Arshad's experimental site

Chess Resources by Arshad Ali

Guide to Chess Resources

Covering both books and software

This is a page where I will also be experimenting with various external style sheets


(Chess in a Buenos Aires park in 2005)





Introduction

There are many introductory books on the market today. Their quality varies. A few I might suggest would be:

  • The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess (3rd edition). Patrick Wolff. pub. Alpha, 2005
  • Simple Checkmates. Tony Gillam. pub. Batsford
  • Manual of Chess Combinations, vols 1a and 1b. Ivashchenko, et al. pub. Russian Chess House.

These are some of the better books on the market. Gillam's book confines itself to 1- and 2-move mates. The ones by Ivaschenko confine themselves to simple mates and simple tactics. And Wolff's book seeks to provide an overall introdution to the game: tactics, endings, openings, and some simple checkmates.

A question to ask is: What should a beginning player be able to do? He should be able to mate with king and queen. He should be able to mate with two rooks. He should ideally be able to mate with king and rook. He should have some idea about how to queen a pawn. He should know the most basic mating patterns. And the most basic tactics -- e.g., forks and skewers. He should know how to get his pieces out rapidly in the opening. On this foundation he can build.

Speaking for myself, what interests me are "meta-principles": how to think about the game, how to approach it, how to study it. Chess books that go into these meta-principles -- for instance, the books by C.J.S. Purdy -- command my attention. They afford a deeper insight into the game (which may not necessarily translate into superior playing strength).

Once the basics have been mastered, two books I recommend in general are Chernev's Logical Chess, Move by Move and The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. Chernev's notes aren't very insightful (mainly becaue he wasn't that strong a player himself); however, he had a knack for choosing instructive games. A player who wants to learn about pawn structures, outposts, the art of exchanges, and realising an advantage in the endgame will find Chernev's MIGC rewarding reading.

Back to top


Mating Patterns

Besides the books of Gillam and Ivashchenko (listed in the introduction), there are some other books on mating patterns which can be recommended:

  • The Art of the Checkmate. Renaud and Kahn. Dover, 1962
  • How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. Chandler. Gambit, 1998
  • Find the Checkmate. Lane. Batsford
  • Play for Mate. Hooper and Cafferty. Batsford
  • Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate. Del Rosario. Mongoose Press, 2010

Renaud and Kahn is a must-have -- but out of print I think. Chandler's book seems to be a subset of Renaud and Kahn -- possibly some "borrowing" from it? -- but is targeted towards younger readers, in figurine algebraic notation, and just generally a more attractive book. Hooper and Cafferty is more advanced and also not easy to get hold of. The book by Del Rosario is recent, and interesting in that he seeks to exemplify some basic mating patterns by just looking at the games of Capablanca. Incidentally, I have Del Rosario's book on Morphy, which is excellent pedagogically.

Back to top


Tactics

One good place to start would be with Livshitz's Test Your Chess IQ -- the first volume only. The standard tactical ideas of double attack, pin, skewer, decoy, diversion, overloading, and square-clearance are covered in a series of tests with positions taken from real games. Any beginner who works through this book will experience a startling increase in playing strength. A couple of other suggestions might be Weteschnik's Understanding Chess Tactics and Bojkov and Georgiev's A Course in Chess Tactics. Du Mont's The Basis of Combination in Chess can be covered either concurrently or subsequently. He covers the combinational properties of the different pieces and the pieces in tandem -- e.g., rook and bishop, two rooks, queen and knight. If mating patterns are the alphabet then the combinational properties of two pieces working in tandem are the equivalent of one-syllable words. If a reader has worked through these two books, Averbakh's Chess Tactics for Advanced Players might be worth a look. He attempts to present a theory of tactics, a conceptual schemata with which to organise tactical ideas. Minev's Mastering Tactical Ideas is another instructive read.

