Bibliography and Lending Library
The books listed below are owned by the club or its members and are available.If you would like to look at or borrow a book, simply email oresick@bu.edu and come to the next Wednesday meeting.I will bring it for your inspection.
If you are a member of the club and wish to make some of your books, videos, software, and cd-roms available to other club members, contact Oresick.
The books are grouped into these categories:
Instruction
Openings
Middle
game
End
game
Game
Collections and Players
Miscellaneous
Recommended
books for beginners
Technique in chess.
New York: Dover.
Alburt, Lev, 1997.
Chess training pocket book:300 most important positions & ideas.
New York:Chess Information and Research Center.
This
is a very hand and helpful problem book illustrating important ideas.
Benko, Pal & Hochberg, Burt, 1991.
Winning with chess psychology.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Capablanca, J. R., 1949 (1921).
Chess fundamentals.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Chernev, Irving, 1957.
Logical chess move by move.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Chernev, Irving & Reinfeld, Fred., 1948.
Winning chess:How to see three moves ahead.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Combinations
and tactics.The book is actually
better than its title may lead one to believe.
Euwe, Max & Meiden, Walter, 1963.
Chess master vs. chess amateur.
New York:David McKay
Evans, Larry, 1970.
Chess catechism.
New York:Simon and Shuster.
Evans, Larry, 1972.
New ideas in chess (revised edition.)
New York:Cornerstone Library.
Gelb, Michael & Keene, Raymond, 1997.
Samurai chess: Mastering strategic thinking through the martial art of the mind - A guide for chess players at all levels.
New York: Walker & Co.
A terrible
concept book – slapped together snippets badly edited by “the world’s leading
authority on chess and mind sports” as Keene says so himself.
Harding, Tim, 1978.
Better chess for average players.
New York:Dover.
Hooper, David & Cafferty, Bernard, 1977.
Play for mate!
London:B.T. Batsford.
Sets
of diagramed problems arranged by type of mate for pattern practice.
Horowitz, I.A. & Reinfeld, Fred, 1951.
How to think ahead in chess.
New York:Simon and Schuster.
Kasparov, Gary, 1984.
Kasparov teaches chess.
New York:Macmillan.
Keene, Raymond & Levy, David, 1991.
How to beat your chess computer.
New York:Henry Holt (Batsford Chess Library).
Kmoch, Hans, 1990 (1959).
Pawn power in chess.
New York:Dover.
A classic
of neologism.
Kosten, Tony, 1996.
101 tips to improve your chess.
New York:Henry Holt
Kostyev, Aleksander, 1986.
40 lessons for the club player.
New York:Macmillan.
Each
of the 40 lessons is introduced with a bit of chess history.
Kotov, Alexander, 1995 (1978).
Think like a grandmaster.
London:Batsford.
Lasker, Edward, 1959.
Chess Strategy.
New York:Dover.
Lasker, Emanuel, 1965 / 1917 .
Common sense in chess.
New York: Dover
Levitt, Jonathan & Friedgood, David, 1995.
Secrets of spectacular chess.
New York:Henry Holt
Uses
beauty as an organizing idea.
Mason, James, 1958 (1947).
The art of chess.
New York:Dover.
Mednis, Edmar, 1982.
King power in chess.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Pandolfini, Bruce, 1996.
Power mates:Essential checkmating strategies and techniques.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Pandolfini, Bruce, 1994.
Chess target practice:Battle tactics for every square on the board.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Pandolfini, Bruce, 1986.
Principles of the new chess:Superb new techniques developed in the USSR and the USA.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Pfleger, Helmut & Treppner, Gerd, 1988.
Chess:The mechanics of the mind.
North Pomfret, VT:David & Charles.
Purdy, C.J.S, 1996.
Guide to good chess.
Davenport, Iowa:Thinkers’ Press.
Basic
and lucid book by the 1st World Correspondence Chess Champion
Renaud, Georges & Kahn, Victor, 1953.
The art of the checkmate.
New York:Dover.
Reshevsky, Samuel, 1976.
The art of positional play.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Shamkovich, Leonid, 1978.
