Why Chess Books Don't Work

@RealDavidNavara @CheckRaiseMate

The opinion of a 2700 FIDE Rated player is always more important than everybody else, especially when it comes to improving in chess!

- I also beleive that books are really important for getting the chess knowledge you need.
- From videos you can learn, but you should also analyze yourself to understand the game in your own way!
- It is really surprising to me that an FM like Nate Solon got into the discussion about books vs videos!

If a book is written, it usually requires SO MUCH more work to be done, than a video!
For example, I can record a video RIGHT NOW and make it public.
In contrast to that, I cannot publish a book just like that!
So the book, if written in a proper way, would be a really important tool for a chess player to improve!

Also, the chess books are read in front of a chess board. Compare studying "My great predecessors" from Garry Kasparov in front of a screen and in front of a real chess-board. If you do that in a correct way, you will get 90% from a book and 60% from a video, or something like that, in my opinion. The numbers are quite random, but you get the point.

Also studies have shown, that moving the pieces with your hands helps you remember, rather than by watching everything in front of a screen.

In conclusion, I think that chess books are really important in somebody's chess improvement and it should be a big part of the process! Videos can be fun and also educational, but when they are considered as the main tool of a student, things might not work out as well as you might expect!

- Those few things from a FIDE Master rated 2409, who has played 120.000 games online and has studied over the board and also in front of a screen!

I could talk a lot more about this subject, but I will leave room for discussion!

I agree that playing in front of an actual board with real people makes chess a completely different experience. There is something about it.

I've only played a few games over the board, and all against personal friends (no tournaments, clubs, etc.)

I can tolerate longer games and study in front of a real board. Too bad I am addicted to my laptop.

You bring up some very great insight @papasi thank you.

Yes, I agree too. My experience was: there are both boring books and very well written books (I mentioned Max Euwe, Sergiu Samarian and Polugajevsky as authors). From the well written books I learned a lot - especially when accompanied by exercises and own analysis on a board. For instance "good bishop and bad bishop" - I tried to understand this topic, and finally I was able to apply this in my own games (f.ex. in endgames). Or the basic strategy in the Queens Gambit Declined (Euwe), this is not rocket science, but you have to start with a good explanation of the topic.

A youtube video might be ok if you want to try a new opening variation, but when I was a beginner, I started with a book (that was before the internet era, and the first chess programs were still bad, I remember I could beat the first version of "Fritz" by applying the Kings Indian Defense (black side), Fritz did not see the breakthrough g5-g4 coming and was just shuffling the pieces aimlessly behind its pawns). That was a long time ago.

After making a short foray into books and online lessons I believe now in traditional training: 50% of tactics on traditional board plus 50% of playing and analyzing online and offline. Watching YouTube with witty rejoinders and incisive comments is certainly fun, but it does not contribute to chess improvement. In my opinion, many young players and adult improvers make an egregious error in focusing on online puzzles and reading books. Still, discord about how to train between chess trainers is well-known.

Literally countless people have been getting better at chess through book study for well over a century. That includes masters all the way up to world champion. I myself would never have achieved my modest ~1700 USCF rating without them. And frankly, I’m convinced that I’d be considerably better if I actually read all the chess books I buy. Chess improvement is a mix of study and play. Most of us do much more of the latter, which is why we don’t improve. It’s certainly the case with me.

They work

Two ways about this:

1. if you have a book for tactical stuff etc you don't flick the pieces back and forth like a maniac but concentrate better; the book is also in its own world without bells ringing and stupid smileys popping up, etc.

2. with videos, you can soak in info in a relaxed way - if the video is good and not "WOW LOOK AT THIS!!!" so it can be a diferent kind of relaxed absorption of info.

I use both but books do work, and it's more than a bit simple to say they don't. Besides, what is a chess game online but an applied bit of a book? They're just different media. If you apply your chess knowledge - and this "implicit method" or whatever it was called there - the book is just the same as the video - unless you're one of those who need a face on screen to stay interested at all.

Also, go tell Seirawan how books don't work.

@NYCeGuyEddy said in #75:
> Literally countless people have been getting better at chess through book study for well over a century.
Well to be fair books have existed for a long time and online rapid games only for 10 years or so lol.

The beauty of reading chess books is that it requires concentration, thus by default improving your chess.

@SveshnikovisKing said in #79:
> The beauty of reading chess books is that it requires concentration, thus by default improving your chess.
That may be a fair point. Too bad I am largely incapable of doing that.