In d4 openings learning common strategies and piece placement is often much more important than actual theory. d4 is tricky for under 2000 rated players, so make sure you know 'why' you are doing things rather than just going with theory.
Best White 1.d4 2. c4 player opening repertoire book
Sort:
Thanks. That's great info. from all of you. I'll review those games and the other books mentioned.
That's good to know about Watson. I knew he was respected for the way he writes and his eplanation of the meaning behind moves. I suppose reading his works will be useful for that alone, even if I didn't utilize all of his lines.
Kaufman has some nice lines for QG + Indian systems, but the explanations are not extremely thorough.
I'm not sure how the book by Graham Burgess is: A Cunning Chess Opening Repertoire for White.
i have read your last post----care to lay that against me???
Is An Opening Repertoire For White (Keene) out of date? Or can the ideas still hold at the class level?
chessmicky wrote:
Does it really make sense to recommend a book called "GM Repertoire" to a guy rated 1528? There's nothing wrong with that rating, but is a "GM Repertoire" really what this guy needs next?
Probably not, but I appreciate ALL recommendations for future reference and for others who are more advanced. Probably best to give recommendations for a few different levels.
I think what is needed for us non-titled players is something that explains reasoning behing the moves.
I am surprised pfren shot down the Watson book, but I know pfren knows what he is talking about.
I was just about to download Watsons book too. Thanks for the review
Silman recommends "Wojo's Weapons" for a Catalan-based repertoire entered by 1.Nf3 with later d4/c4 (to avoid Benoni and Benko).
Pretty meaty stuff. Generous amounts of text illustrated by games rather than line dumps.
Silman considers it a repertoire for 2000+.
ipcress12 wrote:
Silman recommends "Wojo's Weapons" for a Catalan-based repertoire entered by 1.Nf3 with later d4/c4 (to avoid Benoni and Benko).
Pretty meaty stuff. Generous amounts of text illustrated by games rather than line dumps.
Silman considers it a repertoire for 2000+.
lM Shahade also recommends Wojo Weapons (among other books)...again, if you are that level and opening with 1.Nf3....not to say others wouldn't benefit form reading though.
rdecredico wrote:
Chicken_Monster wrote:
I am surprised pfren shot down the Watson book, but I know pfren knows what he is talking about.
Hahahaha
Sure.
What are you implying...?
Dec 20, 2014
0
#11
I have Watson and Schandorff both, and I think they compliment each other well - Watson is trying to give an overview of nearly all popular lines where Schandorff is offering a specific repertoire.
There are big holes in both works....for example, Watson wholesale disregards the QGA as a viable option for black - just "3.e3 - white is better NEXT!" And neither book adequately discusses Bf4 in the QGD (as opposed to Bg5). Watson is bad about introducing a line, giving the first few moves, and leaving us to sort it without an example game. Schandorff will steer you toward sharp lines when he can, so a lot of more positional ways of playing are glossed over (and he admits as much in the intro, if memory serves).
All that to say - you need to have multiple resources because one book will tell you "this is the main main line, and playing anything else is silly" where the next book will tell you "the old main line is terrible! Play this one." You need to see that controversy in order to figure out what works for you. Also, even if you have every opening repertoire book on the planet, you should still be checking your repertoire in a database to see what novelties you might expect from both sides.........Watson's book is stuck in 2007, databases are updated almost immediately.
I think you nailed it, Alison. Several books and maybe Chessbase (updated) if you are really serious and competing and at a high level.
Kaufman's books are more of Komodo data dumps, although there is some explanation of ideas... and he usually avoids main lines...choosing perhaps the third most popular line. Something can be said for that. Then again, something can be said against it. Relatively concise if that is what you want. It has its place. I suppose there are pros and cons to any single resource.
rdecredico wrote:
It is Kaufman's book that first promoted the now considered bust to the Benko.
He's a smart guy no doubt. He managed to squeeze Black and White all into one book, so he wasn't going for multiple volumes. I'm not criticizing him. There is just only so much room he had with which to work.