The modern chess sacrifice (with a treatise on the theory of sacrifice, and a classification of sacrifices by type.)
New York:David McKay.
Silman, Jeremy, 1993.
How to reassess your chess (3rd edition).
Los Angelos:Summit Publishing
One of
the best instructional books on the middle game, with an unfortunately
misleading title.It helps deal
with the problem of developing a plan for the middle game.
Silman, Jeremy, 1995.
The amateur’s mind:Turning chess misconceptions into chess mastery.
Los Angelos:Summit Publishing
Soltis, Andrew, 1995.
Pawn structure chess
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Soltis, Andrew, 1994.
The inner game of chess:how to calculate and win.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Soltis, Andrew, 1975.
The art of defense in chess.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Soltis, Andrew, 1979.
Catalog of chess mistakes: How to recognize and correct mistake patterns of all kinds – tactical, strategic, psychological, and more.
New York:David McKay.
Tisdall, Jonathan, 1997.
Improve your chess now.
London: Cadogan Chess.
Vukovic, Vladimir, 1998 / 1965.
The art of attack in chess.
London:Everyman (Cadogan) Chess.
A classic
on attacking the king.
Waitzkin, Josh, 1995.
Josh Waitzkin’s Attacking chess:Aggressive strategies and inside moves from the U.S. Junior chess champion.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Weeramantry, Sunil & Eusebi, Ed, 1993.
Best lessons of a chess coach.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Wolff, Patrick, 1997.
The complete idiot’s guide to chess.
New York: Alpha books.
Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene, 1959.
How not to play chess.
New York:Dover.
Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene, 1959.
The art of chess combination.
New York:Dover.
Königs-indisch bis Grünfeld- Verteidigung.
Berlin:Sportverlag.
Christiansen, Larry & Silman, Jeremy, 1989.
Dutch defense.
Dallas:Chess Digest
DeFrmian, Nick & Korn, Walter (ed.), 1990.
Modern chess openings (13th edition.)
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Eckert, Doug, 1986.
Sicilian Scheveningen:Keres attack.
Coraopolis, PA:Chess Enterprises.
Fine, Reuben, 1972.
Ideas behind the chess openings.
New York:David McKay Chess Library.
Gligoric, Svetozar, 1985.
Play the Nimzo-Indian defence.
New York:Pergamon.
Gufeld, Eduard, 1993.
Winning with the Torre Attack.
New York:Holt.
Gurrevich, Mikhail, 1991.
Queen’s Indian defence:Kasparov system.
London:Batsford.
Horowitz, I. A., 1951.
How to win in the chess openings.
New York:Simon and Shuster.
Horowitz, I. A., 1964.
Chess openings:Theory and practice.
New York:Simon and Shuster.
Kasparov, Garry and Keene, Raymond, 1989.
Batsford chess openings 2
London:B.T. Batsford.
Kinlay, Jon, 1981.
Sicilian:Keres attack.
London:Batsford.
Kosten, Tony, 1998.
Mastering the Nimzo-Indian.
London:Batsford.
Kosten, Tony, 1994.
New ideas in the Nimzo-Indian defense.
New York:Henry Holt and Company (Batsford Chess Library).
Lane, Gary, 1991.
The Ruy Lopez fo the tournament player.
New York:Henry Holt
Marovic, Drazen, 1991.
An active repetoire for black.
New York:Henry Holt.
Focus
on the King’s Indian Defense and the Scheveningen variation of the Sicilian.
McDonald, Neil, 1995.
Winning with the Kalashnikov.
New York:Henry Holt
Mortazavi, Ali, 1996.
Winning with the Kan.
New York:Henry Holt
Neverov, Valery & Marusenko, Peter, 1996.
New ideas in the Sveshnikov Sicilian.
New York:Henry Holt.
Nunn, John & Gallagher, Joe, 1995.
Beating the Sicilian 3
New York:Henry Holt
Pandolfini, Bruce, 1989.
Chess openings: Traps and zaps.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Pedersen, Steffen, 1998.
Easy guide to the Sicilian Scheveningen.
London:Cadogan Chess.
