What are some good beginner books?

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Date: 20 Aug 2008 10:07:08
From: John Salerno
Subject: What are some good beginner books?

I know it's no substitute for playing, but I'm a big reader when it comes to
learning new things, so I like having books on the subject as well.

I have read Learn Chess: A Complete Course and am reading Logical Chess:
Move By Move. The former I found extremely helpful in learning the basics,
but at the same time very tedious with all the move lists. It wasn't exactly
"readable" at times because there were pages of moves that you had to wade
through. The latter is very fascinating but not a good book to start with
(so in my case, as my second book, it's great).

What I'd like is another beginner/intro book that will re-explain the basics
but in a more readable way than Learn Chess. I'm not averse to studying
example moves and diagrams, of course, but I don't want to be overwhelmed
with them. I want something that is more readable from front to back.

Any recommendations? Is the "Back to Basics" series any good?

Thanks!

Date: 22 Aug 2008 19:31:45
From: EZoto
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:07:08 -0400, "John Salerno"
<[email protected] > wrote:

>I know it's no substitute for playing, but I'm a big reader when it comes to
>learning new things, so I like having books on the subject as well.
>
>I have read Learn Chess: A Complete Course and am reading Logical Chess:
>Move By Move. The former I found extremely helpful in learning the basics,
>but at the same time very tedious with all the move lists. It wasn't exactly
>"readable" at times because there were pages of moves that you had to wade
>through. The latter is very fascinating but not a good book to start with
>(so in my case, as my second book, it's great).
>
>What I'd like is another beginner/intro book that will re-explain the basics
>but in a more readable way than Learn Chess. I'm not averse to studying
>example moves and diagrams, of course, but I don't want to be overwhelmed
>with them. I want something that is more readable from front to back.
>
>Any recommendations? Is the "Back to Basics" series any good?
>
>Thanks!
>
Well one of my favorite books was The most instructive games of chess
ever played by Irving Chernev. It's not really a beginner book but it
does have some beautiful games to study.

EZoto

Date: 22 Aug 2008 17:03:21
From: help bot
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

EZoto wrote:

> Well one of my favorite books was The most instructive games of chess
> ever played by Irving Chernev. It's not really a beginner book but it
> does have some beautiful games to study.

I liked that book, too. It contains a wide
variety of different types of games, and this
compares well to such things as articles
one might find today which obsess over
some current openings fad, or even a
collection of games by one player, who
always plays the same openings.

Another book I liked was one on Paul
Morphy's games, which, although a bit
repetitious in the openings, showed him
to have a masterful grasp of such ideas
as the importance of rapid development
and it just generally shows how tactics
decide most games, with Mr. Morphy
being the undisputed king of tactics.

-- help bot

Date: 21 Aug 2008 09:09:17
From: Sanny
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

Play at GetClub. And tell me if you can win the Beginner Level or not?

By playing just 10 games at GetClub you will learn and enjoy more than
what you may learn from a old book.

Bye
Sanny

Play Chess at: http://www.GetClub.com/Chess.html

Date: 22 Aug 2008 10:23:18
From: John Salerno
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

"Sanny" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:421913da-939b-4909-b565-f6a48a2b033e@w24g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
> Play at GetClub.

No.

> By playing just 10 games at GetClub you will learn and enjoy more than
> what you may learn from a old book.

Wrong. Simply *playing* before knowing what I'm doing right or wrong will
not help me.

> Bye

Bye.

Date: 21 Aug 2008 06:56:56
From:
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

On Aug 20, 10:07=A0am, "John Salerno" <[email protected] > wrote:
> I know it's no substitute for playing, but I'm a big reader when it comes=
to
> learning new things, so I like having books on the subject as well.
>
> I have read Learn Chess: A Complete Course and am reading Logical Chess:
> Move By Move. The former I found extremely helpful in learning the basics=
,
> but at the same time very tedious with all the move lists. It wasn't exac=
tly
> "readable" at times because there were pages of moves that you had to wad=
e
> through. The latter is very fascinating but not a good book to start with
> (so in my case, as my second book, it's great).
>
> What I'd like is another beginner/intro book that will re-explain the bas=
ics
> but in a more readable way than Learn Chess. I'm not averse to studying
> example moves and diagrams, of course, but I don't want to be overwhelmed
> with them. I want something that is more readable from front to back.
>
> Any recommendations? Is the "Back to Basics" series any good?
>
> Thanks!

