opening Books

IMO, if you are just beyond the most basic books such as Ideas Behind the Chess Openings by Reuben Fine and Winning Chess Openings by Yasser Seirawan, somewhat more comprehensive and the best next step up would be Fundamental Chess Openings by Paul van der Sterren. It sounds like just what you are looking for, explanations in text without complete games. The Watson series, Mastering the Chess Openings (four volumes) and another similar four volume set, Essential Chess Openings, are probably too voluminous for what you want at this point. The Sam Collins book, Understanding the Chess Openings, is similar in level and presentation to the Seirawan book mentioned above, maybe a step above. I would recommend those as a start if you want something very basic, and then the van der Sterren book.

Before buying, I suggest using available online samples in order to get an idea about whether or not such books really are what one wants to try to use.

http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/FCO_Fundamental_Chess_Openings.pdf

http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Understanding_the_Chess_Openings.pdf

"... 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)

A sample from a book with illustrative games:

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf

 

So you are griping that the complete game format actually covers critical aspects of the game that your games on here prove you also lack knowledge in!

 

Can you convert a Rook plus 5 pawns versus Rook and 4 pawns into Lucena's Position?

Do you even know what Lucena's Position is or how to convert the win?

Do you know what an outpost is?  What piece is most helped by an outpost?

Do you see your opponent's 5-move tactical threat?

Do you know what a hook is?  What about the Greek Gift Sacrifice?

 

You have a lot more to learn than the opening, babes!

Of course as a player with a 1400 rating I easily see tactical threats 5 moves ahead.  Even 10 sometimes.  Why do you waste your time with these types of posts? What’s the point.  Obviously I need to improve Middle and Endgame techniques too.  Unless your a grandmaster go take a hike.

Their were more, but just 1 example of how no you dont "obviously" see 5-10 move threats ahead.  You hung your queen, and a knight in a Daily game.

https://www.chess.com/daily/game/227794550?username=goldenflash1

 

For learning pawn structures of the various openings, rather than from the books covering specific openings, I would recommend the classic Pawn Power in Chess by Hans Kmoch and/or Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis. They will cover the pawn structures common to many different openings and show you how to play them.

IM Bacon,

i was being sarcastic.  I know I miss some obvious moves.

PDF excerpt from Chess Structures A Grandmaster Guide by Mauricio Flores Rios...

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Flores_Rios_Chess_Structures-excerpt.pdf

 

Carry on then Sir!

Thank you for this review. Carsten Hansen rated it as excellent *****.

Opening Principles:
-Discovering Chess Openings by John Emms.

Openings a little more specifically:
-First Steps 1.e4 e5 by John Emms.
-Queen’s Gambit Declined by Matthew Sadler
-Starting Out: The Queen’s Gambit Declined by Neil McDonald.
-I find the above books do the best job of explaining the early classical chess moves (before moves 5-6) unlike the vast majority of opening books.

Other:
-Understanding the Chess Openings by Sam Collins. Decent one volume intro to openings.
-Chessable’s free Short & Sweet courses are an interactive way to introduce yourself to a number of particular openings in a limited manner to see what you might like.

FCO I tried to enjoy, but it was never my cup of tea, very dull and matter of fact, in my opinion. Reading about it, you would think it is the ultimate string theory connecting openings to general chess improvement for club players, but I didn’t feel it had any sort of thematic continuity as many others seem to think ... just listed variations with a few words. Nonetheless, it gets rave reviews.

Watson’s series is intriguing seemed too advanced (as in multiple lengthy variations without much commentary) for my level when I perused one of his books, but the series gets rave reviews.

I have found opening study unenjoyable and rather pointless, except to book up a few moves to try to get out of a similarly-lowly-rated opponent’s “pet line” of 6-8 moves without being totally busted (which is purely memorization and nothing else). Could be more gratifying to waste time in this manner if you play the same person over and over and they are overly competitive arseholes trust trying to one-up you, but then that person will catch on, and you will be back to having to learn how to play chess, not blunder, and convert material advantages. Of course you already know this.

Someone pointed me to a free (is it legal?) copy of Collins, Understanding Chess Openings, in pdf format.  I really enjoy the intros which describe some of the principles of the openings:

https://sah-conpet.com/phpbb/images/Understanding%20the%20Chess%20Openings%20(Collins).pdf

Good Chess Openings Books For Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell