Anything written by IM Silman is a pure joy. I highly recomend his books.
3 book recommendation questions for an under 1500
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Any games collection put together by Chernev is going to have good annotations; my favorite games collections (and this is purely a matter of taste) are:
The tournament book for Zurich 1953...David Bronstein put this together to be sort of an illumination on how to play the middlegame, and his explanations of the plans for so many different positions in this tournament (won by Smyslov) are delightfully understandable.
Also, the book about the Hastings 1895 tournament was real neat, as each game in the 22 player round robin (won by Pillsbury, ahead of Steinitz, Lasker and others!!) is annotated by one of the tournaments' participants. Looking over games from historical tournaments is really cool, it gives an appreciation for how far theory has come. For example, at Hastings 1895 most of the masters considered 1..f5 to be a weak defence against the QP opening...
You wont find a lot of books that give notes on every move. However Nunn's is at least 1 other (besides Chernev) in his book "Logical Chess Move by Move"
I 2nd SonofaBishop's suggestion for the Zurich 1953 tournament book. Bronstein keep the annotations short and sweet.
"Karpov's Strategic Wins 1 1961-1985: The Making of a Champion" by Tibor Karolyi.
"My 60 Memorable Games" by Bobby Fischer.
"Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov Part 1:1973-1985" by Garry Kasparov.
These are the 3 game collection books I own, all with great annotation, not to mention great games(I think that goes without saying with Karpov/Fischer/Kasparov).
"Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking" by Neil McDonald is the book you want to get.
It's just like Chernev's "Logical Chess: Move by Move", (the thought-process behind each move explained) only McDonald's book covers more modern GM games, like Kasparov, Polgar, Kramnik, Topalov, Anand, et cetera.
*thumbs up*
My current primary improvement technique is tactics problems. I don't have any tactics books because I think I get more out of just doing problems (chesstempo, tactics trainer, etc). Considering my rating, is that an ok idea?
Any recommendations for annotated games books for someone at my level (I have Chernev, it was good).
I've seen alot of people talking about Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis. Is this appropriate for my level?
Thanks!