My favorite is BCO2, as that's the one I started with, and I find the format easiest. That said I've lost it, so I now use the 'small' ECO. I have MCO, but rarely use it, as I don't like the format.
Favorite Chess Openings "Bible" ?
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I only have MCO-14, so I can't really compare them. Besides, I play a lot of oddball openings that aren't covered in these types of books.
--Fromper
My favourite opening is MCO.
I've got an old 1950's BCO that has all the old lines. It's good enough for me
HI!!!!!
MY Favourites are this:
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I use BCO,MCO and NCO but think NCO is better. Ofcourse the set of ECO's are best but not everyone is that serious about chess. Whats interesting is that in these references you can often find the same positions and they are not always evaluated the same by each reference! 
My favorite "Bible" is the one where "Jesus" dies for my sins.
If you can get hold of a copy, Horowitz's 'Chess Openings : Theory and Practice' is a nice work. A bit outdated of course, it was published in the 1960's I believe and has not been updated, but it's a good read. He breaks the theory/lines for each opening up into 3 sections : Practical, Supplementary and Idea Variations. Which means you can easily spot the main lines and look at those ( Practical ), or hop to new and unexplored lines ( at the time ) in the Idea section for example. It's in the old notation unfortunately.
I also have BCO 1, BCO 2, MCO 4(!), 11 and 13 I think.
I think Nunns is designed for more advanced players. Or perhaps more accurately - MCO is designed to accomadate B class and lower players. Nunns is not.
I understood the question correctly. I was making a point that "The Bible" is about God and Jesus and not about chess. I realize sometimes that people take liberty with the use of the word bible and use it to mean the standard for a specific area of knowledge. It is obvious you did not understand I was only trying to make a point that "The Bible" is about Jesus and not chess.
i think the question used the word bible metaphorically, which means your most trusted book when it comes to guidelines...hope you get my point, let's not start any arguements here...
peace all.
i really like the Chess opening Traps and zaps book...
How big a role should intuition (whatever that really is) play in openings?
If you note in my original statement/question I put "bible" in quotes and did not capitalize it. If I had meant the book that talks of Jesus I would have said : Bible. I would capitalize it and not put it in quotes. The fact is that most one volume references on chess openings are often referred to as "bibles". I have also heard other authorative works referred to as "bibles". I have heard of a shooters "bible" and stamp collectors "bible" for instance. Dictionary.com :
| 4. | (lowercase ) any book, reference work, periodical, etc., accepted as authoritative, informative, or reliable: He regarded that particular bird book as the birdwatchers' bible. |
Jeez, why is the topic straying because someone decided to be politically correct? LOL bible, book, man, get a life please...
ANYWAY...
I also like Nunn's and I look at ECO as well. NCO tells you a lot of options and which variations will be stronger for which colour.
When I started playing tourney chess in the US Southeast (1973) my first openings "bible" was MCO. Over the years I have now 3 such books: MCO, BCO and NCO . sorry : Modern Chess Openings, Batsford Chess Openings and Nunn's Chess Openings. My favorite of the 3 is NCO and I ofen take it with me to tournies. My question is which is your personal favorite? I know there are others I dont have and am sure I will see many named in this thread.