My Ultimate Book Recommendations | 1700 to 2200 | Tiermaker edition

Part two of a video that has been heavily requested: what books do I recommend?
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#Chess

[@maze9697]

Tier List: Worth its weight in gold Chess Middlegames - Laszlo Polgar Endgame Strategy - Mikhail Shereshevsky Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces - Igor Stohl How to Play Chess Endgames (Endgame Strategy) - Karsten Müller & Wolfgang Pajeken How to Reassess Your Chess: Chess Mastery Through Chess Imbalances - Jeremy Silman Pal Benko: My Life, Games, and Compositions - Pal Benko School of Chess Excellence 2: Tactical Play - Mark Dvoreetsky Excellent stuff Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual - Mark Dvoretsky Essential Chess Sacrifices (Chess Tactics) - David LeMoir Excelling at Chess Calculation: Capitalizing On Tactical Chances - Jacob Aagaard Forcing Chess Moves: The Key to Better Calculation - Charles Hertan My System (Chess Classics) - Aron Nimzowitsch Winning Chess Middlegames: An Essential Guide to Pawn Structures - Ivan Sokolov May or may not be useful for you Positional Decision Making in Chess - Boris Gelfand*1 Studies for Practical Players: Improving Calculation and Resourcefulness in the Endgame - Mark Dvoreetsky The Seven Deadly Chess Sins - Jonathan Rowson*3 Great stuff but not yet Chess Strategy in Action - John Watson Dynamics of Chess Strategy - Vlastimil Jansa*2 Fundamental Chess Endings - Karsten Müller & Frank Lamprecht Look good on a bookshelf *1 Probably NOT before IM level! *2 Incredible & Probably NOT before IM level! *3 More philosophical and lots of fun. Brillant to read but not for getting better at chess.

[@Glicerol]

How to read chess books: 28:49(most important part!)

[@SpaceCadet4Jesus]

I can't figure out if I'm going to live long enough to start and finish the hoarders collection of chess books I already have. And you're tempting me to get more.

[@gyermolenko]

the best thing is - you shouldn't worry about it, at all. If you read them and you like it - great. If you buy them and enjoy the search, the novelty, collecting part of it all - also great! Hope you have enough place for them) Have a nice day.

[@MrSupernova111]

Yep. Same. Still, I want to acquire about another dozen books before I stop the hoarding chess books. I also have several chessable courses which I'm prioritizing at the moment and I'm refraining from going crazy like I did with physical books. Still, I enjoy having my physical books. Many go out of print and to me they become collectibles.

[@buk1733]

Very instructive. I've started to play chess 1.5 years ago. I went from 800 to 2100 reading a lot of chess books. I read: -My 60 memorable games -Play like a grandmaster -My great predecessors part I (I have the other parts as well, but I prefer to analyse the book really deeply and so I've spent over 150h just on this one book. -Mastering chess strategy -Secrets of modern chess strategy -Silman's complete endgame course -Fire on board -Pump up your rating I'm currently reading: -My great Predecessors part 2 -Dvoretsky's endgame manual -the woodpecker method -forcing chess moves -life and games of Mikhail Tal -new art of defense in chess --Mastering chess strategy Let me know if you have any questions about these books

[@nfsnews918]

Can u give which one i must read first and sequel after that to reach like that..i just 1400 rating fide

[@chuckyfox9284]

Amazing achievement! Where do you get that much time from? Seriously, do you not go to school? You must have spend over 2000 hours on chess in the past 1,5years and Probably at least half that on playing piano.

[@buk1733]

@@chuckyfox9284 Yes, time is the most precious thing we have. I do go to school, although I often play chess in my head during the lessons. I'm trying to maximize my time training piano and chess, so I have no time for friends and I don't study hard for school. Thank you for checking out my piano performances :)

[@chuckyfox9284]

@@buk1733 My respect! That is crazy, when I was 16 I played video games and drank alcohol with friends. I just recently started trying not to waste my time.