Polugayevsky, Lyev, 1991.
The Sicilian labyrinth (volume 1).
New York:Pergamon.
Polugayevsky, Lyev, 1991.
The Sicilian labyrinth (volume 2).
New York:Pergamon.
Reinfeld, Fred, 1973.
Winning chess openings.
New York:Collier Macmillan
Schiller, Eric, 1996.
How to play the Torre attack (2nd Ed.)
Dallas:Chess Digest.
Schiller, Eric, 1997.
World championopenings.
New York:Cardoza Publishing.
Schiller, Eric, 1989.
Modern stonewall Dutch.
Coroapolis, PA:Chess Enterprises.
Schwarz, Rolf, 1960.
Die Bird eroffnung.
Berlin:Hildebrand.
Silman, Jeremy, 1998.
Winning with the Sicilian defense:A complete repertoire against 1e4(Revised 2nd edition.)
Grand Prairie, TX:Chess Digest.
Smith, Ken & Hall, John; Revised by Myers, Harding, & Koltanowski, 1990.
Winning with the Colle system (2nd edition.)
Dallas:Chess Digest.
Soltis, Andrew, 1993.
The fighting French.
Dallas: Chess Digest.
Deals
with Burn Variation – an improved version of the Rubenstein French (1 e4,
e6 2 d4, d5 3 Nc3, Nf6 4 Bg5, dxe4!?)
Soltis, Andrew, 1992.
White opening system combing stonewall attack, Colle system, Torre attack.
Dallas:Chess Digest.
Soltis, Andrew, 1995.
The Sicilian Scheveningen for black (2nd ed.)
Dallas:Chess Digest
Soltis, Andrew, 1987.
A black defensive system for the rest of your chess career.
Dallas, TX:Chess Digest.
Focus
on the Caro-Kann and Slav.
Summerscale, Aaron, 1998.
A killer chess opening repertoire.
London:Everyman.
With
a chapter on the Barry attack, truly a killer opening.
Taimanov, Mark, 1989.
The Sicilian defense:Taimanov system.
New York:Macmillan.
Out of
the horse’s mouth.
Tangborn, Eric, 1994.
Play the Bogo-Indians:Win against 1 d4.
Dallas:Chess Digest
Taulbut, S., 1985.
Play the Bogo-Indian.
Elmsford, NY:Pergamon Press.
Varnusz, Egon, 1991.
Play anti-Indian systems.
Riverside, NJ:Maxwell Macmillan Chess.
Wells, Peter, 1994.
The complete semi-Slav.
New York:Henry Holt.
Dvoretsky, Mark & Yusupov, Artur, 1996.
Positional play.
New York:Henry Holt.
Fine, Reuben, 1952.
The middle game in chess.
New York:David McKay Chess Library.
Horowitz, I. A. & Mott-Smith, Georffrey, 1960.
Point count chess:An accurate guide to winning chess.
New York:David McKay Chess Library.
An idiosyncratic
approach to positional/strategic evaluation using a point count model,
inspired by bridge.
Keres, Paul and Kotov, Alexander, 1964.
The art of the middle game.
New York:Dover.
Nimzovich, Aron, 1947 (1930).
My system:A treatise on chess.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
The classic.
Pachman, Ludek, 1971 (1963).
Modern chess strategy.
New York:Dover.
Watson, John, 1998.
Secrets of modern chess strategy:Advances since Nimzowitsch.
London:Gambit.
Chess endings:Essential knowledge (New edition).
London:Cadogan Books.
This
is a classic by the Russian expert.The
explanations are very systematic and logical.
Beliavsky, Alexander & Mikhalchishin, Adrian, 1995.
Winning endgame technique.
New York:Henry Holt
Chernev, Irving, 1961.
Practical chess endings.
New York: Dover.
Dvoretsky, Mark & Yusupov, Artur, 1995.
Technique for the tournament player.
New York:Henry Holt
Euwe, Dr. Max & Hooper, David, 1976.
A guide to chess endings.
New York:Dover.
Fine, Reuben, 1941.
Basic chess endings.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Horowitz, I. A., 1957.
