user7507: I have read a number of chess books by now, which either contained a number of analyzed games, or some tactics. But I am a little underwhelmed with completeness. What I am hoping exists is a really complete book that contains a bit of everything. I am reading silmans A-Z, which gets kind of close. But coming from academia I'm thinking of something more similar to a 2000pg textbook format, which after reading will have provided a relatively complete understanding many chess concepts.

user8517: I found The Mammoth Book of Chess to be a good all round book, if you're going to only buy one, it pretty much covers everything. It has a Tactics section with easy/hard/medium, endgames tactics section, openings overviews with example games separated into open/semiopen/closed openings, mid game and end game strategies sections, and I think a history section and a computing section. You can get a second hand one quite easily.

user291: The Steps Method is a graduated series of books that attempts to provide all material necessary to take a player from complete beginner to expert. I have not used it but it has a strong reputation.
To proceed past that, the best thing I can think of is Yusupov's 9-book course (Build Up Your Chess et al), which is around 2700 pages in total and attempts to take a player from about 1500 FIDE to master. I am a bit more than halfway through and give it a great deal of credit for my rise from 1800 to 2000 USCF.
Of course, either (or both) of these series must be supplemented by actually playing games.

7507: <p>I have read a number of chess books by now, which either contained a number of analyzed games, or some tactics. But I am a little underwhelmed with completeness. What I am hoping exists is a really complete book that contains a bit of everything. I am reading silmans A-Z, which gets kind of close. But coming from academia I'm thinking of something more similar to a 2000pg textbook format, which after reading will have provided a relatively complete understanding many chess concepts.</p>
 8517: <p>I found <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mammoth-Book-Chess-Graham-Burgess/dp/1845299310" rel="nofollow" title="The Mammoth Book of Chess">The Mammoth Book of Chess</a> to be a good all round book, if you're going to only buy one, it pretty much covers everything. It has a Tactics section with easy/hard/medium, endgames tactics section, openings overviews with example games separated into open/semiopen/closed openings, mid game and end game strategies sections, and I think a history section and a computing section. You can get a second hand one quite easily.</p>
 291: <p>The <a href="http://www.chess-steps.com/">Steps Method</a> is a graduated series of books that attempts to provide all material necessary to take a player from complete beginner to expert. I have not used it but it has a strong reputation.</p>

<p>To proceed past that, the best thing I can think of is Yusupov's 9-book course (<a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1906552010">Build Up Your Chess</a> et al), which is around 2700 pages in total and attempts to take a player from about 1500 FIDE to master. I am a bit more than halfway through and give it a great deal of credit for my rise from 1800 to 2000 USCF.</p>

<p>Of course, either (or both) of these series must be supplemented by actually playing games.</p>
