What are the most interesting chess books in your library?

Okay, this is probably a topic best left to those of us who grew up before the "information age," and actually read books and subscribed to magazines, but just the same ...

Most interesting chess book?

Most useful chess book(s)?

Most valuable chess book?

Et cetera, et cetera, et ectera

Soviet Middlegame Technique, Turning Advantage into Victory in Chess, How to Defend in Chess, Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, and Alekhine's Best Games of Chess 1908-1937. 

The most interesting and valuable chess books are the ones I decided not to read

Soviet Middlegame Technique

The Middle Game in Chess

100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player Improved and Expanded                                

Chess Endgame Training

I once read a great book about Deep Blue... Idk what it was called. I probably read it when I was 12.

The Amateur's Mind by Silman

Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis

Attack with Mikhail Tal (Probably the least applicable, but still a good book and fun to read)

amateur's mind is good. I own that one. The binding came apart the freaking first day though because I left it in the car. #texasproblems

I think the most interesting chess book I ever purchased was Skákbók ab Fischer gegn Spassky, Freysteinn Jóhannsson, Friðrik Ólafsson, 1973.

I purchased it in Rekjavik in the summer of 1976.  It is in Icelandic, so I can hardly read a single word!

Probably the ones I check out from the library, because I have to return them within 30 days!  Right now I'm reading "The Art and Science of Chess" by Robert Robinson and Raymond Edwards.

Most useful chess book I'd say Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman. It's given me insight into the endgame which I never had before, although I'm still very much a novice.

I also really like Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking by Neil McDonald. He goes through instructive GM games move by move, and at my rating (around 1350) I find it very approachable.

I also find Susan Polgar's Chess Tactics for Champions very useful.

The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.  Other inspiring writings are in The World Chess Championship by Gligoric about the champions.  Example: "Others in his situation thought of the clock.  He thought of the board.  Victory ensured."

I just bought three interesting books and am starting to go through them.

First is "Chess Fundamentals"(the algebraic version) by Jose Capablanca

Second is "Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953" by David Bronstein

And the third is "Simple Chess" New Algebraic Edition by Michael Stean

A lot of people rave about the first two, so I'll just say that "Simple Chess" isn't all that simple. But it is a very interesting read. At least so far. It isn't a very large book. 160 pages. Not much bigger than "Chess Fundamentals" by Capablanca(121 pages). But so far it's making more sense to me that a lot of books I've purchased. We'll see if that continues to hold true once I get through it. So far I've liked what I've read. So many books so little time.... :)

One final book I've enjoyed a lot the past couple months is "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by David Bronstein. Loved going through his games and really enjoyed reading about some of his experiences.

Was that Reuben Fine's book?

Game collections of the great masters are always fun and instructive.  Good choice.

You list two of the finest (imho) chess books ever written.  Zurich 1953 may be the best tournamnet book ever, and Capablanca's book is "from God's mouth to your ears."

I have three other Capablanca volumes in my personal library:

Capablanca's Best Endings, by Irving Chernev, Oxford University Press, 1978.

The Unknown Capablanca, by David Hooper and Dale Brandreth, RHM Press, 1975 (first edition was in Russian)

The Chess Legacy of Jose Raoul Capablanca: Last lectures, by J R Capablanca and Olga Capablanca Clark, 1966

That last one I picked up for $1.25 in about 1974.  Paperback, 128 pages.  A rarity today.

Most interesting book:

 Persona Non Grata by Viktor Korchnoi (his take on the epic 1978 World Championship Match).

Most useful book:

1st Prize: Simple Chess by Michael Stean

2nd Prize: Judgment and Planning in Chess by Max Euwe

3rd Prize: A Guide to Chess Endings by Max Euwe and David Hooper

HM: Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Shereshevsky

Most valuable book:

I paid a fair sum of money to acquire Mastering the Endgame vols 1 and 2 by Shereshevsky and Slutsky, likewise for The Test of Time by Kasparov; among newer books Attacking Technique by Crouch was hard to get (had to order it from Australia), as was Turning Advantage into Victory in Chess by Soltis (had to order it from Canada). I also have a huge endgame encyclopedia, 700+ pages, in Russian, that I had to order from Russia. There are also some tactics pamphlets I give my advanced students, published in Ukraine, written in Russian, that I had to order from Poland.

The middle game in chess im referring to is by Zonosko-Borovsky

Persona Non Grata sounds fascinating.  I have Raymond Keene's The World Chess Championship: Korchnoi vs. Karpov - The Inside Story of the Match.  Keene was Korchnoi's second during the 1977-1978 cycle.

In 1974, Korchnoi had been annoyed by the favoritism shown by the Soviet Chess Federation to their up and coming wunderkind, Anatoly Karpov.  As Keene wrote, "Korchnoi found it almost impossible to find grandmaterly assistance and was constantly subjected to threats and harassment."  And this was before he defecteds to the West!

After Korchnoi requested political asylum from the Durtch, in 1976, the Soviets demanded that Korchnoi (who, as the runner-up in the previous cycle, was entitled to an automatic berth in the next Candidates Cycle) be expelled from competition!!  FIDE President and former World Champion Max Euwe denied the Soviet demands and Korchnoi began his path back toward the title during 1977-1978.

He was paired with former World Champion Tigran Petrosian in the first round match, and defeated him 6 1/2 to 5 1/2 (best of 12).  This was a grudge match in which Petrosian did not shake Korchnoi's hand, look at Korchnoi, or speak to Korchnoi.  Draws were offered through the match arbiter.

In the semi-finals Korchnoi was paired against two-time USSR Champion Lev Polugaevsky, and defeated him 8 1/2 to 4 1/2 (best of 16).  Korchnoi had defeated Polugaevsky in the previous cycle as well.  It tooks days of negotiation, but the Soviet authorities allowed Polugaevsky to shake Korchnoi's hand prior to each game, though Korchnoi was not allowed to play under any national flag!  Keene counter-offered that Korchnoi be allowed to play under the "Skull & Crossbones" flag!  Ha!

In the final match, Korchnoi was paired against his old nemisis, Boris Spassky.  It must have been a nightmare for the Soviet chess heirarchy.  Korchnoi was viewed as an outright traitor, and Spassky, who had lost the crown in 1972 to Fischer, had left the USSR for France in 1976.  Both Korchnoi and Spassky represented real threats to the World Championship that Karpov had not won over the board.

David Bronstein got a lot of heat from the Soviets and wasn't allowed to travel to tournaments outside the USSR after refusing to sign a paper condemning Korchnoi for defecting.

Before databases, there was chess informant!

A fine publication out of then-Yugoslavia.  GM Alexander Mantanovich was the primary editor.  As I recall, they pioneered (or at least popularized) the use of piece symbols in the notation.

Most interesting chess book(s)?

 The Soviet School of Chess (Kotov), One Hundred Selected Games (Botvinnik)

Most useful chess book(s)?

Your First Move (Sokolski)

Most valuable chess book?

 My 60 Memorable Games (Fischer, 1st ed.)