How to win in the chess endings.
New York:David McKay Chess Library
Mednis, Edmar, 1978.
Practical endgame lessons.
New York:David McKay Chess Library.
Nunn, John, 1994.
Secrets of pawnless endings.
New York:Henry Holt.
Pandolfini, Bruce, 1988.
Pandolfini’s endgame course.
New York:Simon & Shuster.
Robertie, Bill, 1998.
Basic endgame strategy:Kings, pawns, & minor pieces.
New York:Cardoza.
Very
clear and simple.
Robertie, Bill, 1998.
Basic endgame strategy:Queens & rooks.
New York:Cardoza .
Very
clear and simple.
Seirawan, Yasser, 1999.
Winning chess endings.
Redmond, WA:Microsoft Press.
Very
lucid and interesting.
Silman, Jeremy, 1992.
Essential chess endings explained move by move (Vol. One: Novice thru intermediate.)
Dallas, TX:Chess Digest.
Very
clear and well explained.
Troitzky, A.A., 1968.
360 brilliant and instructive end games.
New York:
Dover.
Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene, 1974.
How to play chess endings.
New York:Dover.
Alekhine, A., 1973 / 1938 .
The world's chess championship, 1937
New York:
Dover.
Alekhine, A., 1925.
The
book of the New York international chess
tournament - 1924.
New York: Dover.
Alekhine, A., (1962/1937).
The book of the Nottingham international chess tournament.
New York: Dover.
Botvinnik, M.M., 1973 / 1950 .
Soviet chess championship, 1941.
New York: Dover.
Bronstein, David & Furstenberg, Tom, 1995.
The sorcerer’s apprentice.
London: Cadogan Chess.
A wonderful
book, filled with Bronstein’s annotations of selected games, recommends,
combinations, and some biographical info.
Byrne, Robert & Nei, Ivo, 1974.
Both
sides of the chessboard:An
analysis of the Fischer / Spassky match.
New York:Quadrangle
/ The New
York Times Book Co.
Capablanca, J.R., 1966.
My chess career
New York:Dover.
Capablanca, Jose Raul, 1977.
World's championship matches, 1921 and 1927.
New York:
Dover.
Chernev, Irving, 1978.
Capablanca’s best chess endings
New York:Dover.
Curdo, John, 1988.
Forty years at the top:John Curdo’s chess career.
Coraopolis, PA:Chess Enterprises.
Games
selected and annotated by one of the dominant players in New England for
a half century.
Euwe, M., 1939.
From my games: 1920-1937.
New York: Dover.
The Dutch
Master.
Fine, Reuben, 1952.
The world’s great chess games.
London:Andre Deutsch
Historical
grouping of games by Philidor, Morphy, Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine,
Euwe, & Botvinnik
Gligoric, Svetozar, 1972.
Fischer
vs. Spassky:The chess match of the
century.
New York:Simon and Schuster.
Reshevsky, Samuel, 1948.
Reshevsky's best games of chess.
New York:
Dover.
Reshevsky, Samuel, 1973.
How chess games are won.
New York:Pitman
Publishing.
I.E.
how his games were won.
Roberts, Richard with Schonberg, Harold, Horowitz, Al, & Reshevsky, Samuel, 1972.
Fischer / Spassky:The New York Times report on the chess match of the century.
New York:New York Times.
Saidy, Anthony, 1994.
The march of chess ideas:How the century’s greatest players have waged the war over chess strategy.
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Seirawan, Yasser, 1995.
Winning chess brilliancies.
Redmond, WA:Microsoft Press.
Only
12 games, but clearly and vividly annotated by the GM.
Wolff, Patrick, 1996.
Kasparov versus Anand:The inside story of the 1995 world chess championship match.
Cambridge, MA:H3 Publications.
A wonderful
inside account of the human struggle and analysis / preparation at the
GM level.GM Wolf was Anand’s second
and truly inside.
Ball, W.W. Rouse and Coxeter, H.S.M. , 1962.
Mathematical recreations & essays.
New York:Macmillan.
Contains
a chapter on mathematical puzzles and problems based on chess themes.
