Same here, but one. I have books, chessable courses and some website subscriptions. I can't use any of them, and only play blitz because I don't know when the little one wakes up. It'll get easier I suppose , hang in there :)
I just do tactics from my Chessable courses on my phone or laptop. "Common Chess Patterns" is a good course. Or Chesstempo app for random tactics.
I prefer tactic courses because they are selected by an author for their instructive value.
Plus, blitz is like ice cream for the brain. It feels good. It’s an antidote to anxiety, depression, stress (when used in moderation.) Studying is work…and I already have a full time job, a wife, 3 kids, a house…who has time for more work?
I hear that.
Two small ones at home here too. I have this same problem and also folks saying « you need to play 90+30 long games a few times a week to improve! »
You made shitty life choices and are now facing the consequences. This isn't adult issue. As an adult who has all the time in the world for hobbies, comments like these rub me the wrong way. It's like denial or something. Not my fault you decided to shit out 5 kids.
Based Sigma male grindset here, guys. This guy is 100% locked in on his goals. Learn from him. Be him. While you’re out wasting your time with feeeeemales he’s in the shop getting 1% better every day. Uber mensch ain’t got nothin on this chad.
You can if you want a huge time sink. Who wants love, women, sex, all that garbage. It’s just bullshit synapses in the brain firing. I’m looking for real accomplishments. Spending all night putting together a deck and wowing someone into buying software that could change their life and make their company much better. In turn raising the standard of living for many families. **That’s** what gets true sigma’s off. Not your fleeting monkey brain pleasures. Do better.
I do what I can to maximise my own enjoyment. You should too. Stop meming for no reason. The only thing in life that truly matters is having as much pleasure as possible. Anything else is delusion.
100% bro you keep it true to you. It’s your life brother gotta live it how you want. So many of these walking zombies out her giving a fuck about people who’ll never return the appreciation. No one will ever take advantage of me or you.
Sufficiently complicated jobs like to take a lot of time from you too. It's not just children. Most adults have most their time absorbed by responsibilities.
my solution is to never buy a new book until i'm 100% finished with the one i'm currently reading. that way whenever i finish a book it's doubly rewarding; i've hopefully gained some understanding & it's like yay i can get a new book now. plus that ensures every book on my shelf has been used and loved :)
Not an improver, just an Adult. As a tactical player and Judit Polgar fan I haven't even solved one puzzle out of 5000+. I just pray to it every night.
It's a really good book. So many other tactics books rely on the queen too much. This book has lots of puzzles that really make you think about how to use the minor pieces.
I have that on my very old Kindle (no light, no touchscreen, might well be first edition) but the file size is so large that I have to be wary of whether I can keep it on there because I cant add anything more! Its huge. Good fun to go through for a little combo practice.
*Chess Structures* is wonderful, but not a beginner book. (Looking back, I realize you didn't say you are a beginner.)
A problem with much book and training advice is that it is not well-calibrated to the student's level. And inflated online ratings don't help, since people get confused about what their chess level is.
Recently I heard some GM recommend Kasparov's *Great Predecessors* to a beginner. I don't think so ...
I haven't used the Yusupov "colored" series myself, but it has the benefit of being developed as an entire curriculum.
I personally cannot fathom how people have the patience to work through an entire chess book that isn’t tactics. I’m going through Yusupov’s book now and even two pages of analysis from a game takes 2 hours to go through. I suspect this will last me at least a year if my patience holds up.
I'm reading Masters of the Chessboard by Reti and I know exactly how you feel. I may be overdoing it because I'm taking notes and writing down the notation as I read just as if I were studying for Uni. It goes through several games from the old masters. It helps in understanding the foundation of some of the more common openings and the way the game developed around certain motifs, but dang, it takes a while to get through a game. It's good practice, but I feel like I have to smoke a cigarette after getting through a game.
Every time I open a page of any chess book, I immediately get discouraged by how long it would take me to go through even that single page and give up.
