FIDE Trainer´s Commission recommends these chessbooks in English, German, Russian and Spanish.
John´s Chessbooks Reviews contain a lot of short and concise reviews of chess literature.
Harald Keilhack, chess player and FIDE-Master, who runs the chess publisher Kania, also writes comprehensive and independent descriptions of the books, which Kania sells as a retailer. Besides he writes weekly chess chronicles in Stuttgarter Zeitung. The chronicles are archived on the homepage of Rochade Kuppenheim. Language: German.
Littérature échiquéenne contains very short comments to various chess books. Language: French.
Ignacio Marin has some reviews of chess books. Language: English.
John Watson´s book reviews are published on the home page of London Chess Centre.
Randy´s Revealing Reviews discuss chess books, magazines and chess resources "from the practical player´s perspective". Randy Bauer is a National Master.
Schach-Profi-Verlag Dreier - German publisher, which also enlists chess players from the Heidelberg/Karlsruhe area to write book reviews.
SK 1980 Gersheim has a section with short book reviews. Language: German.
The Patzer´s Book Review - a review section by the “average” player for the “average” players. How GM´s, IM´s etc. "read" books, how they understand chess concepts, the "glasses" through which they see, are far different from the "average" player, the “patzer” claims.
www.freechess.info has a review section of chess books. Language: German.
Reviews of chess software
About this particular Macintosh (ATPM) contains some reviews about the best chess programs running under Macintosh.
Chess Programs reviews chess programs. Languages: English and Italian.
Chess programs for mobile phones - this is the most comprehensive list on the net, that also includes reviews, about chess programs for mobile telephones. This type of programs has indeed a bright future.
Chess Programs for Pocket PC and Palm devices - when Axel Schumacher started to write this review, he estimated that it would take him a few days to do so. He did not know that it already existed over 60 chess programs for Pocket PC and Palm.
ChessReviews.com previously Chess Widower´s Home Page, publishes very initiated and well-written reviews by Bob Pawlak. He has also published "Chess Software Sourcebook", which analyzes most of the commercial chess programs, and which has received a lot of credit.
Commercial Chess Programs: A Comparison by Cock de Gorter. Article.
LePoint contains a short article about chess programs, in the first place a comparison between Fritz 8 and Chessmaster 9000. Language: French.
Pawns n pieces contains among other things reviews of chess software.
Schachprogramme by Uwe Zedtler is a site with short reviews of chess programs, download facilities and so forth. UZ has a past as programmer and is particulary interested in the opening libraries of the chess programs. Language: German.
SC Leinzell has a section with reviews about the latest chess software. Sometimes also Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, the creator of Shredder, contributes. Language: German.
Both chess literature and - software
ChessBookReviews.com with reviews of chess related books, chess software, computers and videos. ChessBookReviews.com tries actively to engage Grand masters and International masters as reviewers.
Tim Harding´s Reviews of both chess literature and software.
Marsh Towers - Sean Marsh blog contains at least 150 chess reviews.
Rochade Kuppenheim - it is mostly ChessBase-CD:s, which are reviewed by the club members, players with titles as well as hobby players. Language: German.
Seagaard ChessReviews - the main purpose of Seagaard ChessReviews is to review chess books, chess software and chess videos. Publishers, authors and chess stores are also listed. Besides you can subscribe to a newsletter. The site is managed by Søren Søgaard, who is assisted by six other Danish reviewers. Well-done and well-frequented site with a lot of well-written reviews. Language: English.
Up!
Main entrance!
About Chess has a well-attended discussion forum, to which no less than 28550 contributions (on 26 September 2003) have been sent since 2001, but many contributions are naturally just simple questions.
Artful Dodger´s Chess Chat is a free e-mail list about chess.
Behind ChessLib - Arild Fredriksen has created a discussion group in conjunction with his game collection, ChessLib. Language: English.
Chess2U is a discussion group about computer chess. Lots of tips about new chess engines and rating lists.
ChessBanter.com
is a web gateway to ”the finest chess newsgroups”.
This is a web interface to the popular rec.games.chess series of newsgroups.
But those discussion groups are not moderated and the opinion ”finest” is
hence exaggerated. But anyway, the web interface certainly makes the reading
more pleasant.
Chess Chat Forum - very well-frequented Australian chess forum. On December 17 in 2005 1040 members had posted 76995 messages in 3000 threads.
Chess Chit Chat is a discussion group, associated with Planet Chess.
Chess Circle - discussion group, possibly Canadian, with 5391 registered users, who up to now have written 28760 articles. The oldest users registered already in 1987…
ChessLeaders.com - 946 members had posted 4900 contributions in 649 threads on the 14th of November 2010.
Chess Obsession Forum with a blog, discussion forum and a chat room.
Chessopolis also has a Chess Forum, which is not so often frequented.