Chernev, Irving, 1961 (1948).
The bright side of chess.
New York:Sterling.
Davidson, Henry, 1949.
A short history of chess.
New York:Greenberg.
The history
is somewhat dubious, but the predictions for the future are worse:based
on the enormous number of possible moves, he claims machines will never
be able to play chess.
Goichberg, Bill, Jarecki, Carol, & Riddle, Ira Lee, 1994.
U.S. chess federation’s official rules of chess (4th edition).
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Horowitz, I.A. & Rothenberg, P.I, 1963.
The complete book of chess.
New York:Macmilllan.
Kasparov, Gary (with Donald Trelford), 1983.
Unlimited challenge: an autobiography.
New York:Grove Weidenfeld.
Perez-Reverte, Arturo, 1990.
The Flanders Panel.
New York:Bantam Books.
A mystery
novel in which the clues to who is being killed are given in the analysis
of a chess position depicted in an oil painting.
Soltis, Andrew, 1991.
Karl Marx plays chess (and other reports on the world’s oldest game.)
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Waitzkin, Fred, 1984.
Searching for Bobby Fischer.
New York:Penguin Books.
Recommended books for beginners
Since players sometimes ask what books to read, in my personal opinion (RJO), several of the books below are outstanding places for a beginning or improving chess player to start.
Instruction
Alburt, Lev, 1997.
Chess training pocket book:300 most important positions & ideas.
New York:Chess Information and Research Center.
This
is a very hand and helpful problem book illustrating important ideas.
Purdy, C.J.S, 1996.
Guide to good chess.
Davenport, Iowa:Thinkers’ Press.
Basic
and lucid book by the 1st World Correspondence Chess Champion
Weeramantry, Sunil & Eusebi, Ed, 1993.
Best lessons of a chess coach.
New York:David
McKay Chess Library (Random House).
Wolff, Patrick, 1997.
The complete idiot’s guide to chess.
New York: Alpha books.
Good
for the complete beginner.
Openings
I really don’t know what to suggest here.So much depends on one’s choice of opening repertoire.All I can say is that it makes sense to choose openings that relate to one’s style and that are somehow related to one another.
Middle
game
Silman, Jeremy, 1993.
How to reassess your chess (3rd edition).
Los Angelos:Summit Publishing
One of
the best instructional books on the middlegame, with an unfortunately misleading
title.It helps with the problem
of developing a plan for the middle game.
End
game
Averbakh, Y., 1993.
Chess endings:Essential knowledge (New edition).
London:Cadogan Books.
This
is a classic by the Russian expert.The
explanations are very systematic and logical.
Robertie, Bill, 1998.
Basic endgame strategy:Kings, pawns, & minor pieces.
New York:Cardoza.
Very
clear and simple.
Robertie, Bill, 1998.
Basic endgame strategy:Queens & rooks.
New York:Cardoza .
Very
clear and simple.
Seirawan, Yasser, 1999.
Winning chess endings.
Redmond, WA:Microsoft Press.
Very
lucid and interesting.
Silman, Jeremy, 1992.
Essential chess endings explained move by move (Vol. One: Novice thru intermediate.)
Dallas, TX:Chess Digest.
Very
clear and well explained.
Game
Collections and Players
Bronstein, David & Furstenberg, Tom, 1995.
The sorcerer’s apprentice.
London:Cadogan Chess.
A wonderful
book, filled with Bronstein’s annotations of selected games, recommends,
combinations, and some biographical info.
Seirawan, Yasser, 1995.
Winning chess brilliancies.
Redmond, WA:Microsoft Press.
Only
12 games, but clearly and vividly annotated by the GM.
Miscellaneous
If one is going to play tournament chess, which I highly recommend, one ought to know the rules.Playing tournament chess – serious games under slow time controls, preferably against stronger opponents - is probably the best way to improve, aside from being one of the most enjoyable and satisfying experiences in life.
Goichberg, Bill, Jarecki, Carol, & Riddle, Ira Lee, 1994.
U.S. chess federation’s official rules of chess (4th edition).
New York:David McKay Chess Library (Random House).