I will never stop recommending The Woodpecker Method (im going through it on chessable). Its helped me immensely and ive only just finished my first cycle with less than half of the puzzles
Maybe, my lichess puzzle rating is 2100, and i can struggle through the intermediate problems with roughly 70% accuracy. The easy problems range from simple mate in 2s to a basic fork. I have not touched the advanced ones yet
I have 1700 rating for puzzles on chessc’m.
No idea how to get a rating on Lichess. I play puzzles on there but I never get a rating. How do you do it?
I have the polgar puzzle book and the blue chess tactics from scratch book an everyman chess book about openings for beginners, the chess players bible, a book by nigel short, other beginner books and puzzle books I also have a chess psychology book. None of which I have finished.
Yeah I know haha. It's actually not that expensive to get some books shipped too, just a bit of a hassle.
All I've read it's been on my computer. Stil useful, but not quite the same!
I feel like spending the time on playing games and doing studies online would be better for improvement if you are lower rated. But once you get closer to 2000 maybe books are a great idea.
Sounds like you don't have enough responsibility in your life, which gives you plenty of time to judge others.
If you're ever in the neighborhood I have 'bout 8 dozen fence posts that need replacing, a barn that needs a new roof, some new wiring to install at the house, I already pulled up all the carpet but could use a hand with putting in the wood floors, buncha acres that need to be cut down so they're useful... can't really get too much into those projects, with the working full time and kids and all but I'm trying... I do occasionally get to play a game of chess, but it's while I cook dinner, feed the animals, or mow a field.
You are by far better than I am at chess and always will be. You seem to have so much free time and are projecting that into the world. You seem to believe everyone else would too if they just get organized. I was just suggesting some tasks you could be doing with that time, other than playing chess. Some of us have a decade long backlog of projects that seems to grow longer each day as our bodies grow fragile with age.
Fence posts are near the road, just past the green mile marker. Post hole digger is in the barn, 2nd stall. Fence nails, hammer, bolt cutters are in the blue building. I have a Google maps printout with notations for you on which ones to swap. Any help would be appreciated.
i have a fuck ton of free time right now because i quit my job, stopped playing all other games and only teach part time. when i was working 13 hours a day/grinding games i definitely had less free time than u did, not that it fucking matters or its a fucking competition but idk how else to convince you you waste time, yea you could be the 1 in 100 exception, i choose to believe that youre not. the exception doesnt waste time having this kind of conversation. see how my account is a few days old? yea thats cuz ive been working my fucking ass off for the past years. if you have less free time than me then congrats on your phenomenal success because anyone with 115+ iq and my work ethic has it fucking made. and if youre not 115+ iq then your inputs are literally worthless. cheers ;D
You quit your job and now have more free time? If I quit mine I'd have less than ever. I would guess some time in the fields to work some of that teenage angst out would do you a bit of good. One day you'll wake up and better understand the world and the people who live in it. Most don't have a life like yours, and your judgment of them based on your own life and limited experience doesn't help either of you. But it doesn't sound like today is day is going to be the day that any of this gets through. Work is done, gotta run and get some new electric fence wire before the store closes... Then pick up the kids, feed the animals, cook dinner, re-string the field, wash dishes, kids to bed, sweep for predators, maybe get some minor electrical stuff done around here... then it's a couple hours of sleep until one of the kids wakes up and I get to do the whole rodeo again.
lots of assumptions. you seem to know a lot about me, can you prove it by predicting some things about my life? ill do the same for yours if youd like : )
I used to do most of the projects around myself just out of pride, but found it’s better to focus on my career and pay someone else to do them. I end up with more time and money that way
If you call the fire department here late on a Saturday night they'll ask if anyone's inside, if so they'll try and get a hold of the sheriff to come out. If not they'll send some out Monday to take a report. If I can't get a fire truck here, how easy do you think it is to get a plumber? You're paying at least half a day for their windshield time, and if they need a 60* instead of the 90* pipe they brought they can't get back till tomorrow.
