Opening repertoire books that also teach how to play chess?

What you are referring to is positional chess.  For the basics check out "Weapons of Chess" by Bruce Pandolfini and "Elements of Positional Evaluation" by Dan Heisman.  Both of these books are addressed to the improving amateur chess player...

https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Chess-Omnibus-Strategies-Fireside/dp/0671659723/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493255640&sr=1-1&keywords=weapons+of+chess+an+omnibus+of+chess+strategies

 https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Positional-Evaluation-Pieces-Their/dp/1888690585/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493255672&sr=1-1&keywords=elements+of+positional+evaluation+how+the+pieces+get+their+power

see also...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy

 

Possibly helpful:

Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf

Thanks for giving me your opinion on How to Reassess your Chess... I have wanted to read it and started, but thought that it was too advanced. Maybe I will give it another chance after reading your comments.

Thanks everyone else for the other suggestions... Lots of books to think about!

I also recently heard that Bellin and Ponzetto's Test Your Positional Chess and Herman Grooten's Chess Strategy for Club Players does some of the "breakdown" stuff, but in spite of the title, many recommend it (Grooten's book) for 1800+ players.

Anyone have strong opinions of Pachman's 3-volumes (for <1500 level players... I know it has a great reputation among more advanced players)?

The Grooten book is more advance than the Reasses Your Chess. It is  a great book, but it might be hard for you to digest at this point in time. I don't have an idea with the Bellin Book. But I think that book is also advance.

I tried that book decades ago and had the feeling that it was helping me, but it had a sequence of multiple choice questions and I found that I did not do so well on those. Indeed, on the ones that I tried, my score was pretty close to what a monkey would get. I'm about USCF 1500, so I might try the book again if I get a little better and happen to find it again after all this time.

I am pretty much the same way (with a lower rating), scoring poorly on most of these "tests", though I have found value in doing some of these problems that are beyond my ability, to help contribute to this "big picture" view and to use as a learning tool rather than an assessment. I know with tactics and endgames, there are a number of types of problems that I had a hard time solving on my own the first time, but once I saw the answers, the theme became more recognizable in new and different situations and it helped overall. Of course, the level of difficulty of these problems/tests needs to be just beyond reach rather than completely beyond reach.

I compare it to that piece of advice where they say to play against opponents or computer at a level where you can only win 25% of the games for maximum learning benefit... maybe it applies to studying particular chess subjects, too? That is the essence of what I am looking for when I ask advice on books... if it is beyond my level, is it still close enough to be of value even though I can't understand all of it, or is it like trying make a first grader learn calculus?

i like the everyman chess series

Check out Chess Network on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork

 

He's an NM at about 2500 who records his games live and commentates. He plays every opening, tells you what his plan is, and how he's going to get there. My rating has been steadily improving since I started watching his videos. I see now how a chess game should evolve, when a player should complicate or simplify, and how to recognize good squares for my pieces. He plays a bit conservatively, but adaptively rather than rattling off book moves. I still have a long way to go, but his videos were more helpful than the books I had been reading.

 

Good luck.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf

This is the Introduction to the Vincent Moret opening repertoire book I recommended.  Note on the upper left of page 8 the words "The Power of Pawns" - this is apparently a misprinted artifact from the book by Jorg Hickl of the same name, also published by New In Chess....

Thought not  a repertoire book, Winning Chess Opening by Bill Robertie is an excellent first chess opening book. It gives general overview of various chess openings. It also has annotated master games.

Thanks for the suggestions, RussBell, mickey1943, and jambyvedar. I spoke with a master a while back with whom I sporadically do lessons and he was not as keen on Moret's repertoire book, which I had already read.  Though he did not thoroughly read and pick apart the book, he looked at the the suggested lines, thought they were somewhat arbitrarily picked, and felt they did not reflect a coherent repertoire such that a developing (but pressed-for-time) player can learn consistent and related opening/middlegame themes and structures by studying their own games.  He was all right with the London and Scandinavian for the busy lower-level player who is okay with less dynamic/tactical play and isn't gonna dive into the Ruy, Sicilian, Nimzo-Indian, or QGD.  He also wasn't keen on the one volume "general opening survey" books, since he thinks too much general advice (control/occupy the center, get your pieces out, connect rooks, etc) quickly becomes borderline useless without a repertoire to study as your competition becomes more advanced.  All that said, I liked Moret's chapter on the Giuoco Piano that was not in the repertoire, that explained the ideas with multiple lines. Aside from maybe his coverage of the Sicilian, I thought he skimped out on much of the rest of the book.