Which of his books did that? The older one (Chess Advantage in Black & White) or the newer one (The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White).
rdecredico wrote:
The Kaufman Repertoire in Black & White
Some pretty good ideas in there and some pretty deep holes as well (like ALL chess opening books). I specifically think his approach to main line King's Indian is going to garner points for White and his idea against the Bishop sac line in the Slav is going to lose White some points.
But this is what anyone should expect when they asking someone else to lay out a complete repertoire for them to follow in chess.
I actually had occasion to use the Russian System against the Gruenfeld from the latter book. I use a lot of Kaufman's lines, even though they are ostensibly "beyond my [neophpyte] level." Whatever Heather.
Bishop sac line in the Slav? Where is that, exactly? I don't remember that.
Chicken_Monster wrote:
Bishop sac line in the Slav? Where is that, exactly? I don't remember that.
Probably this business.
Interesting. When you have your book with you, see the game on pp. 135-136 that follows this line. Kaufman considers several options for Black to play on move 9, but Bc2 is not considered by him (well, I just took a quick glance but didn't see it).
Dec 20, 2014
0
#19
Chicken_Monster,
Here's a few thoughts about actually improving your chess level from Chess for Zebras by Jonathon Rowson (a very interesting chap).
First a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that he cites. "Skill to do comes of doing" (!)
Here's a couple of quotes to mull over.....
"... By this I mean that accumulating knowledge about openings and endings, etc., is only useful in so far as it helps you know HOW to play the opening and the endgame, and this transition does not come automatically. ...it is acquired through painstaking training and practice"
and..."what this means is that if you want to get better at chess you need to place much less emphasis on 'study' whereby you increase your knowledge of positions, and place much more emphasis on 'training', whereby you try to solve problems, play practice games...."
What I guess I'm suggesting is that actually getting your hands dirty digging through games (especally YOUR games - without and then with an engine at your heels) is the way to build up the SKILL of playing openings. Not A PARTICULAR opening, but openings in general.
I have a variety of opening books at home (like most of us) butwhen I think back to the ways I really felt confident about my openings (talking otb here), it was when I cobbled together bits and pieces of stuff I liked and tried to make them work. And...funnily enough it's the 'making it work' part that was the most constructive.
Books and repertoires are always going to let you down in the sense that people will play good moves against you that aren't supposed to be good ;) Games constantly slip away from the lines you want to play, and you can end up playing the bits you don't like BETTER than the bits you like!
At your level (I hate when people say that, but in my own defence what I'm going to say applies at MY level too) it's quite a chore knowing which openings even suit your playing style. Go back and look at the fantastic games you've played through from great chess books. Which ones are the most fun, which ones inspire you? And....which of YOUR games did you enjoy the most?
I'm following my own advice when I suggest that you sketch out an opening repertoire, get your endgames up to a level where you start to feel confident in endgames and find the courage to PLAY the way you want to.
Surely your objective is to 'become a stronger player' not 'have a gm opening repertoire'...right?
This post is not in the slightest intended to sound condescending or dismissive...I see you're expending a lot of energy to pick up some chess momentum...that's a damn good start. Just don't get dazzled by dreams of opening strength...real strength will help you in EVERY posistion whether you are playing mainline or not, if the position is in your book or not...etc.
A strong player can open with 1. b3 and win. Or 1. f4. Or 1. Nc3. Even in this database world people will be on their own ressources very quickly...
Dec 20, 2014
0
#20
pfren wrote:
Watson's book is poor, stay away from it. Same applies for Kaufman.
I'd say Schandorff on Quality Chess, because his repertoire is principled. But it has several analytical flaws, which are hardly relevant to the class level.
IDK about Watson but I concur with the rest of your statement re: Schandorff and Kaufman.
Right now at least, I enjoy opening with 1.d4 often followed by 2.c4. What do folks things is the best book(s) for this?
John Watson's A Strategic Chess Opening for White seems good. I hear good things about the book by Burgess. I believe Pallisar and others may have similar books. Starting Out, Everyman, etc.
What's considered the top in this genre?