They cover a wide range of topics and aspects of the game that are important to know first before trying to learn more advanced tactics and attacking strategies.īobby Fischer Teaches Chess written by arguable the greatest player who ever lived, which is why this is one of the first books you ever hear about when exploring Chess books. These are the best books for beginner Chess players. You don’t need books or a book for that matter. Modern Chess Strategy, written by Ludek Pachman is one of the top books in chess. This book is exactly what it says, tactics for champions, written by the legendary Susan Polgar, she goes through the tactics that the masters use to play and win the game. They do a good job at explaining everything about the subject from A, to Z.Ĭhess Tactics For Champions.
If you’re a fan of the Dummies books, then Chess for Dummies is for you. Have it next to you as you’re playing.Ĭhess For Dummies. Chess Fundamentals written by Jose Raul Capablanca is one of the first books to go through once, and on an on going basis. Mastering the fundamentals is crucial to advancing beyond being a beginner in chess. They say that 80% of results always come from the fundamentals, chess is no different. This is a must read for chess players of any level.Ĭhess Fundamentals.
If you’re completely new to chess, Bobby is arguably the best chess player in the history of the game. The book by the man that needs no introduction, the one and only Bobby Fischer. This is the book for doing just that.īobby Fischer Teaches Chess. The next step is learning one opening until you memorize the main line, then learn another one. When first playing Chess, you want to just play a couple hundred games. It was the first book I got when I decided to start learning an opening. Modern Chess Openings is a true classic in the world of chess. They are tailored to provide a ton of information on one large category of Chess like openings or the important information for a large number of topics. If you decide to only get a few books, these would be the best ones to get. Keep in mind any older books published back then are included in this list because of the value the book still holds.
If you’re an intermediate player or more experienced, you’ll pick up the terms quicker. Although Descriptive Notation isn’t much more complicated than Algebraic Notation, if you’re not familiar with the language, there will be a learning curve. However, many of the older books that were published before the 1980’s used Descriptive Notation to indicate the Chess moves. Avoiding books that aren’t clearly laid out or explained in an easy to digest way.Ībout Chess NotationThe majority of the books we list below are published using Algebraic Notation to indicate the moves in the positions.Recommended by multiple players that have used the book and improved their level of skill.Written by authors who are skilled Chess players, many of them being Grandmasters.It’s important to know how we select the books that we included in this list, so here’s the criteria we use. So I tried to include only the best books for each section, otherwise it would be easy to add over twenty books for every category. Seeing a massive list of books that you’ll get too sometime within the next two decades doesn’t help much. Disclaimer: is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to.