I have Reubin Fine's well-recommended book "The Ideas behind the Chess Openings", but I think I am too inexperienced to understand it. [I haven't cracked it for a while now, maybe I could handle it now.]
Currently I am using "Chess Openings the Easy Way" (~200 pages) by MCO author Nick de Firmian. This helps me get through openings, but there is very little explanation in this book. When I use this book, I try to come up with the next best move myself before looking at the book.
One problem I have with this book is there are no out-of-book moves, so when the opening goes out-of-book I may flounder. I guess this is just part of learning, but this kind of info would make it easier.
Hi Zucchini,
One thing you can do is buy a book for a specific opening. There are hundreds of them online and in book stores. I can't really make recommendations, everyone has their own style of play and what I like in an opening you may not like. But do some research on openings and find a couple that you think fit the style of chess you play.
Go to a book store, browse through the chess books, read the intro or preface and see what the author says about the opening. Then scan through the book and see if the author talks about "ideas". If he or she does then do a little more research and see if it's a style of opening you might like. If it is then take it home. Maybe you should pay for it first of course... :-)
A book that deals only with one opening, let's say the Caro-Kann for black, will also explain the ideas behind the opening. Specific books like that will also give you some "offbeat" or "out of book" lines and analysis. Of course if they're in the book they're not really out of book are they. :-)
Anyway, after you pick a few openings there's three things you need to do.:
play'em,
play'em
and play'em
RHP and Uchess are GREAT places to work on your openings. You've got the slow pace of RHP and the blitz pace of Uchess. Doesn't get any better than that for improving your skills. Good luck!
Wib
It's easy to get the wrong opening book. Some are little more than lists of games, others are poorly organized or translated. MOST are aimed at higher-level players, despite the fact that that's a relatively small market. Books that really cover the ideas behind the openings are pretty rare.
The traditional advice is to pick an opening that suits you then look for a book on it. But I'd turn that around and say you should pick a great book and play whatever opening it happens to be about. You'll learn more and probably have more fun.
A couple worth looking at (I've included links to reviews):
David Bronstein, "Bronstein on the King's Indian"
http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_rb/rb_bronstein_kid.html
Simon Williams, "Play the Classical Dutch"
http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_rb/rb_play_classical_dutch.html
Peter Wells, "Winning with the Trompowsky"
http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_js/js_winning_trompowsky.html
Nigel Davies, "Alekhine's Defense"
http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_rb/rb_alekhines_defense.html
If you got those books you'd actually have a pretty complete repertoire, though a very aggressive one.
Everyman is publishing a series of books on "Starting Out" in various openings, and you might want to take a look at some of those, too.
Originally posted by lloydk
The traditional advice is to pick an opening that suits you...
Hard to do, as I have no opinion as to what openings suit me. I have found it very helpful to play here slowly, with my opening books, against a wide range of openings. I am finally starting to remember some of the lines (first 3 or 4 moves per side).
Originally posted by lloydk
... you should pick a great book and play whatever opening it happens to be about.
I have found the idea of studying one opening in depth a little intimidating, and perhaps too narrow. Do you think that what I learn with in depth study is transferable to other openings?
Also, thanks for the recommendations.
I have found the idea of studying one opening in depth a little intimidating, and perhaps too narrow. Do you think that what I learn with in depth study is transferable to other openings?I think you'll find the idea a lot less intimidating if you forget about memorizing lines, and concentrate on finding the ideas and reasons behind the openings.
What is important to know is that studying openings isn't about memorizing specific lines - sure remembering lines can be helpful, but MUCH more important is to understand the ideas behind the opening: what sort of a middle game does the opening aim for? Does the opening call for fast development and attack? Do you have time for slow manouvering before agression, and how should you initiate your attack? Are there good standard ideas and patterns that often arise in the opening that you could make use of?
A good opening book or other resource should be mainly concerned witht these questions - if you know answers to these questions regarding the opening you use, it is quite likely that you'd see the right moves even without having memorized long variations.
On the other hand, if you only memorize variations and moves, you'll find yourself lost right after the game leaves book, and most likely any advantage you get from your memorized moves will turn out to be minimal or non-existent.