I have not read it, some highly recommend "The Complete Idiot's
Guide to Chess" by GM Patrick Wolff:

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/best.html

Date: 21 Aug 2008 20:09:35
From: help bot
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

On Aug 21, 6:21=A0pm, "Chess One" <[email protected] > wrote:

> =A0http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/best.html
>
> I [ROFL] see that in a survey conducted by Chessbase by Edward Winter,

Make up your mind-- you can't have it both ways.

> Complete Idiot can in number one.

"...came in at number one."

> This must be an inconvenient fact to said
> Winter who writes on abstruse historical matters, however well.

Too many style issues to cover here. As
I write, Mr. Winter is said to be preparing a
full analysis of Mr. IMnes' writing skills (or
rather, the lack thereof) for publication.

> But the thing with chess students is not to respond to their questions of
> what they don't themselves know by citing complete idiocy-type titles. On=
e
> needs to ask them why they ask?

One also needs to ask: why can't Dr. IMnes
write sensible sentences which simply express
his often silly ideas in comprehensible English?

> Is it to gain a greater rating, more understanding of the game, or what?

I have to admit, I agree with Dr. IMnes that
understanding and ratings are two entirely
different things; especially since I so often
lose to idiots these days, who are my vast
inferiors in terms of chess understanding!

> Typically lower rated players want cheap entries to success.

Money; what we really want is more prize
money. Stop funneling all the prizes upward,
to those who can easily make money giving
chess lessons!

> What actually promotes their progress in chess are 4 things; to better
> appreciate tactical opportunities

Very good, thus far.

> to gain a knowledge of the /principal/ of
> openings [a strategic mention]

Needs translation into the language you
started the sentence with. (Never switch
languages intra-sentencia, capishe? You
savvy?)

> to play chess and assess how well their
> learning is reflected in what happens

Agreed.

> and lastly an understanding of the
> difference between strategy and tactics, one being an understanding of th=
e
> purpose of any series of moves, the other being the means of doing so.

Fair dinkum.

-- help bot

Date: 21 Aug 2008 18:21:47
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:338e4079-0a82-4c8a-a923-b96617693e79@m45g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On Aug 20, 10:07 am, "John Salerno" <[email protected] > wrote:
> I know it's no substitute for playing, but I'm a big reader when it comes
> to
> learning new things, so I like having books on the subject as well.
>
> I have read Learn Chess: A Complete Course and am reading Logical Chess:
> Move By Move. The former I found extremely helpful in learning the basics,
> but at the same time very tedious with all the move lists. It wasn't
> exactly
> "readable" at times because there were pages of moves that you had to wade
> through. The latter is very fascinating but not a good book to start with
> (so in my case, as my second book, it's great).
>
> What I'd like is another beginner/intro book that will re-explain the
> basics
> but in a more readable way than Learn Chess. I'm not averse to studying
> example moves and diagrams, of course, but I don't want to be overwhelmed
> with them. I want something that is more readable from front to back.
>
> Any recommendations? Is the "Back to Basics" series any good?
>
> Thanks!

I have not read it, some highly recommend "The Complete Idiot's
Guide to Chess" by GM Patrick Wolff:

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/best.html

I [ROFL] see that in a survey conducted by Chessbase by Edward Winter,
Complete Idiot can in number one. This must be an inconvenient fact to said
Winter who writes on abstruse historical matters, however well.

But the thing with chess students is not to respond to their questions of
what they don't themselves know by citing complete idiocy-type titles. One
needs to ask them why they ask?

Is it to gain a greater rating, more understanding of the game, or what?

