Originally posted by Anonymousnumber1A bit of advise for those who say they just play for fun: winning is fun and losing isn't! You'll learn virtually everything you'll ever need to know to be a respectable player by reading any of the following:
I don't study a thing. I just play for fun.
Chess the Easy Way -R. Fine
The Logical Approach to Chess -M. Euwe, et. al.
Chess Made Simple -M. Hanauer
The Complete Chessplayer -F. Reinfeld
Logical Chess Move by Move -I. Chernev
Chess Fundamentals -J. Capablanca
Once you know all the basics, then you can sell/give-away/burn all of your chess books
All of the above books are very instructive and fun to read.