The Two-Book Chess Library

While many chess enthusiasts have dozens of chess books, most other players need only a couple of books to become proficient at the game: a manual and a collection of games to see how the manual's advice is applied.

All of the following manuals contain the rules, guides to basic tactics and endings, problems, strategic concepts, and principles for good play in the opening, middlegame, and endgame.

Reuben Fine:

Chess the Easy Way

Antonio Gude:

A Complete Chess Course

Milton Hanauer:

Chess Made Simple

Patrick Wolff:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess/Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss

All of the following game collections are suitable for beginning through intermediate players. For each author, I've recommended both a chess anthology and a chess profile.

Irving Chernev:

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces (or any of the prequels The Golden Dozen/Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games, Logical Chess Move by Move, or The Russians Play Chess: 50/56 Master Games)

Capablanca's Best Chess Endings (The entire games are annotated.)

Reuben Fine:

Chess Marches On/50 Chess Lessons From Modern Master Play/Fifty Chess Masterpieces (or either of the sequels The World's a Chessboard/Great Moments in Modern Chess, or The World's Great Chess Games)

Lessons From My Games/A Passion for Chess/Reuben Fine's Best Games

Fred Reinfeld:

Great Brilliancy-Prize Games of the Chess Masters (or the sequel Great Games by Chess Prodigies)

Morphy: Chess Masterpieces (or any of the prequels Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess, The Immortal Games of Capablanca, Colle's Chess Masterpieces, Botvinnik the Invincible, or Keres' Best Games of Chess)

Yasser Seirawan:

Winning Chess Brilliancies

Chess Duels: My Games With the World Champions

Savielly Tartakower:

500 Master Games of Chess (This is sometimes published in three volumes, but the sequel 100 Master Games of Modern Chess is always one book.)

My Best Games of Chess (This is sometimes published in two volumes. Either is fine.)