Guide to Good Chess by C.J.S. Purdy
The Mammoth Book of Chess by Graham Burgess
Winning Chess Openings and
Winning Chess Strategies by Yasser Seirawan
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld
Unorthodox Chess Openings by Eric Schiller
I have others, including some real classics, but I haven't spent enough time with them yet. Purdy's covers general principles for opening, middlegame, and ending. Burgess' book covers a lot of ground, including history, facts, trivia. Winning Chess is all about tactics. The others cover pretty much what their titles suggest.
MY SYSTEM by ARON NIMZOWITSCH!!!
I started this book when i was rated about 1400, And there was a multitude of items that were just over my head. But as you read, and reread this book you will acquire a deeper understanding of important postional aspects.
Part 1 The elements
Chapter 1.On the center and Development
Chapter 2.On open files
Chapter 3.The seventh and eight ranks
Chapter 4.The passed Pawn
Chapter 5.On Exchanging
Chapter 6.Elements of Endgame Strategy
Chapter 7.The Pin
Chapter 8.Discovered Check
Chapter 9.The Pawn Chain
Part 2 - Positional Play
Chapter 10. Positional Play and the Center
Chapter 11. The doubled pawn and restraint
Chapter 12. The isolated d-pawn and its descendants
Chapter 13. The Two Bishops
Chapter 14. Overprotection
Chapter 15. Maneuvering Against Weaknesses
Part 3 - illustrative Games
This book is more for people serious about improving there play. I reccomend reading and re-reading this book, playing out every move this book prints. I can guarantee 100s of points added to your rating, if you develop a thorough understanding of what this book teaches.
'How to Reassess Your Chess', and 'The Amauer's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery', both by Jeremy Silman.
"Reassess Your Chess' has been referred to as "The most fundamentally important middlegame book since Nimzovich's My System". Silman shows how grandmasters break down a position and use the imbalances of that position to formulate a plan, find the moves that help put that plan into action, and then choose the best one. That sounds complicated, but the language Silman uses is very simple and even entertaining, so that even club patzers like myself won't get lost. He breaks the game down into its seven imbalances, which are material, initiative, development, pawn structure, space, superiror minor piece, and control of key file or square.
"The Amatuer's Mind" is incredibly entertaining and fun. Silman sits down with his students, who range in playing strength from 800 all the way up to expert level, and shows them a position from a game. They always get the side with the best chances, and Silman takes the inferior side. Then his students "think out loud" as they are contemplating their moves. Through these exercises Silman is able to point out the common errors made by players of all playing levels within the amatuer ranks, such as reacting to ghosts, making pointless one-move attacks because it makes them feel powerful for one move, or irrationally going for an all-out atatck on the king when the position doesn't justify it. I've seen myself in many of his examples. Jeremy Silman is like the Simon Cowell of chess, so if you can tolerate his verbal thrashing of the amatuer, you'll find this book incredibly rich with instruction, and very entertaining.
