The Two-Book Chess Library
While many chess enthusiasts have dozens of chess books, most other players need only a couple of books to become proficient at the game: a manual and a collection of games to see how the manual's advice is applied.
All of the following manuals contain the rules, guides to basic tactics and endings, problems, strategic concepts, and principles for good play in the opening, middlegame, and endgame.
Reuben Fine:
Chess the Easy Way
Antonio Gude:
A Complete Chess Course
Milton Hanauer:
Chess Made Simple
Patrick Wolff:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess/Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss
All of the following game collections are suitable for beginning through intermediate players. For each author, I've recommended both an anthology and a chess profile.
Irving Chernev:
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces (or any of the prequels The Russians Play Chess: 50/56 Master Games, Logical Chess Move by Move, or The Golden Dozen/Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games)
Capablanca's Best Chess Endings (The entire games are annotated.)
Reuben Fine:
Chess Marches On/50 Chess Lessons From Modern Master Play/Fifty Chess Masterpieces (or either of the sequels The World's a Chessboard/Great Moments in Modern Chess, or The World's Great Chess Games)
Lessons From My Games/A Passion for Chess/Reuben Fine's Best Games
Fred Reinfeld:
Great Brilliancy-Prize Games of the Chess Masters (or the sequel Great Games by Chess Prodigies)
Morphy: Chess Masterpieces (or any of the prequels Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess, The Immortal Games of Capablanca, Colle's Chess Masterpieces, Keres' Best Games of Chess, or Botvinnik the Invincible.)
Yasser Seirawan:
Winning Chess Brilliancies
Chess Duels: My Games With the World Champions
Savielly Tartakower:
500 Master Games of Chess (This is sometimes published in three volumes, but the sequel 100 Master Games of Modern Chess is always one book.)
My Best Games of Chess (This is sometimes published in two volumes. Either is fine.)
