Good Chess Books for Intermediate Players [Review 2021]

Everyone who has encountered playing chess at least once in their life knows how difficult this game is. Moreover, professional players always spend incredibly lots of time practicing and learning from coaches. The good news is that the majority share their experience and knowledge in their books. That is why this article is dedicated to the best chess books for intermediate players that should be read if you want to improve your skills and achieve high results. There are 16 of them that are arranged in a list from the most to the least famous and successful.

Top 16 Famous Chess Books from Best to Worst

Rank	Review	Name	Author	Date	Page	Type of Cover	Rating
1		Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess View Details	Bobby Fischer, Stuart Margulies, Donn Mosenfelder	February 4, 2010	356	Paperback	10.0
2		Chess Strategy for Club Players View Details	Herman Grooten	April 28, 2017	432	Paperback	9.9
3		How to Reassess Your Chess View Details	Jeremy Silman	October 15, 2010	658	Paperback	9.7
4		CHESS View Details	Andy Dunn, Aleksandr Smirnov	October 31, 2015	171	Paperback	9.6
5		Chess!: Lessons From a Grandmaster View Details	Yury Shulman, Rishi Sethi, Shy Sivapatham	March 9, 2017	280	Paperback	9.5
6		Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games View Details	László Polgár, Bruce Pandolfini	January 9, 1995	1104	Hardcover	9.4
7		Ruy Lopez Tactics View Details	Tim Sawyer	August 20, 2020	509	Paperback	9.3
8		Silman's Complete Endgame Course View Details	Jeremy Silman	November 1, 2006	530	Paperback	9.2
9		Logical Chess, Move by Move View Details	Irving Chernev	January 1, 1957	250	Paperback	9.0
10		Complete Book of Chess Strategy View Details	Jeremy Silman	July 1, 1998	360	Paperback	8.9
11		Tactics Time! View Details	Tim Brennan, Anthea Carson	December 7, 2013	144	Paperback	8.8
12		Chess Fundamentals View Details	Jose Raul Capablanca	April 3, 2018	254	Hardcover	8.7
13		Chess Tactics for Intermediates View Details	Karthik PM	August 4, 2016	105	Paperback	8.5
14		Applying Logic in Chess View Details	Erik Kislik	May 31, 2018	320	Paperback	8.4
15		Best Lessons of a Chess Coach View Details	Sunil Weeramantry, Ed Eusebi	August 1, 2020	428	Paperback	8.3
16		The Chess Player's Bible View Details	James Eade, Al Lawrence	March 1, 2015	288	Hardcover	8.2

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

The key feature of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is its structure that doesn’t resemble a regular book that you can read. Here you need to think thoroughly about your current step in order to proceed with others. By answering correctly, you gain your knowledge of mastering chess art. Otherwise, you repeat until you get the correct answer with the prompts that are given by the writers. Such a method is called “programmed learning” that will definitely bring you nice results.

Chess Strategy for Club Players: The Road to Positional Advantage

The main task of any chess player is to identify the key position of the figures and develop the strategy right after the opening. That’s why this book will come in handy for any level player. Here the readers will learn how to analyze the current positioning of the figures and deal with them.

The book was written by Herman Grooten, an international master from the Netherlands. He has been into this sport for more than 35 years and has enough experience to share with other amateurs or even professional players who require some guidance.

How to Reassess Your Chess: Chess Mastery Through Chess Imbalances

This is another source of knowledge where you can get as much valuable information about mastering chess as possible. Here you will get hints on not only solving a particular situation and dealing with other steps but also on the way of thoughts on why it should be done in this way. And, don’t worry, all the details are well explained, so there shouldn’t be any misunderstandings.

The copy is a point of view of an international master Jeremy Silman who does coach you step by step. So you will never make a mistake, or at least you will find out how to sort it out.

CHESS: The Ultimate Chess Tactics and Strategies

CHESS reveals almost all the secrets of this game and even more. In particular, here you will see the insights of Bobby Fischer and other famous masters. Besides, you will be supplied not only with the practical information that can be applied to the game but also with supportive tips. In fact, it teaches you to accept losing so you can learn from your mistakes. And, it will make you understand why sacrificing is an important step in a game and how the invisible ones help you win.

All the necessary information about this game from A to Z was collected by Andy Dunn and Aleksandr Smirnov. And they did a great job that is proved by millions of readers.

Chess!: Lessons From a Grandmaster

This guide is specially dedicated to beginners who transform into intermediate-level players at the end. The book describes the history of this ancient game so you can understand how it was designed and what influenced it. In other words, you’ll learn this game from the inside. There are also lots of educational tasks that become more difficult gradually only when a player masters the previous ones.

The guide was developed by a Belarusian American grandmaster, Yury Schulman, and his student. Together they made an ideal set of techniques and cases that will help all level players to think like a grandmaster in any game.