[@buk1733]

@@chuckyfox9284 how old are you?

[@gyermolenko]

Thank you for addressing "how to read them" part. Although from a distance it can be as easy as "read with a board". But I'm sure everyone has their own approach to that. I.e. as in the comment above - import the pgn to lichess, hide next moves and guess/think. As for me (not sure if that is a common problem) - I can't follow long alternative lines, it is pretty hard to move pieces back to a divergence point. (which became an exercise by itself). And because of that I started working on improving visualization skills, so I could skip "moving pieces" part altogether. (well, for other reasons too) What I'm trying to say is - I'm sure everyone has their own set of tricks for reading.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Learning how to reset the position is an important part of this method, and the struggle is part of it😉

[@alekthunder2009]

Man, this is like when the music stars turn their chair straight away in the TV show "The Voice". I only needed five minutes to look for the comments section and say, just as the previous tier maker video, this is just amazing stuff, great recommendations so well presented. Thanks!!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks Alejandro, glad you liked it!

[@alekthunder2009]

@@ChessCoachAndras Taking into account that my rating is around 1900, but I haven't read through most of the recommended books in the previous video yet, would you recommend to go through them or should I focus on the books in the level of the present video?

[@xiaoguangyang7917]

Thanks for recommendations and great effort. I just listened your perpetual chess podcast. amazing story and appreciate the time you spent on KZbin help people with your daily work and family

[@ChessCoachAndras]

My pleasure sire, glad you liked the podcast!

[@kirkd1631]

Same as me!

[@dancruz7845]

The one book I’m surprised you didn’t include is “The Art of Attack” by Vukovic but other than that excellent list some of these I need to pick up!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Yea, I missed a lot of titles really, I cant cover everything. That said, I find that book outdated a bit!

[@gyermolenko]

​@@ChessCoachAndras any suggestions of a book on this topic? Your games (from recent videos at least) seem very aggressive in style. That is why I'm curious. Maybe it even deserves a video on its own, with thoughts about players you think are good attackers? (Morphy, Tal, Judit, Naroditskiy?). Either way, thank you for another great video (although I can't subscribe second time).

[@lowtherlars]

@@gyermolenko he’s recommended, elsewhere, Fire on the Board

[@zorza8907]

Books mentioned in this wonderful video: (i wrote this for myself to go shop on amazon and thought i'd share for those who'd want to do the same) Opening/Middlegame: - Sokolov - Winning Chess Middlegames - Jansa - Dynamics of Chess Strategy Endgame: - Shereshevsky - Endgame Strategy - Müller - How To Play Chess Endgames - Müller - Fundamental Chess Endings - Dvoretsky - Endgame Manual Strategy: - Aagard - Excelling At Positional Chess - Watson - Chess Strategy In Action - Nimzowitsch - My System Tactics: - Hertan - Forcing Chess Moves - Polgar, L. - Chess Middlegames - Aagaard - Excelling at Chess Calculation - LeMoir - Essential Chess Sacrifices Studies: - Dvoretsky - Chess Studies For The Practical Player General: - Silman - How To Reassess Your Chess - Dvoretsky - School Of Chess Excellence (series) - Rowson - Seven Deadly Chess Sins Collections: - Stohl - Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces - Benko - Pal Benko: My Life, Games And Compositions - Gelfand - Positional Decision-Making In Chess

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks, legend

[@zorza8907]

@@ChessCoachAndras no u

[@christianmasseus1108]

The worth it’s weight in gold section: - [ ] Endgame strategy - [ ] Chess middlegames by Polgar - [ ] Paul Banko life and games - [ ] How to Play Chess Endgames - [ ] School of Chess Excellence - [ ] Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces

[@christopherlees1134]

This is the best chess book review(s) I've ever seen. Incredible value! Thank you for this!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you liked it Christopher! I have a afair few individual book reviews too, check them out if you like!