  • Chess Tactics for Juniors. Hall. Hays Publishing.
  • The Basis of Combination in Chess. Du Mont. Dover.
  • Encyclopedia of Chess Middlegames: Combinations. Chess Informant, 1990?
  • Test Your Chess IQ (three volumes). Livshitz. Cadogan.
  • Mastering Tactical Ideas. Minev. ICE, 2000?
  • Tal's Winning Chess Combinations. Tal and Khenkin. Simon and Schuster.
  • Chess Tactics for Advanced Players. Averbakh. Chess Digest.
  • Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies. Kasparyan. Moscow.
  • 360 Brilliant and Instructive Endgames. Troitzky. Dover.
  • How to Be a Deadly Chess Tactician. LeMoir. Gambit.
  • Learn Chess Tactics. Nunn. Gambit, 2004.
  • Chess Tactics. Littlewood. Batsford.
  • Combinational Motifs. Maxim Blokh. Moscow, 2003.
  • Understanding Chess Tactics. Weteschnik. Quality Chess, 2006
  • A Course in Chess Tactics. Bojkov and Georgiev. Gambit, 2010
Back to top


Endgames

My personal favorite for two decades has been Balashov and Prandstetter's Basic Endgames, which is probably hard to get hold of these days. Other books that could also serve as introductions to endgame study would be Pandolfini's Endgame Workshop, Silman's Complete Endgame Course, Nunn's Understanding Chess Endgames, Rosen's Chess Endgame Training, and Snapes' Chess Endings Made Simple. Other good books are Muller and Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings, Averbakh's Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge, Howell's Essential Chess Endings, Fine and Benko's Basic Chess Endings, and Alburt and Krogius's Just the Facts. Unlike decades past, there's no shortage of excellent books on this phase of the game.

More advanced material might include Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, Averbakh's 5-volume Comprehensive Chess Endings (now available only on CD), and Nunn's three volumes (Secrets of Rook Endings, etc.) In passing, if one has just worked through the books by, say, Silman and Dvoretsky, one will have an endgame competence equivalent to that of an expert.

There are other aspects of the endgame which also deserve a look. The first is how to transition to an endgame. Here I recommend Reinfeld's Reinfeld on the Endgame in Chess, Nesis' Exchanging to Win in the Endgame and Tactical Chess Exchanges, Mednis' From the Opening into the Endgame and From the Middlegame into the Endgame, and -- at a more advanced level -- Shereshevsky and Slutsky's two volume Mastering the Endgame.

Another aspect -- quite distinct from endgame technique -- is how to think in the endgame. Here Sherevesky's Endgame Strategy and Muller and Pajeken's How to Play Chess Endgames are useful.

A final aspect I want to touch on is endgame tactics. Here I might recommend Ban's The Tactics of Endgames, Nunn's Tactical Chess Endings and Beasley and Whitworth's Endgame Magic.

A point I forgot to mention: before starting serious study of the endgame, one should have played through all 63 games in Chernev's The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. Along the same lines, playing through the games of Rubinstein, Capablanca, Smyslov, and Flohr (some of which are in Chernev's book) will do wonders for one's understanding of the endgame. There's a chapter on Rubinstein's rook endings in Marin's Learn from the Legends.

