John Nunn is quite good. The puzzle books from Fred Wilson and Bruce Albertson are nice and compact, yet sometimes wrong (nothing terribley wrong, just mistakes like "White to move" should be "Black to move", Rd6 should be Rxd6, ect.)
I've Kasparov's My Great Predessors Pt. 5 and it's pretty heavy in annotations, but it is certainly interesting.
I really like just about anything by Andrew Soltis...especially is books that are not "technical", such as "Chess to Enjoy". Also, Silman, "Assess your Chess" is quite good. Fisher's My 60 memorable games...
Yes, Soltis' column in "Chess Life" is always worth reading.
John Emms, John Nunn, Garry Kasparov, Silman, Seriwan, Fischer, Waitzkin, and Chernov are all good writers.
EDIT: Sorry, that should be Chernev.
Donner. Krabbé.
As for chess books that aim to improve your play, I like the writing style of Yermolinsky and Silman.
Edit: Nimzowitsch' Mein System was very funny in German; is the translation the same?
"Da das Entwickeln der Truppen das weitaus wichtigste Geschäft im Eröffnungsstadium darstellt, so berührt es jeden, der das weiß, komisch zu sehen, mit welchem Eifer sich der weniger geübte Spieler auf höchst unwichtige Nebengeschäfte stürzt; gemeint ist der Bauernraub. Psychologisch ist erwähnter Eifer eher erklärlich: der junge Spieler will die in ihm schlummernde Energie zur Geltung bringen (was er durch "Skalpieren" von ganz harmlosen Bauern erreicht), und der ältere Spieler - nun ja, der ältere Spieler will so gerne zeigen, wie jung er im Grunde genommen noch sei. Im Resultat verunglücken beide.
Wenn man bedenkt, dass die noch unentwickelte Partie einem zarten kindlichen Organismus vergleichbar sei, wenn man sich ferner vorhält, dass die bauernraubenden Amateure sonst durchaus logisch und billig denkende Herren seien, so muss man darüber staunen, dass sie genannten Bauerngewinn Geschmack abgewinnen können. Was würden diese Herren dazu sagen, wenn sie eines schönen Morgens einen etwa 6-jährigen Knaben im Börsenlokal auftauchen und mit ernsthafter Miene Aktien kaufen sehen würden? Sie würden hell auflachen. Denn wenn wir erwachsenenen und "vernünftigen" Leute Aktien und ähliche Papiere aufkaufen, "so wissen wir sehr wohl, was wir tun" (wir haben wohl zuviel Geld und wollen etwas davon loswerden, was uns auch gelingt), aber was soll der Knabe mit Aktien!!! Genau mit demselben Rechte frage ich: Was soll der schnöde Bauerngewinn? Der kindliche Organismus soll wachsen, das ist dessen wichtigste Beschäftigung. Niemand, weder Vater noch Mutter noch Premierminister, kann für den Knaben wachsen, niemand kann also seine Beschäftigung übernehmen, niemand seinen Platz ausfüllen. Aber Geschäfte machen - das werden wir, die Erwachsenen, auch noch können!
Und die Moral von der Geschicht': Du sollst nie bei unvollendeter Entwicklung auf Bauerngewinn spielen! Bloß mit einer Ausnahme, die wir später besprechen wollen. Zunächst aber zeigen wir die beste Art der "Ablehnung" im Gambitfalle. Wobei wir uns übrigens kurz fassen dürfen, denn wir hatten schon vorhin einige einschlägige Fälle berücksichtigt.
[...]"
No, there is nothing about "6-jährigen Knaben" in my version of 'My System'. Could have been omitted, I have the Polish-language verison.
i like bruce pandolfini. he was josh waitzkins coach
no one had mentioned Rubin Fine yet! dear god his books might not be thrilling, gripping or even fun to read but they are the backbone of a good chess understanding. good to read is SIlman in my opinion ive read "reassess your chess" till the cover fell off!
Well, since I haven't seen his name yet, Richard Palliser. He speaks "patzer" quite well, and I have several opening books by him, he is a special author.
I also like Nigel Short another author who manages to explain things well to patzers.
Maybe I am stronger than I think because everyone always told me you needed to be really strong to get khalifmans openings for white books. But, thought those books were quite clear and instructive. Any of you players who are getting farther up the rung-khalifmans books are FANTASTIC. I was hoping bologan's KID book was going to be structured like it. Unfortunately there isn't the depth in move order issues(although I am sure that is largely due to the fact it is only one book and not part of a larger series)
I also echo the watson, nunn, aagard and soltis recommendations(in no particular order)
Irving Chernev- he makes it so easy to understand.Nobody else is as good as him!!!
Looks like most are in agreement with Nunn,Watson, Aagard and Soltis all of which I think are great authors, mostly for Intermediate and above levels. I like SIlman's works as well. Neil McDonald has written several good works as well. These are very readable and instructive. Also I have to add Heidenfeld and Purdy to this list as I think they are among the best instructive writers ever.
If you want a fun book that most people do not know about check out Pete Tamburro's "Learn Chess from the Greats" a collection of his newspaper columns that are a joy to read.
Ooops, I left out Mikhail Tal. His "Tal-Botwinnik 1960" is a classic, and so is "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal." Very easy to read, very entertaining.
I just found this book by kotronias on "beating the caro kann". 15 years old, but THE best introduction to an opening I have ever seen
I must add Joe Gallagher to the list, not only for his excellent books on the King's Indian Defence, but also for the now-ancient but still fun to read "Winning With the King's Gambit."
There was a book by Cecil Purdy (one time Austrailian CC champ) - I can't remember the name of it, but it was very readable and like 'My System' you felt like it was shining a new light on things.
Some of his unique views ....
<1.Combinations, says Purdy, can arise at any time. [...] the possibility of executing a (sacrificial) series of forcing moves is not dependent on the assessment of positional factors.>
<2. Forming a plan is desirable but not absolutely necessary. [...] Purdy puts tactics and avoidance of mistakes before planning>
<3. The well-known device of “double attack” is explained by Purdy in an original way.> In chess you can only make one move at a time so the chessplayer should be <“trying to force his enemy into the often impossible task of doing two things at once.”>
Capablanca deserves a mention for his Chess Fundamentals classic. A great book for beginners, crystal clear explanations (much like most of Capablanca's games). Not too much deep analysis, but nevertheless a joy to read.
A great chessplayer is not necessarily a great chess book writer. All of my Anatoly Karpov books are a pain to read, and it is not the translator's fault; Anatoly is simply too cryptic and sparse in his annotations and explanations.
My all-time favorite is Max Euwe. A world champion and a great writer to boot. Perfect balance of verbal explanations and concrete line analysis. "Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur" is an example of, in my opinion, the "ideal" style.
Other fine writers would include John Nunn, John Watson, Richard Reti, and Garry Kasparov, although I suspect Garry's books are really collaborative efforts.
I cannot recommend Reinfeld, Dvoretsky. Reinfeld is often outright wrong in his analysis, while Dvoretsky's style is too contrived for my taste.
Who are your favorite authors?