starter collection for a library

All Things Chess
1

I recently went shopping for the Shamokin-Coal Township ¶ Public Library. Here’s what I bought for $376.58.

It would be awfully boring if every small-town public library had the same books. Which ones are essential? (I felt more strongly about my first nine picks.)

As a practical matter, I ruled out descriptive and chose hardcover on the rare occasions it was available.

Many great books are omitted. I am a big fan of Alburt, Pandolfini, Reinfeld, and Chernev.

The gap in post-1972 chess is obvious.

Chess for Children: How to Play the World’s Most Popular Board Game, Murray Chandler

Winning Chess Strategy for Kids, Coakley, Jeff

Winning Chess Exercises for Kids, Coakley, Jeff

How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, Chandler, Murray

My 60 Memorable Games, Fischer, Bobby

Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 (Dover Chess), Bronstein, David

My System, Nimzowitsch, Aron (hardcover, Quality Chess ed.)

Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 1, Kasparov, Garry

The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games, Burgess, Graham

Modern Ideas in Chess, 21st Century Edition, Richard Réti

Fundamental Chess Endings, Müller, Karsten

My Best Games of Chess, 1908-1937, 21st Century Edition, Alekhine, Alexander

1000 Checkmate Combinations, Victor Henkin

Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems for Players New to the Game, Pandolfini, Bruce

Back to Basics: Tactics, Heisman, Dan

Life & Games of Mikhail Tal, Tal, Mikhail

Understanding the Chess Openings, Collins, Sam

Chess Tactics for Kids, Chandler, Murray

2

Here is my attempt to shorten the list:

Chess for Children: How to Play the World’s Most Popular Board Game, Murray Chandler
Winning Chess Strategy for Kids, Coakley, Jeff
Winning Chess Exercises for Kids, Coakley, Jeff
Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 (Dover Chess), Bronstein, David
My System, Nimzowitsch, Aron (hardcover, Quality Chess ed.)
The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games, Burgess, Graham
Modern Ideas in Chess, 21st Century Edition, Richard Réti
Fundamental Chess Endings, Müller, Karsten
My Best Games of Chess, 1908-1937, 21st Century Edition, Alekhine, Alexander
Back to Basics: Tactics, Heisman, Dan
Life & Games of Mikhail Tal, Tal, Mikhail
Understanding the Chess Openings, Collins, Sam
Chess Tactics for Kids, Chandler, Murray

Some other possibilities are:

Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro
kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/ … s-for.html
Back to Basics: Openings by FM Carsten Hansen
thechessmind.net/blog/2010/1 … nings.html
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson
web.archive.org/web/20140708090 … iew874.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms
web.archive.org/web/20140627114 … nsen91.pdf
Fundamental Chess Openings by Van Der Sterren
web.archive.org/web/20140626173 … sen128.pdf
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev
web.archive.org/web/20140708104 … ichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev
chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/ … er-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld
web.archive.org/web/20140708093 … iew919.pdf
Silman’s Complete Endgame Course
web.archive.org/web/20140708103 … iew594.pdf
The History of Chess in Fifty Moves by Bill Price

3

I am not a big fan of Logical Chess, Move by Move. But Chernev’s Most Instructive Games is a great book, and I was unaware of the algebraic edition.

Silman’s Complete Endgame Course was a late cut, and would certainly have been a more accessible choice than Müller & Lamprecht.

4

How to Beat Your Dad is really an intro to mating patterns, is surprisingly difficult (I’ve used it with 1400+ players), and is probably more essential than Chess Tactics for Kids. The Chandler books are nice for libraries because they are affordable hardbound books.

Bain’s Chess Tactics for Students is another interesting choice. See Dan Heisman’s advice. The problem with Bain & Coakley is that they are large-format paperback workbooks and might be quickly trashed in general circulation.

5

Agree on “The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played”.

Would also suggest “Capablanca’s Best Games” - Golombek.

Would also suggest “Chess Fundamentals”.

Also: “Art of Attack”

6

Is there a good algebraic edition of Chess Fundamentals? And isn’t the Golombek out of print? Went looking for both.

7

I don’t know about “good”, but there was an algebraic edition that had also been revised and updated in various other ways. Also, it has been made available in some form or other as a free ebook. I think I saw it mentioned at the New in Chess site.

8

This?

sources.com/SSR/Docs/Capabla … entals.pdf

9

I don’t know the current status, but, under the title Capablanca’s Best Games, John Nunn did do a revision for Batsford.

10

I would add Chernev’s 1000 Best Short Games of Chess. This book is inexpensive and even though it kept me from ever wanting to play 1…P-K4 it would enliven any small collection of books.

11

The Chernev 1000 should be reprinted in algebraic.

12

I’m sure it is (at a higher price for the “translation”). Another item for your collection might be a book on composition. The elegant end to the problem you cite in your responses (Korolkov 1951) might inspire some creative efforts.

13

I do not think that that is either of the versions that I mentioned. Here is a link to a review of the revised version.
web.archive.org/web/20140708101 … iew564.pdf

14

Mates in 3 are harder than Sudoku, and let’s not talk about studies. Secrets of Spectacular Chess (Levitt & Friedgood) discusses the Korolkov at length IIRC, and it’s excellent: I bought a new copy in Phoenix last month. And Roycroft’s The Chess Endgame Study: A Comprehensive Introduction is very good (I read the first edition of Roycroft in the Boston Public Library many moons ago.) Not sure what I would recommend for problems. But here (in my opinion) you’re already talking about books that are not essential to a core collection for a small-to-medium-sized public library. Nice to haves, not must-haves.

15

Edited to comply with forum requirements about not providing commercial links…

Unfortunately, the McKay Fundamentals is a shortened version. I don’t recommend it.

Thanks for pointing out that the Golombek is readily available (I own the Nunn edition, too). Eighteen bucks for a used copy is reasonable, and probably good enough for a library

16

There is at least one iPad-friendly software platform (freeware with additional content for sale) with a free playthru edition of Chess Fundamentals. I seem to recall having seen a second platform also with CF. (I’m being deliberately vague to avoid hawking specific products.) But that’s slightly off-topic: if you are trying to put introductory-to-intermediate material in the hands of young people and/or people on a budget, books are still the best technology.

Watson’s four-volume Mastering the Chess Openings is a great series, but I’m not sure that I’d make it part of a $500 chess book budget.

17

Yes.

(Previous answer restructured to conform to moderator’s instructions.)

18

I think the moderator may allow you to name the publisher :slight_smile:

It’s also on gutenberg.org gutenberg.org/ebooks/33870 but this edition is far from reader-friendly.

19

I don’t know if this would make much difference to you, but, while converting the book to algebraic, John Nunn did make some attempt to improve it in other respects. This is mentioned in Grandmaster Chess Move by Move.

According to my sense of cosmic balance in the universe, the book should be accompanied by How to Beat Your Kids at Chess by David MacEnulty.

20

Another book that I think is way under-rated is Chess from Morphy to Botvinnik: A Century of Chess Evolution by Imre König.

Many players, even well into the expert range underestimate the power of the center, and following the evolution of the Ruy in particular, and also the QGD, goes a long way to reinforcing why GMs play these two openings so much.