[@NiiiiiiiiiiiiiickM]

As a 2200+ Player, I'm working through Gelfand's 'Positional Decision making in chess' now. I definitely agree with your recommendation as the content is a good challenge at my level. I know I have will have to come back to the book multiple times after I have gone through it to solidify my understanding. I can't imagine seriously studying this book at any level

[@alphachess9009]

Love this channel

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks man, good to have you on beard!

[@strangetobias1474]

Love it Andras ! I personally enjoyed Judit Polgar's series a lot, a very nice insight, full of chess knowledge but also a nice peak into the mind of a great champion !

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Could not agree more!

[@user-hp2jd1lh1u]

Chess Middlegames by Polgar is fantastic, and I want to address your two complaints. Yes, it is physically huge, but I easily grew accustomed to its size. The reason it's so big is because you get so very much: 4158 real game diagrams demonstrating 77 middlegame themes. And yes, it has no words or prose. However, Polgar tells you the theme for every diagram: Back Rank, Double Attack, and so on...for all 77 themes. That's all the reader needs, though I agree that an occasional paragraph would have been nice (perhaps introducing each theme). The solutions are provided, too. This is my favorite book for improving my middlegame tactics, pattern recognition, calculation, and learning about themes I never knew existed. Book copies are hard to find, but it is available to download. Glad you gave it a top rating. If my house were burning, this is one book I'd run through the flames to save.

[@steveorc6920]

"1000 checkmate combinations" by Henkin. From a below 1700. LOVE this book and I have a lot of books. One of my favorites

[@brigadira8735]

Can you please remind me why are you not the number one chess youtuber in the world?!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I don’t wish to be number one but a few hundred thousand subs would not hurt me for sure...

[@angelcow189]

Hey Andras, I don't expect you to make a video on every rating range, but I'm a 2200, Just maybe one or two book recommendations you have for my range? Or maybe what books helped you personally when you got into the master level to get ascending? Or was it just an accumulation of a lot of them?

[@Saltydishes]

Sir, Eagerly waiting for 2200+ book recommendations. Please Please....

[@robwilliams3592]

The Soviet Chess Primer by IIya Maizelis offers very nice intro to basic chess in all phases of the game.... I especially enjoyed the endgame and pawn sections...

[@PatVMurphy]

This video gives me lots of excellent book options to read. There is a lot of content out there at the moment. Having an expert like Andras provide his valued, qualified and honest opinions, on which chess book to get, helps save time and puts one on the correct path to learning about this fabulous game.

[@krth337]

Thanks for these good book suggestions. I really look forward to trying them out

[@pdomckenzie]

Was a 3rd tier book recommendations video ever done? 2200+ would be interesting, although 2100+ would probably hit more of a sweet spot.

[@orwbarcelona01]

Only negative about all this great advice: going through this list even halfway thoroughly, is going to take hundreds and hundreds of hours. I could even imagine going through the Polgar book several years.

[@dbzmm1]

I've been doing the polgar book since July of Last year and it's February now. I'm a little over 1/2 way through at about 10 problems a day. I hope to finish it by next July but I'll have to increase my problems to 15 a day or so to do that.

[@kireetpanuganti2168]

Would really appreciate it if you had book recommendations for 2200+ ratings. I'm pushing for the fide master title and eventually compete in IM norm events

[@briban100]

Excellent information, thanks for providing it. One caveat, several of the books discussed are not available at any bookseller or only available second hand on ebay at ridiculous prices. You might want to list alternatives to those books that are out of print.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad it was helpful!

[@richardcuddy6166]

Art sometimes helps, sometimes doesn't. Didn't find Vuckovic's "Art of Attack in Chess" that helpful but loved "The Art of Checkmate" by George Renaud, and Victor Kahn.

[@yoniker83]

Hi! I was surprised to see you not cover Yusupov's 10 books series. What is your opinion about those books (from the practical player's prespective) and why?

[@henrysuryanaga5924]

Very good explanation about various books from strategy, endings etc. Enough information already.