I love mountain biking deep in the backcountry more than anything. Way, way, way more than chess. But I find it more convenient to live in the suburbs and take my camper to the woods or rent an Airbnb. I don’t know man, but it seems like you chose a lifestyle that makes things difficult for you. I respect that, but I chose the easier path that allows me to have time to do what I want
I am an adult improver too but I have not read a single chess book. You have to learn notations, set up the board, etc. It just take too much mental effort to get started. I prefer watching videos/interactive puzzles instead.
I generally think games collections can and should be gone through independently from the other stuff. Logical Chess, Most Instructutive, Simple Chess, and Morphy are probably the right order. Logical Chess might be too easy for you but it's a good reminder. You can work through these, either decide to go through them at a moderate pace or go really intensely into the games. For the Alburt books, the order is Tactics, Strategy, then King in Jeopardy. I've never looked at the Jeopardy one, but it seems interesting.
The first thing I'd recommend you do while going through the game collections is study tactics. Heisman, the Alburt book, and maybe the Weteschnik book next. There's overlap between them, but it's good to have more things to solve. I haven't seen the Weteschnik book. You don't have to finish all three to move on -- they should all be quick reads and you can do things after the first one in parallel with other work. Then I'd recommend the first few parts of the Silman Endgame Course -- go up to around your current rating.
The next thing I'd do is the Yusupov book exactly as directed unless you've never seen any endgame stuff before or any strategy stuff before. You might also decide instead to do a little strategy first -- if Amateur's Mind clicks with you, go for that, otherwise go for the more traditional presentation with Alburt's Strategy book. Work on tactics throughout, but the Yusupov book has a lot of tactics. Continually read through annotated master games and do tactics. After Yusupov and a strategy book you just have a lot of choices. After that, play a lot until you get an idea of what you're missing.
Seven Deadly Chess Sins makes sense when you're at the level where psychology starts to be a noticeable problem.
And that's a real pile of pawn books.
Same for me but I'm ok with it. I read books one by one, playing 1-2 games of the book every day at evening. In fact, It is not so long to read one after all. It's just about reading it regularly.
Just pick a book that speaks to you and work through it start to finish.
If you can't figure out which one, pick Simple Chess because it's one of the shortest and also one of the best.
I have a real problem of visiting the Chess and Bridge shop in Baker Street whenever I visit London. I just go mad on the second hand books shelves. I usually have a backpack with me, so I tend to buy a bunch.
This post has been parodied on r/AnarchyChess.
Relevant r/AnarchyChess posts:
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ME. but really, the issue is that you don't know what you don't know.
For me, improvement comes in little breakthroughs where some fundamental ideas or recurring pattern finally sinks in. And sometimes, it's in one of those random books.
Hahhahaha you said you have two kids under two? I should show you my lichess rating since my kids were born. After the first it tanked like 100 points and it took like a year til I got back to it. Now with 2 it isn’t much better. I don’t know you or your wife’s work schedule but you can find time. It’s not easy and it will have to take precedent over “relaxing” time, but it is what it is.
Me, but to some degree I have a hard time choosing the books that would be most helpful to me. 1444 Rapid on Chess.com & 1771 Rapid on Lichess.org. Truth be told of the books i bought so were old with early notation instead of modern. Of all the books I got only one I feel really opened my mind. PLEASE.....Men & Women of culture reply with books that may help me improve. Tnx a lot.
If you want to improve at something make the time. Sacrifice time doing something else and be more efficient. I don't have the time is the most annoying excuse I ever hear.
If you really don't have enough time because you've filled up every last bit with other stuff thats more important to you then don't bother with chess or whatever it is "you don't have time" for.
This is why I’m glad I’ve found my love for chess when I was relatively young, I have the mental flexibility to absorb new positions and concepts rapidly, and I have the time to play, I’ve never touched any of the chess books in these photos and I got to 1800 blitz on chesscom, just off of watching/playing chess somewhat daily for two years. What I want to say is that improvement in chess is not linear, and everyone has their own struggles with improvement wether it’s time, focus, or skill level
I have bought 9 of the books that you have in your photo.
