There are literally thousands of books to improve your chess or to help teach others. Again, there are simply too many to list.
The Chess and Bridge Centre is the biggest outlet for selling books and chess sets in England. You can search by children’s books, adults’ books or do a more specific search based on openings, middlegames, endgames or biographies
As a coach, there are two series of books that I would thoroughly recommend for your teaching sessions:
- Chess-Steps or Stappenmethode
This training program has been used in schools in Holland for many years. It is a step-by-step method of learning or teaching chess. Each workbook should be purchased alongside the training manuals. The training manuals are of particular importance as they touch on subjects such as the most common mistakes made, which is vital for tracking improvement. These books cover material up to around a FIDE rating of 2200.
Full details can be found on the Chess-Steps website:
m.chess-steps.eu
- Yusopov Training Course Series
This series of books has three difficulty levels. These are the Fundamentals, Beyond the Basics and Mastery. These books are designed for players who are already established and not beginners. I would aim at above 1700 for the Fundamentals and above 2300 for the Mastery level.
The full 9-book list can be found at:
www.qualitychess.co.uk/docs/14/artur_yusupovs_awardwinning_training_course
If you want to be a top level coach, I would not solely rely on using other people’s work. Such methods are tried and tested and important. However, you should also have your own material, perhaps based on some examples from some of your own games or other people’s games that fit into the chess topic that you are teaching. If you really want to excel, you could consider writing your own book.
