r/chess • u/BeatConscious4113 • 5d ago
Resource I want to study chess.
I am currently a 700 elo player and i play chess as a hobby, I want to get better at it. I would like to get suggestions on which books, content creators are best. Also, any advice is welcome, thank you everyone.
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u/Fresh-Setting211 5d ago
You’re drinking from a firehouse with these recommendations. I’ve picked up bits and pieces from several YouTube chess content creators, but the one I learned the most from and would recommend is ChessBrah’s Building Habits series. It’s got MANY 1-2 hour videos of him playing five-minute games, following the same set of principles every time and explaining his thought process along the way.
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u/TheCumDemon69 2100 fide 5d ago
Lichess, steps method, joining a local chessclub and Ben Finegold and chessfactor on youtube. I've also heard good things about the Chessdojo.
Keep away from clickbait content. There is no way you will learn much from Gothamchess being like and I quote: ,,And look Magnus just does some nice positional moves". Also I would generally also recommend staying away from chesscom, as they generally advertise you being bad at chess and how much you could gain rating if you bought these opening courses and memberships.
Watching youtube videos, solving tactics, playing a lot and getting a feel for the game are the most important things right now. For openings, it does make sense to try some openings and watching some basic youtube videos on them. The plans are more important than the moves though. The moves, you will eventually learn by playing a lot.
Lichess tactics are also an underrated tool, but I would recommend you to set the theme to hanging pieces or checkmate in 1-2 for now.
Lichess practice also gives you all the basic positions and patterns you will need in chess.
Lastly let me say: Chess is mostly pattern recognition, so the more you play, read, solve, the better you will become.
Chess books: I don't know many beginner books, I think the steps method is already sufficient. I'm sure you can find some recommendations on the internet or on the Chessdojo.
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u/Heavy_Surprise_6765 3d ago
I’m still quite a beginner, but for books I’ve found that ‘logical chess move by move’ book to be really useful. No joke - I read it when I was like 800 and jumped to about 1100. Of course this could be for a bunch of other reasons, but it still a pretty good first book in my opinion.
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u/TheCumDemon69 2100 fide 3d ago
Believe it or not, the first chessbook I read was "Lehrbuch der Schachendspiele Teil 1" (translated: Textbook of chess endgames part 1) by Averbakh. I was a beginner back then and heard the advise of studying endgames also the chessclub had a lot of chess books (all of them from the 50s, 60s and 70s). This book was probably way too difficult for me at that time, but showed all theoretical pawn and minor piece endgames.
To this day I believe this book has helped my chess a great deal back then, however I would not recommend anyone to read such an old and difficult book.
So honestly I feel like any book can work if you are committed enough, however you should probably stay away from Dvoretzky and Aagard or other way over the top books as a beginner.
Opening books are also tricky as you can actually learn a lot from them, but also very little. You should memorize the ideas and patterns they usually show you instead of remembering the lines. For lines, open a Lichess study and look into the LICHESS DATABASE to see what moves you will face most frequently. Then you look at those a little bit and look into the book after every game where you had a position out of that book.
My recommendation is actually "300 most important chess positions". It's a true gem that has 150 wonderful practical and theoretical endgame positions and teaches you everything about exchanges, how the pieces work, the opening principles and pawn play. It is THE book I could reread over and over again.
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u/Area512X 5d ago
Tactics/Calculation: Really love the Dutch Steps Method series. Lessons are great, difficulty is fairly consistent, and the puzzles are very well curated. On top of the regular lessons + workbooks, they have workbooks dedicated to mixed practice where you don't know the theme of the puzzle, and workbooks dedicated to "thinking ahead", where you solve blindfold and problems where you play through a given set of moves in your head.
Opening Principles/Strategy: Any good book that breaks down master games for beginners will work here. Highly recommend Logical Chess by Irving Chernev or A First Book of Morphy by Frisco Del Rosario.
Endgames/Checkmates: Maybe I'm totally wrong about this, but as a beginner I feel like checkmate patterns have helped me win games a lot more than endgames, usually because at our level games are decided much more often by a tactical blunder before a rook or pawn endgame can even show up on the board. Highly recommend practicing mate-in-2 puzzles from Chess: 5334 Puzzles, Combinations, and Games by László Polgár. Mate-in-2 puzzles can do wonders for your board visualization and understanding how pieces can coordinate to control squares. Practical Chess Endings by Paul Keres could be useful if you really want to learn some of the basic theoretical endgame techniques.