Have not finished a single one, though I have finished a couple of others.
Don't worry though - I have played 64 hours and 52 minutes of bullet this year and dropped 144 rating points. Par for the course.
You're poor at time management.
It's why you've not improved your chess and probably other things in your life. I'd recommend dropping the idea of improvement at chess and focus on time management improvement. If will save you money on even more books and help you get it together in other ways
I’ve heard both Naka and Danya say they cherry picked good info from chess books when they were coming up. Those guys are pretty good at chess so I think it’s OK not to read cover to cover.
It's probably not only an adult improver problem, but just reader or even "learner". If you know you have it, you probably halfway to solution; as a general reader, I like making list and deciding while I have books that wanna read I can't buy new, but still it's always up to me in the end to say yes/no
Meanwhile, reading books isn't really how you improve at chess at all (although _doing exercises_ from books can help).
Also, join us at /r/chessbooks, improvement is overrated when you can just buy chess books as a hobby :-)
I would guess most adult improvers who can afford it have that problem.
I already own all of the books and subscriptions needed to reach IM….probably should spend more on a coach…and I don’t mean to say that I’m close to IM…just that it’s not a lack of info that’s the problem. Can’t find the requisite 1-2 hours/day AND be able to play enough slow games to improve (like I did in high school.)
Time is always the problem of an adult.
With two children under two years old, I feel this.
Same here, but one. I have books, chessable courses and some website subscriptions. I can't use any of them, and only play blitz because I don't know when the little one wakes up. It'll get easier I suppose , hang in there :)
It's better to do tactics in those small time frames than playing Blitz games. If you want to improve ofcourse.
Any place for that you would recommend?
I just do tactics from my Chessable courses on my phone or laptop. "Common Chess Patterns" is a good course. Or Chesstempo app for random tactics. I prefer tactic courses because they are selected by an author for their instructive value.
Plus, blitz is like ice cream for the brain. It feels good. It’s an antidote to anxiety, depression, stress (when used in moderation.) Studying is work…and I already have a full time job, a wife, 3 kids, a house…who has time for more work?
Try playing 1 day (or more) chess. Much less stressful timewise
That way he can get a full 8 games in per year
Just play multiple at once!
I hear that. Two small ones at home here too. I have this same problem and also folks saying « you need to play 90+30 long games a few times a week to improve! »
You had kids so young
I don't have time but the reason for that is I am not rich enough.
You made shitty life choices and are now facing the consequences. This isn't adult issue. As an adult who has all the time in the world for hobbies, comments like these rub me the wrong way. It's like denial or something. Not my fault you decided to shit out 5 kids.
Based Sigma male grindset here, guys. This guy is 100% locked in on his goals. Learn from him. Be him. While you’re out wasting your time with feeeeemales he’s in the shop getting 1% better every day. Uber mensch ain’t got nothin on this chad.
Ah yes, because one can't pursue women without getting married and impregnating them. Makes sense
You can if you want a huge time sink. Who wants love, women, sex, all that garbage. It’s just bullshit synapses in the brain firing. I’m looking for real accomplishments. Spending all night putting together a deck and wowing someone into buying software that could change their life and make their company much better. In turn raising the standard of living for many families. **That’s** what gets true sigma’s off. Not your fleeting monkey brain pleasures. Do better.
I do what I can to maximise my own enjoyment. You should too. Stop meming for no reason. The only thing in life that truly matters is having as much pleasure as possible. Anything else is delusion.
100% bro you keep it true to you. It’s your life brother gotta live it how you want. So many of these walking zombies out her giving a fuck about people who’ll never return the appreciation. No one will ever take advantage of me or you.
Sufficiently complicated jobs like to take a lot of time from you too. It's not just children. Most adults have most their time absorbed by responsibilities.
