Hello
I have been studying endgame theory for a while now. I really like the books Silman wrote on this topic.
Now I would like to study some specific openings.
Does anyone have recommendations on good books describing/explaining the following openings
1: The Italian (esp G. Piano)
2: Queens gambit accepted & Queens gambit declined, especially the Albins countergambit
3: Kings Gambit, especially the falkbeer countergambit
Thanks in advance for replying
"Play the Queens Gambit" by Chris Ward is an excellent book...covers the important lines for QGA, QGD, Slave, Semi Slav etc. plus some good illustrative games...all from the white side so it helps you avoid tricky lines like the Cambridge Springs. It has some but not masses on the Albins thing.
Originally posted by MetBierOpyou should buy John Nunn's MCO as a reference tool and guide to all openings. If you play chess to win in over the board tournaments (i.e. USCF) as you get into the stronger classes you will have to leave alot of the gambit line at home for online chess only.
Hello
I have been studying endgame theory for a while now. I really like the books Silman wrote on this topic.
Now I would like to study some specific openings.
Does anyone have recommendations on good books describing/explaining the following openings
1: The Italian (esp G. Piano)
2: Queens gambit accepted & Queens gambit declined, especially ...[text shortened]... gambit
3: Kings Gambit, especially the falkbeer countergambit
Thanks in advance for replying
The starting out books are usually pretty good for explaining an opening, highlighting common traps, and going over the general themes. The tradeoff for them being easier to get through is that they wont be as comprehensive as some others.
If you like the Queen's Gambit accepted check out Rizzatono's "How to beat 1. d4" This is heavier than the starting out books and doesnt have complete games but very good.
At my level i've read through many books, probably 5 openings books. what did i learn? Pobably not a lot, a lot of lines that get confused from good lines and bad ones. If Icould go back and do it again Id study master games. If your looking for queens gambit games go to kasparovs predecesors books, great annotations and you'll learn more than just the opening. Stick to middle games and endgames and your play will improve. use openings databases for helping develop your opening skills.
I must agree with earlier statements that the book by Chris Ward is very good. I've got one of his books about the Sicilian Dragon and his writing style is very easy to read and he always adds anecdotes and funny comments so you don't get bored too quickly.
About the Kings Bambit I've got the book by Neil McDonald, but it has only one small chapter about the Falkbeer, so you might want to look further than that one. For the rest it's a decent book that explains most of the variations and basic ideas for offensive strategy. Still it's a pretty hard opening to play, for both sides, so I think you'd do better to learn the KGA with 3. ... - g5 or maybe Fischer Defence, but that one is rather difficult to play as well.