I need a good openings book

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2DecadePlayer

Thanks for the advice Bob  :)

TheOldReb
sparenone wrote:

Decade you just said it study your own games and playing and staying thirsty. You dont get to there leve by thinking like a student. Your pockets get lighter their pockets get heavier. Your game never overcomes theirs and the balance in the universe remains the same. Guess what everybody else is reading the same books so who is getting fooled. While the Grandmaster creates new ideas or twist of it. He remains on top while well the chess universe remains the way they like it.

Lets go ask any GM on this site what they think about buying chess books is a BIG HUSTLE and watch how nervous they get. I double dare you.


 So, why are you not a GM or an IM then ?  Undecided

2DecadePlayer

Centermass - my girlfriend is like that. She always mentions about going to the library before buying anything or even instead of buying everything. That might really be the course I have to take to save some cash.

2DecadePlayer

Center - I guess my scanner and the stacks of paper that I have might come in handy in a pinch if there is something in the books I want to save. Thanks  :)

Vek_The_Gambiteer
sparenone wrote:

Decade you just said it study your own games and playing and staying thirsty. You dont get to there leve by thinking like a student. Your pockets get lighter their pockets get heavier. Your game never overcomes theirs and the balance in the universe remains the same. Guess what everybody else is reading the same books so who is getting fooled. While the Grandmaster creates new ideas or twist of it. He remains on top while well the chess universe remains the way they like it.

Lets go ask any GM on this site what they think about buying chess books is a BIG HUSTLE and watch how nervous they get. I double dare you.


Really? Let's see how many titled players on the site got there by not ever reading any analysis done by players who are stronger than them. Let's see how many have never read My System (Or *insert favourite classic here*) . 

Yes, there are bad chess books, and yes, you do need to do more than just buy a book or two and lackadaisically read it, but to say that the entire industry of chess books is a scam is beyond absurd.

TinLogician
sparenone wrote:

This is from observing. If you read your books you notice in all of them. That is right i said it. They omit several things on purpose. Leave you wondering. I count how many times they came to that conclusion about something that was off the topic the section of the bood was about. I am not the only one. So many people buying the same book on the same subject why cause it was incomplete some little detail was missing. You know that game where you take out that little piece and then it is another players turn but it if falls you lose. Well that little piece is missing and your wonder why your getting exposed against better players then your back to the book store.

ok here is my proof. The person that taught you to play chess. I bet you beat them several times by now. Think back to how that happen. How about the people that taught you some more in the early stages of playing. I bet you can dominate them with 10 beers  downed and blind folded. Cause you started some new lines of thinking that caught them off guard. That is what produces wins.

A player makes a mistake a missed calculation or a forced error. If you learn some new line that can force them into errors you will dominate them and look a GM to them.


You should definitely take this advice...if you can make any sense out of it.  Tongue out

TheOldReb

Just look at his games , then follow his advice at your own peril/detriment.... Wink

2DecadePlayer

whatever chess books I have I feast on like a piranha. If I'm not on here I have a chess book in my hand, sometimes with a chess set next to me for further analysis. I guess it depends on the person whether they want to study from books or not. Me? I do  :)

Vek_The_Gambiteer
sparenone wrote:

This is from observing. If you read your books you notice in all of them. That is right i said it. They omit several things on purpose. Leave you wondering. I count how many times they came to that conclusion about something that was off the topic the section of the bood was about. I am not the only one. So many people buying the same book on the same subject why cause it was incomplete some little detail was missing. You know that game where you take out that little piece and then it is another players turn but it if falls you lose. Well that little piece is missing and your wonder why your getting exposed against better players then your back to the book store.

ok here is my proof. The person that taught you to play chess. I bet you beat them several times by now. Think back to how that happen. How about the people that taught you some more in the early stages of playing. I bet you can dominate them with 10 beers  downed and blind folded. Cause you started some new lines of thinking that caught them off guard. That is what produces wins.

A player makes a mistake a missed calculation or a forced error. If you learn some new line that can force them into errors you will dominate them and look a GM to them.


No, actually, not in all of them. Some omit things, sure (An opening tome like FCO can't cover *every* line of *every* opening, but it does a great job of giving you the *ideas* behind pretty much every opening), but there are many good chess books that don't aim to cripple their readership. What an absurd idea. You do know that when books publish lines that a inaccurate or wrong they get called out on it, right? Go read some of the reviews here:

 

http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews/index_universal.html

Many of the books (Especially on opening theory) have comments by the reviews about how 'Theory has marched on' essentially and that some lines aren't as good/bad anymore. Titled players aren't out to scam you. That's absurd.

As for the person who taught me, he's 2200 and can still beat me blindfolded : / So it goes.  

2DecadePlayer

Fischer studied chess books almost all the time, even more so than his schoolwork. But I think Fischer had an advantage as he was a chess natural while sometimes I feel like a deadbeat mid-level patzer. I'm going to go the book route at the local library and if I don't feel like it is not going to work out, I'll try a different method, probably just playing/analyzing 20-30 games a day

TheOldReb
sparenone wrote:

If you dont know you need to buy a book. THAT WAS THEN THIS IS NOW.   

