Five Chess Books you must have on your shelf!

"Just because a book contains lots of information that you don't know, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will be extremely helpful in making you better at this point in your chess development." - Dan Heisman (2001)

As much as possible, I suugest looking at an online sample before buying a book. For example, the last time I checked, there was a sample of My System available at the Quality Chess site.

AnujanGM wrote:

"I am Intermediate player with the rating of 1352.Can anyone help me by mentioning the name of the best and deep analysed books on 1.French defence 2.English opening 3.Sicilian defence 4.Queen's gambit"

You might want to ask yoursef if "the best and deep analysed books" would be the most helpful to you at this point.

"... If you find an opening here that appeals to you and you wish to find out more about it, the next step would be to obtain an introductory text devoted entirely to that subject. ..." - GM John Emms in his 2006 book, Discovering Chess Opening

"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)

Lots of analysis can be found in Quality Chess books. At their site, it is possible to see lots of online samples in order to get an idea about whether or not that is what you want at this time. Here is one example:

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/GMRep3-Englishvolone.pdf

"... It is important to make clear to potential buyers that [Grandmaster Repertoire 3: The English Opening, Vol. 1] is for players who are very serious about their chess; I would say those with a rating of 2200 up to around grandmaster level. Many of the lines run past move twenty ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf

This review provides some samples from some books with more of an emphasis on explanation and less of an emphasis on deep analysis:

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf

First Book of Morphy

Chess Strategy Workbook by Bardwick

The Greatest Ever Chess Tricks and Traps

The New Art of Defense in Chess, Soltis

The Black Lion, Predator's Choice Against both e4 and d4

   Sentimental fav - Bobby Fischer's 60 Memorable Games

mine:1.FCO

2.chess openings for black

3.my system

4.understanding chess middlgames

5.chess-for the gifted busy

My chess coach IM Valeri Lilov has only studied 3 chess books.

According to him, its not how much you study.

It is how much you can apply [what you learn] in your games.

FCO is for unrated-1500 MCO is for 1501-GM

I don't agree. I have 60 books

60 books and 1500 rapid/standard rating.

3 books and IM

Have you been able to apply all you have learned regularly in games?

"... [Fundamental Chess Openings] is not particularly suited for players who are just starting out. I would imagine players rated at least 1400-1500 would get the most benefit from this volume. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf

"... I cannot think of a single grandmaster who in his right mind would use [Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition] to learn the details of a particular opening.

MCO-15 pretends to be everything for everybody, but it isn’t; it pretends to be up-to-date and relevant in all chapters, but it isn’t; ..." - FM Carsten Hansen, about eight years ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626165820/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen110.pdf

the New art of defence in chess (Andy Soltis) My System (Nimzo) My 60 memorable games (Bobby Fischer) Chess Praxis (Nimzo) Dvoretsky's Endgame study

the New art of defence in chess (Andy Soltis) My System (Nimzo) My 60 memorable games (Bobby Fischer) Chess Praxis (Nimzo) Dvoretsky's Endgame study

"... I have bought thousands over my life." - IM Cyrus Lakdawala

"I had around 6,000 chess books. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman

" ... I have around 1500, with about half bound periodicals like British Chess Magazine, Chess Review, Chess Life and the American Chess Bulletin. I would have more, but the library of the Mechanics’ Institute of San Francisco where I work, has close to 3000 chess books which fills in a lot of gaps for me." - IM John Donaldson

"I honestly haven’t counted. I’m not a collector, but have accumulated books for many years. A wild guess, trying to incorporate the scores of box loads in my garage without counting, would be 3000, ..." IM John Watson

https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-books-and-youth-vs-old-age

I always say: If I knew half of what is in the books on my shelf, I'd be a GM.

Simple Chess by Stean is such a wonderful little book.

1. Dvorestsky's Endgame Manual

2. Either Understanding Chess Openings by Collins or Fundamental Chess Openings by Van der Sterren

3. Chess Tactics from Scratch by Weteschnik

4. Inner Game of Chess by Soltis

5. Chess Strategy for Club Players by Grooten

I'd love to fit in Pawn Power in Chess by Kmoch or Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis.

logical chess move by move and heisman guide to chess improvement

"Pawn Power In Chess" by Hans Kmoch (Dover)

"The Power of Pawns" by Jorg Hickl (New In Chess)

"Simple Chess" by Michael Stean (Dover)

"The Soviet Chess Primer" by Ilya Maizelis (Quality Chess)

"Fundamental Chess Endings" by Karsten Muller & Frank Lamprecht (Gambit)

Because of its fantastic games collection I would like to sneak in...

"The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games" by Graham Burgess, John Nunn & John Emms (Running Press) (The book seems to be out of print.  As a result, copies are now expensive - considering the book's cheap (!) production qualities - on Amazon).

While I am sneaking I may as well include my sine qua non openings reference (in spite of it being a 4-volume set, since I am cheating, I will count this as one book)...

"Mastering the Chess Openings" by John Watson

Just one:   First Book of Morphy.   I read this and in one month my rating jump 200 points.  He such the genieus !!  

also you must have time for reading. 

My 5 recommended books beginners :

1. Capablanca: Chess fundamental

2. Nimzo: My System 

Once finish reading from start to finish

3. Think like Grandmaster

4. Play like Grandmaster

If you preparing for tournament daily solve tactical problems, play fritz on the time control of tournament, analyze your game. Then 

5. read any chess opening for white and black

The only books I legit read until 2000ish USCF were:

- Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess, Patrick Wolff

- Winning Chess Openings, Yasser Seirawan

- Winning Chess Tactics, Yasser Seirawan

- Winning Chess Strategy, Yasser Seirawan

- Attacking with 1. e4, John Emms

You don't need to learn very advanced stuff to get very good. Granted, like many things in chess, getting good on basics is harder than it sounds.

I'm not convinced endings should be emphasized so much. My endings aren't very good, but most of the ones I get can be calculated out or are more or less decided before they start.