Ok, I have been trying to avoid the purchase of opening books until I figure exactly which openings I tend to favor. I have found the openings I think fit my style of play the best and would like to see what you, the chess.com community, think are the best books on these particular openings.As white I usually play e4. Thus I would like a book on, the White side of the Sicilian (Nigel Davies has a book on this, yes?) and when black responds with e5 I go into the Italian Game (and favor the Evan's Gambit). I play the Caro-Kann myself as black so I not too concerned with it. Also I have basic ideas against the French and Pirc so I am don't think books on all these openings are needed.
As Black I respond to e4 with the Caro-Kann and would like a good book on the black side of this game. Vs d4 I flucuate between the King's Indian Defense and the Grunfeld.
As a Caro-Kann fan, I can heartily recommend two books:
"Play the Caro-Kann", by Jovanka Houska, and "The Caro-Kann", by Peter Wells.
Given the choice of the two, I'd pick Houska's book. Please note that this is more of a repertoire book, covering the Capablanca variation 4...Bf5 (3 chapters) as the main line. You will not find 4...Nd7 or 4...Nf6 covered as you will in Wells' book.
Houska does an admirable job in selecting sample games, explaining main ideas for the reader, illuminating us with ideal positions for in major lines for both black AND white.
She does thorough job in providing mainline coverage when white averts our efforts to play the Capablanca line, including Exchange Variation using 4...Qc7 and Panov Attack with 9...Nb6, after 1.e4, c6 2.d4, d5 3.ed5, cd5 4.c4, Nf6 5.Nc3, Nc6 6.Nf3, Bg4 7.cd5,Nd5 8.Qb3, Bf3 9.gf3 (avoiding the thankless and uber-analyzed endgame after 9...e6).
For the Advanced Variation 3.e5 she dismisses 3...Bf5 and devotes entire coverage to 3...c5 over two chapters.
She provides the best coverage of the Two Knights Variation that I have seen in Caro-Kann books.
The Fantasy Variation 3.f3 gets its own chapter, as does meeting the King's Indian Defense.
The intricacies of 2.c4 (referred as "Panov's Little Brother") are well detailed in its own chapter, which seems to usually included in the Panov sections of other books.
As a bonus, we also get a segment on meeting the accursed Blackmar-Diemar Gambit in the chapter on early deviations to the Capablanca Variation.
And other offbeat attempts by white (2.Ne2. 2.b3, 2.f4, 2.Nf3) are covered in the final chapter.
Houska does not just provide a database dump with an evaluation symbol, but describes what is going on during the game.
Does that mean I am dissatisfied with the Wells book? Not at all. The second author provides alternative lines for black (5...e6 AND 5...Nc6 in the Panov line, 5...g6 or 5...Nf6 versus the Exchange Variation, both 3...Bf5 or 3...c5 against the Advanced Variation), along with the 3...Nd7 and 3...Nf6 lines for black. His game selections are also well done and annotated, but the overall coverage seems wider and not as deep for that tradeoff.
I also have the two Batsford volumes by Karpov/Podgaets on the Panov Attack and Advanced/Gambit (f3) Systems, and these provide incredible depth, but do not explain foundational ideas as well as Houska or Wells.
For your book suggestion request on KID and Gruenfeld, I cannot provide input, as I play the Slav.
I hope this helps. Feel free to respond with questions/comments.
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