What is the best chest opening books you can find?
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I need to find a book to study.
"... For beginning players, [Discovering Chess Openings] will offer an opportunity to start out on the right foot and really get a feel for what is happening on the board. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Detailed opening suggestions are provided by Moret in his My-First-Chess-Opening-Repertoire books.
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9050.pdf
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/vincent-moret/
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014) combines explanation of principles with starting opening suggestions. Of necessity, his opening descriptions are less detailed (than those of Moret) because he tried to offer choices to the reader and give some indication of how a player might choose what to try.
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Some players may not like the idea of relying on the limited selection of an author. It is a pretty daunting project to try to learn a little bit about a lot of openings, but, if one wants more freedom to make choices, it would make sense to look at a book like Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
While reading such a book, don't forget that the primary purpose is to get help with making choices. Once one has chosen openings, I again think that there is wide agreement that the way to start is by playing over sample games. Some of us think that it can be useful to use books like First Steps: 1 e4 e5 and First Steps: Queen's Gambit
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf
as sources of games with explanations intended for those just starting to learn about an opening. Be sure to try to use the openings in games in between sessions of learning. Most of the time, one faces a position with no knowledge of a specific move indicated in a book. One has to accept that as part of chess, and think of opening knowledge as a sometimes helpful aid. After a game, it makes sense to try to look up the moves in a book and see if it has some indication of how one might have played better in the opening. Many opening books are part explanation and part reference material. The reference material is included in the text with the idea that one mostly skips it on a first reading, and looks at an individual item when it applies to a game that one has just played. Resist the temptation to try to turn a book into a mass memorization project. There are many important subjects that one should not neglect because of too much time on opening study.
https://www.chess.com/article/view/learning-an-opening-to-memorize-or-understand
https://www.chess.com/article/view/3-ways-to-learn-new-openings
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings
"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... If the book contains illustrative games, it is worth playing these over first ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf
"The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)
"... Review each of your games, identifying opening (and other) mistakes with the goal of not repeatedly making the same mistake. ... It is especially critical not to continually fall into opening traps – or even lines that result in difficult positions ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627062646/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman81.pdf
One of the best books to develop a good opening repertoire is ( Chess openings for white, explained ) and (Chess openings for black , explained) by GM Lev Albert,GM Roman Dzindzichashvili, GM Eugene Perelshteyn. The book teaches you how to begin as white with 1.e4 and then how to respond to any move done by black . When you play black it teaches you how to respond to any move by white . The good part of the book also is that there are board positions in every page where you don’t need to use your chess set . It also gives explanations strategical , positional and theoretical novelties, ideas and plans ........ good luck and remember to master the opening you have play thousands and thousands of battles
For my level I prefer books that just give a very clear explanation of the positional ideas and typical tactics in that specific opening : Sadler's Queens gambit declined, Cox The Berlin wall, and McDonald with Ruy Lopez move by move fit that bill. Deep concrete variations are totally irrelevant, for me at least. In general I just read Paul van der Sterren's Fundamental Chess Openings for short explanations of the ideas behind all relevant openings, very readable and actually I rarely need anything more to start with a certain opening.
Good Chess Openings Books For Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627032909/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen89.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626210017/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen132.pdf
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/good...good...good...disastrous
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627060405/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen75.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708234438/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen15.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627050257/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen115.pdf
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Berlin-Wall-The-76p3539.htm
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/TheBerlinWallInternetexcerpt.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627022042/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen153.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/FCO-Fundamental-Chess-Openings-76p3561.htm
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/FCO_Fundamental_Chess_Openings.pdf
@ NM 1e41-0,
Is that the best way to take a novice to task for seemingly making a typographical error?
This person was asking for help. I'm humbled by your kindness.
Sincerely, Slim
Aug 10, 2018
0
#10
Thanks for all this extremely helpful info. I'm going to check out these books.
Aug 10, 2018
0
#12
The best chess opening book I have ever seen is Mayhem in the Morra it is about how to play the Smith morra gambit which is an opening you can play in response to the Sicilian defence.
DeirdreSkye wrote:
... Kindasspongey tries to sell books, ...
False.
"... While [Logical Chess Move by Move] is a great book, there are some areas where it is showing its age (having first been issued nearly a half century ago). It is notable, for example, that by far the most popular opening represented is the Queen's Gambit Declined; by contrast, today's favorite Sicilian Defense is found in just one game. There is just one Queen's Indian and one Nimzo-Indian included; there are no games featuring the popular King's Indian, Grunfeld, or Benoni Defenses. The players you will encounter are Capablanca, Tarrasch, and Rubinstein rather than Karpov, Kasparov, and Kramnik. ... this is a very good book. Perhaps it isn't as timeless as it once appeared to me, but it should prove useful to any aspiring player wanting to better understand how to develop logical plans, moves, and thought processes in chess." - Randy Bauer
DeirdreSkye wrote:
kindaspongey wrote:
"... this is a very good book. Perhaps it isn't as timeless as it once appeared to me, but it should prove useful to any aspiring player wanting to better understand how to develop logical plans, moves, and thought processes in chess." - Randy Bauer
... The book certainly is not recommended for anyone that is over 1500 but it is almost ideal for a beginner.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DeirdreSkye wrote:
… As for openings they are irrelevant for a beginner ...
"... The first chapter [of 'Journey to the Chess Kingdom'] introduces the reader to the rules of the royal game and teaches one how to use the chess notation. ... Chapter five deals with opening principles, while chapter six provides an overview of the most popular chess openings. Importantly, the emphasis is on giving insights and explaining ideas and principles as opposed to advocating mindless memorization of long lines. ..." - WGM Natalia Pogonina (2014)
https://www.chess.com/blog/Natalia_Pogonina/book-review-quotjourney-to-the-chess-kingdomquot
DeirdreSkye wrote:
... the review is greatly outdated, Sicilian has become a rarity in top level, 9 out of 10 top players play 1..e5 nowadays). ...
The August 2018 issue of Chess lists the top twenty openings compiled from a list of 2415 May games where both players were rated over 2400 Elo. One can not take position on this list too seriously because it is greatly influenced by how the openings are grouped. For example, all the Retis are grouped together, while English is separated into 1...c5, 1...e5, etc. Nevertheless, for what it is worth, some of the list entries are: 181 Retis, 104 declined Queen's Gambits, 97 King's Indians, 95 Caro-Kanns, 89 Berlin Lopezes, 79 Nimzo-Indians, 70 Najdorf Sicilians, 68 Slavs, 65 1...e5 Englishes, 55 Catalans, 53 Petroffes, 47 Sicilian 2 Nf3 sidelines, 47 Sicilian 2 Nf3 d6 sidelines, 43 1...c5 Englishes, 42 1...e6 Englishes, 42 1...Nf6 Englishes, 42 Giuoco Pianos, and 42 Classical Gruenfelds.
In any event, is it of much relevance to here consider what "9 out of 10 top players play"?
