Best Chess Book

What's the most helpful chess book you've read, or the easiest to read? Thanks.

For me chernevs logical chess

Without any doubt the videos on chess.com

Definitely easy to follow also.

+1 Great book.

Thanks everybody!

Jennifer Shahade, Chess Bitch.

One book I found to be truly exceptional and influenced me greatly is:

Application Of Chess Theory

By: Yeffim Geller

But this is not a beginners book.

Without doubt, elementary lessons of chess by jose raul capablanca and fundamental chess

Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/7192.pdf
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/excerpts/OpeningsForAmateurs%20sample.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Seirawan stuff
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm

If there's one book, it must be:

"Eigenartige Schachprobleme" by Werner Keym. Basically it's the author's own selection of his lifetime best compositions, together with many other masterworks by others. Most of them combine forward and retrograde logic, and a good sense of humour runs through the whole work. Although it's in German, you don't really need to speak it, as the book is so accessible.

It will move any retrograde composer to the next level.

The easiest books to read are not among the best. 1000 Best of the Best is my choice. No verbsl explanation, no jokes, no anecdotes. 100% chess and opemings, tactics, stratrgy, endgame csn be learned..

one book that has immediately helped me (sub 1000) is "bobby fischer teaches chess"

the book (i'm only on chapter 3 btw) is totally self-contained; there is no need for a board or app or anything other than the book itself and a finger (to trace the movement of pieces)

it focuses specifically on checkmates and drills some specific tactic motifs

the style of the book (it calls it "program learning) is really beneficial as there is a puzzle and you solve it all in a compartmentalized "frames"

the biggest thing it has helped me with so far is "protecting pieces" and evaluating strength before attempting a checkmate

i dont know how this works for a more beginner/advanced beginner player but for someone just starting out it is terrific

which is exactly why it's perfect for me

Great list - I have some will some other out myself. Thanks!

I bought the first edition of Jeremy Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess for each of the active USCF tournament members of the high school chess team I created in the '90's.  The teenagers, mostly 900-1300 regular USCF rated players, really liked it and I liked the structure and easy to remember guidance like, "A Knight on the 4th rank is as good as a Bishop, on the 5th rank is better than a Bishop, on the 6th rank can be devastating."

At the end of our first full year, the County Championships Tournament Director held up the 1st Place Team Trophy and said, "The team that just won this trophy didn't exist 18 months ago."

We took home the 3rd place trophy at the State Championships - the two teams ahead of us were sprinkled with Eastern European immigrants.

Silman obviously filled in a lot of the blanks my strategy-poor coaching missed!

That first edition might not have been 200 pages.  The 4th Edition is 658 pages and the workbook that goes with it is 423 pages.  That would have been too much to bite-off for my teenagers but I recently bought them and am going to work through them after I finish a couple Dan Heisman books I am doing now: Back to Basics: Tactics and the World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book - both are excellent.

     "My System" by Aaron Nimzovitch.has it  all.

 

Love this book. Here's a review of it that @Kindaspongey can add to his list: http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2008/12/quest-for-best.html

 

My parents got me that book when I was six or seven. It helped, which is to say it's appropriate for that age. My most helpful book? The Penguin Book of Chess Positions. It contains explanations and examples of the most common tactical themes, it's concise, and pocket-size. Reviewing it before and during a tournament is a superb aid to play.