  • Fundamental Chess Endings. Muller and Lamprecht. Gambit, 2001.
  • Chess Endgames. Laszlo Polgar. Konemann, Germany, 1998?
  • Basic Endgames. Balashov and Prandstetter. Prague Chess Agency, 1990
  • Reinfeld on the Endgame in Chess. Reinfeld. Dover, New York, 1957.
  • Exchanging to Win in the Endgame. Nesis. Batsford, UK.
  • Tactical Chess Exchanges. Nesis. Batsford, UK
  • Chess Exchanges. Taulbut and Jones. Pergamon, UK.
  • The Tactics of Endgames. Jeno Ban. Dover, New York.
  • Endgame Strategy. Shereshevsky. Cadogan, UK, 1990?
  • Mastering the Endgame (2 vols). Shereshevsky and Slutsky. Cadogan, UK, 1990?
  • Capablanca's Best Chess Endings. Chernev. Dover.
  • Winning Endgame Strategy. Beliavsky and Mikhalchishin. Batsford, UK, 2001
  • From the Opening into the Endgame. Mednis. Pergamon, UK.
  • From the Middlegame into the Endgame. Mednis. Pergamon, UK.
  • Test Your Endgame Ability. Livshits and Speelman. Macmillan, New York, 1988
  • Grandmaster Secrets: Endings. Soltis. Thinker's Press.
  • Winning Chess Endings. Seirawan. Everyman, UK.
  • Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (2nd edition). Dvoretsky. Russell Enterprises, USA.
  • Chess Endgame Training. Rosen. Gambit.
  • Basic Chess Endings. Fine and Benko. McKay, USA.
  • Learn from the Legends. Marin. Quality Chess, UK.
  • Secrets of Pawn Endings. Muller and Lamprecht. Gambit, UK.
  • Secrets of Rook Endings. Nunn. Gambit, UK.
  • Chess Endings Made Simple. Snape. Gambit, UK.
  • Comprehensive Chess Endings (5 vols). Averbakh. Cadogan, UK (also available as CD).
  • Theory and Practice of Chess Endings. Panchenko. Convekta CD.
  • Starting Out: Pawn Endgames. Flear. Everyman.
  • Essential Chess Endings. Howell. Batsford.
  • CJS Purdy on the Endgame. Purdy. Thinker's Press, USA.
  • Just the Facts. Alburt and Krogius. Newmarket Press/CIRC.
  • Understanding Chess Endgames. Nunn. Gambit, UK, 2008.
  • Nunn's Chess Endings (2 vols). Nunn. Gambit, UK, 2009 & 2010.
  • How to Play Chess Endgames. Muller and Pajeken. Gambit, UK.
  • Endgame Workshop. Pandolfini. Russell Enterprises, USA.
  • Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics. Van Perlo. New in Chess, Holland.
  • Silman's Complete Endgame Course. Jeremy Silman. Siles Press, USA.
  • 101 Chess Endgame Tips. Giddins. Gambit, UK.
Back to top


Attack

Attack, onslaught, blitzkrieg. This is arguably what distinguishes chess from such games of strategy as Go. It's this aspect of the game -- in contrast to technique -- which makes one's heart rate and blood pressure go through the roof. This is the rush that attracts many players, that makes them addicts. Regardless of personal temperament, a player has to be able to attack and to sacrifice. Because as Steinitz taught us over a century ago, the player with the superior position must attack -- or watch his advantage evaporate. Speaking personally, I'm a placid and sedate type -- "live and let live" is my motto. But even I have had to initiate complex attacks, have had to sacrifice material to lauch attacks, have had to initiate desperate counterattacks when being attacked on another side of the board. Attacks and counterattacks are the equivalent of hand-to-hand fighting in foggy terrain. And because everything cannot be calculated in the cut-and-thrust of battle, much comes down to courage, willingness to take risks, and a feeling for position.

Where to start? For a novice the three books I would recommend are Del Rosario's A First Book of Morphy, Del Rosario's Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate, and Alterman's The Alterman Gambit Guide. These books are to be read and re-read.

Where next? One possibility is Nunn and Cozen's The King Hunt. Fifty-five master games, spanning a hundred and fifty years, are presented with instructive notes. In each game the king is hounded to his death, often with a crescendo of mounting sacrifices by the attacker. This book will acquaint one with the spirit and psychology of attack, as well as some of the technique. This could be followed up with Spielmann's The Art of Sacrifice in Chess, where the author presents thirty-seven of his own games that feature some sort of sacrifice, and where the end result is an attack. This might be followed by Vukovic's The Art of Attack in Chess. Vukovic not only discusses techniques and ideas of attack but also the philosophy of attack. These three books have been around for several decades.

