Every Chess Thing I Studied in 2023
It’s a whole new year, which means it’s a good time to look back at the things we did before. In this post, I’ll be doing a rapid-fire recap of everything I studied besides chess openings, and linking to any reviews I happened to post about it.
Players studied:
Jose Raul Capablanca - Amazing endgame player most of whose contemporaries simply couldn’t keep up, which makes him a great subject for the first-time strategic endgame learner.
Akiba Rubinstein - At his peak the greatest player of his generation alive. More interesting games than Capablanca, but similarly well-suited for people wanting to learn strategic endgames and especially rook endgames.
Wilhelm Steinitz - Really was ahead of his time, but could be very dogmatic. This past year I spent a long time studying the man as much as his actual chess. Steinitz’s games are instructive for middlegame in much the same way that Capablanca is instructive for endgame: People were having a hard time catching up to Steinitz when he returned to the scene with a new-school way of playing.
Johannes Zukertort - Like Steinitz, ahead of his time; if anything, he’s the more interesting player, being one of the first to experiment with 1.c4 and the Queen’s Gambit. His combinations are more clear than Steinitz, but Zukertort is kind of like that impatient player who would blitz out moves on occasion and pay the consequences dearly.
Aron Nimzowitsch - Tactical genius. Positional innovator. Very interesting games and unlike many of the above, really experimented with different openings, leading to wildly different games. Deserving of the title “Father of Hypermodern Chess”.
Richard Reti - The most interesting player I studied in 2023. Like Nimzo, a huge influence on the hypermodern scene, but in my humble opinion, didn’t feel like he had as much to prove as Nimzowitsch, leading to more naturally beautiful games. Reti was a true revolutionary.
Alexander Alekhine - The most objective player I studied in 2023. Through the first 150ish games of his complete game collection (a review is pending), I learned a lot more about the thought process that is necessary to become a stronger player. Alekhine is most instructive for how he talks about his moves. He is sometimes impressed, sometimes frustrated by his own ideas, and doesn’t beat around the bush with ideas. Also, the man just calculated whatever he saw. That is the habit I most admire about him, the one I’m determined to emulate in my own play and thought process.
Gyula Breyer (just started).
Books read/courses studied:
Capablanca: Move by Move:
Book Review: Capablanca, Move by Move by Cyrus Lakdawala
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This is a very decent collection of 59 games by 3rd official chess world champion Jose Raul Capablanca, divided into five themes as chapters (though some games could have been included in multiple chapters): attack, defense, exploiting imbalances (e.g. knight vs bishop, two rooks vs queen), accumulating advantages, and endings (endgames).
Rubinstein: Move by Move
Blitz Book Review: Rubinstein: Move by Move by Zenon Franco
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Rubinstein: Move by Move is a tad different from many of the other entries into the Move by Move series that I’ve read and reviewed. This may have a lot to do with how deeply important Rubinstein was to the development of chess theory. Also, this is a book of games from a player who probably could have become the World Champion in his prime (though sadl…
The Ink War
Book Review: The Ink War, by IM Willy Hendriks
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I wrote this review originally on Goodreads and Amazon. "Romantic chess" and "modern chess" are two phrases that one familiarizes themselves with once they begin to wade into the waters of chess culture and history. The usual distinction between these two "schools" of chess is located in the style of play that chess players engaged in. Stereotypically,
Capablanca's Best Chess Endings
Book Review: Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev
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First off, suggested rating before reading this book: 1600+ USCF (1400 if you're really diligent). I guess this should translate to about 1500+ FIDE. Or, 1900+Lichess/1600+chesscom. If you don't know what a chess rating is, this is probably not your best choice. But Chernev has another one:
Nimzowitsch: Move by Move
Book Review: Nimzowitsch, Move by Move, by Steve Giddens
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In the middle of my studying of Capablanca, I would take breaks and study some of his contemporaries (other than Alekhine). So if I couldn’t easily find a collection, I would default to the Move by Move series by Everyman Chess. These books are great in general, and act as a sort of teaser for understanding a player at their best.