Also, certain openings do have some common themes... for example, knowledge of the Bird opening may help understanding of the Dutch defence, and the two can be played somewhat similarly. Also, if you play the Bird, and don't like the defensive play you're thrust into by the From Gambit (1.f4 e5), then you might surprice your opponent by transposing into a more aggressive variation by adding King's gambit into your repertuare: 1.f4 e5 2.e4.
As for study material, I've found the Chessbase series of cd's on openings quite good.
-Jarno
Originally posted by PyrrhoThis advice makes sense to me. I have noticed in my books a brief description like, "fight for control of e5" or " with attacking chances on the King side." This, too, is pretty tough to memorize. Perhaps I should focus on one opening at a time, while taking care to look for and understand the themes.
What is important to know is that studying openings isn't about memorizing specific lines ... MUCH more important is to understand the ideas behind the opening: what sort of a middle game does the opening aim for? Does the opening call for fast development and attack? Do you have time for slow manouvering before agression, and how should you initiate your a ...[text shortened]... ere good standard ideas and patterns that often arise in the opening that you could make use of?
Originally posted by zucchiniThat's a very good way to go about it IMHO. 🙂
This advice makes sense to me. I have noticed in my books a brief description like, "fight for control of e5" or " with attacking chances on the King side." This, too, is pretty tough to memorize. Perhaps I should focus on one opening at a time, while taking care to look for and understand the themes.
I think a good idea would be to pick an opening, identify just a few of the most common responses to that opening, and then learn ideas and themes that you would be well off aiming for in the resulting positions.
Then play, play and play some more... use the opening repeatedly, so that you'll encounter the responses and get to really learn to see the types of positions that arise, and get some good ideas to use in the games that develop.
Then whenever you encounter a response that you aren't familiar with, and that doesn't appear to transpose into a familiar line, analyze it afterwards, look for similar games up in a database (for example at http://www.chesslab.com/PositionSearch.html). Get a feel for it that way, and so the next time you'll be prepared for that too. This way you expand your understanding of the opening a little by little.
-Jarno
As per wib's, lloydk's, and Pyrrho's suggestions, I have decided to study the Sicilian Defense, as I usually play this against e4 as black, and my opponents do too.
My public library doesn't have any books on this opening, and neither does my (closest) local bookstore. I looked online at amazon.com and bn.com and found a few. Could somebody please recommend a Sicilian book they liked (or web site)? Each of my opening books give the Sicilian about 3-6 pages, and I have looked them over. I am ready for more detail.
Thanks to all of you for helping me!
Originally posted by zucchiniPlay the openings you're interested in enough to become familiar with the kind of positions that arise out of them.
Do you mean that you try to play the same openings?
Also, I have been happy to play from my openings book rather randomly. Do you think it is better to play several games at once with related openings?
Originally posted by zucchiniWoa. Err... like, which of the many flavors of the sicilian?
As per wib's, lloydk's, and Pyrrho's suggestions, I have decided to study the Sicilian Defense, as I usually play this against e4 as black, and my opponents do too.
My public library doesn't have any books on this opening, and neither does my (closest) local bookstore. I looked online at amazon.com and bn.com and found a few. C ...[text shortened]... and I have looked them over. I am ready for more detail.
Thanks to all of you for helping me!
I recommend being cautious when it comes to books. I recently became re-interested in chess (about a year ago) after a college length sabbatical, and returned into a "study a book and play" chess philosophy. I found myself in many compromising situations and playing very poorly due to the fact that I was trying to develop (or force) the game into something it wasn't. Now that I am back on my feet and a learned man (the hard way) I have some confidence in a few openings that reflect my playing style. My point is don't get bogged down with one opening. My suggestion to you and anyone else looking to improve their game through text is to learn the basics to at least three openings. It was recommended to me to purchase Bill Robertie text. He has a series out that is very easy to read with few errors in the text. I keep his text on openings with my board. It is a survey in which the first half covers double king pawn opens such as the very popular Ruy Lopez (an essential) and the later half on other responses for black.
To conclude I would like to recommend purchasing something on pawn structures. This is advice that I should take myself. I have witnessed my own demised by better players due to a well timed pawn push. I recognize this as my Achilles tendon and as probably many others whether they realize it or not. I recommend to you to also study pawn philosophy, specifically when and where to cross the little moat that intersects across the midpoint of the board.