Nominations: great but little known books

 Thanks! Looks like an opportunity for an English-language publishing house...

damn why did you told me, i should have kept it to myself and gotten the rights for the us and then led a publishing house print it for me, or silman or so. damn now my day is ruined im so stupid. 

For beginners (Adults and Kids), you'd be surprised how many people ignore the treasure trove that is Jeff Coakley's books.

Winning Chess Strategy + Winning Chess Exercises are two "must read first" books for anyone starting out with serious chess.

Adding Isaac Lipnitsky's Questions of Modern Chess Theory. The author was strong enough to defeat Smyslov, Petrosian, Geller, Taimanov etc. in the 1950s. The book was known to Bobby Fischer, who referred to Lipnitsky in My 60 Memorable Games.

Here's an excerpt:

Kotov's 4 vol series is in russian thought isn't it? There is a Batsford book by Kotov in english which is presumably selected from this. Would be nice if Moravian Press, or somebody, did a translation.

Here's something super-obscure: Cheron's four-volume Lehr- und Handbuch der Endspiele. I don't own the set, but the following passage from the March 12 issue of New in Chess caught my eye: 

Likely to stay obscure as it was never translated into English.

1000 Best Short Games of Chess

Chenev, 1955

Not in print, nice collection of things not to do in an opening

It's in PGN fomat in web.

I've heard good things about kostyev's books, but although I own a copy I cannot actually say if they are any good because I have not read them.

Kostyev?? Who ?

Alexander Kostyev. A simple google search will turn up a bunch of info about him. Here is one review that give a little bit of bio, though I own the other book he wrote.

My number one book is Masters of the Chess Board [Richard Reti, 1933] (I downloaded the PDF)

Is clearly explains the development of chess ideas over the centuries (starting with Morphy, later on Steinitz, ...) and unveils the ideas in the openings. Thanks to this book I make moves congruent to the opening's spirit. One of my successes is  that I won some King's gambit games against people rated 600 points higher than I am :) And I'm still just at the beginning :)

My favorite book is Chess Course by Praful Zaveri - a delectable book for youngsters!

While I agree Reti's book is readible, I'd question if he is all that clear. Shibut kind of rips Reti apart in his book on Morphy. 

On Reti's analysis of Morphy's game with Anderssen, Shibut writes: 

"Reti always wants it both ways: He tells us that all Anderssen's developing moves were in fact mere threats that incidentally developed; whereas Morphy developed purposefully, and if he happened to threaten as well, then all the better for that constitutes 'development with a gain of time!'"

As for my favorite little known books -- Nesis' "Tactics in the French" and "Tactics in the Sicillian" are great texts that go about teaching openings in a way I've not seen anywhere else -- from the perspective of the likely middle game tactical motiffs that flow from particular structures. They're a great way to learn the ideas of the opening without worrying about particular lines. 

This is my favorite book on the endgame. GM Keres' book requires a good deal of work but it is not beyond the reach of the majority of players. If you can snag a copy of this by all means get it. A true great that flew under the radar of most chess players. A classic from yesteryear...... 

This is a small inexpensive book of "White to move and win" puzzles with very few pieces on the board. Endgame puzzles... although they really are not at all endgame 'studies' but simply tactics as might occur in an endgame. Very many of these puzzles involve taking away squares from enemy pieces. This book changed how I look for tactical opportunities. Probably did more  practically for my rating than any other single book. But it doesn't purport to teach anything. It's just 111 doable puzzles. Hey, it's one of the few chessbooks I ever finished, cover to cover. Great book for a beginner who wants to sharpen tactics. 

buy this used and do not pay more than $3 for this book! It's full of fun, famous, games and amusing chess anecdotes and description of famous personalities all with Reinfeld and Chernev's seriously overcooked commentary and annotations. Great fun. It's in descriptive notation (which absolutely destoys a book for me now, despite my having grown up using descriptive.) It was published in 1949 so it's all about the great era of European Chess from roughly 1850 to 1950, just prior to the Soviet dominance (Fischer excepted) of the next 50 years.  Worth a look for someone who wants to get some chess history, fun games, corny unfunny chess cartoons, and has three dollars, max, to spend. 

I have to post my objections to the AA Troitzky book above. I got ahold of this when I was in my tender developmental stage of chess development & learning. I thought that winning an endgame had more to do with cooking up some complicated and brilliant lengthy combination than simply following a plan that more or less follows from the position you arived at from all the earlier stuff your game. While these compositions are impressive, their practical application is dubious.