[@anthonycohen771]

Great video, thank you! It was extremely useful for me :)

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you liked it Anthony!

[@SmzeBeRollin]

If you ever need idea for amateurs mind/course: How to convert strategical advantages into a win. I can't tell you how many times I've let games slip and you must see it all the time!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Send me some games please

[@stanleytime9193]

@@ChessCoachAndras if you're still looking I can send some

[@PeterMork-hb9sw]

Hi! Are you refering to FIDE or online rating? Love many of the books you are recommending (all I've read), and look forward to reading more.

[@rotatingmind]

I think he mentioned FIDE rating, so the answer should be yes.

[@Bandeszaus]

Thanks a lot man, this is very useful!

[@markdrury]

Excellent video and content--thanks for sharing! I take it Kmoch's 'Pawn Power in Chess' doesn't merit a place in this list or is in another of your lists for a different rating range (I haven't yet seen your previous video on the subject of books)?

[@15Alpia]

32:50 Are you still planning to do the book recommendations for players on master level? Great video btw!

[@raynoren9185]

Hi Andras, just discover your channel fun and entertaining as well ! Of course book review's are a lot more subjective than objective! This said it's always fun to have another point of view on book to grasp sometime things that you have not see when you read the book, and sometime make you go back to the book with another perspective! But here where our lens are a bit different is about Jeremy Sillman books. From my point of view he written only one good book and this is his endgame course ! The rest for me "looks good on a bookshelf (and only if you have holes to fills!) ! :-) .. And on another note about "My system" M.Dvorestky refer this to "knows your classics" Make sense! Thanks for your work! Like your channel I subscribe to it right now !! Ray

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Welcome onboard RAy!

[@JPCPSeto]

Another book I like is 'Collection of Chess Studies' bij A.A. Troitzky. Of course it also contains positions that are very unlikely to ever happen (and since the studies are very old, there are bound to be a couple of mistakes), but it does give you a real challenge.

[@rotatingmind]

This video is excellent stuff, worth its weight in gold

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Super happy you liked it!

[@screamingliner]

Any opinion on the Yusupov series? (Build Up Your Chess, Boost Your Chess, Chess Evolution)

[@dodocro7258]

I would like to know his opinion also, although I already have the whole series... The test examples are real gems imo

[@christiankrijnen5463]

I just finished book 6 (out of 9), before that I studied (a.o.) the steps method (2-5+) and then Silman, 'Reassess'. I wholeheartedly recommend Yusopov. However, it for sure is more difficult than Silman. It covers all dimensions of the game on different levels (1700-2200)

[@dodocro7258]

@@christiankrijnen5463 The only thing I am confused about is his opening repertoire chapters, since for example I don't play the Petroff... What should I do if I don't prefer the lines he recommends? Should I just skip the chapters?

[@christiankrijnen5463]

@@dodocro7258 Indeed that's exactly what I do, I just skip the chapters about the openings.

[@gossedejong9248]

thank you very much, Sir!!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

My pleasure!

[@gtjons2880]

Good stuff to look forward to when the time comes

[@luisayala9301]

Andras amazing I personally enjoyed

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks sir, glad you liked it!

[@MrSupernova111]

Nice list! Thanks!

[@stewste4316]

Such a great video

[@davidblue819]

Do you think that books by world champions are particularly valuable? For examples, what do you think of Lasker's Manual of Chess, Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals, Botvinnik's 100 Selected Games, and Smyslov's Endgame Virtuoso? If Aron Nimzowitsch's books are still relevant, and Lasker and Capablanca were stronger than Aron Nimzowitsch, shouldn't their books be more relevant? Or doesn't it work like that?

[@matheussantanna3924]

When do you think one should read My Great Predecessors?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I think you can read it any time, its both a great read and an educational book, so I would recommend reading it more than once anyway!

[@miguelonlon69]

Cant believe this great chess author, commentator only has 33k followers....crazy!!

