Books, resources, equipment
A nearly complete list of the books I’ve bought, resources I’ve used, and equipment I’ve acquired while learning how to learn chess.
Don’t be intimidated!
Websites
Section titled “Websites”
Chess.com: lessons, puzzles, online play (free/paid)
Lichess: lessons, puzzles, online play (free)
Chessiverse: online play against bots (free/paid)
Chesskit: Game analysis (free)
Online courses
Section titled “Online courses”
GM Noel Studer: online courses
- Beginner Chess Mastery (video course), Noel Studer
- Simplified Chess Improvement System (video course), Noel Studer
Introductions and full courses
Section titled “Introductions and full courses”
Everyone’s First Chess Workbook, Peter Giannatos (ebook on chessable.com)
Chess Steps manuals and all workbooks for levels 1 and 2
Winning Chess series, Yasser Seirawan: one excellent primer, six sequels
- Play Winning Chess
- Winning Chess Tactics
- Winning Chess Strategies
- Winning Chess Openings
- Winning Chess Endings
- Winning Chess Brilliancies
- Winning Chess Combinations
Pandolfini’s Ultimate Guide To Chess, Bruce Pandolfini
Tactics
Section titled “Tactics”The Woodpecker Method 1&2, Axel Smith (ebook on chesstempo.com)
Chess: 5334 Problems, Lazslo Polgar
How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, Murray Chandler (checkmates)
Looking for Trouble: Recognizing and Meeting Threats in Chess, Dan Heisman
Learn Chess Tactics, John Nunn
Chess Training Pocket Book 1 & 2, Lev Alburt
Books on Strategy
Section titled “Books on Strategy”Simple Chess, Michael Stean
Weapons of Chess: an Omnibus of Chess Strategies, Bruce Pandolfini
Understanding Chess Middlegames, John Nunn
Understanding Chess Endgames, John Nunn
John Nunn’s Chess Course, John Nunn
Silman’s Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master, Jeremy Silman
Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, Sunil Weeramantry & Ed Eusebi
Annotated games
Section titled “Annotated games”Logical Chess, Irving Chernev
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy, Irving Chernev
Understanding Chess: Move by Move, John Nunn
Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking, Neil McDonald
Books on learning chess
Section titled “Books on learning chess”The Amateur’s Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery, Jeremy Silman
Everyone’s Second Chess Book, Dan Heisman
A Guide to Chess Improvement : The Best of Novice Nook, Dan Heisman
Perpetual Chess Improvement, Ben Johnson (taken from interviews on the Perpetual Chess podcast, ebook on kindle)
Chess for Zebras, Jonathan Rowson (ebook on Kindle)
The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Jonathan Rowson(ebook on Kindle)
Move First, Think Later: Sense and Nonsense in Improving Your Chess, Willy Hendricks (ebook on Kindle)
Chess Destiny: Lessons from an Adult Improver and his Coach, Omar Mills and NM Robert Ramirez (ebook on chessable.com)
Equipment
Section titled “Equipment”Triple weighted pieces, vinyl board, carrying bag
Electronic board.
Cheap chess set for analysis using two boards (I bought this, but could be anything).
YouTube channels
Section titled “YouTube channels”ChessDojo (IM Kostya Kavutskiy, David Pruess, Jesse Kraai)
Perpetual Chess
Chess coach Andras
Notes on initial purchases
Section titled “Notes on initial purchases”I first signed up for a free chess.com account, did a few lessons and puzzles, decided I would use the site enough to make a basic membership worth the money. Since then this is my most visited site. I regularly do a few lessons, a few puzzles, and a game or two against the coach.
lichess.com is the free competitor to chess.com. I like them both, but the graphic design of the latter is more pleasing. I will probably make more use of it as I progress.
I forget where I first saw listudy.org mentioned, but it may be helpful for additional training (openings, tactics, endgames, visualization).
Looking for beginner chess book recommendations, I found (probably on Reddit) repeated mentions of the Yasser Seirawan books, especially about his engaging and accessible style. (No, actually those came from a Youtube video.) I bought them all through abebooks.com. If I do the work — and I plan to do it —these should last me several years.
I’m looking forward to studying The Amateur’s Mind, in which Silman writes about getting beginner students to describe their thinking, then contrasts it with how a skilled player thinks. Very relevant to my goal for this project — I am not interested in competition or rankings or ratings, but understanding how to go about learning and improving a complex skill, as well as experiencing the process. This should help!
The other two are recommendations that looked good. Weapons of Chess is a compendium I’ll look through at some point. Woodpecker Method is a highly recommended set of puzzles (the method itself is controversial and not something I’m interested in trying out). Those are available as printed books but basically the same price as interactive books on chesstempo.com, so I thought I’d try them out there.