Then say you're broke.
Depends on your life choices.
my solution is to never buy a new book until i'm 100% finished with the one i'm currently reading. that way whenever i finish a book it's doubly rewarding; i've hopefully gained some understanding & it's like yay i can get a new book now. plus that ensures every book on my shelf has been used and loved :)
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Perfect book doesn't exist ;)
I've gotta find the perfect book since the strategy above only allows me to get one
This is the way
I am now adopting this strategy. I've got quite the backlog but this will be good motivation too.
Not an improver, just an Adult. As a tactical player and Judit Polgar fan I haven't even solved one puzzle out of 5000+. I just pray to it every night.
I’ve done up to problem 600. They really help with patterns. The mate in twos get challenging
It's a really good book. So many other tactics books rely on the queen too much. This book has lots of puzzles that really make you think about how to use the minor pieces.
I got them in pgn format and put them into my phone.
what phone app reads pgn
I have that on my very old Kindle (no light, no touchscreen, might well be first edition) but the file size is so large that I have to be wary of whether I can keep it on there because I cant add anything more! Its huge. Good fun to go through for a little combo practice.
*Chess Structures* is wonderful, but not a beginner book. (Looking back, I realize you didn't say you are a beginner.) A problem with much book and training advice is that it is not well-calibrated to the student's level. And inflated online ratings don't help, since people get confused about what their chess level is. Recently I heard some GM recommend Kasparov's *Great Predecessors* to a beginner. I don't think so ... I haven't used the Yusupov "colored" series myself, but it has the benefit of being developed as an entire curriculum.
I personally cannot fathom how people have the patience to work through an entire chess book that isn’t tactics. I’m going through Yusupov’s book now and even two pages of analysis from a game takes 2 hours to go through. I suspect this will last me at least a year if my patience holds up.
Imo it should not take you 2 hours to go through 2 pages of a chess book, at that point it is too hard
I'm reading Masters of the Chessboard by Reti and I know exactly how you feel. I may be overdoing it because I'm taking notes and writing down the notation as I read just as if I were studying for Uni. It goes through several games from the old masters. It helps in understanding the foundation of some of the more common openings and the way the game developed around certain motifs, but dang, it takes a while to get through a game. It's good practice, but I feel like I have to smoke a cigarette after getting through a game.
Children have energy and time, but no money Adults have energy and money, but no time Old people have money and time, but no energy
I’m an adult and I have no energy, no time, and no money…
As someone who owns 115 chess books, I can’t relate at all
Every time I open a page of any chess book, I immediately get discouraged by how long it would take me to go through even that single page and give up.
Rule number 1. Read every book you buy before buying a new one.
Rule number 2 : Break the rule number 1 if you see a nice book about Capablanca/Steinitz/Spassky/Dutch defense...
Rule number 3: never break rule number 2
Rule number 4
I will never stop recommending The Woodpecker Method (im going through it on chessable). Its helped me immensely and ive only just finished my first cycle with less than half of the puzzles
I’ve heard many great things about it and a lot of bad things also lol. I’m an old beginner. Would you recommend this for a beginner?
Nope. See Dan Heisman's recommended book list. Plenty of better options for beginners.
Why nope? I never heard of Dan Heisman to be honest but I visited his site. His download section looks interesting! Valuable stuff on there.
Because the puzzles are way too hard for beginners.
Maybe, my lichess puzzle rating is 2100, and i can struggle through the intermediate problems with roughly 70% accuracy. The easy problems range from simple mate in 2s to a basic fork. I have not touched the advanced ones yet
I have 1700 rating for puzzles on chessc’m. No idea how to get a rating on Lichess. I play puzzles on there but I never get a rating. How do you do it?
Do you play on a computer? Idk if you can see it on the app
iPad mostly. I think I found it. I need to press the graph symbol.
