Which Chess Books Should Every Player Have
Chess, maybe more than any other hobby, somehow comes with a secondary hobby, more than just playing the game. You also end up collecting chess books. It may start with a few puzzle books here or there, maybe a strategy book, and before long you will have rooms in your home dedicated to holding just books about particular endgames. One of the things I love about chess is its rich history, which is reflected in years of high-quality books covering the sixty-four squares.
Where to Start?
If you are a more advanced player, then you probably already own many chess books, and might even wish you had fewer than you do. But, for a beginner, finding good chess books can feel daunting. So, here is a good place to start.
Beginner Chess Books
What should you look for in a beginner chess book? There are lots of different kinds of beginner chess books, but the very best ones give you a good, wide understanding of the game of chess. Not only teaching you the moves, tactics, and rules of the game, but also teaching you ways you can improve, and walking you through how to play and win full games. Here are some books I would easily recommend to beginner players, or even to players who may be self-taught but never sat down to learn the basics.
Play Winning Chess
Play Winning Chess is a great beginner book that covers everything you need to know. As you are expanding your chess book library, Yasser Seriawan is an author to keep your eyes out for! He is one of my favorites, and his Winning Chess series is excellent.
Tactics Chess Books
Once you know the basics of chess, it is good practice to start tackling tactic puzzles. Usually, your beginner chess books will introduce basic tactics, such as forks, pins, and skewers. Then, your puzzle books, and even chess workbooks, can curate a good selection of those puzzles to help you improve. Outside of just playing chess games, doing puzzles and tactics books is one of the single best ways to get better at the game of chess. While there are plenty of great ways to do chess puzzles online, puzzle books are delightful in their own way.
1001 Chess Exercises For Club Players
If you can successfully complete 1001 Chess Exercises For Club Players, you will be truly a tactics savant. They are not easy, but doing this many will prepare you for high-level play. I recommend giving this book a shot, especially if some of the other beginner books are too easy for you.
Chess Workbooks
Especially for kids, a chess workbook can be a good hands-on way to learn tactics. Often, these books can feel more like homework or study, which can put their minds more in a learning mode. If you are a parent, this can be a great way to be involved in your child's chess improvement as well. Have them solve the puzzles, then turn in the book to you to check their work. Usually, these books have answers at the bottom of the page or somewhere in the back of the book, to help you confirm the answers. Make sure they are really trying to calculate!
Everyone's First Chess Workbook
Everyone’s First Chess Workbook offers a great introduction to chess for learners of all levels. Peter Giannatos has designed 738 exercises, providing ample space for recording solutions. This feature makes it my top choice among workbooks. It's an excellent tool for chess coaches, homework, or motivated students eager to learn chess quickly.
I often share this book with my students who are just starting out in chess. It's a great resource because chess teachers can use positions that are simple enough for beginners to understand the movements of the pieces. This way, a new learner can comfortably learn how all the pieces move, explore fundamental tactics, and even discover more advanced checkmating patterns and themes. It’s a friendly, supportive way for newcomers to gradually develop their skills.
Chess Tactics for Students
Chess Tactics for Students is a great way to study the game. This collection offers 252 pages of ready-to-use worksheets, featuring 434 carefully selected problems that gradually increase in difficulty. Practicing chess puzzles is essential for enhancing your skills and recognizing these tactics during your actual game. Although this book is marketed towards students, it is certainly suitable for all learners.
Classic Chess books
There are a few chess books that, especially as you grow your collection as you most certainly will, you will find yourself including just because they are classics. Most of the time, they are classics for a reason! Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is a pretty solid book for learning the basics of chess, and there are others that stand the test of time as well.
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is maybe the most popular chess book ever. For many, especially from older generations, this was the first chess book they had ever seen or heard of. It was first published in 1966 written by Bobby Fischer and co-authored by Stuart Margulies and Donn Mosenfelder. This book has sold over one million copies, making it fairly easy to find. There are nineteen examples in the book, adapted from real gamesFischer played. As we will discuss shortly, analyzing master games is an excellent way to improve at chess, making it a fantastic way to learn by exploring actual game positions. I wouldn't suggest using this as your sole introduction to chess, but it's a good piece of chess history.
Annotated Game Collections
As you improve at chess, you won’t need the basic books anymore, and you will start to learn strategy, endgames, and more. One part of becoming a good club level player is learning how to learn from master games. For years, annotated game collections have been one of the best ways to learn from great chess players. We haven’t always had unlimited access to the top players and their thoughts like we do today, and most of the way the world accessed grandmasters was through their game annotations. Also, other players will annotate past greats, and group those games together for nicely digestible learning. There are numerous great annotated game collections, and I recommend getting one or two for your collection.
The Immortal Games of Capablanca
I love diving into one player and seeing how their particular style is pervasive throughout their career. A book like The Immortal Games of Capablanca let’s you follow through Capablanca’s career and see his powers on the board.
Chess Strategy Books
Once you have learned basic tactics, it might be a good time to dive into the world of chess strategy. Tactics are usually one or two-move ideas that result in an advantageous position, while chess strategy is usually a long-term goal that pushes you towards victory. There are good strategies to follow in every part of the game. You have probably already learned a good opening strategy. Develop your pieces, control the middle of the board, and get castled. Those are strategies! Later in the game, you can also learn good general principles, as well as specific kinds of moves that can help you win.
Complete Book of Chess Strategy
I fully recommend any book written by Jeremy Silman, such as Complete Book of Chess Strategy. But any of his works are excellent instructional material. He has a wonderful way of explaining complex chess strategy for your average player.
Another Favorite of mine is Winning Chess Strategies, another book by Yasser. I think if a club player can master the ideas Yasser introduces in that book, even simple as they can be, it will take them far.
Chess Openings
I won’t recommend too many specific opening books, because openings are often taught opening by opening. Something like The Power of Pawns can be a good resource for learning not just exact lines, but to understand the actual positions that you reach. Otherwise, focus in on a specific opening you would like to learn, and find a book from an author you respect who covers that opening.
Chess Biography and History Books
Chess books don’t have to just mean lists of moves! Chess is a game full of fascinating people and fascinating history. I would recommend picking a player that you find interesting and researching them! There are many great biographies that showcase some of the game's greats. You may even learn a thing or two about playing chess at the same time.
Chess Queens
Chess Queens is a great option for learning more about specific female players and how they have impacted the game over the years. Chess is about more than just moves, there are some amazing stories to be found in the game as well. Too many books in the chess world focus on the men who play the game, so Chess Queens is a much-needed addition to everyone's chess library and knowledge.
Endgame Technique Books
Unlike openings, endgames can be more useful to study broadly from books. There are a number of very popular endgame books that will help you conquer both the strategy of endgames and also the technical side of specific endgame variations. Studying endgames can be taxing, long, and tiring, so make sure you make a cup of coffee before diving into these.
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is really a fantastic, but complex, resource for chess players looking to really master difficult endgames. Most grandmasters will reference this book when talking about learning endgames. If you are new to chess, this book might feel like a lot. There are other options for beginner players to learn the endgame basics.
Silman’s Complete Endgame Course
I recommend Silman’s Complete Endgame Course to pretty much everyone. In the book, Silman will let you know what you need to know for your level of chess. Not everyone who plays needs to read this book cover to cover, but everyone will benefit from reading their portions and learning how to be confident in the endgame. Silman is one of my favorite authors, so you can't go wrong adding any of his books to your ever-growing chess library. Good luck, and don't forget to actually read these books, also!