The Best Chess Books in Every Category – Which One is Best for You?

With the right learning materials, even young children can develop high-level chess skills. These books explain the concepts of chess in a way that’s easy for kids to absorb and implement.

Chess Workbook for Children

Todd Bardwick’s Chess Workbook for Children is a really fun book, designed to help children conceptualize and retain the rules and some effective chess strategies. This book walks your child through ten chess lessons and lays out the rules of the game. There are 200 chess problems to work through in this book, as well as crossword puzzles, word searches, and famous people’s quotes about the game. This workbook is aimed at beginners but also features some intermediate-level questions for an added challenge once your child has the basics down. The amusing illustrations and accessible analogies used throughout will help your child learn in a way that they’ll remember.

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How to Beat Your Dad at Chess

As you can tell from the title, this book is primarily geared toward children, but it includes advice that beginner to intermediate players of all ages can appreciate. The focus of this particular chess book is on what author and grandmaster Murray Chandler calls “the 50 deadly checkmates.” His “attack plan” descriptions are clearly explained – and illustrated – at a level that a beginner or a child can understand without getting overwhelmed by too much detail about the “hows” and “whys.” This book also includes a final test, for practice putting your newly acquired pattern knowledge into action.

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Winning Chess Exercises for Kids

This is an excellent chess book for any child who is getting familiar with the game of chess. Full of amusing cartoon pictures, Winning Chess Exercises for Kids is a workbook-style learning tool, providing your child with as much chess strategy information as they’ll likely ever need. This book was written by Jeff Coakley, a Canadian chess master who has over 15 years of experience chess coaching and teaching the game to kids. Several of Coakley’s students have gone on to become national champions. Your child can also take advantage of Coakley’s clear, fun, and most importantly, effective teaching style in this fun chess book.

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Chess Books Buyer’s Guide

With the huge number of chess books on the market today, it’s understandable that shopping for one may seem like a daunting task! Here are our top tips for figuring out which chess books you should read next – and which to skip for now.

Consider Your Playing Level

Your current playing level is going to affect which chess books you will find most useful. Books that provide a general overview of how to play and how to think are generally best for beginners. Advanced players will be more likely to benefit from books that focus on improving a specific part of their game (opening, middlegame, endgame) or that teach a particular move, method, or tactic. However, there are useful books on each aspect of the game that are accessible to players of all skill levels.

What Should Beginners Look for in a Chess Book?

It’s important to understand that the definition of the term “beginner” is a subjective one. Some books written for “beginners” may still be too in-depth for a novice player. We actually encourage brand-new players of all ages to consider adding a children’s chess book to your reading list. The simplicity of the descriptions and deliberate avoidance of getting bogged down in theory make these books very easy to digest.

What Should Intermediate Players Look For?

For intermediate players who aren’t sure if they should be in the “beginner” or “advanced” book section, we recommend books that take you through a progression from beginner to advanced tactics. This way, if the “intermediate” chapters aren’t quite making sense to you, you can simply go back a chapter or two to get up to speed. And then, you’ll be equipped to keep growing your skills and challenging yourself through the later chapters.

What Should Advanced Players Look For?

Advanced players are most likely to have one or two areas where they need to improve. For example, a common area that even many masters struggle with is endgames. Chess theory books can also be a good choice for advanced players.

Chess tactic books (sometimes known as middlegame books) are at the heart of chess education and there are excellent tactic books written for all skill levels, including for children.

A Few Extra Book Shopping Tips – for All Levels

Our list of reviews is the perfect place to start when figuring out which chess books to read next. Once you’ve made it through all of the books on our list, another great resource can be recommendations from people in your personal chess network. Ask around at chess club or tournament events for which books have made an impact on others, and why. Online forums can be another place to compare chess book opinions with other players.

If you are browsing chess books in the bookstore, take the time to read through a few passages. If what you’re reading makes sense to you (without feeling painfully elementary), then the book is probably suitable for your level. Take a look at the table of contents and get a feel for what material is covered. Some chess books include a lot of puzzles and practice scenarios, some only a few, and some none at all. Decide what your goal is, what you most want to get out of your next chess book – interesting reading material, puzzles and activities, or a mix of both?

Our Final Thoughts

We strongly encourage you to read as many chess books as you can get your hands on! The more information you absorb, the better your skills and strategy will be when you play! But definitely start with this list of tried and true favorites. Each of the books on our Best Chess Books list has something special to offer.