Good Book for Improving Chess Skill

[Bullgrit]

My brother and I regularly play Chess with Friends together -- we usually have two games going at any given time.

I learned to play chess as a teenager, but only played occasionally with friends. After my teen years, I'd go two, three, four, maybe more years between games.

My brother learned to play chess as an adult, but I don't really know at what age. He has played much more often than I over the last decade or so.

When we started CwF, I figured we'd be pretty evenly matched, but we are not. I'm shocked, actually. He wins only about 1 in 15 games. (We've played probably 100 games.)

The CwF app shows the last ten games, and usually, (like right now), it shows I won them all. When he wins, his immediate thought and question is whether I let him win. (I never throw a game. That wouldn't be fun or honest for either of us.) I really don't think I'm all that great a chess player, and I don't see anything that he is doing really wrong consistently, so I can't give him any useful advice. I've tried, and he has gotten better, (from winning 1 in 40 to 1 in 15). He actually had 3 wins in a 10 game list one time, but then lost the next 20.

I'm thinking about getting him a chess strategy book for Christmas. I've checked Amazon, and there are a lot of these, so I'm looking for advice on which to give him. I don't want to give something like Chess for Dummies. Although the X for Dummies books are usually really good, I'd rather give him something a little less, well, "Dummy."

What chess strategy book do you suggest? Nothing really deep, but something more than for a complete novice.

Bullgrit

 

[Crothian]

Actually, I really like Chess for Dummies. I'm not a good chess player but it has helped me really cover some things that I never learned when I was taught.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I haven't really dedicated myself to improving my game for a long time. But when I did, the one book that helped me really improve my game significantly was Yasser Seirawan's "[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Play-Winning-Chess-Yasser-Seirawan/dp/1857443314/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323782208&sr=1-1"]Play Winning Chess.[/ame]"

 

[Bullgrit]

Thanks, Remus Lupin. I'm ordering that book, now, to give my brother. If he starts beating me with regularity, I may have to order it for myself, too.

Bullgrit

 

[frankthedm]

When we started CwF, I figured we'd be pretty evenly matched, but we are not. I'm shocked, actually. He wins only about 1 in 15 games. (We've played probably 100 games.)

No chance your bro is letting you win or is getting distracted by other things? No jabs meant at your skill at chess, but if he has played more than you have but has a 15 to 1 loss ratio, it sounds like one of those is a likely solution.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I should warn you, my father stopped playing chess with me after I read this book, since I went from always losing to him to always winning. So you may need a copy for yourself!

 

[Bullgrit]

No chance your bro is letting you win or is getting distracted by other things? No jabs meant at your skill at chess, but if he has played more than you have but has a 15 to 1 loss ratio, it sounds like one of those is a likely solution.

From our 40-year history of [good-natured] sibling rivalry and competitiveness, and our basic personalities, I'm confident that he's not letting me win.

Distracted? Possibly, but not likely -- at least not for this long. That's one of the great things about CwF: you make your move when you have the time to put attention to it. If you haven't played it: it's like texting. Make a move, and the game alerts the other player it is their turn. When they get a chance, they make their move, and it alerts you. Moves can be minutes apart or hours or even days apart. Take as long as you want to get to it and/or think about a move.

We also play Words with Friends, but I've won only about 4 to 1 in that. Luck plays a bigger part in WwF than in chess, and I have notoriously bad luck in games with elements of randomness. This game can be very frustrating at times, (which I hear Alec Baldwin can attest to). And although I have a generally better vocabulary than my brother -- I'm a writer, he's a drummer -- most of our words tend to be in the 3-5 letter range, so knowing big words doesn't seem to help.

One thing that I wonder about is whether my much wider experience with games in general could be my edge in our chess games. I wonder if my experience with gaming makes me approach our chess games differently than he does.

Bullgrit