Schacksnack

In this video, I, IM Thomas Engqvist, take a look at 25 books from Everyman Chess’s Move by Move series, a collection devoted to some of the greatest players in chess history. Everyman Chess was a well-known chess publisher, although the publishing house no longer exists in its former form.

The books cover World Champions and players of roughly World Championship runner-up strength, with each book usually examining around 30–60 of the player’s games.

What makes the Move by Move series particularly interesting is its approach to chess improvement. The concept is based on active learning: rather than simply reading through annotated games, the reader is constantly asked questions about the position and encouraged to find the moves and ideas for themselves.

This makes the books particularly well suited to simulation training. You can treat the positions as if you were playing a real game, stopping before the critical moments and trying to work out what you would play before comparing your answer with the master’s move.

In the video, I discuss all 26 books and also look at the different authors behind them, including GM Zenon Franco, FM Steve Giddins and IM Cyrus Lakdawala, as well as several other well-known chess writers.

I make a few deeper stops in books that I have started reading myself, and I also mention other books connected with the players covered in the series that I think may be worth exploring.

So, rather than simply asking which books are good, I look at a broader question:

What can we actually learn from these 25 Move by Move books?

The series offers an interesting way of studying great players while actively training your own calculation, positional understanding, decision-making and ability to find tactical ideas.

If you enjoy chess books and are interested in improving your practical playing strength, I hope this overview gives you some ideas for your next book – and perhaps a different way of studying master games.