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games

This set of exercises may seem too easy to solve because of some basic information such as game rules included in the book. However, you shouldn’t underestimate it at all. It has a good selection of tasks with their solutions. Some of them will help you to checkmate in one move, mate in two moves, or simple endgames. Most of the tasks were collected from the real championships by the author László Polgár who is a famous chess teacher from Hungary.

Ruy Lopez Tactics: Chess Opening Combinations and Checkmates

The skill of tactics is not an easy task to deal with, so Tim Sawyer trains you how to develop it from the very beginning when you open the book. It teaches you Ruy Lopez, which means the Spanish Game. However, you should be prepared for the algebraic notation that sorts any exercise or game out.

Each exercise given in this book is followed by a precise description that tells who is going to win and why. Thus, if you want to extend your knowledge of playing chess, it should be your pocket guide.

Silman’s Complete Endgame Course

Unlike the previous guides, this set of exercises is dedicated to the endgame that is really crucial. It shows you lots of ways on how to deal with it and proves that you haven’t lost the game yet. The only thing you should do is to concentrate on the pieces you have on the board and make the right step. An example of that can be found in this guide.

Jeremy Silman, an American international master, shared his own experience in the book. Thus, be sure that you’ll find the exercises that have already been on the real championships.

Logical Chess, Move by Move

Once you’ve learned some basic principles of chess, you may need to improve your logical skills. For this purpose, Logical Chess, Move by Move is a great source of where to get the required information. Here you will observe 33 whole games, from the opening to the endgame, describing each step and the reasons for that.

The author, Irving Chernev, is an American chess player with Russian roots. He dedicated his life to chess, so spending tons of time playing numerous games, he obtained the title of chess master.

Complete Book of Chess Strategy

This is the second book on the list written by Jeremy Silman, but it also deserves special attention. In fact, it is arranged alphabetically, so all the chess terms are easy to access. Moreover, their explanations are easy to digest thanks to both style of writing and examples they come with.

This must be the most convenient guide that should often be kept beside and checked once you encounter a problem.

Tactics Time!: 1001 Chess Tactics from the Games of Everyday Chess Players

Tim Brennan, the author of Tactics Time!: 1001 Chess Tactics from the Games of Everyday Chess Players, believes that to achieve the best results in mastering chess, learning from the examples that happen to masters only is not enough. In fact, the book ensures that every non-professional will learn how other amateurs play by analyzing their mistakes and steps in a game. These things will help you to better your logic and speed skills and finally gain victory every time you play.

Chess Fundamentals by Jose Raul Capablanca

Amateurs always try to imitate their favorite chess player’s method. One of the famous players was Jose Raul Capablancа, a prominent world chess champion and grandmaster known for his fast thinking. Before he passed away in 1942, he released his book where he shared his methods and recommendations that will make you think like him. Moreover, he always thought about winning a game, so all the genius’s secrets are also collected here.

Chess Tactics for Intermediates: Know the Basics Stronger to Become a Better Player

There is a high chance that everybody who has learned the basic tactics by heart does practice them a lot but doesn’t understand in depth them. That’s why Chess Tactics for Intermediates: Know the Basics Stronger to Become a Better Player is necessary. Here you will find more than just simple explanations. In fact, you will improve your skills and widen the scope of thoughts that will lead you to the win.

Applying Logic in Chess

Unlike lots of books for chess players available on the market, Applying Logic in Chess has a slightly different and unusual structure. It does show the examples of how the pieces stay on the board, but it also depicts the causal link of each move in certain cases. At first glance, it may seem too difficult, but the author states that knowing these patterns will help you anytime.

By the way, the book was written by an American author, Erik Kislik, who obtained the International Master title at age 24. Isn’t it an awesome result that proves that everything is possible?

Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry

The person who taught a champion is definitely the one who should be followed if you want to know how to play chess. The thing is that Sunil Weeramantry coached the youngest American grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura. Thus, reading Best Lessons of a Chess Coach where Sunil tells you how to improve your analytical skills and logical thinking during the game is highly likely to lead to the highest results.

The Chess Player’s Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game

Every chess player wants to become a master. And it’s a really long journey until they get The Chess Player’s Bible. Here you will find all the necessary information including combination, tactics, and sacrifices. Mastering all these will make you a professional player, which leads to obtaining a title.

The author, James Eade, knows this game inside and out since being a master of chess, he also arranges tournaments. However, he’s famous for his writing about chess, too, which is proved by the quantity of released and sold editions all around the world.

Interesting Facts

Every copy is a labor-intensive process that is always accompanied by difficulties and engaging stories. That is why BooKKooks has collected some interesting facts about some of the mentioned-above books. Here they are:

Conclusions

Of course, learning may seem too difficult when you just start. But why don’t you look at this differently? In particular, you shouldn’t take the process too seriously, but instead, try to temper the intensity with rotation techniques or processes. For sure, it will also bring you nice results, but studying will be more pleasing. Besides, don’t forget to practice the recommendations of the masters and grandmasters of chess that you can find in the books mentioned in this article.

References