What book do you recommend for learning to play chess better?

Question

There are so many books out there to choose from and it is hard to know if the book is what you are looking for until you already start reading some of it.

I know how to play, so I dont need anything telling me the rules or moves, and I get very frustrated with the books that just site moves in notation form from famous games, are there any good books you would recommend to learn how to get to that next level and is easy to understand? I would like to know more strategies and how to win at the end. Thank you

Answer 1

This book, '1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations by Fred Reinfeld' I found to be very helpful. You have to determine the best move for each of the 1001 examples. It also is separated into different sections like Knight Forks, Pinning, ects.

Answer 2

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess was a great book.  It doesn't pretend to make you an expert through telling you what you might want to do, or the best ways to set stuff up, or which openings you might want to try, and the ways to play it.

It actually is a bunch of chess problems, which ask you what the next move would be.  And then it rationalizes why, and you can read his rationalizations.

Answer 3

I've been to book stores that have books about chess that offer more than just notations from games.  They also offer strategies and concepts for playing the game (for example having good tempo and controling the middle).

Playing people who are at your level or better than you is one of the best ways.  Experience is great for chess.  Playing different people is also good.  

Looking at notation is hard but still valuable.  Chess is about problem solving and examples for the masters is helpful because it shows how they solved particular problems.

Answer 4

Honestly, I haven't been able to garner much help from chess books.  Does that mean all chess books are bad? No.

Personally, I believe that you must just practice, practice, practice.

I play on a chess server called the Internet Chess Club (ICC), and it is pretty much the biggest one around, and tons of Grandmasters and International Masters play.  There are tons of people on there who will happily tutor you for a fee, or you can catch the automated chess lessons by MrSpock.

Check it out.  My screen name is GeordiLaForge if you decide to sign up.

www.chessclub.com