re: Books about the history and beauty of Chess

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Kafka

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This is an awesome list. Thank you so much!!

I will add that I ended up buying three books right after I posted this thread. I haven't been able to get through any of them (life with a baby) but I will update once I have read these among some (if not all!) on your list.

These are the books I bought:

The Immortal Game: A History of Chess

Chess Opening Names: The Fascinating & Entertaining History Behind The First Few Moves

Learn from the Legends: Chess Champions At Their Best

I've played almost 600 games (most of these are the 10-20 minute rapid games with other people; it's an obsession at this point) via the chess app since September, and I also took a bunch of lessons on the app as well, so I am getting there. Before September, and especially around when the baby was born in April, I only had time to do the app's puzzles (they basically throw you into a scenario and the puzzle is to perform the statistically best move) which helped a lot. I will say, with regard to opening moves and general beginning strategy, I tend to stick with really classic opening moves, developing pieces and controlling the center, castling, etc. but a guilty pleasure for me is perpetrating a wayward queen attack upon unsuspecting opponents . I do need to work on my end game, but I'm getting better at it. I really try to protect my rooks at all costs because I like using the queen/rooks to slide them to the edge and trap them there. I laughed when the app gave me a badge for checkmating someone with a pawn.

Thanks again for the tips and book suggestions; I look forward to reading these books!