The best opening's book for a 1300 elo player?

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The best opening's book for a 1300 elo player?

kindaspongey

For details on lots of openings, Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings is probably a lot more readable than other options from the last two decades. If I remember correctly, it was written around 1999. Here is a review:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf

Another possibility is the large section on openings (with lots of sample games) in The Mammoth Book of Chess by Graham Burgess.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093123/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review756.pdf

One might also consider Understanding the Chess Openings by IM Sam Collins,

http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Understanding_the_Chess_Openings.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627031504/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen76.pdf

Back to Basics: Openings by FM Carsten Hansen, and

http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2010/1/30/a-brief-review-of-carsten-hansens-back-to-basics-openings.html

Fundamental Chess Openings by Paul van der Sterren (2009).

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf

http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/FCO_Fundamental_Chess_Openings.pdf

For a primary focus on principals, one might want to consider Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

and/or Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014).
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

kindaspongey

"... In [Logical Chess Move by Move], Chernev annotates 33 games and comments on each move for both players. His goal is to explain what each player was thinking while making his move. In this way, the reader gets an insight into the rationale behind the moves of and the thought processes of a master player. The author splits the games into three chapters, dealing with kingside attacks (16 games), queen's pawn openings (7 games), and other concepts (10 games). Given the book's original 1957 copyright, it is not surprising that the earliest game is from 1889 and the latest was played in 1952. ... the games are absorbing and the lessons learned (at least in my case) tend to stick with the player. I first came across this book at an early stage in my chess career, and I believe that it helped form my understanding of what chess mastery is all about. ... While not a world-class player, Chernev was a prolific writer, and that combination serves the reader well in this book. The author can better relate to the reader and provide them the sort of insight that may be lost on stronger players. While this 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

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708234237/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review548.pdf

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