Recommended Study Materials

There are a number of books, software and online materials that we can recommend to help a player study, based primarily on their strength and study need.  Below are ten key books we recommend and why.

We believe in and focus on a process tied to understanding chess, as opposed to (for example) vigorous memorization.  Using this principle, we focus on endgames, middlegame concepts and opening concepts.  In addition, rather than studying specific openings, viewing entire games that start with that opening so that the opening (and also middlegame and endgame) are viewed in context.

Players who are "enscounced in the novice range" should focus primarily on a few fundamental opening principles, and upon tactics before trying to work on more complex chess concepts.  This means focusing on tactics books where the student and solve puzzle after puzzle.

In the list below, the books have an embedded link that (at the time of update) linked to a site where you could purchase the book.  Many are available on sites such as Barnes and Noble or Amazon.  For some you have to look a little harder because they are currently available only as an international publication, and are often not carried by the common chains in the U.S.

Books to Learn Fundamentals

#	Title	Author	Picture	Comments
1	Chess Tactics Workbook	Woolum		There are many good puzzle books where a player can work through puzzle after puzzle.  This one is particularly good for novice players or for children, since it starts with simple 1-move "finds: and works up from there.  A large good alternative is Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games. Another good idea is to get several smaller puzzle books - and to put them whereever you have "down time".  By the sofa for when you watch TV, in the car for when you are driven somewhere, etc.  Then do a few puzzles each day during down time.  Doing three a day, and after a couple of months you've done about 200 puzzles - which will almost certainly improve your tactics.
2	Fundamental Endings			It can be difficult to find a comprehensive endgame book (in terms of the types of endgames covered) that also are portable and comfortable to use.  This book fills the bill!  Another book that I liked along the same line was "Practical Chess Endings" by Paul Keres.
3	Winning Chess Strategy	Seirawan		Winning chess strategies is a good summary book for chess players on basic strategy.
4	Chess Fundamentals	Capablanca		A classic work covering several types of basics, in the ending, middlegame, and opening.  Sometimes its not comprehensive enough on explanation of examples, but general a good and managable work.
5	The Art of Attack in Chess	Vukovic		The teztbook on attack.
6	Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory	Shibut		To understand the trek to modern chess, to positional play in open games, and eventually positional play in closed games, one must get a grasp of Morphy.
7	The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played	Chernev		An excellent instructional work showing examples of different things from grandmaster games.
8	Capablanca's 100 Best Games	Golombek		A strong work covering the best games of Capablanca, illustrating some of the simplicity of his play.
8a	Alternative: Immortal Games of Capablanca	Reinfeld		A good selection of his games, not quite as strong as the above book, but easier to find today.
9	Modern Ideas In Chess	Reti		Reti was a brilliant player who left us too early.  In this work he argues that the development of the individual chess mind follows an evolutionary path similar to the development of the collect chess mind, and therefore that the study of historical games in order is important.  Euwe later expounded the same concept in "The Development of Chess Style."
10	My Best Games	Karpov		There are many good game collections, and the best is probably Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games".  But in this book we get to see simple chess, with Karpov discussing ideas in his notes (whereas Fischer's notes include a lot of variations/calculation.)  So in many ways its better for a player to start with Karpov's book to learn how to think, rather than Fischer's book where one must calculate extensively.

Additional Important Books

There are many classic chess books.  Some offer more in depth coverage and instruction than others.  Here are some classic examples.  We haven't included links on these books.

Title	Author	Comments
My 60 Memorable Games	Fischer	Fischer's annotations were excellent, making this book an opening manual, middlegame manual, and endgame manual all wrapped into one.  But it's not for a novice player.
My Chess Career	Capablanca	Classic games and good notes; Capablanca sometimes leaves a little too much to the player to figure out.
My Best Games	Alekhine	This book was orginally published as two separate works: Games from 1908-1923, and 1923-1937.  Another volume, by Alexander, covered 1938-1946.  You can also find the book today in volumes that include 1908-1937, or 1908-1946.
My Great Chess Predecessors	Kasparov	A classic series of books, covering all the great players
100 Selected Games	Botvinnik	The best book on one of the greatest champions
Chess Combination from Philidor to Karpov	Keene	A good book on the evolution of tactics
Modern Chess Sacrifice	Shamkovich	A good book on understanding tactics
Practical Chess Endings	Keres	A good book on the fundamentals of various types of endings
Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge	Averbakh	Another good comprehensive but concise book on endings
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual	Dvoretsky	A good comprehensive but concise book on endings
My System	Nimzovich	A good book on chess strategy
The Middlegame: Books 1 & 2	Euwe	A good book on basic chess strategy

Software and Videos and Websites

Below is a list of software, video, and websites that players use to improve.  The first two items are among the most important, because many other tools can become available through these two items, and the ability to study a range of games is very important.

"Title"	Type	Comments
ChessBase	Database	Probably the #1 Windows chess database program with many features.  It comes in packages that have different sizes of games databases with it.  It's probably good to get one primary database, but there are many databases available online for low cost or for free - so if you're willing to do a tiny bit of database maintenance you can save some money on database costs. See www.chessbase.com or www.chessbaseusa.com This is also available in a limited "lite" version which is good for a trial.
Exachess	Database	The #1 Mac chess database, available from http://www.exachess.com/ This is also available in a limited "lite" version which is good for a trial.
Fritz	Playing software	Available in a separate interface, or interactive with ChessBase
Houdini	Playing software	Available in a separate interface, or interactive with ChessBase
Youtube	Video	There are instructional videos - on tournament directing as well as chess play - that can be found on the web.
ChessLecture.com	Video	Various lectures on chess topics
ChessPublishing.com	Opening Analysis	A site that does a good job of providing monthly updates on opening analysis
TWIC	Games!!	http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/ provides news, updates and games from the past week
Internet Chess Club	Playing site	Probably the best online playing site.  Chess.com, FICS.com, yahoo and many other playing sites are available.
Chess.com	Reference and playing site	A good site for reference information and playing
Duels of the Mind	Video	A series of videos on 12 of the top games of chess ever played, originally broadcast on British TV.
Foxy Openings	Video	A series of video lectures on various openings