I don't know if that's part of a series.
But you might like "Fundamental Chess Openings", by Sterren.
It covers all the main openings to a decent depth, and is quite conversational in how it explains the ideas, goals, and history of each opening, along with each main variation.
If you're familiar with Fine's "Ideas Behind the Openings", FCO is like a modern, expanded version of it.
Strange. I couldn’t find anything but the books you were referring to.
Thanks, @Stil1. I have FCO, Soltis' book is extensive and very very talky (meaning, a lot of the space is *not* made of of a ton of alternative lines, extensive variations, and the like). FCO is also like that in that way, which is a good thing. Neither are "repetoire" books.
In the Soltis book, the introductory chapter, just explaining the main ideas of QID, had a 5 page intro, and then two games in the intro that are extensively annotated, totaling 18 pages of intro.
Then, chapter 2 starts off with 20 pages of description of the first 9 typical moves of the King Fianchetto response to it (and that's before it gets to two instructive games) Chapter 3: another 10 pages of description of another variation of King Fianchetto (before it gets to instructive games). Chapter 4 starts off with a 10 page intro to the two knights variation (and then instructive games). And so on.
FCO is great at what it does -- but as it covers a ton of openings, it can't possibly give anywhere near that coverage. QID takes up 12 pages in FCO.
Strange. I couldn’t find anything but the books you were referring to.
Yup -- me, neither.
However a friend of mine wrote me about two more:
==============
If I remember correctly, there were two others before RHM went out of business.
Understanding the Open Games (Except Ruy Lopez)
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Open-Games-Except-Lopez/dp/0890580502
Understanding the Caro-Kann Defense
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Caro-Kann-Defense-Raymond-Keene/dp/1843821346
Strange. I couldn’t find anything but the books you were referring to.
Yup -- me, neither.
However a friend of mine wrote me about two more:
==============
If I remember correctly, there were two others before RHM went out of business.
Understanding the Open Games (Except Ruy Lopez)
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Open-Games-Except-Lopez/dp/0890580502
Understanding the Caro-Kann Defense
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Caro-Kann-Defense-Raymond-Keene/dp/1843821346
Ah, interesing.
Queen's Indian Defense, Andy Soltis (1981) seems to be part of a series called "Understanding the Chess Openings". I've seen the beginning of the book, and I enjoyed how "talky" it is -- meaning, a nice long introduction as to what QID is about (key concepts, important squares, etc.) as well as a nice introductions to each chapter (main variations).
My question is: is this actually part of a series? If so, can someone point me to where I can find out what the other books are? (Googling "understanding the chess openings" gets me a book by that name by Sam Collins, which covers all the main openings with a short treatment, which is not at all what I'm looking for).