Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

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  • Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

    Okay, so there are a lot of players like myself who are low- to mid-range club players that want to reach the 1700 - 1800 mark, and perhaps above.

    If you could recommend up to 5 books that will help someone make the 1800+ mark, which ones would they be?

  • #2
    Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

    You're 1532 right now?

    How To Reassess your Chess - 4th Edition - Jeremy Silman
    Silman's Complete Endgame Course
    Fundamental Chess Openings - Paul van der Sterren

    Actually going through those 3 properly should do it. Just reading the 3rd edition of Silman's book took me from the 1500s to the 1700s.
    Christopher Mallon
    FIDE Arbiter

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    • #3
      Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

      Where do you have problems? Openings, middle game or endgame?

      The game roughly breaks down to those three parts. You have to come out of the opening with a decent position to play in the middle game. Then you have to play the middle game in such a way you have a decent endgame.
      Gary Ruben
      CC - IA and SIM

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      • #4
        Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

        Originally posted by Andrew Hoyer View Post
        Okay, so there are a lot of players like myself who are low- to mid-range club players that want to reach the 1700 - 1800 mark, and perhaps above.

        If you could recommend up to 5 books that will help someone make the 1800+ mark, which ones would they be?
        Do you have any chess book at home or could borrow easily? List them.

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        • #5
          Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

          For me the books were:

          Think Like A Grandmaster by Kotov
          Road to Chess Mastery by Euwe and Kreiden
          Practical Chess Endings by Keres
          Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
          Botvinnik's 100 Selected Games

          Some of them might be hard to find so an alternative list:

          Improve Your Chess Now by Tisdall
          Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
          Survival Guide to Rook Endings by Emms
          Road to Chess Improvement by Yermolinsky
          How to Reassess Your Chess by Silman

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          • #6
            Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

            Originally posted by Vlad Drkulec View Post
            Road to Chess Mastery by Euwe and Kreiden
            It took me 15 years but I did finally find a used copy of this. Luckily I had cash on me!
            Christopher Mallon
            FIDE Arbiter

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            • #7
              Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

              I'm not an 1800 rated player yet, though I'm definitely trending that way. The biggest breakthrough for me was working on tactics and focusing on one or two openings that I became very familiar with. I have chess books, but I've never really used them. I don't know, it's just not very effective for me. Maybe you will have a different experience.

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              • #8
                Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

                Originally posted by Christopher Mallon View Post
                It took me 15 years but I did finally find a used copy of this. Luckily I had cash on me!
                The original book that I read was a hard cover library book. I found a soft cover edition used last year at a tournament. If they ever did a new edition I would probably buy it.

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                • #9
                  Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

                  Road to Chess Improvement by Yermolinsky
                  How to Reassess Your Chess by Silman
                  Any John Watson books. That man's a god
                  Shameless self-promotion on display here
                  http://www.youtube.com/user/Barkyducky?feature=mhee

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                  • #10
                    Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

                    road to chess improvement seems to be out of print... well atleast chapters and Amazon (ca) doesn't carry it

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                    • #11
                      Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

                      Originally posted by Andrew Hoyer View Post
                      If you could recommend up to 5 books that will help someone make the 1800+ mark, which ones would they be?
                      the following five, plus regularly playing stronger opponents, took me from 1600-2000+ years ago:
                      Capablanca's Best Chess Endings (Chernev)
                      Simple Chess (Stean)
                      Think Like a Grandmaster (Kotov)
                      Zeurich '53 (Bronstein)
                      and a collection of Karpov games (don't recall the author)

                      I still recommend the first two books. Chernev was a fawning admirer of Capablanca, but the games and focus on creating and exploiting advantages in simplified positions was enough to beat most players under 1700. Stean's book is still excellent; and I found only one computer-identifiable error when I played it though again about 3 years ago.

                      Today, I'd drop the Kotov book and replace it with: The Best of Novice Nook - A Guide to Chess Improvement (Heisman), which discusses the thought process in chess much better than any other book on the subject I've read. I doubt there is a player under 2300 who can read this without seeing a dozen mistakes makes often. Read it and your chess decisions will be much better.

                      I'd also drop Brontein's Zeurich '53 and replace it with a big book of tactics exercises. Sharpen Your Tactics! (Lein+Archangelsky) and Improve Your Chess Tactics (Neishtadt) are both good, and the latter has been completely computer-checked, unlike all older tactics books.

                      Finally, instead of a Karpov book, play through a well-annotated collection of games from a player whose style you like.

                      So, my five are:
                      1. Improve Your Chess Tactics (Neishtadt) (or other big book of tactics)
                      2. Capablanca's Best Chess Endings (Chernev)
                      3. Simple Chess (Stean)
                      4. The Best of Novice Nook - A Guide to Chess Improvement (Heisman)
                      5. a well-annotated collection of games from a player whose style you like

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                      • #12
                        Re: Which 5 chess books should I read to reach 1800+?

                        Originally posted by Bindi Cheng View Post
                        Road to Chess Improvement by Yermolinsky
                        How to Reassess Your Chess by Silman
                        Any John Watson books. That man's a god
                        Highly agree with Bindi, and I believe he is the highest-rated who has posted here! ;)

                        The 3rd edition of How to Reassess Your Chess took me from 1300s to at least 1800s in less than a couple of years, if I remember correctly. That and Tisdall's Improve Your Chess Now, also recommended by Vlad above, helped me peak (briefly LOL) > 2000.

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