  We have the internert now and it is 2010, i have looked at GM games and articles and have vastly improved my game. They are not telling me anything i could not figure out myself. They making the process quicker for me to get to that point. They are no different than us. They have the same basic problems when they go into a tournament more so now that we have the internet and all game are online.

Getting stronger is just a matter of time. How fast your game involves is determined by you. Here is another example. Bobby went into russia. Late one night he destroyed every russian player that night. I know you heard that story. He did it by the sweat, tears and labor. Winning by rely on books, dominate when you depend on yourself and apply the fundamental.


 http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=40295053

Was this game before or after you vastly improved your game ? At move 10 your opponent hangs a piece, you dont take it and go on to be mated by a much lower rated opponent. Any decent book will teach you A ) how to spot when an opponent has hung a piece and to take the free piece and B ) how then to win a game when you are a piece up ........ 

Oh, and do you really think no GMs ever read chess books ?  What about before they become GMs ? 

2DecadePlayer

There is no way that past GMs never touched a chess book. The possibility of that is like me making right field for the NY Yankees, which my baseball coaches told me if I kept playing I would've been  Undecided

Vek_The_Gambiteer
sparenone wrote:

You better look more carefully at your book. I did and took my own personal notes while reading. It was the small things that seemed not important when i applied it the better player i beat them. Those small things what made my opponent confused. I cant count the number of times my opponent said "i thought i had you" ,"you got lucky" ,"i made a mistake lets do it again". They knew what was coming they played me several times and still could not stop it. It was not like they were weak.

I recently went over a chapter on End Games. I noticed one word that should have been clearly prented in bold and 3 times its size. The book also did not list conditions this would not work so a beginner would get crushed everytime they tried to for mate in the End Game.

How many books  are written for the purpose of making money too many. Yes it will good for a beginner and that is where they make their money. That is generally who the book is written for.


Then you're reading books that have been written poorly - Consider trying ones that don't suck. (Silman's Complete Endgame Course, for example, since you mentioned an endgame book)

2DecadePlayer

spare - in my solitaire games I try to play as fair as I can, but I also use those boards to try to develop new strategy/attacking lines and sometimes work. It's an ok method for me and it seems to be helping on some level.

EDIT: I have Silman's endgame and it has been like the Holy Grail to me

Vek_The_Gambiteer
sparenone wrote:

Name a GM that read another GM,s book and i will show you a touranment they both lost in when they entered. If they read a book it was for pure defensive purpose. They would know what other players might try to apply during a game on them.


"He used his rations to buy Chess Praxis by Danish grandmaster Aron Nimzowitsch, a book which Petrosian would later claim to have had the greatest influence on him as a chess player. He also purchased The Art of Sacrifice in Chess by Rudolf Spielmann. The other player to have had an early effect on Petrosian's chess was José Raúl Capablanca."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigran_Petrosian

I never said books should be one's *only* source of info, that's silly. But there's nothing wrong with using books to learn themes, ideas and theory behind an opening you want to study. Especially as a lower rated player. Especially of an opening you've never played before. 

2DecadePlayer

being creative in chess and chess allowing that kind of creativity is one of the things that makes it great, books or no books.

Vek_The_Gambiteer
sparenone wrote:

So once a player knows what you know.  You just waisted your money buying a book, when you have the internet. In the 1990's buying a book is a good idea. THAT WAS THEN THIS IS NOW. That why it really is a hustle. Name one #1 player in any sport that is going to give out their best kept secrets to the game.

Are you just trolling? You haven't actually replied to anything I've said.  You just keep ranting that it's a hustle without actually showing why. The absolute cutting edge of theory isn't necessarily going to be in a book, but for *learning* an opening, understanding the themes and ideas, key squares etc etc Books can be great. For learning tactics (Rather, for practice seeing them) books can be great. For understanding endgame theory, books can be great. For learning about how pawn structures influence the game, books can be great. 

For discovering totally unknown TNs, book ain't so great. Granted. But that isn't what we're discussing. 

Also, obviously you need to do a lot more than just read a book - But books are not a hustle

LordStannis
Schachgeek wrote:

But you can keep your secrets when you play me, that's ok.


lol this made my day.

TheOldReb

Next year you will still be a hack.

Vek_The_Gambiteer
sparenone wrote:
HandBanana wrote:
Schachgeek wrote:

But you can keep your secrets when you play me, that's ok.


lol this made my day.


 Depend on your GM books for all your skills. I will use the internet to add on to my ideas, add to my ideas that i thought off that has worked. And next year you will here asking for help from the same players here. "Where can i get a book on ...."  and money not well spent.  I will keep my money and improve on original ideas and create my own variations. I look to dominate games while your stuck try to still win games.


You really don't get it, do you? I don't know if you're just not reading the replies, or just choosing to ignore them - No one is saying that one should confine one's study SOLELY to books. But books on theory can help you learn theory, and in conjunction with other courses of study can be of great use. 

Ever hear of the concept of 'Standing on the shoulders of giants'? Often there is no need to reinvent the wheel, and a book can be a great place to jump off from.