Someone mentioned in a thread The Road To Chess Improvement by Alaxander Yermolinsky (I think JacksonWShowalter). I am almost done with The Art of the Middle Game by Keres and Kotov and Chess fundamentals by Jose Raul Capablanca and I would like to get another middle game book (I don't really like reading a book twice in a row no matter how good it is and would like to wait at least a year). Assuming I have the title and author right should I get this one next? no tournaments where I live (Small Island in Hawaii) but I think that im about a B player. Also could you tell me a little bit about why you liked the book. Thanks in advance for all replies.

Pawn Structure Chess (Soltis)

The Middlegame (Euwe)

How to Reassess your Chess (Silman)

The latter two are pretty standard recommendations. Soltis's book is a little under the radar but it is very good. Having a very good handle on typical pawn structures (by opening scheme) and how they are handled will put you ahead of most of your competition.

Thank you for the reply. I have heard that the Soltis book is very good. I kind of have my mind set on the Road to Chess Improvement though (you know how that goes). All of my books are classics more or less. That is why I would like to try something more modern. There are about ten or so books that are rutinely reccommended on these forums. Why does no one recommend chess fundamentals (which I am just starting and is very good), or any thing by Dvoretsky? There is more to chess than Chernev. New ideas (and new books!) are always good. After all, that is what chess is all about.

The Middle Game by Euwe is pretty old and was one of the best books available in it’s day but honestly I don’t think I’d recommend it these days because there are better books on the market. The old classics taught by giving a brief explanation then a lot of examples. Newer authors have gotten better at verbalizing and actually explaining things! Silman’s book is good. I’ve never seen Soltis’ so can’t say anything about it.

Yermo’s book is actually a collection of lectures (along with a 2500+ rated master named Boris Men) he gave at his old Yermo Chess Academy when they both lived in Cleveland OH. I think to benefit from Yermo’s book would require a pretty solid knowledge of chess basics because a lot of what he recommends requires the student to do a lot of independent research. What he does is tell you how to do it…the way a GM studies chess. I’m going to say maybe it would be best for players rated 1600-1800 who are trying to reach expert or master. That’s not to say lower rated players couldn’t benefit though.

Most people probably haven't recommended Dvoretsky yet, because his work is truly aimed at people of master strength and higher.

Pawn Power in Chess by Kmoch is supposed to be good as long as you don't pay attention to all the names he invents for different types of pawns.

Other books dealing with pawns include:

Winning Pawn Structures by Baburin
Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess by Marovic
Understanding Pawn Play in Chess by Marovic

An interesting little book dealing with the middlegame is Kopec's Practical Middlegame Techniques. The first part of the book talks about mating patterns, then it goes on to discuss things such as pawn levers, minority attacks, exchange sacrifices, and more.

Perhaps Vukovic's Art of the Attack and Soltis' Art of Defense in Chess would be worthwhile. I believe Mihail Marin also has books out on attack and defense.

I have Baburin's book, it is very good. I have Dvoretsky and Yusupov's Attack and Defense, and I don't aggree that it is aimed at master strenth playes. I have read more difficult books. Tournament Players who are really want to improve can get something from any instructional book IMO. If some things were over my head then some were under my head too. I think many different class players can benefit from instructional books such as this. Thanks for the other reccomendations.