What are the greatest chess books 

As one of the most popular and successful games in history, chess has garnered much acclaim for its simple nature, yet intricate detail. Not only are the game board and pieces exquisite to admire, especially hand-crafted tournament style pieces, but the limitations and rules of play offer a unique experience to the seasoned professional and the amateur player alike.

Chess and Psychology

The intricacies of the game itself can sometimes be so beautiful that some might even consider it a spectator sport. Because of the way t it utilizes so many of our cognitive faculties and functions, chess is perhaps more than a game but an extension of human psychology.

Chess is such a masterful and intriguing concept that many of the most famous and brilliant minds in history have written about it. If you are wondering what are the greatest chess books, here are a couple of compositions that may interest you.

"Morals of Chess" by Benjamin Franklin

You should start with Benjamin Franklin’s 1779 essay “Morals of Chess.” Not quite the full volume of a book, one of the most brilliant minds in our country’s history says that there is nothing as innocent as a game of chess, yet equally, there is nothing so advantageous. He calls it a “diversion” but goes on to describe it also as an excellent activity for the mind.

The statesman was so fond of it that he actually used it as way to warm the room during his diplomatic sessions on his visit to Europe. Franklin’s ideology argues that the true benefits of chess come not in whether you win or lose, but indeed in how you play the game.

"Chess Metaphors" by Diego Rasskin

The most recent entry on the list of what are the greatest chess books, is Diego Rasskin’s “Chess Metaphors.” In this book, Rasskin examines how chess plays with our conceptual understanding of fear, creativity, bravery, honesty, deceit, beauty, and aggression. In a single game, a person can experience all of these emotions and more.

Rasskin believes that close examination of the way human’s play chess, especially when considering the many limitations of the game, can tell us far more than we believed about the way our brains work, and furthermore how to structurally map this thinking in terms of Artificial Intelligence. A truly introspective look at our human psyche, this is a must read for anyone who loves mathematics, science, cognitive psychology, technology, and of course, the incredible game of chess.