A hearty agreement with Logical Chess: Move by Move, it really opened up my understanding a couple years back when I read through a bit of it. Learned how to make plans due to that book xD.
Aagard's Positional Play book seems quite nice as well, haven't read through it yet though... his other books are also quite interesting.
I have Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. I try to study it without physically moving pieces, which helps with calculation skills. The book is inaccessible at times, for me, especially corresponding squares, but every so often the light inside my brain switches on.
A hearty agreement with Logical Chess: Move by Move, it really opened up my understanding a couple years back when I read through a bit of it. Learned how to make plans due to that book xD.
Aagard's Positional Play book seems quite nice as well, haven't read through it yet though... his other books are also quite interesting.
I might have listed Jacob Aagaard, Excelling at Positional Chess
I read all the prose and only studied a handful of the positions, but this book fundamentally altered my attitude about seemingly equal positions with imbalances. Because of it, I now refuse most draw offers.
I have Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. I try to study it without physically moving pieces, which helps with calculation skills. The book is inaccessible at times, for me, especially corresponding squares, but every so often the light inside my brain switches on.
Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht, Fundamental Chess Endings has, in my view, a simpler and more accessible discussion of corresponding squares.
Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis.
Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis.
Reading this book is how I made the transition from descriptive notation to algebraic
-I recommend two books for beginners: “50 Poison Pieces” and “Queen For A Day: The Girl’s Guide To Chess Mastery.” Both books are endorsed by chess masters!
Openings: Fundamental Chess Openings
Endgames: 100 Endgames You Must Know or Fundamental Chess Endings (depending on how indepth you want to go)
Positional Chess: Chess Structures: A Grandmasters Guide
If I could go back in time, these would be the three books I'd buy
If you had to limit to one chess book, then it should indeed be an endgame book and "Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual" - Dvoretsky as well as "Fundamental Chess Endings" - Müller & Lamprecht are good: correct, complete.
Another great book is "Zürich 1953" - Bronstein. It contains 210 games of one of the strongest tournaments of all time with several World Champions playing and annotated by the runner-up. It has everything: openings, middle games, endgames without any bias. There are crisp attacks, staunch defences, positional subtleties.
For some more books this list is inspiring. These helped Leitao to become a grandmaster.
https://rafaelleitao.com/chess-books-grandmaster/
Paul Keres, Practical Chess Endings arrived yesterday, bringing the print editions of endgame books on my shelf up to 33. Do I need all of them? Of course not. But I’d like to have 64.
Updated photo. Not pictured: Lazlo Polgar, Chess Endgames. That book is too tall for the shelf that holds the others.
Georges Renaud and Victor Kahn, The Art of the Checkmate
I learned elementary checkmates in the 1970s, but when I started reading this book in the late-1990s I quickly learned there was much I did not know. The book presents 23 basic patterns, but many of these have several variations. Whole games are presented. Sometimes the checkmate threat leads only to a winning advantage, such as gaining a decisive amount of material. This book is accessible for the beginner, but offers sufficient depth to help the strong club player.
Mark Dvoretsky, Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
Yes, I know that some titled players have claimed that this book is over their head. I've been reading mine almost twenty years and there is plenty in this book that I have not made use of. Nonetheless, it is the endgame that I turn to most often. It is thorough and well-structured. It avoids dogma. One example, Silman's Endgame Course offers the bridge building solution in the Lucena position. So does Dvoretsky. However, Dvoretsky points out that there is another method that is also effective. I have a few endgame books; Dvorestsky's is not the most accessible, but it is my most often used.
Irving Chernev, Logical Chess: Move by Move
I think I read part of this book in the late-1970s. I know that I read all of it in 2013. The analysis is sometimes wrong (Chernev did not have access to engines), and some of the author's views are misguided. Nonetheless, the games are worth your attention and having a verbal annotation for every single move is of great help to chess players seeking to improve.
There are many more books that have helped me. Which ones have helped you?