Building a good chess library is essential for improving. Here’s a short list to get you started. You can copy the ISBN and then head over to bookfinder.com to find the best price.
1. C.J.S. Purdy Art of Chess Annotation Vol. I – C.J.S. Purdy [ISBN 1888710195]
2. C.J.S. Purdy Art of Chess Annotation Vol. II – C.J.S. Purdy [ISBN 0938-650831]
3. C.J.S. Purdy Art of Chess Annotation Vol. III – C.J.S. Purdy [ISBN 0938650858]
4. Guide to Good Chess – C.J.S. Purdy [ISBN 1888710047]
5. Action Chess: Purdy’s 24 Hour Opening Repertoire – C.J.S. Purdy [ISBN 0938650793]
(Afraid you’ll find yourself stranded on a desert island ala Castaway? After you discover water in coconuts, you realize that you are glad you brought along at least these five chess books. When you’re rescued, you’ll look forward to doing okay in that first tournament thanks to Mr. Purdy’s excellent and practical insights into the game.)
6. Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 – annot. David Bronstein
[ISBN 0486238008]
(If you own only one games collection, this one should be it. It’s also an excellent starting piece to a library full of games collections…)
7. Understanding Chess Tactics – Martin Weteschnik [ISBN 9197524425]
(THE BEST book available today on tactics, hands down.)
8. Questions of Modern Chess Theory – Isaac Lipnitsky [ISBN 9781906552039]
(The rediscovered masterpiece of Soviet chess literature. Bobby Fischer learned Russian to read it and here it is now from Quality Chess Publishing. Honestly, if I’d know about this book at the beginning, I’d have saved so much anguish getting some of ‘those others.’)
9. Chess Openings Lexicon – Roy DeVault [ISBN 0875682804]
(This is in the Top 10 because I find it very useful to have a simple Openings list.)
10. Point Count Chess – I.A. Horowitz/G. Mott-Smith [Out of Print – D. McKay Publ. 1960]
(Kind of a silly idea, using a counting system as in Bridge for Chess, but the strength of this book is in it’s crystal clarity in explaining positional chess. If you can find this book in good condition for under $20 then get it… it’s that good.)
11. Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur – Max Euwe/Walter Meiden [ISBN 0486279472]
(This perennial gem is in a lot of GM book lists, simply because it’s terrific in its concise explanation)
12. The Chess Instructor 2009: The New in Chess Compendium for Chess Teachers, Coaches and Parents – Jeroen Bosch [ISBN 905691247X]
(A series of articles by Chess Teachers that is actually useful… this isn’t a mere, “read once and put it on the shelf” kinda book, but one you’ll find yourself looking at periodically.)
13. USCF Official Rules of Chess 7th Edition – Ed. Tim Just [ISBN 1797716905]
(What bookshelf would be complete without the Official Rule book?)
14. Chess Words of Wisdom: The Principles, Methods, and Essential Knowledge of Chess – Mike Henebry [ISBN 9781936490325]
(This book is one of those you wish you’d found before buying a half-ton of others first. It’s an excellent overview of every aspect of Chess, pretty much. You’ll be glad you have this one.)
15. The Chess Players: A Novel of New Orleans and Paris. – Frances Parkinson Keyes [1960, Publ. by Farrar, Straus, Cudahy: New York]
(I don’t have much time to read novels, but Ms. Keyes was impeccable in her research and if you like history and are interested in an albeit fictionalized life of Paul Morphy, this is a finely written book.)
16. Chess Middlegames: 77 types in 4158 positions. – Laszlo Polgar [ISBN 3895086835]
17. 64 Things You Need To Know In Chess – John Walker [ISBN 1901983676]
18. 300 Most Important Chess Positions – Thomas Engqvist [ISBN 9781849945127]
19. Total Chess: Learn, Teach, and Play the Easy 1-2-3 Way – John Herron [ISBN 9780979836626]
(A hidden gem in the pantheon of chess books and as of 2021 being published again, so get it now for under $25! A year or so ago this book was going for $575! Used it’s going now for $73… so get it while you can here >> )
20. San Luis 2005 – Gershon & Nor [ISBN 9789197600521]
(This tournament game book is chock full of great games and excellent, readable, analysis.)
21. Cognitive Chess: Improving Visualization and Calculation Skills – Konstantin Chernyshov [ISBN 1949859444]
(Being able to see the chess board in your mind is a learnable skill which this book helps you do in a very graduated manner. This skill is paramount to increasing your ability to calculate in over-the-board (OTB) play!)