Tal and Damsky's Attack with Mikhail Tal starts where Vukovic finishes: ideas of the assault ratio, communication, and outposts. And of course the game examples are more contemporary and so more complex and more double-edged. Crouch's 105-page Attacking Technique explains how to handle positions where one's pieces have better mobility or have achieved better tactical coordination.

A few other worthwhile books I'd like to mention en passant are Shamkovich's The Modern Chess Sacrifice, Vukovic's The Sacrifice in Chess, Burgess's Gambits, and McDonald's Positional Sacrifices.

Arguably the most advanced treatise on attack today is Jacob Aagaard's two-volume The Attacking Manual. But it is not turgid: it is a riveting read exploring some of the most complex attacking games of recent years.

  • Bxh7+. Rudel. Thinker's Press, USA, 2009.
  • The Art of Attack in Chess. Vukovic. Cadogan, UK, 1998.
  • The Art of Sacrifice in Chess. Spielmann. Dover, New York, 1995.
  • Attack with Mikhail Tal. Tal and Damsky. Cadogan, UK, 1994.
  • Attacking Technique. Crouch. ICE, USA, 1996.
  • The King Hunt. Nunn and Cozens. Batsford, UK, 1996.
  • Attacking the Queenside. Shashin. Batsford, UK, 1990.
  • The Modern Chess Sacrifice. Shamkovich. Batsford, UK.
  • The Sacrifice in Chess. Vukovic. Bell, UK.
  • Gambits. Burgess. Batsford, UK.
  • Positional Sacrifices. McDonald. Batsford, UK.
  • Understanding the Sacrifice. Dunnington. Everyman, UK.
  • Essential Chess Sacrifices. LeMoir. Gambit, UK.
  • Gambit Play. Dunnington. Everyman, UK.
  • Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate. Del Rosario. Mongoose Press, 2010
  • A First Book of Morphy. Del Rosario. Trafford, 2006.
  • The Alterman Gambit Guide. Vol 1: White Gambits. Alterman. Quality Chess, UK, 2009.
  • Secrets of Chess Transformations. Marovic. Gambit, UK.
  • Secrets of Attacking Chess. Marin. Gambit, UK, 2005.
  • Improve Your Attacking Chess. Williams. Gambit, UK.
Back to top


Defence

Defence is the counterpoint to attack; the yin to attack's yang. Defending arguably demands a bit more exactness than attack because the attacker tends to have a bit more latitude in his choices than the defender. Defence also requires nerves of steel -- but then, so does attack, particularly when the attacker has had to sacrifice material.

  • The Art of Defence in Chess. Soltis. McKay, USA.
  • The Art of Defence in Chess. Polugayevsky and Damsky. Cadogan, UK.
  • How to Defend in Chess. Crouch. Everyman, UK.
  • Secrets of Chess Defence. Marin. Gambit, UK, 2003.
  • Saving Lost Positions. Shamkovich and Schiller. Batsford, UK.
  • Defence and Counterattack. Florian. Pergamon, UK.
  • The Art of the Middlegame. Keres and Kotov. Dover, New York.
  • Starting Out: Defensive Play. Dunnington. Everyman, UK.
  • Counterattack! Franco. Gambit, UK.
Back to top


Structure and Positional Play

The middlegame is less charted than the opening or the endgame. Yet this is where the game is often decided. I've written about the tactical and attacking aspects of the middlegame in earlier sections; here I would like to say a few words about the strategic and positional aspects. Positional play tends to revolve around pawn structure: this structure determines outposts, open and half-open files, the activity of bishops and knights, the advantage in space and hence the possibility of manoeuvring and regrouping, and the possibility of breakthroughs.

A good place to start is with Chernev's The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. Sixty-two games are presented with simple explanations and few confusing variations; the games can be classified roughly into color complex, outpost play, weak square/weal pawns, and transition to won ending. A follow-up could be Stean's Simple Chess. This slim paperback discusses outpost play, half-open files, open files, color complexes, weak pawns, and space. Another fine book is Euwe and Meiden's Road to Chess Mastery, which presents twenty-five carefully annotated games showing how master prevail against amateurs on the basis of increasingly subtle positional and strategic mistakes. Euwe's Judgement and Planning in Chess is written along similar lines as Stean's book and can also be recommended.

