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Books Training Materials - Books A word of warning from personal experience. There are thousands of chess books out there but probably only a small number are suitable for the average junior. There are some beguiling titles that offer all sorts of exciting things! Starting with beginners there are three small books written by Tim Onions and David Regis. They are 'Ten ways to succeed in the Opening / Middlegame / Endgame'. These will provide you with enough information to beat most people at school! The next step up would be 'How to Beat Your Dad at Chess' and the follow up book 'Chess Tactics for Kids' - both by Murray Chandler. The first book has been really successful and shows all sorts of checkmating themes and ways to win material. By the time you have mastered these books and played lots of games you should be ready to tackle some puzzles. Chris Ward has written three 'It's Your Move' books. Start with the blue book! It is difficult often to follow the ideas in a game so there are two books to consider. The first one was published in 1957 (a great year!) and is called Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev. As Chernev describes every single move it does become a bit repetitive but it's easy to follow. The second book is far more modern and is John Nunn's 'Understanding Chess Move by Move'. Sooner or later you will want to find out more about the opening and develop your own style and preferences. A casual look around a shop such as Chess & Bridge in London will be bewildering! Many players have a small repertoire of openings thinking that following a formula will bring success. However, I believe that it is more important (and more fun) to have a wider range of choices. A few years ago I played in a league match for Little Heath and after the game my opponent commented that he had been told that I played a particular opening (and presumably prepared accordingly) only to find that I played something quite different. Knowing the ideas is really important here. I like the John Emms book 'Discovering Chess Openings'. The subtitle 'Building opening skills from basic principles' says it all. A more specific book also by Emms that I often dip into is 'Play the Open Games as Black'. This contains ideas for facing e4 e5 openings that do not develop into the Ruy Lopez. Yasser Seirawan's 'Winning Chess - Openings' is another good read which looks at various options. The middlegame is where you seek to apply your knowledge and ideas. Curiously there are far fewer books to choose from here! If you have mastered the books mentioned above then you are ready to find out about some more advanced ideas. An acknowledged classic is a small classic 'Simple Chess' by Michael Stean. Other candidates would be 'Starting Out: Chess Tactics and Checkmates' by Chris Ward and 'Improve Your Middlegame Play' by Andrew Kinsman. There are other ideas in the software section. The endgame is where half points can be rescued from a 'lost' position and wins from 'drawn' positions. I like 'Just the Facts!' by Alburt and Krogius. Later you can progress to more specific situations in the 'Start Out' series of books or consider a rather practical based book in 'Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics' by Glenn Flear. There are several others books that I have enjoyed reading and re-reading (in no particular order):- Chess for Zebras - Jonathan Rowson The Seven Deadly Chess Sins - Jonathan Rowson The Road to Chess Improvement - Alex Yermolinsky Why? Because these can largely be read as they stand and because they seek to 'understand chess' - a theme I will return to another day!
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