by bnordeng
D Beau wrote:
I don't think it's terribly well-respected among hardcore Chess enthusiasts...
That's funny because the book I remember being very helpful to me when i was a kid is probably not respected at all. I'm basically taught entirely from books and just playing and I remember reading "Weapons of Chess" by Bruce Pandolfini. That book opened my eyes to things I had kind of picked up on but didn't really know the names for or even how to describe them properly. It goes through things like backward pawns, bad bishops, bishops of the opposite color, doubled pawns, fianchetto, good knights, isolated pawns, passed pawns, blocked center, etc. It's just a bunch of chess basics and it helped me get a better understanding of the game.
Another fantastic book for me was "How to Win in the Chess Endings." It provides a description of how to win in many situations when you get to just a couple of pieces left on the board. And it provides some pretty basic problems to hammer home the point. This one really helped me understand the strengths and weaknesses of each piece.
I still have both of these books in my bookcase today.