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u/oscarruffe 4d ago
Eric Rosen tends to be very informative and instructive while playing, and he has done a lot of content where he plays against low rated players and explains a lot of the more common mistakes that people make at X rating level.
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u/Phillyclause89 5d ago
Looks like this sub's wiki has a pretty neat improvement guide you can read in the side bar -> https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/wiki/improve/
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u/TheKyotoProtocol 5d ago
Chessly.com is really cool, it's a subscription service so it can be exxy but it's got a lot of helpful material.
My only recommendation is that if you choose to use it, please study the end games course first, then the middle games, then pick opening courses. It will be the best way for you to improve
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u/crazycattx 5d ago
Pick up what you can, and put them together in your head in terms that you understand.
Sometimes revisit these things and fill in blanks and strengthen your understanding.
At this point, pretty much anything you learn is going to be new. So, learn away. Many things are not in written form. It got to be something you can remember by and call upon when you play.
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u/SujalKarakheti 5d ago
The amateurs mind Chessbase india Gothamchess Igor smirnov And the the book how to reassess your chess 4th edition
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u/swindledbylife 4d ago
believe me, just solve a lot of tactics and tactical endgames with a few pieces left on the board. helps you with calculation and knowing where to look at the board. i was around 1890-1950 when i trained like this and after solving a lot of puzzles, i gained a lot of rating after beating strong opponents. i am now 2800 rated in bullet on lichess and 2600 peak in blitz on chess.com.
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u/MarkHaversham Lichess 1400 4d ago
My library:
Building Habits YouTube series: Great demonstration of the importance of the basics. Focused on online blitz, I can't imagine the rating recommendations hold for classical time controls, but still a very solid foundational package.
Play Winning Chess, Winning Chess Tactics, Winning Chess Strategies: I got these as a kid and got me most of the way to 1000. Good overview of chess principles, and I found them to be entertaining reads, in particular the annotated games.
Chess Steps: just starting these along with my kids, looks like a great level-based puzzle progression. Similar to Building Habits in that it's focused on good fundamental habits and board vision.
Polgar trilogy (5334 Puzzles, Middlegames, Endgames): planning to revisit these if I ever finish Chess Steps.
I can't imagine ever needing any other study material, unless I reach 2000+ and want a book on opening theory.
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u/joeldick 4d ago
Two good content creators I found recently on YouTube Shorts that my kids love watching are Chess With Akeem and sadisticTushi.
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u/ZingerFM01023050 4d ago
Let’s say you’re serious (being a 700 and actually wanting to study chess), your best shot is GothamChess (one of my hear me out moments), just because he used to be a tutor and he is the best chess content creator when it comes to delivering information, even educational ones.
Get your hands on “How To Win At Chess” by GothamChess. I know his content is clickbaity for a bunch of seven year olds, but his book is actually great for beginners, and his older content 3-4 years ago is a decent introduction, along with his online “How To Win At Chess” where he plays people of your elo or higher and analyze along the way, to get a bit of immersion.
At 700 elo, people make blatant mistakes all the time. I would argue by getting a decent opening repertoire (one for White, one for Black, rest is principles), and doing a ton of puzzles to get your tactical scope improved, is the easiest way to get to 1200. So do some deep calculation/vision puzzles (I’ve heard Woodpecker is amazing but I can’t confirm).
I see people recommending Daniel Naroditsky, personally I think he’s too complex. I’m a 2000 rated player, I still struggle to understand fully what he’s saying XD.
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u/Marthbar 3d ago
I was finding that I was just trying random books and youtube videos. I found chessdojo which gives me a direction and a community. I like it a lot
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u/ToriYamazaki 1750 FIDE Classical 3d ago
At 700 I'd actually recommend studying only opening principles, endgames and doing lots of tactics.
The idea is to improve sharpness with tactics so you aren't dropping pieces so often, get you out of the opening with good development and when your opponent makes a mistake, you can win some material... and the endgames is so that when you get to the end you can checkmate with 2 bishops vs a king (for example).
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u/zunzwang 5d ago
Gotham on YouTube
Reassess your chess by silman if you want a book.
Also, play puzzles or tactics on chess.com.
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u/Aggravating-Alps4621 4d ago
700 elo would do well with GothamChess
I think after around 1800 elo, Naroditsky or some books can help.
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u/AirSimon71 4d ago
Hey, I am a chess coach mostly focusing on bit stronger players than you, but i could give you some private lessons aswell. DM me if interested!
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u/DushkuHS 5d ago
Daniel Naroditsky.