https://web.archive.org/web/20140627115737/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen99.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_1.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_2.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626220240/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen117.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_3.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627070808/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen137.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_4.pdf
Opening repertoire books that also teach how to play chess?
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Sep 27, 2017
0
#43
Try "Queen's Gambit Declined" by Sadler or "Understanding the Grunfeld" by Rowson.
one of the most helpful books to me is winning chess traps by Irving chernev. The "traps" are organized by openings and are more than just a paragraph of a few moves. I like it better than my books on openings but I don't have lofty goals. The book has helped me spot patterns better and it's a lot of fun to play along with.
Oct 7, 2017
0
#45
This is actually a problem that I also see in several books. But the most important thing to realise is that the main information on plans and ideas in the middle games and endgames you can get from going through a lot of master games in your lines. Once a strong German player, Mathias Wahls, planned to write a book on strategy based on a certain opening, the Scandi. It would be one of the few books following such a concept. He did not realise this project, unfortunately.
Do you know already Chessable? There you can use for free or buy repertoire books. The cool thing is that you can interact with the authors of the books and with other students, asking questions about plans, for example where to place your figures or which pawn breaks are available. Not all books there are suited for your purpose, but you can register there for free and ask there your question. Give a try, I think you will like it. There are more in more people using this website. Even the best Brazilian chess player Rafael Leitāo published a book there in the Sicilian.
Good luck!
Do you know already Chessable? There you can use for free or buy repertoire books. The cool thing is that you can interact with the authors of the books and with other students, asking questions about plans, for example where to place your figures or which pawn breaks are available. Not all books there are suited for your purpose, but you can register there for free and ask there your question. Give a try, I think you will like it. There are more in more people using this website. Even the best Brazilian chess player Rafael Leitāo published a book there in the Sicilian.
Good luck!
Oct 7, 2017
0
#46
I recommend the spanish exchange variation: A repertoire for tournament players by Stefan Kindermann.
I like that book because it isn't just a bunch of variations.
It starts with the historical developement of the spanish exchange variation (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bc6: dc). He talks about Laskers games and about Fischer who revived the exchange variation with 5. 0-0.
After that he discusses the following pawn structure:
He talks about pawn majorities and why this position is good for white. He provides an in-depth analyses of this pawn endgame. It was really insightful because he show typical maneuvers.
After that chapter he discusses typical middlegame ideas in various positions which can arise from the exchange variation. e.g. when to play/push pawns in the center/queenside or kingside. Typical motifs like pushing a pawn to f5 and make your own pawn on e4 backwards etc.
After these chapters he discusses all the possible defenses black has at his disposal. He also recommends multiple lines and has a nice balance between concrete variations and verbal explanation.
This section is more theoretical and you see a lot of moves but you will understand them if you studied the basic pawn structures and plans.
He also suggests a good variation against the Bg4 line which he considers to be the critical reply to the spanish exchange.
All in all I think it is a well rounded book which doesn't only focus on theory but also with middle and endgames as well as the opening.
So if you just want to get going you can just study few lines and look at the endgames/middlegames and you are ready to get going. If you want to go fursther you can go ddeper into the suggested lines.
He wrote another book on the leningrad dutch(Leningrad System A complete Weapon against 1.d4) but I can't say much about this book since I didn't have it.
mickynj wrote:
They are not repertoire books per se, buy John Watson's series "Mastering The Chess Openings," volumes 1-4 do a great job of teaching the essential principles of chess while also giving great insight into the ideas and essential themes of almost every opeinng.
I agree. "Mastering the Chess Openings" is outstanding.
mcostan wrote:
one of the most helpful books to me is winning chess traps by Irving chernev. The "traps" are organized by openings and are more than just a paragraph of a few moves. I like it better than my books on openings but I don't have lofty goals. The book has helped me spot patterns better and it's a lot of fun to play along with.
That's an interesting suggestion!
torrubirubi, Wahls has already written (along with Müller and Langrock) “The Modern Scandinavian: Themes, Structures & Plans in an Increasingly Popular Chess Opening” (New in Chess, 2011).
Nunn's "move by move" book is a great opening book (although it is a game collection).
