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Posted by nemesis1010
nikto.net

6/21/2008
14:50:18

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Subject: Books on Openings

Message:
Can anyone recommend a good book on openings that you've used and has genuinely improved your game? A quick search on Amazon produces far too many and very similar looking results, so I don't really know where to begin :). Basically I'd like one or two books that demonstrate the pros and cons of all popular openings and defences, so that I can hopefully expand my game beyond my current staple of Queen's pawn and English openings, and French defence.

Cheers in advance
Mike


Posted by tag1153
nikto.net

6/21/2008
19:21:10

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fwiw

Message:
I have about 100 chess books....probably 95 were impulse buys at tourneys, and they sre doing a wonderful job of collecting dust on the bookshelf. The one book that any serious student needs imho is an MCO (or other encyclopedic style opening manual). My MCO is about 20 years old now, and practically falling apart - but it has 20 years of my handwritten notes on the "trees" of just about every opening you've ever heard of....it is the one tool that helped me to be able identify openings better. But keep this mind - this "advice" is coming from a lifelong class C patzer, so it is probably best to disregard it:)

tag1153


Posted by chessisvanity
nikto.net

6/21/2008
20:15:40

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MCO no thanks.

Message:
MCO covers lines but no explanation.

I suggest "Understanding the chess openings" by Collins.


———
Chess: Turning the tide — After a strong start world chess champion Vishy Anand falls to an enterprising counterattack. The world chess champion Vishy Anand only made a 50% score at the recent London Chess Classic, suffering this early defeat to the US no 1. Anand started well, but with so many pieces on the chess board and both kings compromised, a counterattack is always possible. How did Nakamura turn the game in his favour? RB: Wow, complicated. I really have no idea. Maybe – this is clutching at straws – I can march my second h-pawn down the board to try to open up the White king position? It looks promising, but then runs into the problem of White's light-square bishop, which has an eye on h3. 1…Qe8 doesn't help, because ...
Posted by bogg
nikto.net

6/22/2008
00:09:33

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nemesis1010

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It is hard to go wrong with books written by John Watson. Although I haven't read them, his two volume set 'Mastering the Chess Openings' has been spoken highly of by friends.

CTCampbell (Bogg)
———
On Chess: Is struggling Anand looking ahead? — Recent months haven’t been kind to reigning world chess champion Viswanathan Anand, who posted mediocre results in three consecutive chess tournaments. His last effort — the London Chess Classic, in which he scored six draws, one loss and just one win — was, in his words and by his standards, “a disaster” not befitting the status of world chess champion. No doubt he was distracted, in part, by preparations for an upcoming May title defense against Boris Gelfand in Moscow’s renowned Tretyakov art gallery — a venue that Anand hopes will inspire “ beautiful and artistic chess.” Based on their past performances in hundreds of games, Anand is an almost a 3-to-2 favorite to win the 12-game match. He also has ...
Posted by mathemagician_
nikto.net

6/22/2008
04:40:28

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Message:
I would recommend 'Chess Openings' by Mike Basman, it's quite an old book - first published in 1987 - but inside it describes some general principles etc. then goes onto give insight into The Guico Piano, Sicilian, Nimzo-Indian and Morra-gambit. So if those openings interest you, and you can find a copy (I found my copy in a second-hand-book store), it has my seal of approval - quite an honour if i do say so myself.
———
Chess: The Year in Review — Chess again crossed paths with politics in 2011, with the most remarkable moment occurring in Tripoli, Libya, during the NATO bombing campaign against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the World Chess Federation president, flew to Libya in June and played Qaddafi. Ilyumzhinov had known the Libyan leader since at least 2004, and there was speculation that he was on a mission to try to end the war. The game ended in a draw, but the war continued. (Tripoli fell to the rebels two months later, and Qaddafi was killed in October.) Politics also shadowed an achievement by Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, an Iranian chess grandmaster who set a record in February by playing 614 people at ...
Posted by mathemagician_
nikto.net

6/22/2008
04:52:37

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*Giuoco Piano, of course.
———
Marc Lang catches the eye by breaking world blindfold record — When Miguel Najdorf played 45 chess games simultaneously blindfold in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1947 the exhibition took over 23 hours, including an interval for Najdorf to change his perspiration-soaked shirt and rest his eyes. Later the Hungarian Janos Flesch played 52 games without sight of the board, but his claim unravelled because many opponents resigned after a few moves, and it seemed that Najdorf's performance would never be approached. But last month a little-known 41-year-old 2300-rated German chess master, Marc Lang, toppled the record with 46 games in 21 hours. In previous years Lang set a German record, then broke George Koltanowski's historic European mark of 34 games played at ...
Posted by doctor_knight
nikto.net

6/23/2008
08:49:40

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I'm not sure how advanced a book you're looking for, but if you're not looking for an advanced book, Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings is quite good. I've also got a big book by Graham Burgess (I believe it was my first real chess book) that has a fairly comprehensive overview of openings. He usually shows the main line with some commentary and depending on the importance of the opening, he may show and comment on all the major variations and show a game or two for each. I believe the book was called "Chess Strategy" or something similar and it is big and red. It has lots of other interesting/useful information too.
———
The World Chess Hall of Fame — The World Chess Hall of Fame celebrated the 10th anniversary this month in a new location in St. Louis, Missouri. The history of the Hall and portraits of inducted chess players are available on the impressive web site. When it first opened in Miami in December 2001, I was inducted there together with five great chess players: the unofficial world chess champion Paul Morphy (1837-1884) and the official ones such as William Steinitz (1836-1900), Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942) and Robert James Fischer (1943-2008). I shared the same birth city, Prague, with Steinitz and as fate would have it, we both ended up in America. "The decision of Lubomir Kavalek not to return home from a foreign chess ...
Posted by thunker
nikto.net

6/23/2008
12:03:43

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Message:
"Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" by Reuben Fine

Posted by ccmcacollister
nikto.net

6/25/2008
13:15:40

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Just dropping in ....

Message:
to say I certainly second BOGG's recommendation of IM John Watson. (Of Course ... BOGG's
always right on Chess, in case you haven't noticed yet :)
Great books and author. I especially liked Play The French #1. The info there was enough to
boost several adherents from Iowa alone, into Sr. Master Postal Performances in the French at
that time. Of course there was something of a French Conspiracy here at the time :)
Very popular.


Posted by nemesis1010
nikto.net

6/26/2008
04:33:02

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Cheers everyone

Message:
Though I'm still undecided, lol :)

I will probably start doctor_knight's Yasser Seirawan recommendation and then move onto John Watson's series (I note on Amazon there's a third volume due for release in October).

mathemagician_'s Mike Basman book does sounds interesting. But also appears to be a bit of a rarity - can't see it at all on Amazon or Ebay.

I actually find this link useful as an encyclopaedia of all openings, although the strategy and thinking behind them is very minimal:

www.csm.astate.edu