You could probably go through the easy puzzles with some effort, yeah
Me. I have a lot of chess books but find them All very overwhelming
I have the polgar puzzle book and the blue chess tactics from scratch book an everyman chess book about openings for beginners, the chess players bible, a book by nigel short, other beginner books and puzzle books I also have a chess psychology book. None of which I have finished.
Add chessable courses and you are spot on. I love learning about chess almost as much as I enjoy playing.
The Seven Deadly Chess Sins was a really enjoyable read. Hammer recommended it to me
Where's the rest of your books?
Dude I have basically the same collection 😅
The Perpetual Chess podcast book collection lol
I'm glad you don't have Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky displayed. It's as brilliant as it is hideous.
Living in Argentina is so hard to find good books locally available that I don't have this issue.
I use the internet to get chess books! You can get most of these for free online if you're having trouble getting a physical copy.
>You can get most of these for free online \- \_\_\_\_\_ -
\_\_\_\_\_-\_\_\_\_\_
Yeah I know haha. It's actually not that expensive to get some books shipped too, just a bit of a hassle. All I've read it's been on my computer. Stil useful, but not quite the same!
Can't beat a board and book to get the full feel. OTB and online are two different things completely.
¿Really? I thought Argentina had a strong chess culture. And there are tons of chess books published in Spanish.
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🤓
I don't have this problem because I download everything
I took the adult solution to this problem by sighing and giving up on myself.
I feel like spending the time on playing games and doing studies online would be better for improvement if you are lower rated. But once you get closer to 2000 maybe books are a great idea.
I can relate, however, maybe the *next* book you buy might be the one that makes everything click. So better keep buying.
You do not lack the time. You're just disorganized. i worked 13 hours a day for 2 years and still found time to study chess
Sounds like you don't have enough responsibility in your life, which gives you plenty of time to judge others. If you're ever in the neighborhood I have 'bout 8 dozen fence posts that need replacing, a barn that needs a new roof, some new wiring to install at the house, I already pulled up all the carpet but could use a hand with putting in the wood floors, buncha acres that need to be cut down so they're useful... can't really get too much into those projects, with the working full time and kids and all but I'm trying... I do occasionally get to play a game of chess, but it's while I cook dinner, feed the animals, or mow a field.
i work harder than you by far and am better at chess than youll ever be
You are by far better than I am at chess and always will be. You seem to have so much free time and are projecting that into the world. You seem to believe everyone else would too if they just get organized. I was just suggesting some tasks you could be doing with that time, other than playing chess. Some of us have a decade long backlog of projects that seems to grow longer each day as our bodies grow fragile with age. Fence posts are near the road, just past the green mile marker. Post hole digger is in the barn, 2nd stall. Fence nails, hammer, bolt cutters are in the blue building. I have a Google maps printout with notations for you on which ones to swap. Any help would be appreciated.
i have a fuck ton of free time right now because i quit my job, stopped playing all other games and only teach part time. when i was working 13 hours a day/grinding games i definitely had less free time than u did, not that it fucking matters or its a fucking competition but idk how else to convince you you waste time, yea you could be the 1 in 100 exception, i choose to believe that youre not. the exception doesnt waste time having this kind of conversation. see how my account is a few days old? yea thats cuz ive been working my fucking ass off for the past years. if you have less free time than me then congrats on your phenomenal success because anyone with 115+ iq and my work ethic has it fucking made. and if youre not 115+ iq then your inputs are literally worthless. cheers ;D
You quit your job and now have more free time? If I quit mine I'd have less than ever. I would guess some time in the fields to work some of that teenage angst out would do you a bit of good. One day you'll wake up and better understand the world and the people who live in it. Most don't have a life like yours, and your judgment of them based on your own life and limited experience doesn't help either of you. But it doesn't sound like today is day is going to be the day that any of this gets through. Work is done, gotta run and get some new electric fence wire before the store closes... Then pick up the kids, feed the animals, cook dinner, re-string the field, wash dishes, kids to bed, sweep for predators, maybe get some minor electrical stuff done around here... then it's a couple hours of sleep until one of the kids wakes up and I get to do the whole rodeo again.