Thanks bdwg for the link, will check it out!

The following are editorial reviews, on Amazon.com, of Vincent Moret's opening repertoire book. Note particularly the positive comments by Jeremy Silman and Gary Lane, two well known chess book authors.

Editorial Reviews
Review
"A relatively easy to learn yet reasonably sharp set of lines which could certainly be effective at a club level. Time and space are also spent on explaining key middlegame ideas and structures and I found these explanations to be clear and concise (...) Useful test positions are to be found a the end of each chapter. I like these; they are not too difficult, but will definitely help readers increase their understanding of the repertoire." (Sean Marsh CHESS Magazine (UK))

"The book has clear-cut structure. It's all about typical aggressive ideas in various opening systems. The author presents a healthy mixture of master games and games played by his pupils. He clearly shows frequent errors and motives, and one can't hardly wait to use this stuff in the next game. Highly recommended for trainers and parents of young talents." (Dirk Schuh Rochade Europa Magazine)

"This book is filled with exciting, tactical lines. While these won't fool strong players, they will often wipe the beginner opponent off the board. What I like about this book is his copious prose, which gives the reader the history of the moves and the ideas and tactics." (Jeremy Silman, International Master Chess.com)

"Simple systems for White, starting with 1.e4, about which the author explains many ideas, structures and typical manoeuvers using short games that are often played by his pupils. That's why the book is well-suited for young players, but also for older beginners and players with a rating up to 2000 this repertoire is very useful" (Florian Jacobs Max Euwe Center Amsterdam)

"A relatively easy to learn yet reasonably sharp set of lines which could certainly be effective at a club level. Time and space are also spent on explaining key middlegame ideas and structures and I found these explanations to be clear and concise (...) Useful test positions are to be found a the end of each chapter. I like these; they are not too difficult, but will definitely help readers increase their understanding of the repertoire." (Sean Marsh CHESS Magazine)

"Moret is a teacher/trainer per excellence. This volume is for White, but Black is allowed a peek. The intentions behind the moves are being explained, followed by nice exercises. Very useful for trainers of youngsters!" (B.H. Wilders Nederlands Dagblad)

"The openings are aimed at players rated 1200-1700, with lots of insight on how to play the positions. An opening repertoire book that will definitely improve your rating." (Gary Lane, International Master English Chess Federation Newletter)

If you read the book's introduction (posted earlier in this thread by Kindaspongey - post #31 & 34), it should become clear that the repertoire is not intended to present a comprehensive treatment of the standard variations of the openings.  The point instead is to present a set of ideas and plans that are aggressive and readily understood and which can be effectively applied by the intended audience - primarily the beginner-novice player - against their typical amateur competition.  So it is not surprising that there are titled players for whom this kind of book does not suit their needs or meet their expectations in terms of "comprehensiveness", or presenting the latest theory.  But the book is not intended for the titled player, or even the slightly less "accomplished", but experienced players.  It is intended for those looking for their first opening repertoire as White, and/or one which they can quickly employ, while allowing reasonable chances for the first player.

https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings

This article - by Jeremy Silman - discusses Vincent Moret's book.

 

Thanks Spongey! 

Good Silman article, thanks.

I think the distinction the master was making was not that one needs to be "comprehensive" with studying the opening(s), but that a busy amateur with limited study time should strive to maximize the grouping of one's opening lines to have as many similar/consistent themes throughout as much of one's repertoire as possible to optimize long-term learning, especially if you can't learn all of the standard open, closed, and semi-open openings. It was interesting to hear this, because I have not heard anyone talk about learning openings in this manner.

i like mco

because you can play the moves

and then you teach yourself by pattern recognition