Which "Old" SuperGM's Games Should I Study First?

"... the games of Rubinstein, Capablanca, Morphy, Siegbert Tarrasch, Harry Pillsbury and Paul Keres are strongly recommended - as well as those of more recent players who have a somewhat classical style, like Fischer, Karpov, Viswanathan Anand and Michael Adams. ..." - GM Andrew Soltis (2010)

Some possibilities at various levels:

Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/7192.pdf
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/

50 Essential Chess Lessons by Steve Giddins
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708100833/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review534.pdf
Starting Out: Attacking Play by James Plaskett
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101549/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review467.pdf
Simple Chess by Michael Stean
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf
Chess Secrets: The Giants of Chess Strategy by Neil McDonald
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092313/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review620.pdf
Chess Strategy: Move by Move by Adam Hunt
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093249/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review890.pdf
Understanding Chess Middlegames by GM John Nunn
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627012322/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen154.pdf

Time to make a decision on all the great candidate books that were suggested.  

Based on my goals to make 2000 (or higher) from my advanced age (a few years short of 60), i.e., I don't have a lot of time before I'm way, way too old), and therefore I'm learning and playing for goal attainment primarily, and less for artistic pleasure, I will go with the suggestion to study Reti's "Modern Ideas in Chess" and "Masters of the Chessboard."

I want to understand and get through the Classical Schools quickly for my foundation so that I can have a chance in Hades in understanding the Modern Schools starting in the post-Fischer era.  I have read how Kasparov and Magnus and others of that class make mysterious moves.  And I as a Class C patzer have no desire to wade in waters too deep and too discouraging for my level.

Hence, Reti.  Thereafter, I'm probably going to go with Morphy, Capablanca, Alekhine.  Maybe even Tarrasch after Alekhine.  Then hopefully, that'll be a sufficient base from which to study Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, Magnus, and the 21st century school of chess and chess engines.

Much thanks everyone who provided excellent suggestions!

Reti, Masters of the Chessboard will take you through a game or two of most of the old masters, starting with Anderssen. It is a good choice.

It has three Morphy games. Here are my comments on two of the three:

http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2015/01/meek-morphy-1855.html

http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2017/02/chess-at-opera.html

Thanks Ziryab.  If I wasn't an old fart, I'd go with Beim's book on Morphy first.  But I want to get through the ideas, and the history of ideas, of chess (as played out by its SuperGMs) *quickly* yet with sufficient quality and thought to establish a solid foundation from which to attack the 1800 rating hurdle.   And once that's achieved, to then go after the 2000 rating barrier.

The development of a chess player runs parallel with that of chess itself; a study of the history of playing methods therefore has great practical value.
Max Euwe, The Development of Chess Style (1968), n.p.

I think that if a player wants to achieve much, he should live through the entire history of chess in his thoughts. I can't explain it from a purely logical standpoint, but in my opinion, you have to experience the entire history.
Vladimir Kramnik, 2004*

*The interview in Russian in available at e3e5.com. There are several English translations online. Because the English is smoother, I have employed the one posted by Spektrowski on Chess.com.

Morphy and Steinitz.....

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/some-notes-on-morphy-and-steinitz?page=1#last_comment

Lasker on Morphy.....article....

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/lasker-s-lecture-on-paul-morphy-and-life?page=1#last_comment

Thanks again to BatGirl - chess.com resident historian...

Alekhine.

I few of my favourite chess books:

Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953  by David Bronstein

Chess Master vs Chess Amateur, by Max Euwe and Walter Meiden

Reti's useless?  Really?  I'm trying to get the history of chess ideas (aka the old school, the classical school) down as quick as possible so that I'm not floundering around trying to understand what's going on with the modern "dynamic" school that's so popular nowadays.

That being said, I might just do what you suggested since I haven't bought any books on Reti or Morphy yet, lol. 

I am looking at studying the games of Duncan Suttles next. A top Canadian player in the 60/70's

Very original hypermodern player. A big project however, as this is a 3 volume set.

Chess on the Edge, by Bruce Harper and Yasser Seirawan.

Morphy

as mentioned by others who have posted... .....

Batgirl (the Mod) has blogged quite a bit on Morphy, one of the links is on #33 by Russ Bell

I have played Lawrence Day.  Very tough and original player.  From my home town: Ottawa.