Chess Books for Adults
This book is quite famous, or some may say “infamous”, in the circle of Chess books. The author is an adult player who managed to gain roughly 400 rating points in 400 days. To be precise, he gained 400 USCF rating points in the first year, and almost 300 USCF rating points in the second year, finally ending up with a rating of 2041. His original rating was 1321.
This is quite a meteoric rise for an adult. It is well documented that for many reasons, adults tend to improve slower than children when learning chess. Similarly, for music, languages, etc. Firstly, children’s brains are more “plastic” and flexible, and they have more time and less outside commitments to study chess.
The basic principles in his book seems to be to study tactics, which are “combo moves” in chess that can change the course of the game. Making a tactical mistake can spell the end of the game for either player.
Rapid Chess Improvement (Everyman Chess)
The opposite of tactics is strategy. Strategic masters are Anatoly Karpov, Tigran Petrosian, and the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen. They play in a calm and controlled manner and accumulate a small advantage. Strategic mistakes tend not to lose immediately, but may lead to a slow and steady deterioration of the position.
The best author on strategic chess (for beginning to intermediate players) is probably Jeremy Silman. His book “The Amateur’s Mind” is a classic book:
The Amateur’s Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery
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