If a book helped you improve, which one was it and why?

If a book helped you improve, which one was it and why?

I recommend Irving Chernev's book "Capablanca's best chess endings".

The first chess book I ever seriously read was Tarrasch's The Game of Chess.  It showed me how to play all the stages of the game, and it really improved my tactical eye.  In particular, the section on tempo and the opening was invaluable.  I read that book cover to cover at least three times, and it more or less took me to 1800 rating.

Eric Schiller's Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom also helped, especially typical mating patterns, but that book also filled my head with a lot of bunk, so it's not really recommended.

Graham Burgess' Mammoth Book of Chess taught me the Nd5 positional sacrifice, something I haven't seen in any other resource, at least not so clearly explained, so it gets a special mention.

Several of them that come to mind right away - by the order I read them

"Chess" by GM Vladimir Liberzon - before I started to actually know anyone who played competitively

"Startegy in Chess" and "Chess for advanced players" by two masters (one book) - I wish I remembered their name - same time as above

Psychology in Chess - by Nikolai Krogius - when I was a high 1400s player

and

My System by Nimzowitsch - when I was a 1850ish player. 

I second this.  I started studying games out of it before an upcoming OTB tournament about 20 years ago.  If the side notes were longish, I would play through them on the board, then instead of trying to remember the position before the side notes, I would play the game through from move 1.  Then I realized: this was allowing me to memorize the games all the way through.  I probably memorized a half dozen games out of the book this way, then in the first round of my tournament, drew a USCF master for the first time ever.

I have read Irving chernevs Logical chess move by move and am pretty much done Fisher teaches chess.

Fisher teaches is pretty much just beginner tactics throughout a book. Very easy to follow I would recomend it for a beginner although you could probably learn the same on chesstempo.

Chernev's teaches all the principles well, along with showing many interestin games.

How to Reassess your Chess-It teaches how to analyze imbalances and has in-depth instruction on many concepts.

"Understanding Chess Move By Move" by John Nunn.  The title says it all.  Deep, clearly explained analysis of Grandmaster games written in a style which is accessible to the improving amateur player.

Some tactics books by Reinfeld, I think... before it was all over the internet (around 2006-2007)

And then - I used CHESS BOOKS in order to learn first French (the language) and then Spanish (the language), in 2007 and in 2015 respectively...

My logic being - I already know pretty well what these guys write about in these books - so let's use that in order to gain some vocabulary and grammer in these languages I wanted to master.

Worked wonderfully well I should say - I'm today a professional translator and I'm getting plenty of work in both of those languages. 

So for those who wonder, does chess bring any benefit to life - then definitely yes!

Mammoth book of the worlds greatest chess games. The spine broke

Irving Chernev's "The 1000 Best Short Games of Chess". I haven't finished it yet (in the 950's) but it's been a fun, eye opening journey with plenty of sacrifices and beautiful combinations.

     "Logical Chess Move by Move" by Chernev and "Judgement and Planning in Chess" by former World Champion Max Euwe.  Those books helped me to understand that you could have a advantage based on for example:  superior minor piece; occupation of a strong square; pawn majority; control of a file or rank; insecure king safety and other factors.

     I improved by a class or class and a half after these two books.

     There are modern equivalents to these two books, for example "Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition" and perhaps one of the John Emms or John Nunn books.