[@ricardomejias156]

Do you consider Polgar’s Middlegame a book for both tactical and positional problems? Or only tactical? Could you recommend another positional problems book?

[@quaswexquas407]

Great video

[@dbisth]

love to see the Lazlo Polgar book, that is a beast of a book.

[@LuisBonilla-nz8zt]

Nice review i have read a few of these myself..

[@richardcuddy6166]

Feel the same love/hate for "5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games" by Lazlo Polgar. And for the same reasons.

[@user-kh6xl4yg1j]

Wish the board in the background had the name of the book & author, as gleaning this info for the covers is difficult, and capturing the info from the audio portion of the video is difficult especially for those who like myself are hard of hearing and have trouble with accents. Cheers!

[@IMkosmeg]

I love you mate, great content, I agree with almost everything you say, but you entered my blacklist with your critique of the Endgame Manual! What are you talking about? That book shouldn't be considered a chess book, It should be considered a PhD paper on chess endings! Maybe too hard for people under 2300, but I personally think it's the best bit of paper I've ever had my hands on, and mind you I have read the complete Harry Potter series 100 times. On a rather more serious note, I think that for someone to really enjoy this book (along with Studies for the Practical player, where I again don't fully agree with your point) he should just be ready to take the task as if he is at the same time training his calculational skills and boy would he have learnt to calculate when finishing these books.

[@IMkosmeg]

On an even more serious note, I think it should be added in the over 2200-towards grandmaster category, as then it's really worth it's weight in gold. It made from a 2200 player to IM without practically studying anything else for 1,5 year straight.

[@nicoterradas]

I agree. Sometimes less is more. That is… going in depth with great HQ books, rather than reading many OK books, impacts your chess more profoundly.

[@TheDortam888]

Any opinion about 'Perfect your chess by Volokitin and Grabinski? what rating range is it for?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

duhh, another one I forgot to include. Absolutely awesome puzzle collection !

[@FcGerman]

Would have been cool to know, what your opinion on the woodpecker book is. I work through it and I like the concept but maybe it's there are better ones 😁

[@chesst4033]

VERY useful content!

[@joynj2016]

Any book recommendation for pawn structure?

[@Vague2121]

Thanks for the video! What would be a good puzzle book for this rating range?

[@nicolaubarbosa1291]

Is this for 1700 fide or online rating ?

[@sdaiwepm]

_Forcing Chess Moves_ is great on Chessable, where all the content is testable.

[@taroakt]

Awesome collection QQ why not the bronstein book on the 53 candidates tournament?

[@parlabaneisback]

Any views on fellow-Australian Cecil Purdy's writings (e.g. 'The Search for Chess Perfection')?

[@b.1565]

Hello Andras! I would love to know what you think about the chessbooks from Arthur van de Oudeweetering. He has written „Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition“ (2014) and „Train Your Chess Pattern Recognition“ (2016) and last but not least „Chess Pattern Recognition for Beginners“ (2019). Do you have any thoughts on how well this book fits an adult improver with 1800 Elo (in real life, not online) who whants to become a better chessplayer? Would be really happy about an answer.

[@b.1565]

*push* 😊

[@christiankrijnen5463]

Dear Andras, why do you suggest books for tactics? Lichess and chess.com offer puzzles online and at chess.com you even select the motives (and level) you want to practice. Online puzzles seem to be more efficient, hence, why books?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Because until about 10 days ago I would said that all online platforms are rubbish, when it comes to puzzles. Now it has changed with lichess. See my latest vid.

[@christiankrijnen5463]

@@ChessCoachAndras I do puzzles on lichess and chess.com (both around 2300) and did not see the new lichess site yet until your message, but it indeed is great. An important difference with chess.com is that you can choose the motive and work on your rating (at chess.com its either or). Although my board vision by doing these (rated) online puzzles has improved substantially (I started some years ago with chess at the age of 50, hence, it goes slowly), the weak point for sure is the pattern recognition. Thanks for your very great videos (and your chessable course on development), they change my way of playing! One suggestion for a video (if its not available yet): on improvement -- how to spend your time with respect to studying openings, middle games, endgames, doing puzzles, playing, analyzing games etc. As you point out yourself, the age is an important factor and of course the level you are on already.