Typically lower rated players want cheap entries to success. What is merely
popular promises that.

What actually promotes their progress in chess are 4 things; to better
appreciate tactical opportunities, to gain a knowledge of the /principal/ of
openings [a strategic mention], to play chess and assess how well their
learning is reflected in what happens, and lastly an understanding of the
difference between strategy and tactics, one being an understanding of the
purpose of any series of moves, the other being the means of doing so.

Phil Innes

Date: 20 Aug 2008 15:38:10
From: help bot
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

On Aug 20, 10:07=A0am, "John Salerno" <[email protected] > wrote:

> What I'd like is another beginner/intro book that will re-explain the bas=
ics
> but in a more readable way than Learn Chess. I'm not averse to studying
> example moves and diagrams, of course, but I don't want to be overwhelmed
> with them. I want something that is more readable from front to back.
>
> Any recommendations? Is the "Back to Basics" series any good?

Note that here in rgc, you will get reams of
recommendations to read the same books
that old timers themselves first read, even
though those books are now seriously dated.
Just try to keep in mind the fact that lots and
lots of books have been written since then,
by a wide variety of different authors who
were not limited to descriptive notation or
discussions of the orthodox Queen's Gambit
declined versus "1. P-Q4", or the double
King-pawn openings versus "1. P-K4!".

If you were to play in a modern tournament,
for instance, you would invariably run into
the dreaded Sicilian "Defense" (don't be
fooled-- you are under attack!) and the very
popular Nimzo-Indian and King's Indian
"defenses" (again, do not be fooled).

I hesitate to give specific names of books,
because for one, I am no expert on the
quality of beginner books, and also because
of the fact that I have been out of active
chess for a while and so my own version of
what is "new" is now a bit dated.

-- help bot

Date: 23 Aug 2008 05:33:51
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

> =A0 This proves my point; the focus is on what
> is inexpensive, not what is good. =A0

> =A0 Yasser Seirawan's series is good

And don't overlook the used market. Every one of the books in the
Seirawan series is available used on Amazon for roughly $10 including
shipping. To compare apples to apples, that's perhaps $3 per volume
more than the cost of, say, a used Reinfeld book. While I don't at
all dispute the value of the classics, don't buy them just to save
money. The savings are quite small.

Date: 22 Aug 2008 16:54:34
From: help bot
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

John Salerno wrote:

> > I'm not saying they are better than Seirawan or Wolff, I am saying
> > they are cheaper and serve about the same purpose.

This proves my point; the focus is on what
is inexpensive, not what is good. What is
overlooked is that prices vary widely; for
instance, I've seen recommendations here
for overpriced sources such as the USCF,
whereas nobody mentions that highly-
recommended books can sometimes be
had for cheap. For instance, the book
chosen by The Great Pedant Edward
Winter is available right now at a fat
discount on at least one Web site.

> So the Everyman "Winning Chess" series would be a good series to read? And
> maybe the Idiot's Guide (though I have an aversion to titles like that!).

Yasser Seirawan's series is good, and I
have no doubt that he avoided the kinds of
rigid, dogmatic thinking which plagued so
many writers of the earlier eras. You have
to ask yourself: why settle for second-rate?

I agree that certain publishers churn out
materials cheaper than others; for instance,
Dover has high-quality bindings with thick
books at very reasonable cost relative to
most others. These tend to be older works,
but that in no way means you have no
choice in the matter. To the contrary, a
few such works stand out as making the
grade both in terms of /quality/ and cost.
One of my favorites is the collection of
Mr. Alekhine's best games-- annotated by
someone who truly understood chess, not
by some random hack.

-- help bot

Date: 24 Aug 2008 18:26:56
From: John Salerno
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

help bot wrote:

>> So the Everyman "Winning Chess" series would be a good series to read? And
>> maybe the Idiot's Guide (though I have an aversion to titles like that!).
>
>
> Yasser Seirawan's series is good, and I
> have no doubt that he avoided the kinds of
> rigid, dogmatic thinking which plagued so
> many writers of the earlier eras. You have
> to ask yourself: why settle for second-rate?