Chessportal.de - German discussion group. 101 members had made 6954 contributions on July 8 2004.
Chess Problem Discussion Board - discussion group about chess problems. 92 users had posted 491 articles on August 21 2004.
ChessPublishing.com has a discussion group about chess opening theory.
Chess Reviews mailing list is run by Bob Pawlak, who writes initiated reviews of chess software.
ChessTalk.com is a Canadian discussion group.
Chessville has a discussion forum with a certain youthful character.
Computer Chess is a site, from which you search for different discussion groups about chess computers and programs.
Computerschach-Forum is associated to Gambit-Soft. Languages: German and English.
Die Schachkiste - a German discussion group about chess and chess software with more than 100 members.
DtoC - "Bringing chess players together" - is a chess related community, where people can meet, chat, play, have fun and share some chess moment together.
Echecs-Analyses - a discussion group, with about forty members, for chess analyses. Language: French.
English Chess Forum - a home for discussions on the English chess scene.
Foro del ajedrez vasco - a meeting place for Basque chess players. Language: Spanish.
France Echecs - discussion forum in French.
ICCF Forum - discussion group associated with International Correspondence Chess Federation. On the 10th of June in 2007 the discussion group had 192 registered users, who had made 817 posts in 233 threads.
Instant Chess - French discussion group with 30 members, who have posted 1281 messages (March 18th 2006).
La Dama Negra - the discussion forum of the black queen with quite many contributions. Language: Spanish.
La Place Publique de Notzaï - a discussion group associated with Notzaï. Language: French.
L´Échiquier Braille is a meeting-place for visually handicapped chess players. Language: French.
Los Jugadores opinan tries to create a forum for an uncensored discussion among Spanish chess players, eventually with the goal to transform it into a more closely connected group.
Rook House - the name of this discussion group is taken from a statement by Bobby Fischer, in which he declares his wish to build a house in the shape of a rook.
Rybka Chess Community Forum is a very well-frequented discussion group. The discussion subject-matter is certainly not confined to Rybka.
Schaaklog.nl is a forum for Dutch chess players. It has two purposes, partly to supply interesting articles to the readers, and partly to function as an opportunity for the members to publish themselves. Language: Dutch.
Schachburg - a new German discussion group, which, at the time of writing, has 123 members.
Schachcomputer.info is a German-speaking forum about computer chess. The forum had 383 members, which together had made 13743 contributions in 1851 threads on the 26th of June 2008.
Schachforen.de - discussion group about chess in German.
Schachforum64 - in this forum the beginner as well as the master can get and exchange information with like-minded persons. Here you can find analyses and commentary of games and also read reports about blitz chess, correspondence chess, computer chess and problem chess. Language: German.
Schachfeld.de - German discussion group, which had 504 members on February 18 in 2006, and who had made 4429 contributions in 684 threads.
Schach Forum - German discussion group with 42 registered users, who have made 4615 contributions so far.
Schachwerkstatt - well-managed German discussion group, chiefly about computer chess.
SCID-Forum - a discussion group about SCID, a popular free game database.
SimpleChess is a new free web based forum for all chess players. You can post any messages about news, tournaments and computer - you can also include Java games and chess positions.
SpaceChess.de - a new German discussion group with 104 users, who have made 1883 contributions in 247 threads.
The Chess Discussion List - a discussion list about chess.
The Chess Exchange has 96 registered users, who totally have posted 281 contributions (on 26 September 2003). There are some well-known chess players among the members.
The Correspondence Chess Message Board is connected to Correspondencechess.com.
The Ninja Boards - this well-frequented discussion group is maintained by ChessNinja.com in collaboration with TWIC.
Usenet´s discussion groups lack moderators, which means that anybody can send contributions. It also means that it sometimes appears weird contributions, which have nothing to do with chess, or contributions attacking some individual in these groups. You have to live with it. The groups "rec.games.chess." have more participants than the"alt.chess"-groups. I take a look at rec.games.chess.computer and rec.games.chess.misc on an almost daily basis.
rec.games.chess.analysis
rec.games.chess.computer
rec.games.chess.misc
rec.games.chess.play-by-email
rec.games.chess.
politics alt.chess
alt.chess.bdg
alt.chess.ics
alt.games.chess
gnu.chess
(discussion group about Gnuchess and other freeware)
Veggavisen sjakk is a discussion group with more than 270 members, when (08.11.2008) these lines are written, associated with Nettavisen. Language: Norwegian.
www.freechess.de - lively and well-managed German discussion group with many participants.
www.quebecechecs.com - discussion group from Quebec with 138 members, who have made about 2600 contributions. Language: French.
www.schach-fans.de - German discussion group about chess, which started in February 2005.
Your move Chess & Games has a Chess Forum and a Computer Chess Club.
