Books are surely the best tools to improve in chess, exspecially as a beginner. There is no way to reach 2000 or even 1800 without studying books. What you need is big motivation for studying and some nice and instructive books. For a beginner I can really recommend the books "Bobby Fischer teaches chess"( Brilliant book!!!!) and Max Euwe's popular "Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur". Both are mainly made for beginners or lower rated players to avoid blunders, get a better chess understanding and strengthen your tactics. Both books I have read myself and they are really very instructive and helpfull. You should also Do some tactics and learn the opening basics. Thats all you need now at your level to improve. Study those 2 books very hardly and try to understand everything that is explained there. Always motivate yourself because as faster and better you read the books as faster you will improve. Life is an echo. What you send out- you get back. What you give- you get.
It might also be helpfull for you to join my free coaching group "Improve Your Chess"(IYC) where you get tips by me and have the possibilty to get your games anaylsed by me and play some live games with me. Good luck, Till :)
How would you rank the best resources for improving one's game, and why? I have read a bit about about chess.com, chesstempo.com, ideachess.com, other sites, books, software, DVD's, etc. I am considering all of these, and more.
Please disregard price. For a website, please assume that one is willing to pay for the highest level of membership of a given website, or spend whatever to purchase a course.
I have been experimenting a bit with the free version of chess.com, and may pay for a membership there or somewhere else. They let you try out ten "Chess Mentor" lessons for free. However, I notice that they often suggest alternate lines of play in text format. I don't see a way to play through these various lines of play online (maybe one can do so with a paid membership?) and then go back to where they line of play bifurcated. It seems one must attempt to go through the alternate lines of play mentally (I'm not exactly George Koltanowski), or use a real chess board with real pieces and continuously play the variations out and set the board up all over again. Painstaking process. I'm not sure if the other sites are like this. Perhaps there is an online site that can be used in another window and enables one to set up and make moves, then hit the back button several times to return to the possible point of deviation conveyed by something like "Chess Mentor" on chess.com
It should be borne in mind that the answer to my initial question may depend one's rating. Right now I am relatively weak. Perhaps a 1200-1300. This rating will surely improve though, and perhaps at some point it is advisable to use a different resource(s)? Which specific resources should be used at which levels, in your opinion? I realize this is highly subjective.