After a break of 5 years in chess, when I decided to restart playting in my forties, I thought I might have to relearn from scratch, and I indeed went right through Alburts series of books. Not the opening ones though, there weren't out at the time (and the one for White has been somewhat panned), but I did resurrect my Pirc with Pirc Alert (NB dispite this being one of my favourite books, I wouldn't recommend the Pirc to you  )

I quite like the endgame one, Just the Facts.

Just get playing and let your rating sort itself out. 

This was originally posted in my Schillers First Chess openings thread, though I feel the jist may have been lost there in the concentration on openings. 

Much of this was covered in a previous thread, but I particularly wondered about folks actual book recomendations for 'adult learners' and specifically perhaps, thoughts on my Alburt's Comprehensive Course/Openings decision? If you have experience of these books, what rating standard do you think would be achievable sticking exclusively to this course ?

"Cutting to the chase, I do have the book, I just wondered how it was received. I'm aware of Schiller's mixed reputation, but I know that at least some of his books have been well rated, I just didn't know which category this one fell into, and I don't consider myself strong enough to pass a judgement.

I was a fairly experienced though not very good player at one time (peaking at 1780, falling back to around 1500 when I last played competitively). But I always felt something of a fraud - that I had never really learned to play chess 'properly' and with large gaps in my learning. 

I've resolved (at 48!?) to re-learn chess from scratch, doing it right this time, but at my age I don't particularly want to embark on a 100 book marathon, especially since I'm only aiming to reach a 'reasonable' standard, and this time hopefully understanding the game a bit better. 

To this end, I'm planning on going through Alburt's 7 book (8 now?) Comprehensive Course, alongside his Chess Openings Explained. I just wanted a 'basic' repertoire to play in the meantime, without getting into too much trouble. So far as the openings I used to play, I'm not convinced I ever knew them that well anyway. And I don't want to go down the 'closed' and 'system' openings route (KIA, Colle etc.) which I think would be detrimental on a 'learning' course - open games are the way to go! To give Schiller his due, he also advocates that you can use this rep up to around 1400 standard, after which you should be looking to expand. Like I say, the book is very readable - I did it in a few days without using a board/set. 

As for some of the 'gaps' I was talking about, book 1 of the Comp Course introduces the concept of visualising/memorising the empty board - something I'd never heard of before. I can see the point of the idea, but the practice is proving alien and difficult. But in internet blitz games I'm making ridiculous blunders (I know - stop playing blitz! I will).

I'd be interested in folks thoughts on this?!"