The 12 Best Chess books (2023 reviews)

If you often find yourself confused about good book, chernev chess book should be your first option for buying. If you're looking for a single book to take you to an intermediate playing ability, tarrasch's *the game of chess* is much better than this. It is an annotated games collection with the unusual feature of having every single move commented on. It is great as a 'theory' teaching tool as it annotates every move. Each game takes about half and hour to work through, which makes this book nice for adults with jobs and family obligations who cannot devote a substantial amount of time each day to chess.

This book is good for any one rated from under 1000 up to expert strength. There is some repetition of basic precepts, but it's necessary for them to sink in. The games are chosen to present a vast array of openings and middle game strategies. It is tips for improving your chess skills and understanding of the game.

Why We Like This:

An amazing chess book that is very well written and enjoyable
Finest chess book ever written, great for players at all levels of the game
Teaches about piece development, chess strategy and positional technique by example

Best For dummy: Firmian Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable book, firmian chess book should be your first option for buying. This book is best used with a chessboard. It doesn't have the Fried liver attack line from the two knights' defense, but it surprisingly has the Traxler counterattack as the Wilkes-Barre in the book. It has tables of variations with tons of extra footnotes, far more than anyone could memorize.

The book is written mainly in algebraic chess notation and is great for learning chess lines. If you love chess or simply want to learn to play well, this is the best source for study of the openings. This is definitely should be in your collection if you are trying to improve your chess at the intermediate level.

Why We Like This:

Must have book for all chess players
Playing out the games with a board is easy and often fun
A nice collection of modern openings
Modern chess openings is a great reference for intermediate players

Best For learning Chess: Jeremy Silman Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

This is one of the best chess books in the world. It is a nice chess book for the inquisitive chess mind. It will teach all of the famous openings, like Alekhine's Defense, Four Knights Opening, The Queen's Gambit, The King's Gambit, and so on and so on.

Jeremy Silman's Complete book on Chess Strategy covers excellent named gambits and various points in a game and reviews options that the student of chess can learn to work around without assuming a certain mid-level competency in the game. The book is well written and offers a plethora of attacks and defenses that can be grasped even by a novice like myself. It is easy to read and great for improving your chess game.

This book covers a lot of ground and hits upon a lot of fundamental ideas that a good chess player needs. The book should be based and named simple chess or beginer chess.

Why We Like This:

Great book on improving your chess skills by a phenomenal teacher
Wonderfully written and thorough introduction to chess strategies
Good brand reputation

Best For mates: László Polgár Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

If you want nothing less than best desirable book, then lászló polgár chess book is the one you should definitely consider. This book POUNDS into you the mating patterns you need to know in a way that is actually palatable to most. The 1000 + pages in this book will provide hours, days, and years of pattern recognition practice to any aspiring chess player. The diagrams are large and easy to read and very instructive. There is just enough space at the top and bottom of each page to pencil in your answers and all variations (if any) in the margins.

You will love the book, it helps in learning solving puzzles and finding the best way to force a check-mate just wish the board printed in the book was numbered. It is ideal to keep in the car or at the bedside before sleep.

Why We Like This:

An absolute must purchase for any chess player
Highly recommend for everyone learning chess especially beginners
A powerful study tool to advance your game
Essential learning for the beginning to intermediate chess player

Best For advice: Michael Basman Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

The michael basman chess book might be a relatively new release, but it's still nothing short of impressive this year. This book and the Pressman Chess set made a wonderful gift for the Christmas season. It covers all of the most important aspects of chess, including the basics. It is clearly and well written, in a language that is easy to understand. It is made up of 64 squares, diagrams of the boards help new players to see how the pieces move and how strategy can be implemented.

Text passages are short and clear, and key to attractive color photos and diagrams that illustrate board positions and piece moves. It is easy to follow and has lots of pictures. Simple, easy to read, instructive and powerful, this is an excellent book for a kid to learn with.

Why We Like This:

Highly recommended for kids and adults alike
Friendly and is always there when kids need it
Great game of strategy to enjoy with grandson
Explains the game in a very approachable way

Best For beginner Book: Bobby Fischer Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

This book is perfect if you are in the market for your first chess book. It's a pretty good book to learn chess for the absolute complete beginner. The entire book shows you chess board layots on one page and asks a question or gives you information. It improves your game by at least 33 per cent. The lack of notation does encourage you to simply stare at the page and make your mind do the work that no computer or opponent may have the generosity for you to learn.

The book is in an easy to read format using the psychology of programming learning. It'd probably be best for the chessplayer who has played a few games and understands a little how the game is played. It is great for beginners but also advanced as the book explains concepts with real examples.

