I like the opening books from Chess Stars. Generally, they examine each major variation with an ideas section, then a step-by-step section, then complete games. This should be effective for many types of students.
I also love the KID from either side.
Thanks for the reply Anne. I will see if I can purchase the book.
"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf
Thanks for the link. I have read King's Indian from Gallagher. I like his description. Don't know other authors' though. I will check them out.
Pawn Structure Chess by Andy Soltis may be the book you are looking for. If or when that book is too basic for you, Chess Structures by Mauricio Flores Rios would be an excellent choice.
The Move by Move books from Everyman also do more explaining than giving reams of lines. There's probably at least 3 dozen different openings in that series by now. Possibly more! One on the King's Indian Defense just came out, actually. I don't own that one, so can't speak for its quality, but I do own the ones on the Slav, Ruy Lopez, 1...d6, Caro-Kann, Modern Defense, Torre, Colle, Taimanov Sicilian, and Old Indian. Might have one or two others that I am not recalling right now.
They also have game collections in the same series. I own the one on the games by Lenoid Stein.
The Move by Move books from Everyman also do more explaining than giving reams of lines. There's probably at least 3 dozen different openings in that series by now. Possibly more! One on the King's Indian Defense just came out, actually. I don't own that one, so can't speak for its quality, but I do own the ones on the Slav, Ruy Lopez, 1...d6, Caro-Kann, Modern Defense, Torre, Colle, Taimanov Sicilian, and Old Indian. Might have one or two others that I am not recalling right now.
They also have game collections in the same series. I own the one on the games by Lenoid Stein.
You said you own these books but no word about their quality.
So are they good?
Some are better than others. The Caro-Kann one is excellent (6 stars out of a possible 5). The one on the Modern is satisfactory. The one on the Ruy Lopez is decent. The one on the Slav has an error in the Ne5 chapter, but otherwise is good. The one on the Taimanov Sicilian is also really, really good, like the Caro-Kann one. Torre, Colle, and Old Indian ones are above average. The only one that I'm skeptical about is the 1...d6 book. He does a great job in the 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 chapter, but I think he overvalues Black's position in the Czech Defense.
I have quite a lot Move by Move books and they are not entirely satisfactory.
Especially some from a guy called Cyrus Lakdawala are of very poor quality.
I enjoys Cyrus's style of writing, but the books are not meant to improve your middlegame.
Don't get me wrong.I enjoy his style too.
But it's more like reading the novel of a comedian than the book of a knowledgeable chess author.
I read his book in Caro Kan.It was a nice and pleasant reading but I learned nothing.
Maybe the main problem of his books is that he doesn't inspire serious study.
Not even once I felt the need to put the position on a chessboard and explore it thoroughly.
Of course that might be my fault and not his.
You put it in a nutshell with the final sentence. That's your problem, not Cyrus's. Actually, of the ones he wrote, the one on the Caro-Kann was one of his best ones!
Cyrus also wrote the one on the Colle System and one of the first things he says is that Colle players are not playing for a theoretical advantage, but for familiarity. With correct play, the Colle is equal. At the 2700 level, this really matters. At your level, if you are reading this, it doesn't matter as I highly doubt Carlsen will ever read this message.
The only one of his that I have read that I am very skeptical of his analysis is the 1...d6 Move by Move book. He also has one mis-assessment in the Slav, the chapter with 6.Ne5, but outside of that one nuance, I give it a 4 out of 5 stars. Caro-Kann and Colle are 5-star books by him.
I didn't read the one on the Trompowsky, but I heard that one was one of his lesser performances, like my thought of his 1...d6 book. But everyone that rights good books also have duds.
Andrew Soltis wrote one of the best middle game books ever. The Inner Game of Chess. That said, his 1.d4 book (second edition was 1994) was total and utter CR&P! Especially his trash solution to the King's Indian Defense! Total Garbage!
So don't just stereotype Lakdawala as a bad author just because you are incapable of having the patience of taking a board and pieces out and actually studying. It ain't like we are talking an author that has written nothing but total garbage, like Eric Schiller! Standard Chess Openings - WORST BOOK EVER PUBLISHED!
Thanks all for the suggestions.Thanks @Schemato, I have checked the preview of Chess Structures. It looks quite good. Something of sort that I am looking for.
@Bobby, I am usually looking of the option 2 where specific strategies are discussed with example games rather than different lines with example games. But I mostly end up with books of option 1 kind. I feel like I can work on different lines once I get the main strategy of the opening.
I started with classical variation of KID and then slowly progressed on Petrosian variation and so on. Since I knew what the main idea of the opening was, I had an intuition to what happens when there are deviations in other KID lines. However, I don't have same intuition with other opening because I am not clear about the strategy to be employed in those openings. Thank of the book suggestions. I have to check them yet.
@Kinaspongey, McDonald's book on Catalan seems good. I can accustom to his type of writing quickly. Thanks.
Hi all,
While the objective of different openings is always same, i.e. to occupy more space and control the center, the way each opening achieves it is different. I am confident playing KID both as white and black, because I was able to read the method employed by white and black to achieve their aim. However, having read quite a few books on opening, I have not been able to find the theory elaborately mentioned for any of the openings. Most of the books mention the different variations for each opening and what chances white and black have in the middle game.
I think people will benefit more if they know method of attack for different openings as both white and black. For example, in KID, black attacks from the kingside and white attacks from the queen side to break up the pawn structures and create passed pawns. Is there any book which discusses openings with such details instead of discussing lot of variations available for each opening.
thanks,
Sasidhar