03/8/25 What are the favorite books of Maine chess players? What do you love/hate studying? What is your favorite chess story? What is one book that every chess player in Maine should read? Please take a minute to chime in on the survey linked below. Afterward, we will compile the results and share them with the community. Thanks!

Take the Chess Book Survey!

Thanks to Dan Monahan for contributing to this report.

What to name a chess tournament? You have your season themed tournaments (fall classic, winter warm-up, etc) and you have your memorial tournaments, among others. At MDI Chess, we decided on the No School Friday Chess Tournament because many school districts have the day off for a teacher professional development day so it seemed appropriate. However, maybe a better name might have been the Build Your Chess Library Tournament or the Taking It To the Next Level Tournament because the prizes are all chess books designed to take your chess game to the next level.

For example, we have books for intermediate or advanced players like Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman, Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar, and Beth Harmon's favorite, Modern Chess Openings. We also have a variety of beginner books like How to Play Chess for Kids by Jessica Martin, How to Beat your Dad at Chess by Murray Chandler, 1001 Chess Exercises For Beginners by Masetti and Messa, and Levy Rozman of Gotham Chess' newest book How to Win at Chess. We reviewed many of these books by borrowing them from libraries around Maine (thanks inter-library loan!) and by searching through some top chess book lists online.

But all of this got me thinking, what are the favorite books of Maine chess players? What do you love/hate studying? What is your favorite chess story? What is one book that every chess player in Maine should read?

Please take a minute to chime in on the survey linked below. Afterward, we will compile the results and share them with the community. Thanks!

Take the Chess Book Survey!