top of page

Chess Book Recommendations

*We may earn a commission from purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thanks!

This is a Chess tactics book I have been using with my beginner students for many years. It presents the different tactical themes by chapter and provides lots of exercises for you to really grasp the patterns. In my opinion, this should be your first tactics book.

Another great book to practice Chess tactics. I like this book because unlike my first recommendation, it is full of mixed tactics. It does not indicate the specific theme you are working on. You only know you have to find the best move possible -just like in a real game.

Once you acquire a good tactical foundation, you will enjoy a book like this. Here you can find positions we all need to learn, which go from simple to complex and from tactical to strategic. You will learn a lot from trying to solve the puzzles, but also by reviewing the answers.

This book is simply the follow up to my previous recommendation. And in this case, the second part is just as good if not better!

I really enjoy using this book with my students and I know they like it too. It shows the first games played by Magnus Carlsen - he was just getting started and you can appreciate how his talent starts to show one game at a time. Every game is full of insights and comments from his first coach.

Vladimir Kramnik is simply one of the best Chess players in history. More specifically, he is well known for his  strategic and positional understanding of the game. In this book, you will find many of his games explained move by move. I really liked it and I think you will enjoy it too. 

A great book about the Pirc Defense. It was brought up to me by one of my best students and we both agree it does a fantastic job at explaining the essence of this opening. You will certainly learn how to handle the different approaches white can use including the Austrian attack.

We need to study endgames! And this book covers everything you need to know and much more. I have been using it for years to teach my students and to train myself. It's simply a great book about Chess endings.

bottom of page