Chessbooks worth buying
When you are a beginner:
-Chess endgame training - Bernd Rosen
-The Power Chess Program - Nigel Davies
-Openings - Yasser Seirawan
-The Complete Chess Workout - Richard Palliser
-Reassess Your Chess - Jeremy Silman
-The Fine Art of Swindling - Ali Mortazavi
All this books are easy reading, and your skill goes up each day :)
FOR THOSE IN THE UNITED STATES WANTING ANY OF THESE TITLES, YOUR BEST SHOT IS :
POWELL'S BOOKS ONLINE
a. SEARCH: Chess (top of the page)
b. CLICK: Games-Chess (top)
c. CLICK: Browse By Title (bottom of page)
d. You Are There
pskogli wrote:
When you are a beginner: -Reassess Your Chess - Jeremy Silman
I don't think this one is ideal for beginners. The others are good choices, though.
To add to the list:
Logical Chess Move by Move - Irving Chernev. Essential reading for everyone, excellent for beginners.
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess - Fischer et al. Good intro to basic mating patterns and some simple tactics. Great for beginners, not good for anyone else.
Ideas Behind the Chess Openings - Reuben Fine. Should be the first book on openings anyone ever reads.
For players who have recently graduated from the beginner stage:
Chess Master vs Chess Amateur - Max Euwe. Simply great!
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played; and, The 1000 Best Short Games of Chess - both by Irving Chernev. Learn by watching the greats!
The Middlegame in Chess - Reuben Fine. The opening is over - now what do I do? Fine will show you some ideas.
Silman's Complete Endgame Course - Jeremy Silman. "Openings teach you openings; endgames teach you chess." --Stephan Gerzadowicz
The Art of Attack In Chess - Vukovic. Title is self explanatory.
Hope this helps.
Go to:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/books2
for a long thread that answers the question.
Since no one is posting here I will throw out some good titles one at a time.
My first choice is 200 Modern Chess Traps in the Fianchetto Openings, by J.B. Howson. Copyright 1971. I can't think of a better book NOT FOR BEGINNERS. White springs traps and Black springs traps. Obviously, a lot is dedicated to the Indian Defenses (to include the Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian, King's Indian, Grunfeld and Modern Benoni). There is no coverage on the Benko Gambit. Covers openings for White which are not so often played, such as the Sokolsky (or Oranutang Opening), the King's Indian Attack, The Bird and Grob's Angriff. The English and Reti openings are covered. There is a bit more about the Pirc Defense than there is about the Sicilian, since Black is basically limited to the Dragon variation. The games keep you on your toes, and sometimes on the edge of your chair.
As stated earlier the best place to find older chessbooks is at Powell's Books online.
Have you checked the variations in the book with your computer?
-with fritz or Rybka on your shoulder many old books is just bad, I don't take old grandmasters variation for granted, my computer (rybka) have refuted to much to relay on them...
OK,
Who can argue with BASIC CHESS ENDINS, by Ruben Fine?
It is 572 pages in length. He tried to create the MCO of endings, and said so himself.
"Grandmaster Fine has done a brilliant piece of work. There is no doubt that it will receive the recognition of the entire chess world."
M. Botvinnik
I have that book, it's a good one, but a bit tough to start with.
BillyIdle wrote:
OK, Who can argue with BASIC CHESS ENDINS, by Ruben Fine?
It's an excellent book. Fine work, true classic, no doubt.
The only objection is that it did contain several errors and omissions that were corrected by later authors. Fundamental Chess Endings by Muller and Lamprecht is more complete, accurate, and up-to-date.
And if we're compiling a list of the best ever chess books - how can we omit Alexander Kotov's Think Like a Grandmaster?
Best chess books ever? is that what this is. Great.
1. The life and Games of Mikhail TAl
Best book i have come across so far (for beginners/amateurs) is
Chess Fundamentals by Jose Raul Capablanca
Posted second hand by rabidcatfan:
Hi, I need some recommendations for books to read. I have been a casual chess player for over 15 years (I'm 31 now) and have recently decided to become a better player. Don't get me wrong, I don't have delusions of becoming a grandmaster or anything like that, I just want to become a better player and someone who will be a competent opponent for my son over the years. My son who just turned 8 has fallen in love with the game and it has energized me to want to elevate my game. I need a list of books that will help us both out on our pathes. I recently bought my son Fred Renfields "Complete Chess Player" and he has been reading through that and working the board scenarios out and he really seems to enjoy it but I feel that he may be finished with it soon and will want to move on to the next step. There seems to be a conflicting opinion about what books should be read and in what order they should be read. Here are the books that seem to be a common factor in everyones lists:
Modern Chess Openings 15th edition
Logical Chess
Art of Attack in Chess
Practical Chess exercises
One Thousand and One Winning Sacrifices and Combinations
Pawn Structure Chess
Fundamental Chess Endings
Laskers Manual of Chess
This is the list I've compiled so far. Unfortunately, I can't buy them all at once so if I could get some help in deciding what to start with or if there are better books out there to start with , that would be great.
