Good openings book to start with?

Hi fellas, I'm currently reading tactical and strategical books, but what my understanding is still at baby cradle level with is understanding, now I'm not looking for a book that rabbles upp all the openings and all the variations, but I'm looking for one which also explains why I'm doing them. Now I'm not looking to focus at my opening repertoire for atleast another 200 or so rating, but I still wan't a book that I can check with after the games, see where I left the book, what the reason for continuing it would be etc. So that I can slowly move by move start get a grip of the openings.

Anyone got any pointers?

Obviously the starting out books are a good place to start. 

what sucks is a lot of opening books are specialized to a specific opening, but do include all the variations.

if i were you, id learn different traps in openings you can try to implement

just keep buying books... it's fun and supports the industry and the economy.

alternatively, you could get one of those comprehensive openings books (i.e. Standard Chess Openings by Eric Schiller) and then once you've picked a few to focus on... you can then get addicted to buying books.

as far as picking a few... i'd start with these which can steer the game without learning too many. 

White:

Ruy Lopez

1.e4 c5 2. c3 (Alapin Var) to keep from playing sicilian

Black:

QGD, QGA

French

photray94, traps are useless against good players. If this gentleman wishes to progress (and he's expressed that he does) then he cannot rely on traps! Traps are only useful if the position if he sees it (doen't fall for it) is favorable (or at least equal) in all variations, as expressed by GM Gserper in his 2-part " Hard Candy" articles.

Tricklev, we cannot suggest books if we have no openings as subject. As general guides, both How to Open a Chess Game By Larry Evans, Svetozar Gligoric, Vlastimil Hort, Tigran Petrosian, Lajos Portisch, Paul Keres, and Bent Larsen (DAMN!!!) and The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings by Rueben Fine are interesting reads. Fine covers quite a few openig lines as well as general principles. However, he is quite harsh towards lines that are quite playable, such as the Centre Counter Defense (1. e4 d5), a personal favorite of mine. The former, by 7(!!) World-Class GMs is a must read. It covers more advice than theory, about topics such as personal flavor in the opening (by who else but Larsen ), opening repetoires, and opening preparation. Here are the Chapters:

1. Basic Chess Strategy by Larry Evans (Beginner principles)
2. The Elements of Opening Strategy by Svetozar Gligoric (Little bit Further)
3. Theory and Practice by Vlastimil Hort (The name says it all)
4. Developing an Opening Repertoire by Lajos Portisch(" ")
5. Questions of Opening Theory by Tigran Petrosian
6. A Personal Approach to the Openings by Bent Larsen (Adding personal flavor to theory)
7. The Secret Workshop of a Grandmaster by Paul Keres (Preparation)

  Hope I helped!

Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn is a good book and pretty easy to follow.

"Chess Opening Essentials" should cover the bill. http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Opening-Essentials-Openings-Complete/dp/9056912038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242549818&sr=8-1

I haven't read it, but their goal was to write an opening book you should read before reading other opening books. It's got fewer variations but more explanation than other opening books that try to cover everything (MCO etc), and it is up to date.

It's by New In Chess, which has a very good reputation. And it got good reviews (read the Amazon ones, or Google) and an award.

They have three volumes, one for 1.e4, one for 1.d4 d5 and one for the rest. Starting with the 1.e4 one is probably fine.

(Aside: the silly Amazon computer is suggesting as its "frequently bought together" feature: this book, plus Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy, plus Silman's Complete Endgame Course. That is possibly the best advice I've ever seen from that bit of their site :-))

Reuben Fine's Ideas behind the Chess Openings was an absolute classic, although it is now outdated on specific lines. I don't think there really exists a suitable replacement (one reviewer said Djuric's books noted above), but Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings covers a fair number of the basic concepts in easy to follow form.  William Hartston's Penguin Book of Chess Openings is a short easy to read survey.

It is sometimes useful to dip into encyclopedias to check specific lines. Garry Kasparov and Raymond Keene's Batsford Chess Openings 2 (1994) or Nunn's Chess Openings (1999) are two of the more popular.  As mentioned above, Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, Lajos Portisch, Bent Larsen et al's How to Open a Chess Game offers some interesting personal perspectives on how to prepare. 