More advanced books might include Marovic's Understanding Pawn Play in Chess and Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess. The first discusses isolated pawns, hanging pawns, passed pawns, doubled pawns, backward pawns, pawn chains, and pawn islands. All essential stuff. The second discusses the open centre, closed centre, dynamic centre, pawn majorities, and minority attacks. The material in Marovic's books is also discussed in the second and third volumes of Pachman's Complete Chess Strategy but Marovic often uses more recent games to illustrate the ideas. Baburin's Winning Pawn Structures deals only with the isolated pawn, as does Mikhalchishin's Isolated Pawn: Theory of the Middlegame.

Damsky's The Heavy Pieces in Action deals with the use of the rook and queen. Mayer's Bishop versus Knight exhaustively examines bishop against knight, and two bishops versus bishop and knight, or two knights.

Bronstein's Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 is one of the best all-round books on the middlegame: the games are explained with both words and variations.

  • Simple Chess. Michael Stean. Dover, USA, 2003.
  • Complete Chess Strategy (three volumes). Pachman. Simon and Schuster, New York.
  • The Middlegame (two volumes). Euwe and Kramer. Hays Publishing, USA, 1994.
  • Bishop versus Knight. Mayer. ICE, USA, 1997.
  • The Heavy Pieces in Action. Damsky. Cadogan, UK, 1997.
  • Winning Pawn Structures. Baburin. Batsford, UK, 1999?.
  • Understanding Pawn Play in Chess. Marovic. Gambit, UK, 2000.
  • Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess. Marovic. Gambit, UK, 2001.
  • Chess Middlegame Planning. Romanovsky. American Chess Promotions, USA, 1990.
  • Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953. Bronstein. Dover, New York, 1979.
  • Judgement and Planning in Chess. Euwe. McKay, New York, 1979.
  • The Road to Chess Mastery. Euwe and Meiden. McKay, New York, 1966.
  • The Middlegame in Chess. Znosko-Borovsky. Dover, New York.
  • School of Chess Excellence III: Strategic Play. Dvoretsky. Edition Olms, Germany, 2002.
  • Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy. Watson. Gambit, UK, 1998.
  • Can You Be a Positional Chess Genius? Dunnington. Everyman, UK, 2002.
  • Secrets of Positional Chess. Marovic. Gambit, UK, 2003.
  • Reassess Your Chess (3rd edition). Silman. Siles Press, USA.
  • Reassess Your Chess Workbook. Silman. Siles Press, USA.
  • Winning Chess Strategies. Seirawan. Everyman, UK.
  • Chess Strategy in Action. Watson. Gambit, UK, 2003.
  • Isolated Pawn: Theory of the Middlegame. Mikhalchishin, Srokowski, and Braslavsky. Intellinvest/ICE.
  • Chess Praxis. Nimzowitsch. Dover, New York.
  • Excelling at Positional Chess. Aagaard. Everyman, UK, 2003.
  • Creative Chess Strategy. Romero. Gambit, UK, 2004.
  • Excelling at Technical Chess. Aagaard. Everyman, UK.
  • Chess Middlegames. Polgar. Konemann, Germany.
  • Improve Your Positional Chess. Hansen. Gambit, UK, 2004.
  • Lessons in Chess Strategy. Beim. Gambit, UK, 2004.
  • How to Play Dynamic Chess. Beim. Gambit, UK, 2004.
  • Chess Strategy for Club Players. Grooten. New in Chess, Holland.
  • Mastering Positional Chess. Naroditsky. New in Chess, Holland, 2009.
  • Improve Your Chess -- By Learning from the Champions. Hansen. Gambit, UK.
Back to top


Openings

This is not an easy section to write. The majority of chess books deal with the opening and so it would be easy to make a list. Yet it would be mostly futile. For a given player needs to read only those books that are pertinent to his chosen repertoire. If a player plays the French, there are several good books on the topic. Likewise for the Spanish, King's Indian, Sicilian and so forth. And so I will not make such a list, the majority of which would be irrelevant to any particular player.