Agree with:
Logical Chess Move by Move
1001 Brilliant Chess Sacrifices and Combinatons (a must own book)
Pawn Structure Chess (but not a beginner's book really}
FOR BEGINNERS I would start out with:
1001 Brilliant Chess Sacrifices and Combinations, Reinfeld
Practical Chess Endings, Chernev
Winning Chess traps, Chernev
200 Modern Chess Traps In The Fianchetto Openings, Howson
My System, Nimzovitch
I have heard from many, many sources that the best way for anyone below 2000 to improve is to practice tactics. It seems to be yielding fruit for me. So if I had to pick one book, I would pick one of those puzzle books with 1,000+ tactics exercises.
Reinfeld's books are considered classics, but they reportedly have lots of errors. I would look for a more recent book that has been checked by computer. I have The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book by John Emms. One I am interested in getting is Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy by Ray Cheng.
My System - Aaron Nimzowitch
Openings - Yasser Seirawan
How to Reassess your Chess - Jeremy Silman
Complete Endgame course - Jeremy Silman
Chess endgame training - Bernd Rosen (an alternative to Silmans book)
Art of attack - Vladimir Vukovic
Secrets of practical chess - John Nunn
Chess strategy for the tournament player - Lev Alburt
The King hunt - Cozens (Nunn)
Practical rook endings - Edmar Mednis
I think when it comes to opening books you sometimes just have to make do with what is available to you. For example if there are only few books on the opening which you intend to study then the general rule would be to study the most recent one.
Chess Openings by Seirawan is a really good book. I only got a copy of it a few days ago and working through it gives me the impression it is very useful. This book would definately do wonders for beginners too. Yasser tells a story how when he started playing chess he would play a 'Canon attack', a 'Queen Raid' and later attempt to perform Scholars mate on every one of his opponents. The story he tells is how his understanding of the openings developed over time. The book then goes into more detail so there is something in this book for everyone. (When i finish reading this book i shall confirm this)
Chess openings explained for White (and for Black) are two good books by Lev Alburt and Dzindzi although some of the lines they recommend can be the passive but solid choice rather than slightly riskier/complex/stronger lines. They equipped me with a solid opening repitoire; something many of us struggle to acquire even over many years of playing chess. A year after reading these books i can now tweak my repitoire and use different move orders etc. Im sure you could do the same if you studied these books.
Secrets of practical chess by John Nunn. I bought a copy this book not really knowing what to get from it but Nunn is always a good bet for chess books. John talks about each phase of the game and goes through the essentials. Most people will find the endgame section very useful. Endgame books tend to sound boring but Nunn covers important aspects of the Endgames here and gets straight to the point. However, the parts of the book which i found most useful happened to be on the thinking process during the game (this whole section is like an up to date version of Kotov`s 'Think like a grandmaster', so i would relegate Kotov`s classic from essential reading to 'in your spare time'). The latter stage of the book explains how to study using computers, something not to be overlooked by regular users of fritz,chessbase,shredder etc.
I think enough people will/have commented (in this or similar threads) about Silmans books and Nimzowicths books, although after studying My System, Chess Praxis seems to be a good read. I glanced through this in the book store the other day and i am confident that this is worth reading.
Art of attack is a pleasant book to work through and again, enough people would have commented about this book.
Chess strategy for the tournament player is a good read. I think most of the material in this book you will be familiar with if you have read My System and How to reasses your chess but i wouldnt over look it. This will definatley improve your middlegame play.
The king hunt probably shouldnt feature on my list but im not removing it now. :D ok, its a fun read. Lots of cool mates but if you dont like 'old' games then i would leave it on the shelf until a rainy day.
LOGICAL CHESS MOVE BY MOVE, irving chenev, very good
avoid books by eric schiller, many errors
how about some chess books that are not about chess theory, tactics, etc.? Like Chess stories and stuff.
I have reading Game of Kings right now and its pretty good. Its about a High School Chess program and the man that runs it. Some days after playing chess its fun to go read some real stories about chess. I would like to find some other books that are like this.
I just purchased yesterday 'Chess: The art of Logical thinking' by McDonald. It is a 2007 book. Easy read and makes sense for a beginner. Any of Seiriwan's 'Everyman Chess' series are great. Understanding Chess move by Move is another good book (John Nunn). He does good explanations. Good hunting. I buy most of my chess books from Amazon- great prices and good service.
I just read 'This Crazy World of Chess' by Larry Evans, Kings Gambit- Paul Hoffman, The Immortal Game-David Shenk, I thought all were good.
IrishMike 
What are, in your opinion, the best chess books? or would that be giving away your trade secrets? Name a few!