Am mentioned before--How to Open a Chess Game by  7 GM's is excellent and highly recommended as a good guide on how to approach openings and some specific ideas. I would not recommend any of the Encyclopedia's yet though they are good reference books they do not teach how to to play the openings.

Sam Collins wrote an excellent book (published by Gambit) on openings which I highly recommend

Thanks alot for all the tips so far, I'm looking them up as I write this. If it helps though, I usually start with 1 e4, and I plan to do so for awhile, untill I probably hit around 1800 before I start going in-depth about openings and I might switch into d4 or whatnot. If that helps narrow the question down some, 1. e4.

Yeah, this can kind of suck.  As stated most books offer a specific repertoire in one opening/defense.  A good primer is pretty hard to find in one volume.  I can't believe I'm going to say this, but World Champion Openings, by Eric Schiller.  Normally I wouldn't reccommend many of his books, but this one is a pretty good introductory manual and it is in one volume.

There is also Mastering the Opening, by Byron Jacobs, this is a slim book but it is a good overview about various openings.  There are several good repertoire books that focus on one color but you have to know that you are going to want to play the particular lines in the book.  Chess Openings for White, Explained and Chess Openings for Black, Explained both by Lev Alburt come to mind.  Complete repertoire for White or Black in one book.  Be aware that the Black book is in its revised second edition, and Amazon doesn't seem to sell it yet.

One more thing, don't get too hung up on opening play, just get the basics down and study tactics and review your games.

Agreed! "Chess Openings Essentials" vol I-III is probably in line with what you're looking for....

i'm sorry, but both of those books would be terrible (the Alburt/Dzindzichashvilli) It makes no sense for a book to tell you what they beleive is good for a repetoire because their very slightly similar. You must choose openings based on the kinds of games you wish to reach.

 I got Sam Collins "An Attacking Repertoir for White". I think it works on all levels. He gives lines for everything after 1. e4 that are sound but not the most played and overanalyzed lines everyone is playing.

I don't have personal experience with these books, but John Watson cites a number of primers in his Mastering the Chess Openings: Alburt, Dzindzichashvili and Perelshteyn Chess Openings for Black Explained, Sam Collins Understanding the Chess Openings, Nick de Firmian Chess Openings the Easy Way, Byron Jacobs Mastering the Opening and Gabor Kallai Basic Chess Openings.

Hi fellas, I'm currently reading tactical and strategical books, but what my understanding is still at baby cradle level with is understanding, now I'm not looking for a book that rabbles upp all the openings and all the variations, but I'm looking for one which also explains why I'm doing them. Now I'm not looking to focus at my opening repertoire for atleast another 200 or so rating, but I still wan't a book that I can check with after the games, see where I left the book, what the reason for continuing it would be etc. So that I can slowly move by move start get a grip of the openings.

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Tricklev,

I found a book many years ago that did all the things that you mention in your post for me.  The title is deceptive, but I can almost assure you that it will help you.

Pawn Power In Chess by Hans Kmoch 

Anyone got any pointers?

Nunn's book is excellent and the format is easy to follow (although the dense thicket of variations can get a bit tiring) -- BUT this is NOT an opening primer.  It's much more of a strategic/middlegame book, a la Chernev's previous classic.

Fine's classic still hasn't been topped, IMHO, when it comes to demystifying opening play for beginners.

 I was merely giving the Alburt books as examples of repertoire boods, did not mean to recommend them.

You can do A LOT with free resources on the web.  Do exactly what you were planning on doing -- go over your game, see where you "left book" and see what other options you had. 

A) Use a database (the chess.com game explorer works fine for this purpose) and follow along -- the moves with the most games are the mainlines. So you are basically out of book when you venture down a rarely played sideline or when you play a move no one has made in the daabase before.  As you follow try to remember where the critical decision paths seemed to be and what you were thinking.

B) Google your opening by name and read some articles (the wiki articles are often very good) about it. Also seach chess.com for articles about your opening (they are often excellent, and they don't show up on google, at least not on the first page)

C)Play thru your game with a strong chess engine kibitizing the moves. Note the evaluations... how does the computer evaluate the position as you leave book? How did it like you and your opponents moves in the moves that followed?

...If you've got a couple good articles to work with (and you usually do if you hunt around) this process is streamlined, super cheap -- $0.00, and can teach you a lot.