Yet there are books that deal with opening principles. The first question that should be addressed is: How should the opening [hase be played? Speedy development and harmonious coordination tend to be priorities. Neishtadt's Win in the Opening shows lack od development and lack of coprdination being decisively punished. Fine's The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings is a classic explaining the plans behind opening pawn structures. Basman's Chess Openings discusses the ideas behind six major opening systems, as well as having chapters on general principles. Kallai's two books provide verbal explanations of the tactical and positional ideas behind specific opening systems.

  • Basic Chess Openings. Kallai. Cadogan, UK, 1997?
  • More Basic Chess Openings. Kallai, Cadogan, UK, 1998?
  • The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings. Fine. McKay, USA.
  • Win in the Opening. Neishtadt. Edition Olms, Germany, 2000.
  • Mastering the Opening. Jacobs. Everyman, UK, 2002.
  • Chess Openings. Basman. Crowood, UK, 1987.
  • Encyclopedia of Opening Errors. Matsukevich. Astrel, Moscow.
  • Understanding the Chess Openings. Collins. Gambit, UK, 2005.
Back to top


Miscellaneous

Kmoch's paperback on Rubinstein's games has been a favorite of mine for over three decades; many of Rubinstein's famour rook endings can be found here. Chernev's books I've recommended in other sections but am glad to plug them again. The book by Nunn, Burgess and Emms contains one hundred of the best games every played (in their opinion); the annotations are extensive.

  • The Chess of Bobby Fischer. Berger.
  • The World's Greatest Chess Games. Nunn, Burgess, and Emms. Carroll and Gryf, UK, 1999?
  • Logical Chess Move-by-Move. Chernev. Simon and Schuster, New York.
  • 500 Master Games of Chess. Tartakower and Du Mont. Dover, New York.
  • The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. Chernev. Dover, New York.
  • Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces. Kmoch. Dover, New York.
  • The 1000 Best Short Games of Chess. Chernev. Fireside, New York, 1987.
  • The Development of Chess Style. Euwe and Nunn. Batsford, UK, 1997?
  • On My Great Predecessors. 5 volumes. Kasparov. Everyman, UK, 2003-2006
  • Paul Morphy: A Modern Perspective. Beim. Russell Enterprises, USA, 2005.
  • A First Book of Morphy. Del Rosario. Trafford.
  • 50 Essential Chess Lessons. Giddins. Gambit, UK.
Back to top


Software

Among engines, the strongest is probably Rybka 4, though I have heard that engines like Stockfish, Robbolito, and Firebird are just as strong, and can be downloaded free. The latest incarnation of Fritz is Fritz 11 (I think). Among databases, the latest versions of ChessBase and Chess Assistant are good buys -- though I think there are others on the market. For additional ChessBase software, the following may be worth looking at:

  • Intensive Course Tactics, 1,2. Renko
  • Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual.
  • Fritz Technique Trainer 1,2. Schlossner.
  • Killer Moves. Renko.
  • The Isolated Queen's Pawn. Ripperger.
  • 3,500 Chess Tactical Training Positions.
  • Mating Attack Against O-O. Knaak.
  • 1000x Checkmate. Jamesir.
  • Endgame Trainer: Pawn Endings. Weteschnik.
  • Basic Principles of Chess Strategy 1,2,3. Bartashnikov.

This list was made some years ago and there are doubtless many more excellent CDs and DVDs whose existence I'm oblivious to.

Back to top


This free website was made using Yola.

No HTML skills required. Build your website in minutes.

Go to www.yola.com and sign up today!

Make a free website with Yola