When I was a kid, PCs weren’t that widespread yet, so books were our #1 choice when it came to chess studies. Of course, innovative technologies speed up the process of learning chess, but the old methods shouldn’t be totally neglected too. That’s why some of the books that I liked during my childhood are admired by me now not less than contemporary chess software.

The saying “a man is what he eats” can be applied to chess literature too – swallow a second-rate scribble written for the sake of earning easy money, and you may not only waste a lot of time, but form wrong perceptions of the game, its principles and players. On the contrary, some writers put soul into their books and try to do their best to help the readers increase their chess level and (importantly) gain pleasure during the process.

Thanks to the Internet and my home library, I have access to a few hundred chess volumes. Based on the popularity of such discussion topics as “what chess book should I read?” or “is this one any good?”, I decided to present to  you a short list of my favorite chess books. Here it goes:

M. Dvoretsky - all his books, not just the one pictured above



V. Bologan - "Steps"



S. Rublevsky - "64 lessons of mastership"



A. Panchenko - "Theory and practice of chess endings"



A. Karpov - "My best chess games"



E. Bareev, I. Levitov - "Notes of the chess second" (aka "From London to Elista")



N. Shumilin - "Chess problems"



D. Bronstein - "The Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953"



G. Kasparov - "My great predecessors"



B. Fischer - "My 60 memorable games"

Have a great time reading these awesome books!

P.S. I tried to translate the titles of the books as accurately as possible, and understand that, unfortunately, some of the volumes may not be available in English. However, if you search hard you may find them. Anyway, even by looking through a Russian version of the book you will learn a lot – remember that Bobby Fischer himself mastered Russian for the sake of reading Soviet chess books and magazines!

	1. Written by îäíîãëàçûé ëþáèòåëü on 14:13 01 èþíÿ 2009 ã.
	ïåðâûé íàõ

	2. Written by ìèøà on 16:39 01 èþíÿ 2009 ã.
	Îñìåëþñü çàñòóïèòüñÿ çà Ã.Ëèñèöèíà "Ñòðàòåãèÿ è òàêòèêà øàõìàòíîãî èñêóññòâà"

	3. Written by Peter Zhdanov on 17:38 01 èþíÿ 2009 ã.
	Ìèøà, ñïàñèáî çà äîïîëíåíèå!     Çàñòóïàòüñÿ âðÿä ëè ñòîèò, çäåñü æå íèêîãî íå îáèæàëè, òîëüêî ñîâåòîâàëè íàèáîëåå ëþáèìûõ àâòîðîâ. Ó ìåíÿ âîò ñïèñîê áûë áû íåñêîëüêî èíûì, íî ýòî äåëî âêóñà è êâàëèôèêàöèè.

	4. Written by Àëåêñåé on 05:57 04 èþíÿ 2009 ã.
	Êíèãà Áðîíøòåéíà âåëèêîëåïíà ! Îñòàëüíîå, óâû, ëèáî ÷èòàë îòðûâêàìè, ëèáî íå ÷èòàë âîâñå. Íî íàáîð êíèã î÷åíü èíòåðåñåí.

	5. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 23:00 04 èþíÿ 2009 ã.
	You have to read The King by Hein Donner. It\'s by far the best book about chess i\'ve read.   greetings.

	6. Written by rait on 12:52 18 èþëÿ 2009 ã.
	À Íèìöîâè÷? èëè îí äëÿ íà÷èíàþùèõ?

	7. Written by Natalia on 12:57 18 èþëÿ 2009 ã.
	Íèìöîâè÷ íå äëÿ íà÷èíàþùèõ, íî îí è òàê ó íàñ ñ ñîâåòñêîãî âðåìåíè âõîäèò â "îáÿçàòåëüíóþ ïðîãðàììó".

	8. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 21:47 28 îêòÿáðÿ 2009 ã.
	hi im fond of reading books..pls give me some more advice..id be thankful.. for your davice..thank you so much..im willing to listen..

	9. Written by Áåòðåçåí on 15:12 05 äåêàáðÿ 2009 ã.
	Æàëü , ÷òî â ñïèñêå íå íàøëîñü ìåñòà "Àíàëèòè÷åñêèì è êðèòè÷åñêèì ðàáîòàì" Ì.Ì.Áîòâèííèêà ( èëè õîòÿ áû òðåõòîìíèêó åãî òâîð÷åñòâà - àâò.-ñîñò. Áàòóðèíñêèé )

	10. Written by Natalia Pogonina on 17:13 05 äåêàáðÿ 2009 ã.
	Ñïèñîê äàëåêî íå ïîëíûé, óêàçûâàëèñü êíèãè, êîòîðûå îêàçàëè íàèáîëüøåå âëèÿíèå íà ìåíÿ. À êîììåíòàðèè äëÿ òîãî è íóæíû, ÷òîáû åãî ðàñøèðÿòü, äåëèòüñÿ ñîâåòàìè. http://pogonina.com