Chess Opening Reference Books - Chess Forums - Page 2

TheAdultProdigy

Sep 6, 2015

0

#21

ylblai2 wrote:

hicetnunc wrote:

"In general the information you'll find in specialized opening texts will be much deeper and supplemented with more explanations than anything you'll find in a reference book such as NCO and ..."

http://www.theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/nco-a-preliminary-look

http://www.theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/more-nco-gambits-and-repertoires

Thanks for posting the book reviews.

Diakonia

Sep 6, 2015

0

#22

Milliern wrote:

I really don't know much at all about openings, and I know even less about opening reference books. However, I'm beginning preliminary study of openings, and I want to know what the values of various reference books is. For example, how helpful is the MCO, FCO, NCO, and any others you can think of. I believe that the MCO is the volume that is continually updated (inferior lines removed, new evaluations supplies, etc.), and contains mostly the just-business chess lines that are playable. Compared to the comprehensive ECO, I have been told it is more sensible to navigate the MCO, and that I should start there.

Any thoughts on which reference works are best to supplement whichever primary opening books I am studying? For context, I've done the "Starting Out" series for the Caro-Kann, the Ruy Lopez, the Dutch, and the Sicilian, and I am starting to go through "Mayhem in the Morra."

If you want to develop a firm understanding of the openings you play, get a good book on Pawn Structures.

kindaspongey

Sep 6, 2015

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#23

[COMMENT DELETED]

kindaspongey

Sep 6, 2015

0

#24

Diakonia wrote:

"If you want to develop a firm understanding of the openings you play, get a good book on Pawn Structures."

Perhaps one could get an introduction to this subject from Simple Chess by Michael Stean.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf

VLaurenT

Sep 6, 2015

0

#25

ylblai2 wrote:

Diakonia wrote:

"If you want to develop a firm understanding of the openings you play, get a good book on Pawn Structures."

Perhaps one could get an introduction to this subbject from Simple Chess by Michael Stean.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf

Simple chess is not really a book on pawn structures. It explains a couple of positional concepts through examples.

kindaspongey

Sep 6, 2015

0

#26

hicetnunc wrote:

"Simple chess is not really a book on pawn structures. It explains a couple of positional concepts through examples."

Might it not be of some help as a start on this sort of thing?

"The job of the chessplayer must therefore be to use his skill to create a pawn set-up which will allow his own pieces the optimum freedom and stability, while denying his opponent's similar scope. This is the problem of STRUCTURE, which will be dealt with in some depth." - Michael Stean in Simple Chess

Blackbirdx61

Sep 7, 2015

0

#27

Milliern wrote:

Nope. I like Nunn, too, so I may get it. The problem with the kind of feedback I sometimes see from the forums is that it often justifies making all of the purchases I already wanted to make. Hmmmm...

But if you have Chess do you really need food. : )

SmyslovFan

Sep 7, 2015

0

#28

If you're looking for a single-volume book that covers all the main lines well, then NCO is miles ahead of all its competitors. FCO is good, but is a bit more superficial. It does have nice explanations of the general themes of each major opening though. Despite its many editions, MCO is still mediocre at best.

But the problem is that no single volume opening book will really help a correspondence player, beyond being able to see where to lay the traps for weaker correspondence players.

Some of my favorite opening reference books include Khalifman's two series, Opening for White According to Kramnik, and Opening for White According to Anand. They are both several volumes long (5 and 14, respectively). They are approximations of what Kramnik and Anand play, and are written by a FIDE world champion. Ok, that's not as impressive as it sounds. More importantly, he's a world-class opening specialist who really can explain the ideas of the top players.

His books analyse main lines and provide tremendous depth and originality while fleshing out the bare bones lines found in ECO. Before Quality Chess started publishing the Grandmaster Repertoire series, there was nothing that came close to Khalifman's monumental works!