I ordered the first in his series on Friday. Should arrive tomorrow! I'm
not too concerned about the price of books. I got it from Amazon for
something like $13. Seems fine to me. I can't wait to start reading it!

Date: 22 Aug 2008 08:00:48
From: SBD
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

On Aug 21, 9:54 pm, help bot <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Aug 21, 10:01 am, SBD <[email protected]> wrote:

> The attitude "it doesn't matter" fits in
> with quantitative thinking; the idea is that
> poor books can be digested and then
> eventually, good ones will be stumbled
> upon.

No, that, isn't the point, these older books are not "poor." They are
dated but not poor.

The basics then are the basics now. And that isn't "old" thinking, it
is correct thinking.

I'm not saying they are better than Seirawan or Wolff, I am saying
they are cheaper and serve about the same purpose.

Or perhaps you have some information about these "poor" books?

Date: 22 Aug 2008 12:19:14
From: John Salerno
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

"SBD" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm not saying they are better than Seirawan or Wolff, I am saying
> they are cheaper and serve about the same purpose.

So the Everyman "Winning Chess" series would be a good series to read? And
maybe the Idiot's Guide (though I have an aversion to titles like that!).

Date: 21 Aug 2008 19:54:32
From: help bot
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

On Aug 21, 10:01=A0am, SBD <[email protected] > wrote:

> At a beginner's level, it hardly matters.

Wrong. Suppose you are a rank beginner
and you "study" an entire book which focuses
primarily on the double-King-pawn openings
(both sides) and the Orthodox QGD (again,
both sides), and then enter your first rated
tournament. You will invariably run into a lot
of openings which old-timers dismissed as
junk, and thus you will have no "bearings",
no idea of what is going on.

With more recent works, you will still be
exposed to all those "classic" openings,
but in addition, you will get a much more
rational view of what has been played
more recently-- a more balanced view
where the almost religious doctrine of
"1. P-K4!" has been revised (to say the
least) or thrown out.

There is a powerful tendency for people
to believe that what was good enough for
their daddy, is good enough fer them and
good enuff fer everyone else! Some will
even buy the same brand of car, one
generation after another-- even junk brands
like, say, Chrysler. But it doesn't have to
be that way; given some reflection, we can
overcome these ingrained weaknesses
and get better tuned in to reality.

For this reason, I expect that Patrick
Wolff's "Guide to Chess" or Yasser
Seirawan's many beginner books will
prove to be better balanced than almost
any of the outmoded books which filled
the shelves a half-century ago. More
recently, many, many spots on the
shelves of bookstores have been taken
up by such authors as Eric Schiller or
Ray Keene-- men who just "churn out"
material rather than artistically crafting
their works with blood, sweat and tears.

The attitude "it doesn't matter" fits in
with quantitative thinking; the idea is that
poor books can be digested and then
eventually, good ones will be stumbled
upon. But I prefer a more qualitative
approach: keep the junk away and only
feed oneself the good stuff. To me, the
bad chess books are akin to corrosives;
they corrupt or confound the mind,
making them counter-productive as
tools.

-- help bot

Date: 21 Aug 2008 07:01:05
From: SBD
Subject: Re: What are some good beginner books?

On Aug 20, 5:38 pm, help bot <[email protected] > wrote:

> Note that here in rgc, you will get reams of
> recommendations to read the same books
> that old timers themselves first read, even
> though those books are now seriously dated.
> Just try to keep in mind the fact that lots and
> lots of books have been written since then,
> by a wide variety of different authors who
> were not limited to descriptive notation or
> discussions of the orthodox Queen's Gambit
> declined versus "1. P-Q4", or the double
> King-pawn openings versus "1. P-K4!".

At a beginner's level, it hardly matters.

Also, most of these older books are cheap (like the Dover books) and
attempt to teach. I'm spending time now with Korn's The Brilliant
Touch in Chess, its entertaining and instructive.