Top 4 Most Overrated Chess Books (and what you should read instead)

1) Margulies, Mosenfelder, Fischer - Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
2) Nimzowitsch - My System
3) Silman - How to Reassess your Chess
4) Dvoretsky - Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
Dishonorable Mention: Kotov - Think Like A Grandmaster

Recommended Books (affiliate links):

For a full list of my recommendations, check out this post:

Social Media:

[edwardchilikawei]

Recommended books:
1:29 The Soviet Chess Primer
2:18 Learn Chess the right way
3:42 Secret to modern Chess stratergy
5:28 Mastering Chess stratergy
6:09 Positional Chess Handbook
7:29 Silmam's complete endgame course
7:42 100 Endgames you must know
8:26 Endgame stratergy
8:41 Mastering Endgame stratergy

[Jealod]

My mom bought me Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess when I was 9. I worked through the book within a few days and never lost to my father again... so satisfying. It’s a very basic book on tactics, but going from never reading a chess book to working through this book was bound to help me. Take that for what it’s worth,

[johnmarlin]

Very nice set of recommendations, young man (I'm in my 60s and still learning the game, so I can call you that). Thank you for these. When I was your age, I think I probably wanted to be you, so congratulations on your achievements to date. I wish you much success and growth in the future.

When I was a young player, I have to say that "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" exposed me to back-rank mates, which we all need to learn. I was in high school during the '72 World Championship, and while my family was on vacation, camping in the American West, I insisted on getting a New York Times every day so I could play through the games with the set I brought along. There are places in Montana and Wyoming where the NYT was hard to come by.

The book that gave me the greatest gain as a club player was Averbakh's "Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge." I really need to bone up on Endgames so I'll get the Silman, thanks for the recommendation. If I learned anything from my encounter with Averbakh, it's that you learn a ton about chess from studying endings. I picked up over 200 rating points in two weekend tournaments (um, starting at 1100, so there was nowhere to go but up) after I spent a week absorbing the book.

I took a long break from competitive play, and I broke back in with Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course vol. 2. After going through it, the 12-year-olds at the library couldn't beat me anymore :). As an old gaffer now, it's fun to reenter the sport and keep learning.

While in a Border's Bookstore (remember them)? I came randomly across De La Maza's "Rapid Chess Improvement." Basically, it was "do lots of problems and learn tactics, " with the suggestion of getting a particular instructional program I won't name here. I bought it and used it did help me see a lot. I now trade wins and draws with players in the 1500-1800 range, so even though I'm not doing rated tournaments, I've obviously gotten better.

Happy to subscribe. My physicians, my pastor, and my therapist are all younger than I am. Why not my chess instructor? Keep it up, lad, keep it up.

[alexbrendan]

My favorite book is Simple Chess, by Michael Stean. It's short, sweet, easy to read, and meant for beginner/intermediate players, but really does teach you how to have a plan: get a good pawn structure, get an open file, get an outpost knight, get control of a diagonal, etc. No memorizing, no endless variations, no risky calculations--just solid, positional advantages. And I love that you can practically read it like a normal book.

[amayesbenmeziane]

The youtube chess community needs more vids like this one.

[yardboy]

I think that you really missed out on mentioning Logical Chess by Irving Chernev. Really helped me to understand the game when starting out

[asambi]

Dvoretsky's endgame manual was recommended to me by Gary Kasparov.

[buk]

Very instructive. I've started to play chess 1.5 years ago. I went from 800 to 2100 reading a lot of chess books. I read:
-My 60 memorable games
-Play like a grandmaster
-My great predecessors part I (I have the other parts as well, but I prefer to analyse the book really deeply and so I've spent over 150h just on this one book.
-Mastering chess strategy
-Secrets of modern chess strategy
-Silman's complete endgame course
-Fire on board
-Pump up your rating

I'm currently reading:
-My great Predecessors part 2
-Dvoretsky's endgame manual
-the woodpecker method
-forcing chess moves
-life and games of Mikhail Tal
-new art of defense in chess
--Mastering chess strategy

Let me know if you have any questions about these books

[henryrankin]

On Endings, I have used "A Guide to the Chess Endings", by Dr. Max Euwe and David Hooper. I have used it since the mid 1980's. Each section (Pawn endings, Rook Endings, etc.) are well written and focus on technique for each section.

[charlestwoo]

Levy Rozman aka Gothamchess sent me here!

[curtisbogue]

I bought a copy of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess a few years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it did teach me a lot about checkmates, but it definitely had a lot of limitations. For instance, all the mating sequences in the book are ones that begin with checks!

[torrubirubi]

Just to add another book on endgames in your list: Basic Endgames, available for free in Chessable ( a coach did it for his students and made it available for everyone!). Very good if you want to start with the basic stuff, including checkmates Q + K vs K or R + K vs K for the really beginners.

[chessfan]

For learning strategy i would recommend to read "Chess Strategy for Club Players" from Herman Grooten. Just a personal taste. It's not that oversimplified, it's shorter but it's more work. And i forgot Silman recommends it.

[LordTreyHowdy]

I appreciate these insights. I'm glad you still like Reasses, but the suggestion that it isn't the be-all end-all of chess books is probably correct. I think it just has the coolest cover and the most systematic and readable material for middlegame instruction.

Thoughts on Pawn Structure Chess/Soltis in general?

[abhijitmadane]

Thank you M. Kavutskiy. I really appreciate your suggestions. Even from the first suggestion, I am realising the depth and usefulness of these recommendations. Thanks a million.

[SteelyDylan]

how do you feel about Capablanca's 'Chess Fundamentals'?

[lukacalov]

In Ben Finegold's "Cry like a grandmaster" i learned more jokes than chess xD

[ASLUHLUHCE]

Netflix's Queen's Gambit + this video = Soviet Chess Primer now out of stock everywhere lol

[calqler]

I have found that nearly any chess book is valuable. I went from a C player to B player with the simple 1001 Brilliant Checkmates by Fred Reinfeld.

[jyotiradityashukla]

Daniel Naroditsky's books are my top recommendations for beginners/ intermediates. Although there won't be many tactical moves/puzzles, they are more about a principled game and middle/endgame positional advantages. Really opens up your mind. A lot of amazing concepts and principals that not many people teach you