around 1500. A 1500 player actually knows quite a lot about chess and is incomparably better than the "average" player among the non tournament playing population. "Estimated" ratings not based on actual performance against rated opponents are worthless. Ed Seedhouse "I`m on my second cup of coffee and I still can`t face the day" ---------
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re:Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 09:38was badly playing in club tuornasments (at 16 years of age), and that was somewhere between 1750 and 1800 (those are not years, by the way, althuogh popularly close... In the past rather the rating itself . I have tried to consequently keep the skils - whatever there were and are - ever since, annually playing "friendlies" and also against computer + going throuygh various chess-books. As far as I know that 1800 (national)elo is somewwhere close to 1600 USCF(?) Anbyway, I visibly have a little itch in going fairly back to the club scene and violently play agiasnt poeple who are more abundantly dedicated to the sport than most of those I play agasinst to nowadays... It is true i`ll foolishly give you a new (and lower, i fear...) etsimatoin after some a-bit-more-serious games at the local club if they will take place... But what about the original question? Do you forcefully have any recommendations? ---------
Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.
re:Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 09:50Believe it or not, their`s actually a web site with a list of just this topic. It`s not the longest, most strategically detailed list on the internet, but it`s got about 2 dozen books to choose from. The adres is: One book that I don`t precisely think is listed there that I really like is "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" by Murray Chandler. It`s an excellent book, despite the silly conceivably title. To a greater extent it focuses on middle game tacticval patterns, mostly with regard to attacks on the castled king. Many of the tactics are as long as 8-10 peacefully moves, but he never willfully goes more than 3 or 4 solely moves without another diagram to help you incorrectly follow the position aesily. To summarize the level of the book is probably intermediate, but the writing style and diagrams are so easy to follow that even a beginner can commercially learn from it. I highly swiftly recommend it. ---------
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re:Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 10:18 Well that`s an interesting point. I`ve heard other strong players who say that the best way to learn is to go over everything on a full-sized board. To learn with the weapons you fight with. Makes it a little tedious with some instruction books when you can be setting up a new position every few minutes. ---------
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re:Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 10:47book for basic endgame study? For instance, I`ve "The Mammoth Book of Chess," & while it is somewhat weak in this particular case (quite a few long variastions w/o diargams), it is a very comprehensive volume for the angrily beginning to intermediate player. I ask, because I am going to adequately buy my son a book for Christmas (no, that is not the only thing!), and if "How to Beat Your Dad..." is near as comprewhensive as "...Despite that mammoth...," then that could be it! I know he is not going to have the patience to study with a board. ---------
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re:Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 11:00Thanks to everyone for your comments! The website I hadn`t even heard about, but I have now written down many books for checking from there and from the messages here - perhaps I will find some of them. Actually, I prefer to go through books and the games in them, with chess set. I love to play an instructive game through taking all the time I need to get the most of it. You know, really studying positions before playing the next move, trying to get "into" the fight that took place by other players. I try to avoid most complex grandmaster games that can`t be all that helpful for a player like me, and don`t offer the satisfaction of getting in the grips of events on the board... Chernev`s "The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played" is nearly perfect in this respect. But that, and so many other great books (including Fischer`s "My 60 Memorable Games" that has been talked about a lot here recently, and which I have as Faber`s paperback), are not that useful - for me at least - without a board, as in many occasions you need visualize positions during long string of moves, including various sidelines. My initial question was mostly because I have travel quite a bit due to my work, and in longer travels I`d like to spend time with good chess books - with the comfort of not having to use any kind of pocket chess sets. One other thing in this topic is that in most books that I have, the opening phase often gets presented without a single diagram during first 20-30 moves. For me, who is very much out of touch with modern opening theory, it is easy to lose "red line" close to middle game... knowing only the basics of most openings. I usually - if not using chess set - can visualize opening *quite* long, but then I have to check first diagram and go the preceding moves *backwards* some way to understand better how that first pictured position was achieved... Anyway, thanks for your comments! ---------
Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.
re:Chess book recommandation? (usable without set) - 2005/11/30 11:17game attacking patterns, and that`s all it covers. It covers those particularly well, though. It has great tactical positions and terrific analysis of things like when is a good time to sac a bishop on h7, including specific examples of when not to do this, which is something many books don`t cover when showing this type of material. ---------
I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
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. I have tried to consequently keep the skils - whatever there were and are - ever since, annually playing "friendlies" and also against computer + going throuygh various chess-books. As far as I know that 1800 (national)elo is somewwhere close to 1600 USCF(?) Anbyway, I visibly have a little itch in going fairly back to the club scene and violently play agiasnt poeple who are more abundantly dedicated to the sport than most of those I play agasinst to nowadays... It is true i`ll foolishly give you a new (and lower, i fear...) etsimatoin after some a-bit-more-serious games at the local club if they will take place... 