(originally posted on Chesstalk December 20, 1999)
Hello fellow chess addicts to chesstalk.com
Please find below a list of thirty-odd books that no self respecting GM would ever be found dead NOT having in his library...(please note that this only includes books published before '85, and does not include 'good stuff' published since...)
Merry Xmas
Kevin Spraggett
Classics
 | Complete Chess Strategy, by Pachman (3 vol)
|
| The Middle Game in Chess, by Euwe (2 vol) (Static
Features, Dynamic Features) |
| 500 Master Games of Chess, by Tartakover |
| Lasker's Manual, by God (Em.Lasker) |
| Common Sense in Chess, by Em.Lasker |
| Chess from Morphy to Botvinnik, by Konig |
| Pachman's Decisive Games, by Pachman |
| Tarrasch's Best Games, by Reinfeld (no, he didn't
play them, thank god) |
| Life and games of Mikhail Tal, by Tal |
| Fischer's 60 Memorable Games, by the 'MAN' himself |
| Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces, by Kmoch (god couldn't do better...) |
| Pawn Power in Chess, by Kmoch |
| Paul Keres' Best Games, by P.Keres (no, not the 'Nunn' edition) |
| Botvinnik's 100 selected games, by Botvinnik himself (Mr. Soviet Chess ) |
| Zurich '53, by Bronstein (one of the ten best of all
time) |
| Nottingham '36, by Alekhine |
| Practical Chess Endings, by Keres (the 'must' first book of endings) |
| Tal vs Botvinnik match of '60, by Tal himself (one of
the top ten) |
| Ideas behind the openings, by Fine |
| Art of Positional chess, by Reshevsky (truly great
book) |
| The Application of Chess Theory, by Geller (or how to
beat the world champions) |
| The Art of Attack in Chess, by Vukovich (or how to
'screw' your opponent) |
| A guide to the Chess endings, by Euwe |
| How Not to Play Chess, by Borovsky (a great book) |
| Chess Improviser, by Bronstein (one of the greatest books of all time) |
| Hypermodern Chess, by Reinfeld (again, he didn't play
any of these games...) |
| From Steinitz to Fischer , by Euve |
| World Chess Championship '37, by Alekhine (necessary reading) |
| Art of the middle game, by Keres and Kotov (super
book) |
| Dynamic Chess, by Coles (great book by complete
unknown) |
| My Best Games of Chess , by Tartakover (one of the
best of all time) |
| Meet the Masters, by Euwe |
| GM preparation, by Polugaevsky (one of the top ten) |
| 125 selected games, by Smyslov |
| My best games of chess, by Alekhine (3 vol) |
| The Chess Terrorist, by Shamkovich (great reading) |