Right now I am kind of at a loss of which book to read next. I am currently finishing up Dvoretsky's endgame manual and wanted to know what is the ONE book that improved your game the most? I am thinking of getting Andrew Soltis Rethinking the Chess Pieces but I wanted to hear from all of you as to what was the most important book that gave you the most improvement after reading it.

the book that helped me most as a beginner was lev alburts secrets of the russian chess masters volume 2

"How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" by Murray Chandler.

--Fromper

The instructions to my $3 chess board from Wal-Mart help me the most. With out that I would of never figured out how to move or set up the pieces. That book alone gain me a full 825 rating points.... I mean I went from unrated to 825 in one tourament. I drew one game and lost 3....didn't go to another tournament in 10 years....True story.

wow!

"Think Like A Grandmaster" by Kotov [edit:oops I suggested that before seeing your rating. That book will work best for someone in range of a B class player through expert]

Try "Road To Chess Mastery" by Euwe if you don't mind descriptive notation.

Otherwise "Logical Chess Move by Move" by Chernev

"Winning Chess Brilliancies" by Seirawan for a more recent book.

With a 3 digit rating? I'd go with any book of easy (1-3 move) chess puzzles, but not those that are only "mate in 2" type of things. You want middle game puzzles based on spotting forks, pins, skewers, removal of the guard, etc. Just go through that book over and over until you can spot all the solutions instantly. That should get your rating up to the 4 digit range.

--Fromper

Study tactics and if you must complete games.

For rudimentary tactics, try Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess.

Those books by Shamkovich are very good.

A bunch of Chess Life magazines are NYTimes Chess columns or that stuff from Chess Cafe can be just fine.

I'm new to the forum, but not new to chess and could not pass up supporting this recommendation. I own several books by Chernev and Seirawan and they are never far from my reach.