Reti: Move by Move - (Review pending!) Probably my favorite of the Move by Move books, at least on Capablanca’s contemporaries
Origins: Ruy Lopez
Book Review: "Origins: Ruy Lopez - Book I: Black Avoids 3…a6" by IM Cyrus Lakdawala and FM Carsten Hansen
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Introduction As far as opening books go, I have always eschewed them in favor of Chessable. This is mostly out of comfort and convenience, since Chessable was the first product I used to study chess openings in earnest. However, when I saw what this book’s premise was (which was to discuss the “origin” of each variation), I decided to give it a shot. The…
Alexander Alekhine: Complete Games Collection Vol 1. - (Review Pending) Not the sexiest book, but one of the most instructive collections because it’s all from the horse’s mouth. Alekhine was a critical thinker and calculator and this book shows you directly so you can see how he thought and maybe draw some conclusions of your own if you want to apply his ideas to your thought process.
Alekhine: Move by Move - (Review Pending) A nice reprieve from a day-by-day collection. Alekhine’s best games happened much later in his career, and these are all some bangers.
Gyula Breyer: Chess Revolutionary (just started).
The Amateur's Mind
Book Review: The Amateur's Mind, by IM Jeremy Silman
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Almost everyone in chess knows the name of the recently late Jeremy Silman, and for good reason. He was one of the most beloved and prolific authors in modern chess, and for many a strong player, the de facto coach based on books like this one and the even more rigorous
Techniques of Positional Play - Did not finish. I really like this book, but it got shelved as I started craving another game collection.
Mastering Chess Strategy - Finally completed this one for the first time. So much work, but rich in ideas you can learn. One of the best books with hundreds of examples.
The Art of Attack in Chess - Revisited this one after a long time away from it. I really enjoyed it for its teaching value, even if some of the analysis (as per usual) is out of date.
Chess Crime and Punishment - A gift from the user hoop on chessable. I didn’t complete this one, but plan to redo it in full this year. Dr. Can Kabadayi is a very incisive teacher and all of his chessable courses come strongly recommended.
Evaluate Like A Grandmaster
Book Review: Evaluate Like a Grandmaster
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A quick player profile about me: ~1700 USCF club player after competing for about two years. I would describe myself as relatively tactically strong, and almost OK strategically speaking. I feel like I can evaluate most positions with a decent ballpark estimate, but not as precisely as I’d like to.
Silman's Complete Endgame Course - Picked this one up on chessable and did all the exercises up to Class A. This is not a comprehensive endgame course, but it’s set up in a way most books are not, by sorting the essential endgames by player skill level. That in and of itself is impressive, but it’s also in Silman’s trademark human and readable style. I don’t know if anyone will ever top this book as a resource for club players trying to learn theoretical endgames.
Chess Endgame Planning - (quit this one) I plan on coming back to this one a bit later. There is a lot of material here, and I would like to give it full attention.
Selected Chess Endings
Book Review: Selected Chess Endings by Rev. E.E. Cunnington (updated and edited by FM Carsten Hansen)
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Thanks to FM Carsten Hansen for sending me this book. Selected Chess Endings is an interesting little book (under 120 pages) that was originally published in 1903. It contains a selection of endgame positions, including composed studies/problems and positions from (at the time) recent play. The original work was updated by FM Carsten Hansen to algebraic …
The Master's Hand: Capablanca's Endgame Technique -
put this one out on chessable and I rather like it. It’s a deep look into a few Capablanca endgames to expose his thought process. Deeply annotated, and Alex’s teaching style is always on-point for me. He has another course based on Fischer that I’m looking forward to checking out some time soon.Endgame Studies 101 - A nice guide to learning how to think about endgame studies. Starts with tactics, heads to more complicated ideas, then tests you. Chessable.
Checkmate Patterns Manual - This course is a chessable must-have.
1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners - Used this for basic warm-ups.
Common Chess Patterns - Also for basic warm-ups.
Sam Shankland's Calculation Workbook - (quit this, but will pick it up again)
How To Beat Your Dad At Chess
Book Review: How To Beat Your Dad At Chess by GM Murray Chandler
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Baby’s First Chess Book, but Not Just For Kids One of the first chess books I ever read and actually completed all the way through was How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, by GM Murray Chandler. The cover of this book is colorful and contains hand-drawn characters in a cartoonish style, which might make you think this book is just for kids. It’s not. Chandler …
Razor-Sharp Tactics: Women's World Rapid and Blitz 2022 - A nice free course on chessable with some pretty tactics.
Thematic Tactics: Pawn Endgames - Great for drilling pawn endgame ideas.
1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players - Way tougher than the course for beginners.
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Happy New Years, and to many more chess studies in 2024!
Nick