Chess Book Recommendations

Chess books are the ultimate source of knowledge on chess. In technical terms, they can provide more detailed material than DVDs. Some players even credit 1800+ of their rating points to a single book! There is an abundance of chess literature out there and today, I'm going to go through some of my personal recommendations. I have broken the suggestions up into categories so they are easier to digest.

Opening

Opening books on specific openings are either superseded or go out of date quickly, so I'm not going to recommend any titles in that department. However, you can find some book/DVD recommendations that complement repertoires in my "opening repertoire suggestions" article...

See the full article "Chess Book Recommendations".

Sveshnikov's 60th Birthday

Evgeny Sveshnikov, born in Cheliabinsk, Russia, on February 11, 1950, is perhaps best known for the opening named after him, the Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5). To be honest, having played the Sveshnikov Variation many times before, I hadn't realised this grandmaster was so young! Evgeny Sveshnikov became an IM at 25 and a GM at 27.

It is interesting to note that in January of 1984, Sveshnikov was diagnosed with third stage cancer. He survived and went on to live a normal life.

Check out ChessBase's tribute article "Evgeny Sveshnikov turns sixty".

Review of Roman's Lab DVDs

Roman's Lab is a range of chess DVDs that have been released within the last few years and I believe the series hasn't finished yet. The DVDs are presented by famous American Grandmaster Roman "Dzindzi" Dzindzichashvili. Best known for his videos and books nowadays, he was once within the world top 10. Throughout his career, he has landed defeats on big names such as 6th World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, Bronstein, Larsen, Timman, Shabalov and Nakamura. He has worked with 12th World Champion Karpov, 13th World Champion Kasparov, Kamsky, Korchnoi and Perelshteyn. Roman has come equal first in the US Championship twice. According to Wikipedia, his peak rating was 2703 in October 1978. These days, he is much older (65 at the time of writing), but he is still well known for his very strong online play...

See the full article "Roman's Lab DVDs".

New Chess DVD Reviews

I have reviewed several chess DVD series recently. DVDs are a great way to learn if you want to take a more relaxed approach to chess improvement.

PRO CHESS: THE VIDEO CHESS MENTOR
CHESSBASE FRITZTRAINER
FOXY OPENINGS