[@PuzzlesExplained]

What are your thoughts on the Yusupov Build up Your Chess series?

[@larsbokermann1052]

Yes I also think that Artur should be on the list too...And I mean the whole series (so 9 books if I am not mistaken). The books first came out in German, but the translation is okay if you ask me.

[@davidhicks3540]

Do you have a list of the books that you can list in the description section?

[@Anoop9633815341]

What about yusupov series of books. U r not mentioning about it

[@joeperry1188]

Andras Toth is low key like the best chess coach on KZbin. It's Andras Toth, John Bartholomew and then the rest don't come close. I jumped 200 rating points after reading Sunil Weermantry after his last video and I'm still climbing.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks JOe, and glad to hear about your success!

[@joeperry1188]

@@ChessCoachAndras you're the man Andras - do you coach internationally? I know you're based in Australia

[@Socrates...]

I have another question for you. You recommend going over all the analysis in a book. But surely it is better to go over all the analysis if it is an old book where the person took the time to use their own brain rather than vomiting out 'deep thought' from an engine and then palming it off as their own ideas? I would rather read a book written in the 70's with lots of analysis from the likes of Jan Timman than Gelfand.....

[@ChessCoachAndras]

You can be a 100% certain that Gelfand's analysis is absolutely top notch, and if it is backed up by the engine, that just makes it perfect.

[@BaeBox]

gelfand himself puts a lot of emphasis on the human perspective in chess and he talks about how engines are "dangerous" in exactly this book, or the one about dynamics. So saying that gelfand just vomits engine lines into a book doesn't really do him justice I think. I am fairly certain he tested his stuff with an engine, however. That being said, the two gelfand-books I have do have a lot of "variation vomiting" (I really like this term :D) and I find myself not enjoying chess books which do that either.

[@natureechoesmusic]

It's easier to put it as "the analysis should be good". Whether a computer was used is beside the point. I'm sure there are plenty of books from the 70s that are really bad because the author missed obvious tactical shots for example. That's not "better" just because it didn't use a computer, it might actually be much much worse.

[@Socrates...]

@@natureechoesmusic I would rather learn to see through the eyes of a human with limited vision than a computer which is so alien to me I would never adopt those ideas anyway.

[@natureechoesmusic]

@@Socrates... If the analysis is alien to you it’s not good. Someone can put alien analysis on a game (going throguh strange variations) without using an engine. What I’m trying to say is that the analyzer using an engine does not have to make the analysis alien (bad). It depends on how it’s done.

[@daisyjonkers7434]

How about Chess Lessons by Vladimir Popov?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Never heard of it, sorry. Could be a great book though!

[@chuckyfox9284]

Are the puzzles in these books that much better than the ones on Lichess?

[@WatermanViolinStudio]

Puzzles in lichess are put there based on a computer algorithm and then voted on by everyone. Puzzles in books are often more humanly interested. That is they might show a particular theme or be from a type of game moment that is relevant to many openings/middlegames, etc. Some have a strong preference, but both types are good. After all chess's beauty is that it is not easily captured.

[@hemantsirohaktr5001]

Sir names those book??

[@user-pt8qp4ws7n]

That middlegame book is like 300 400 bucks

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Which one?

[@philotimoc904]

Sadly, some of these books are out of print.

[@vivalakid]

[@user-ee3oi2xl3w]

I heard about English course on Boncloud opening 1 e4 e5 2 King e2)) fun stuff

[@MMAengineer]

why bother making tierlists if you put everything in the best tier??

[@praaneshsureshkumar4249]

Man believes he can read dude mind

[@kieran6330]

Your poor books - you need to be more gentle with them