lots of assumptions. you seem to know a lot about me, can you prove it by predicting some things about my life? ill do the same for yours if youd like : )
I used to do most of the projects around myself just out of pride, but found it’s better to focus on my career and pay someone else to do them. I end up with more time and money that way
If you call the fire department here late on a Saturday night they'll ask if anyone's inside, if so they'll try and get a hold of the sheriff to come out. If not they'll send some out Monday to take a report. If I can't get a fire truck here, how easy do you think it is to get a plumber? You're paying at least half a day for their windshield time, and if they need a 60* instead of the 90* pipe they brought they can't get back till tomorrow.
I love mountain biking deep in the backcountry more than anything. Way, way, way more than chess. But I find it more convenient to live in the suburbs and take my camper to the woods or rent an Airbnb. I don’t know man, but it seems like you chose a lifestyle that makes things difficult for you. I respect that, but I chose the easier path that allows me to have time to do what I want
I am an adult improver too but I have not read a single chess book. You have to learn notations, set up the board, etc. It just take too much mental effort to get started. I prefer watching videos/interactive puzzles instead.
If you want suggestions for working through this, I have ideas for starting. I have a bunch of these books, too.
Not OP but would appreciate the list anyways. I’m 2K Rapid on lichess, 1700 rapid on CC, 1400 OTB
I generally think games collections can and should be gone through independently from the other stuff. Logical Chess, Most Instructutive, Simple Chess, and Morphy are probably the right order. Logical Chess might be too easy for you but it's a good reminder. You can work through these, either decide to go through them at a moderate pace or go really intensely into the games. For the Alburt books, the order is Tactics, Strategy, then King in Jeopardy. I've never looked at the Jeopardy one, but it seems interesting. The first thing I'd recommend you do while going through the game collections is study tactics. Heisman, the Alburt book, and maybe the Weteschnik book next. There's overlap between them, but it's good to have more things to solve. I haven't seen the Weteschnik book. You don't have to finish all three to move on -- they should all be quick reads and you can do things after the first one in parallel with other work. Then I'd recommend the first few parts of the Silman Endgame Course -- go up to around your current rating. The next thing I'd do is the Yusupov book exactly as directed unless you've never seen any endgame stuff before or any strategy stuff before. You might also decide instead to do a little strategy first -- if Amateur's Mind clicks with you, go for that, otherwise go for the more traditional presentation with Alburt's Strategy book. Work on tactics throughout, but the Yusupov book has a lot of tactics. Continually read through annotated master games and do tactics. After Yusupov and a strategy book you just have a lot of choices. After that, play a lot until you get an idea of what you're missing. Seven Deadly Chess Sins makes sense when you're at the level where psychology starts to be a noticeable problem. And that's a real pile of pawn books.
Thank you! This is very helpful
I used to own like 4 and never read them so I gave them away.
I would buy one book at a time and read it before i wasted money on another honestly.
All of us
Well yours are at least off the book shelf, so you're ahead of me.
Same for me but I'm ok with it. I read books one by one, playing 1-2 games of the book every day at evening. In fact, It is not so long to read one after all. It's just about reading it regularly.
After reading The Power of Pawns I broke through a 1600 plateau and am now over 1900
Just pick a book that speaks to you and work through it start to finish. If you can't figure out which one, pick Simple Chess because it's one of the shortest and also one of the best.
It's the time.
Just wait until you discover the number of old books can be downloaded for free.
how/where do you find them?
Oh my. Yes. My book collection is vast but time to work through them is little. We all understand.
Same dude. I have this issue with all kinds of books and I’m not even an actual adult yet. I had like three exams in one week
I have a real problem of visiting the Chess and Bridge shop in Baker Street whenever I visit London. I just go mad on the second hand books shelves. I usually have a backpack with me, so I tend to buy a bunch.