This also looks good: https://www.amazon.com/First-Chess-Opening-Repertoire-White/dp/9056916335/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1507862115&sr=8-2&keywords=My+First+Chess+Opening+Repertoire+for+Black
Oct 13, 2017
0
#51
When was a student, with no money for specific opening books, used a well annotated games collections like Fischer's "60 Memorable games" to get opening ideas. Seeing how these ideas were applied in a game, was more helpful for my ability level than massives of analysis lines anyway. A specific example was Ruy Lopez exchange where the analysis show in game against Gligoric was better than available in opening books of that time.
One of the best type of opening book published recently is "Playing 1.d4 d5 classical repetoire". There before considering concrete variations there are chapters explaining particular pawn structures and appropriate plans. In 1.d4 openings these pawn structures are common across a wide range of defenses but in the Queens Gambit declined often see them in there most straightforward form.
Oct 14, 2017
0
#52
dannyhume wrote:
torrubirubi, Wahls has already written (along with Müller and Langrock) “The Modern Scandinavian: Themes, Structures & Plans in an Increasingly Popular Chess Opening” (New in Chess, 2011).
Yes, I have the book, but I gave up the Scandi with Qa5.
An opening book that aims you to ALSO "teach you how to play chess," is one that guides you how to play within the pawn structure(s) that arise from that opening, as well as identifiying the tactical motifs that typically arise from that opening. The more "fixed" the pawn structure, the more instruction they can give you. For example, when facing the French Defense, you can more often dictate the ensuing pawn structure by playing the Advance Variation (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3.e5). Black has a very solid, if cramped, position, but Black also has a limited amount of plans which White can anticipate. And, if Black deviates from those "standard" plans, a good opening book will have given you the ways to capitalize on Black's deviations.
Neil MacDonald's, "Mastering the French" (2001) was excellent, but, unfortunately, is out of print, and used copies are outrageously expensive, but "Starting Out: The French," by Bryan Jacobs is also good. In fact, the "Starting Out" series is generally good.
Also, Andrew Soltis' classic "Pawn Structure Chess," (1976), presents openings, sorted by pawn structures, and demonstrates that some variations of the Scandinavian are identical to the Caro-Kann and even the Slav defenses to the QGD. Or that there are similarities between the French Advance and the Caro-Kann Advance (but with Black's white squared bishop often outside the pawn chain in the CK).
Oct 14, 2017
0
#54
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro.............Just a great book all around. I wish that would have been published back in the early 60's when I used to play. Nothing back then came close to this work.
Uncle_Bent wrote:
Neil MacDonald's, "Mastering the French" (2001) was excellent, but, unfortunately, is out of print, and used copies are outrageously expensive, but "Starting Out: The French," by Bryan Jacobs is also good. In fact, the "Starting Out" series is generally good.
While Neil McDonald's "Mastering the French" is an excellent introduction, it is, as mentioned, out of print, having been published in 1997. If you can find a reasonably priced copy it is still worth acquiring. McDonald's most recent book on the French, published in 2008, is "How to Play Against 1 e4" which is a repertoire from Black's point of view, devoted exclusively to the French Defense. This book is also excellent, featuring McDonald's exceptional talent for lucidly explaining concepts, themes, plans to the amateur chess playing audience.
The distinction between the two books are two-fold:
1) the 2008 book is a repertoire (which the 1997 book is not), so there is no attempt at comprehensive coverage of all possible variations and lines. Nevertheless it does address most of the primary variations - i.e., Advance, Ft.Knox, Exchange, Classical 4. e5, McCutcheon, Tarrasch 3...Be7, King's Indian Attack, (White's) Two Knights Variation, along with some odds & ends.
2) While the 1997 book is primarily concerned with the pawn structures arising in the primary variations, and the strategic considerations arising therein, the 2008 repertoire book, while not ignoring these considerations, also focuses heavily on identifying and analyzing the key tactical points of the individual variations presented in the repertoire. I consider the 2008 book to be an exceptional example of an introductory opening book that is extremely instructive for the improving chess amateur.
It has been almost a decade since MCO was revised. Also:
"... [The encyclopedic] type of presentation [of opening theory] uses tables of variations, with individual numbered variations, and alternatives given in footnotes. For new players, I cannot recommend books that use type of presentation, because the explanatory prose that elaborates typical plans and ideas is usually absent, thus leaving the student without any clear idea why certain moves are played or even preferred over other apparently equivalent moves. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)