chess openings to depth of 10

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Avatar of stanhope13

Is there any point in paying for a chess openings book, to a depth of 10, when you can get it for free?

Avatar of stanhope13

Try explaining please.if you like.

Avatar of orangehonda

I dunno what tonydal meant?  But in a book the author will give some explanations, and useful side lines.  Maybe they note one line has a lot of theory in it, and so can recommend a lesser tried, interesting, and equally playable move on move 7 (or whenever).  They also have many example games.

Also the book may cover a variation that you didn't know existed.  Or the opposite, if you're only using a database you may spend too much time looking at older lines that have fallen out of favor and not enough time looking at modern lines you're more likely to face today.  So information overload and you're not sure where to begin or end.  A book does all the foot work for you, all you have to do is sit down and memorize (essentially) and you'll come out with a solid repertoire.

Avatar of stanhope13

Good point, a book will give additional information, but the temptation to get it for free is always attractive.

Avatar of orangehonda
stanhope13 wrote:

Good point, a book will give additional information, but the temptation to get it for free is always attractive.


I definitely agree :) and remember those books aren't going to help you one bit after the opening is over.  Lets say I was on an island and could choose any 5 chess books, none of them would be on the opening for sure.

Avatar of orangehonda
tonydal wrote:
orangehonda wrote:

I dunno what tonydal meant?

The OP's question seemed to be answering itself (and hence a bit rhetorical)...so I was playing along.  Or imagined that I was playing along (apparently I was just off in a corner playing a game of tetherball with myself).


[re-reads OP] heh, yeah you're right, I didn't even catch that... it reads completely rhetorical :p

Avatar of AtahanT

Because just by looking at one or two lines 20 moves deep with an added explanation to the overall plan of your middlegame you will understand what to do after the opening is over (this is very under rated imo). Even if the opening goes out of book after move 7 you can still apply many of the ideas and plans by having that 20 move line in your head.

Avatar of stanhope13

By free i mean via a website, you pay your I.S.P.

Avatar of RedUrchin

I'm up for a game of tetherball.

I agree with orangehonda, you can look up the opening moves free but you don't really get the in depth analysis of just what that opening does for you in the latter parts of the game that a book offers.

Avatar of stanhope13

Wikipedia gives explanations.

Avatar of Nytik
stanhope13 wrote:

Wikipedia gives explanations.


You have got to be kidding me. Those piles of junk don't qualify as explanations. They're just sub-standard descriptions of about 10% of mainline moves.

Avatar of RedUrchin

Sometimes it's up to $30 for a book, maybe we are dopey dupes

Avatar of chasingthecrown

was it my imagination, or did the stars come out to play?

Avatar of TheGreatOogieBoogie

Some books are just data dumps with no real explanations, common strategic themes, etc.