Judging by some of the titles mentioned this site must have a good deal of strong players. My top 10 reflect my meager understanding of chess:

1.) Logical Chess Move by Move

2.) A First Book on Morphy

3.) Winning Chess: How To See Three Moves Ahead

4.) Best Lessons of a Chess Coach

5.) Chess Master vs Chess Amateur

6.) Power Chess for Kids

7.) Silmans Complete Endgame Course

8.) The Amateur's Mind

9.) Chess Tactics for Students

10.) Improve Your Chess Tactics

 Of course this list will change with time but for now these books are just what I need....oh and they are very good too.....

Has anyone read 200 open games, by bronstein? A little birdy told me it was good!

Oh, and Polgars 5334 problems!

OK, deep breath. Remember, I'm a class D player and have been all my life, a condition I hope to remedy in my retirement. But this list reflects what I, as an aspiring D player, consider most helpful/useful at this stage.

In NO particular order:

1) Logical Chess Move by Move

2) Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course vols. I & II

3) Silman's Complete Endgame Course

4) Pandolfini's Endgame Course (more of a puzzle book with comprehensive explanations)

5) 5334 by Polgar The mate in 1, 2, and 3 problems are good, but the 600 short games at the end--arranged by tactical theme--are priceless.

6) Wolff's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess--fantastic introductory volume and a great companion to Comprehensive Chess Course

7) Bain's Chess Tactics for Students. He gives WAY too many hints as to the solutions, but I have spent the last month actually cutting out all the problems and gluing them to notecards with the solution on the back. For the under 1600 player, these are GREAT exercises--similar to playing scales for a pianist. They should be referenced daily.

8) Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics and Winning Chess Strategy. OK, that's two books under #8. So sue me.

9) Weeramantry's Best Lessons of a Chess Coach

10) Silman's The Amateur's Mind

I purposely left off How to Reassess Your Chess, the remaining books in Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Series, My System and others because--though they are admittedly fine books--they're just too advanced to the weaker aspirant. They are on my shelf, though, waiting.

My top 10, my favourite chess books:

1. Kombinationen - Kurt Richter

2. The Middlegame - Max Euwe

3. The Road to the Top and The Quest for Perfection - Paul Keres

4. My Best Games - Alexander Alekhine

5. Play like a Grandmaster - Alexander Kotov

6. Life and Games of Mikhail Tal - Mikhail Tal

7. Sorcerer's Apprentice - David Bronstein

8. Questions of modern chess theory - Isaak Lipnitsky

9. My System - Aaron Nimzowitsch

10. My Great Predecesors - Five Volumes - Gary Kasparov

Lasker's Manual of Chess

My System by Nimzowitsch

Praxis by Nimzowitsch

Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals

Fischer's 60 Memorable Games

Tarrasch's Game of Chess

Tarrasch's St. Petersburg 1914

Tartakower's 500 Greatest Chess Games, with annotations

Kasparov's My Great Predecessors

Modern Chess Openings (15th edition)

thanks for such useful informations........

Can one buy a good translation of My System these days that is also affordable? The one published by Quality Chess has had bad reviews.

Any love for Complete Chess Strategy by Pachmann (volumes 1-3, although I think they now sell an abridged version combining them into one book)?

this is the one john watson recommends.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-System-21st-Century-Edition/dp/1880673851/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353508657&sr=1-2-fkmr0

Thanks for that, Immryr - most helpful.

My revised list 

1) the yasser seriwan series winning chess 7 books great read 

2) chess fundamentals . the great capablanca 

3)Building up your chess . lev alburt 

4) chess openings for black and white 2 books ecxplained . lev aburt , roman , eugene 

5)creative chess stragedy . alfosno romero 

also a few i like the modern reti , batsfod modern openings , pirc alert , the rubbenstien attack strat for white eric shiller , tactucal chess endgames by nunn 

oh last lot the championship games with korchnoi and karpov in story and notation format fantastic read some great lessons in there to 

how do I know if I'm a beginner? I have been playing a lot since I started really playing 4-5 years ago.  

I think something with pawn developement would be most beneficial. I am a decent player but I'm sure anyone could learn something cheeky about pawn structure.  Plus I bet it wouldn't be hard to describe.  

I think I would want a few pictures.  Is Pawn Structure Chess (Soltis) a good pick?

You have a nice one in spanish..la casa del ajedrez Ed.

THE BEST BOOK EVER IS: TALS WINNING CHESS COMBINATIONS, REALLY AMAZING BOOK.

Should there be the same TOP TEN list for beginners, intermediates, advanced players and masters? I think not.

Greyt russian chesslibrary http://whychess.ru/

Jimmy Adams, Johannes Zukertort Artist of The Chessboard, Caissa Editions, 1989

Jimmy Adams ( translater), Mikhail Chigorin The Creative Chess Genius, Caissa Editions, 1987

Skinner, M Leonard and Verhoeven , G. P. Robert, Alexander Alekhine's Chess Games, 1902 - 1946 , McFarland Company, 1998

Richard Forster, Amos Burn , A Chess Biography, McFarland Company

Warren Goldman, Carl Schlechter, Life and Times of the Austrian Chess Wizard, Caisa Editions, 1994

Varia, Schach Kongress Teplitz Schonau 1922, Edition Olms, 1981

George Marco and Carl schlechter, Karlsbad 1907 International Chess Tournament, Caissa Editiion, 2007

Isaac Kashdan ( Editor), Second Piatigorsky Cup, Dover Publications, 1977

Alex Dunne, Great Chess Books of The Twentieth Century in English, Mc Farland Company, 2005

Elie Agur, Bobby Fisher: Hios Approch to Chess, Cadogan Chess

Genna Sosonko, ALL BOOKS

Yes...It's diferent, but no time, money ans patience for chess porn books of Gambit, Everyman and so on ...

Ok that is more books i never heard of and would have to research to find the right books i need at the moment.

If this was the Wild Wild West and a Chess Bank was near by well .... Cowboys do what Cowboys do. To many books mentioned in all these threads and not enough time. Only solution none it to learn speed reading. And good books on that so i can read some of these books in 1 life time.