Why We Like This:

Great primer for the end-game and checkmate
Excellent book for intermediate level players
A must have for all students of the game

Best game: Murray Chandler Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

Not everyone likes to purchase book for their daily purpose, but the murray chandler chess book would be an anomoly. It takes to really improve one's game. This book starts you at the middle game to show you all kinds of checkmating patterns to help with pattern recognition so if you stumble upon one of these positions in your game you will have no problem seeing a checkmate 4 to even 8 moves ahead. The checkmate positions are presented in a very straightforward fashion, with diagrams and arrows to show the simple versions. It's written in a very readable style.

This book focuses almost exclusively on the middlegame, and contains no information on how to play the opening or the endgame. You can also read it without a board setup, which is really nice too, when you are on a plane, or just want to lay on the couch. The book has a ton of pictures in it, not just text explaining moves. This book will expand your vision of the game and get you eager to go at it with a little more vigor and less fear.

Why We Like This:

Great even for the expert chess player
Really good choice for new chess players
One of the new comers and featured product

Best For any Chess novice: Jose Capablanca Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

This is a classic book, written by a chess genius. Capablanca has written a concise guide to the fundamentals of chess, including opening principles, middlegame plans, and basic endgames. It’s a perfect chess reference book. For adult beginners or those who have been away from the game for a while, this book is excellent.

This book is for post-beginners to intermediate players. The information is presented fast and with the idea that you will have a board in front of you to actually work out the moves for yourself.

This is one of the best books on any grand-masters list, but it is not an expansive book though, just under 130 pages. It is maximized beyond the readers ease of comprehension basically.

Why We Like This:

A worthy addition to anyone's chess library
Great book even at intermediate strength
One of the must-have's for any chess library

Best For intermediate player: Andy Dunn Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

This book is so practical and any one who has no idea about the game of chess can easily use this book as a guide in playing it. This book is equally helpful for both the beginners as well as the old players. It provides a good and understandable analysis of every board. It’s a book to be read and read again to really catch on and be an excellent chess player.

This book will help you become an expert in playing this game. The book explains some of the great chess moves made in championship games, as well as helps to improve your own chess game.

Why We Like This:

Great resource for better chess games
Good brand reputation

Best gift: David Shenk Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention david shenk chess book for daily usage. THE IMMORTAL GAME, written by David Shenk and first published in 2006, is an informative and pleasurable read which presents at least 6 things. It covers a key (fascinating) game and. It's not just a game, and the alternating chapters on analyzing one of the earliest modern games of chess lets you appreciate the BEAUTY of the game. It's a two-player war game with thirty-two pieces on a sixty-four-square board. It reads easily, is not bogged down in a lot of chess problems or games like most chess books (for better or worse, depending on what you're looking for), and is full of interesting anecdotes.

This game is teasingly but clearly presented, slowly, annotated move by annotated move and winds its way through the book which is the body and the game its skeleton. It covers a key (fascinating) game and is not bogged down in a lot of chess problems or games like most chess books (for better or worse, depending on what you're looking for), and is full of interesting anecdotes.

Why We Like This:

Romantic, scientific (classical), hypermodern and new dynamism
Excellent for any lover of chess
Perfect mix of chess history and actual famous game, great gift for chess fans
Possesses an almost inestimable advantage over the many other publications about chess

Best For rainy day: Jonathan Ferry Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention jonathan ferry chess book for regular usage. This book takes a creative approach to teaching chess through storytelling. It makes somewhat complex ideas like strategy and tactics simple and easy to understand, and is full of wonderful colorful illustrations that really add some personality to the chess pieces. The narrative story helps kids understand different perspectives and the emotions that go on in a game. This book provides such a beautiful way to explain and describe the mechanics of chess.

The rules of the game make it possible so that a mere pawn can one day become a queen, the strongest piece on the board. This book teaches chess technique, while also instilling important lessons about life. It is perfect for a rainy day or even on a sunny day on the patio. This will help take your chess game to the next level. This is a great book to read with a budding chess player and a very fun way to introduce someone to the game.

Why We Like This:

Great tool for teaching chess and character
Delivers what they promise

Best For kids: Giannatos Chess Book

Buy on Amazon

The giannatos chess book should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. If you know the rules of chess, but not much else, this is the perfect chess workbook for you. It builds the fundamentals of chess like no other. It is a must have book for chess players under 1000 wanting to learn chess the right way and for chess coaches wanting a fantastic teaching aid and workbook to guide their students.

This book is much needed for your kids who just start learning basic principles of chess. It covers all of the main tactical motives, as well as many basic checkmate patterns. As to layout and graphics, the beginning of each chapter includes a guided practice section including one problem diagramed with circles and arrows to illustrate the tactic and a number of diagrams with hints.

Why We Like This:

Perfect size and the workbook walks the student through each lesson thoughtfully
Not just puzzles but a way of teach the material in a crawl/walk/run method
Best beginner's chess book for kids