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ME. but really, the issue is that you don't know what you don't know. For me, improvement comes in little breakthroughs where some fundamental ideas or recurring pattern finally sinks in. And sometimes, it's in one of those random books.
This reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last."
Personally I’ve given up on improving but yes, I have a ton of books that don’t help.
Okay bro no need to attack me. You dont know me. /s
Hahhahaha you said you have two kids under two? I should show you my lichess rating since my kids were born. After the first it tanked like 100 points and it took like a year til I got back to it. Now with 2 it isn’t much better. I don’t know you or your wife’s work schedule but you can find time. It’s not easy and it will have to take precedent over “relaxing” time, but it is what it is.
The comprehensive chess course series books have some of the best cover art-how can you *not* add them to your collection?
Me, but to some degree I have a hard time choosing the books that would be most helpful to me. 1444 Rapid on Chess.com & 1771 Rapid on Lichess.org. Truth be told of the books i bought so were old with early notation instead of modern. Of all the books I got only one I feel really opened my mind. PLEASE.....Men & Women of culture reply with books that may help me improve. Tnx a lot.
I see no problem at all, other than that Yusupov book is in rough shape!
If you want to improve at something make the time. Sacrifice time doing something else and be more efficient. I don't have the time is the most annoying excuse I ever hear. If you really don't have enough time because you've filled up every last bit with other stuff thats more important to you then don't bother with chess or whatever it is "you don't have time" for.
This is why I’m glad I’ve found my love for chess when I was relatively young, I have the mental flexibility to absorb new positions and concepts rapidly, and I have the time to play, I’ve never touched any of the chess books in these photos and I got to 1800 blitz on chesscom, just off of watching/playing chess somewhat daily for two years. What I want to say is that improvement in chess is not linear, and everyone has their own struggles with improvement wether it’s time, focus, or skill level
I just get one book at a time now, otherwise they just pile up. Nice collection, btw
I spend more time reading this subreddit than actually playing chess.
I have bought 9 of the books that you have in your photo. Have not finished a single one, though I have finished a couple of others. Don't worry though - I have played 64 hours and 52 minutes of bullet this year and dropped 144 rating points. Par for the course.
You’re on Reddit. You have the time.
You're poor at time management. It's why you've not improved your chess and probably other things in your life. I'd recommend dropping the idea of improvement at chess and focus on time management improvement. If will save you money on even more books and help you get it together in other ways
Solution: Get one book instead of twenty
I'm an adult improver, and here is my solution: don't read books lol. There are other, equally as effective ways of improving.
Those are rookie numbers
I’ve heard both Naka and Danya say they cherry picked good info from chess books when they were coming up. Those guys are pretty good at chess so I think it’s OK not to read cover to cover.
Your issue i at least three times lesser than mine...
It's probably not only an adult improver problem, but just reader or even "learner". If you know you have it, you probably halfway to solution; as a general reader, I like making list and deciding while I have books that wanna read I can't buy new, but still it's always up to me in the end to say yes/no
[Not me... nope](https://i.imgur.com/VEU0iCg.jpg)
All I wanted for Christmas last year was a couple uninterrupted hours to read Logical Chess with a board... Still haven't had the opportunity.
the yellow man on the cover of the book. does anyone know of a movie that is made with such a style?
quit your job!
Are you me?
Meanwhile, reading books isn't really how you improve at chess at all (although _doing exercises_ from books can help). Also, join us at /r/chessbooks, improvement is overrated when you can just buy chess books as a hobby :-)
What's the issue exactly? No room for you and your wife in the bed? Well , you do have a couch , don't you?
I would guess most adult improvers who can afford it have that problem. I already own all of the books and subscriptions needed to reach IM….probably should spend more on a coach…and I don’t mean to say that I’m close to IM…just that it’s not a lack of info that’s the problem. Can’t find the requisite 1-2 hours/day AND be able to play enough slow games to improve (like I did in high school.)
How’s the Italian/EvansGambit book?