Now, if you want a full repertoire, you pretty much must buy some of the Grandmaster Repertoire books. Avrukh's first two books set the standard for the series. Some are better than others, so definitely pick and choose. But if you want to know what to do against 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 or the Budapest, Avrukh's books are the first two to go to. Negi's book on 1.e4 e5 is similarly indispensable.

But all of this presupposes that you are either an avid correspondence player or hope to become a competitive (+2000 USCF/FIDE) player. Most players don't need such detailed books.

Which leads back to the single volume opening book, and back to NCO being the best of the bunch despite being a bit dated now.

TheAdultProdigy

Sep 7, 2015

0

#29

SmyslovFan wrote:

If you're looking for a single-volume book that covers all the main lines well, then NCO is miles ahead of all its competitors. FCO is good, but is a bit more superficial. It does have nice explanations of the general themes of each major opening though. Despite its many editions, MCO is still mediocre at best.

But the problem is that no single volume opening book will really help a correspondence player, beyond being able to see where to lay the traps for weaker correspondence players.

Some of my favorite opening reference books include Khalifman's two series, Opening for White According to Kramnik, and Opening for White According to Anand. They are both several volumes long (5 and 14, respectively). They are approximations of what Kramnik and Anand play, and are written by a FIDE world champion. Ok, that's not as impressive as it sounds. More importantly, he's a world-class opening specialist who really can explain the ideas of the top players.

His books analyse main lines and provide tremendous depth and originality while fleshing out the bare bones lines found in ECO. Before Quality Chess started publishing the Grandmaster Repertoire series, there was nothing that came close to Khalifman's monumental works!

Now, if you want a full repertoire, you pretty much must buy some of the Grandmaster Repertoire books. Avrukh's first two books set the standard for the series. Some are better than others, so definitely pick and choose. But if you want to know what to do against 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 or the Budapest, Avrukh's books are the first two to go to. Negi's book on 1.e4 e5 is similarly indispensable.

But all of this presupposes that you are either an avid correspondence player or hope to become a competitive (+2000 USCF/FIDE) player. Most players don't need such detailed books.

Which leads back to the single volume opening book, and back to NCO being the best of the bunch despite being a bit dated now.

Thanks, that is definitely the goal. My USCF graph has an even steeper slope than my last bout of tournament chess, so I'm hopeful, and various projections are looking good.

Is there a similar sort of "Opening Repertoire for Black According to..."? I see one for Karpov, but is that the only one out there? Amazon searches tend to suck whenever looking for less popular or older books.

The way I like to study things is to look at things in a superficial, landscape kind of way to gauge things, and then dig very deeply into particular topics. I've begun doing this with "Chess Opening Essentials." After noting a few curiosities I have that arise about planning, features of the pawn structure, etc., I choose a "Starting Out" book, such as the Dutch (by McDonald); and now I have "The Killer Dutch" by McDonald and Marin's Fritz Trainer on the Dutch. The reference works I'm looking for would either give me more ideas beyond what I glean from this sort of study or, perhaps even more helpful, many lines with evaluations. For example, "Starting Out: Dutch" has theory for mainline moves and illustrative games, but doesn't really show variations.

kindaspongey

Sep 7, 2015

0

#30

Chess Opening Essentials by Djuric, Komarov & Pantaleoni

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627115737/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen99.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627070808/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen137.pdf

TheAdultProdigy

Sep 7, 2015

0

#31

ylblai2 wrote:

Chess Opening Essentials by Djuric, Komarov & Pantaleoni

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627115737/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen99.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627070808/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen137.pdf

Those reviews miss the mark.

SmyslovFan

Sep 7, 2015

0

#32

Agreed. I've played blitz against Stefan Djuric, in real life. Since I knew him, I took a special interest in his books. He's a fine tactical player, but Hansen was far too generous about his books.

Watson's books are fantastic, but they don't quite fit the needs mentioned in the first post.

And, btw, Watson played in my state and we've chatted a few times. He's a bit of a celebrity here. So yes, I'm probably biased in his favor anyway. But he's perhaps America's best chess author.