Which chess books helped you improve the most?

Simple Chess by Michael Stean.

Play Better Chess by Leonard Barden (a little outdated in some ways but still full of good practical advice).

thanks

@biscuitfiend said in #11:
> Simple Chess by Michael Stean.
>
> Play Better Chess by Leonard Barden (a little outdated in some ways but still full of good practical advice).

I have several books by Barden and find them all "just right" for my level. He gives explanations with words and variations, gives a summary/conclusion that , while often oversimplified, is easy to remember, gives the right level of details and diagrams and makes his books a length that makes me want to work thru the whole book.

Stean's book is a classic. I think Barden's books are underappreciated.

Silman's complete endgame course. It's split by level, so it starts with the easy stuff, like two rook vs king checkmate and slowly moves on to more complex topics (Philidor position, for example)

Art of the Attack was one of the best books I ever read.
Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky revolutionized my endgame technique.
The Amateur's Mind was awesome.
Giants of Chess Strategy

@KilometersDavis beat me to it.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course is very, very useful. On all levels.

Thinking back, ''The art of checkmate'' was a super book early on. It really explained what to look for, how to identify and setup typical checkmates. Pachman's MCS taught me so much. Lasker's manual as a complete beginner set the way I think about the game [even though I doubt I learned much useful chess theory from it.] I wore out paperback copies of Keres' and Fischer's games early on. Those plus some pamphlets of Reinfeld were likely what brought me from beginner to (USCF) 2100. (....... Then grad school got tough and I had to decide to focus on one or be a dilettante at both. 40 years later here I am again....)

The "Winning Chess Series" by Yasser Seirawan.

I am still working through Endings, but the books overall have helped me improve more than any other resource I have tried so I highly recommend them for improvement.

Pandolfini gang.

I have only read a chapter of Life and Games of Mikhail Tal and Chess Move by Move from Nunn but didn't finish any of them.
But what helps me improve the most is studying the games of Capablanca and Karpov.