Hi Sir Losealot,
To cut a long story short, I'm a book wholesaler and distributor, so I was scouring my book databases one afternoon looking for some comprehensive books on Chess - in particular chess openings - when I stumbled upon these books.
According to one of my book databases, they're written by Karpov; Balashov & Chekhov. But on another database, it doesn't list the authors, it just mentions the editor, Nikolai Kalinichenko.
The books are as follows..
ISBN: 5856080866
Encyclopaedia of Modern Chess Openings V1 - Open Games
ISBN: 5894370027
Encyclopeadia of Modern Chess Openings V2 - Sicilian Defence
ISBN: 5894370035
Encyclopaedia of Modern Chess Openings V3 - Semi-Open Games
ISBN: 3853560504
Encyclopaedia of Modern Chess Openings V4 - Closed Games
Thanks and warm regards,
Mark
Best thing for a beginner is NOT a huge openings encyclopedia!
Rather you should learn a couple of openings and basic themes of the openings (look at Seirawan's Winning Chess OPenings) and study tactics and combinations (also endgame and middle game)...then more tactics
Hmmm, I think the days of the print "opening encyclopedia" are numbered. The books that provide just variations with no analysis are easily replaced by chess databases. You don't even have to spend any money for them, just pick up SCID (http://scid.sourceforge.net/). You can build your own database or donate to the project and pick up a 1 million games database on cdrom.
If you can't be bothered with learning a chess db program, no sweat, just visit www.chessgames.com and use their online db.
All of these options give you access to games and stats (how many times did white win with this move, etc.), which is essentially what folks do to build these comprehensive opening tomes. Writers like Eric Schiller have made a living publishing these chessbase dumps. You're better of doing your own lookups and reading through the games that the variations are built on. Sometimes you discover that the kinds of positions that result in these games are not to your liking at all.
I'd suggest picking up a few specific books on specific openings; ones that give plenty of analysis, not just variations. I myself like opening books that recommend an opening repertoire. That way, I can focus on just those openings that give me a complete toolkit for over the board play.
Originally posted by MeesyIf they're the books I'm thinking of, they have just variations with informant style annotations (+= white is a little better, +- white is winning, etc.)
Thanks to everyone for your comments..
dkappe...are you quite sure that this series of books contain variations only with no analysis...have you read them, or do you know of anyone that has read them?
Thanks 🙂
Mark
Most of the encyclopedia books are like this, with at most an intro to each section describing themes.
I'd go along with others here in advising against getting opening encyclopedias - you'll be very unlikely to find anything there that would improve your game.
Instead, I'd advise investing in chess software and training cd's to begin with - for example, Chessmaster 9000 has an excellent "class room" section, that teaches you a lot you need to know to improve. It also has anotated games by IM(?) Josh Waitzkin, where he gives you a glimpse to the thinking of a chess master. Very entertaining in addition to being educational.
There are many very good chessbase cds (stand alone - they don't require you to have chessbase) on various openings, as well as general training cds. A Tactics training cd would be highly recommended, if you want to improve.
Unlike opening encyclopedias, the chessbase cds on various openings teach you the ideas of the opening in question, what you might want to aiming for, and what the pitfalls of the opening are that you'll need to watch out for. Memorizing variations without understanding the reasons behind the moves, and the plausible long term plans in the opening, is a useless exersise.
The reason I recommed cds is that chess books can be a very difficult read, and unless you have very good visualisation skills, they can be laborious to follow without a chess set as an aid. Computer programs tend to be more accessible.
If you do want a book though, you can't go very wrong with Nimzowitsch' ''My system''. I just bought a copy of that after hearing so many people recommend it, and though I've not gotten very far yet, I see already why it is such a classic.
[EDIT: Forgot to say that if you do get ''My System'', make sure it's the modernized version with alebraic notation. Unless of course you're fluent in that particular brand of gibberish 😉 ]
-Jarno
Originally posted by PyrrhoHmmm, 'My System', what can I say? It is a classic, but I have always had issues with Nimzowitsch, both in the English translations and the original German. He is too pedantic and hard to read. He goes on and on and on about his principles. He is the man that cooked up and refined modern chess theory (kudos to Steinitz, etc.), but I think others, such as Euwe & Kramer (Art of the Middlegame 1 & 2) and Pachman (Complete Chess Strategy 1, 2, & 3) are clearer and more accessible.
If you do want a book though, you can't go very wrong with Nimzowitsch' ''My system''. I just bought a copy of that after hearing so many people recommend it, and though I've not gotten very far yet, I see already why it is such a classic.
Also, for a beginner, Silman does OK in "How to Reassess You Chess", if you can get past his ego ("My thinking method, my thinking method, blah, blah, blah..."😉.
'My System' is still a classic, but for the modern chess student, I think it is mostly of historical interest.
Originally posted by dkappeActually I found Nunn's Chess Openings and MCO-14 both to be useful. However I doubt very much if I'd ever invest in a multi-volume encyclopedia. All I need is something that when I hear of an opening I want to check, I can flip to that opening and get an idea of the move order and variations. Both Nunn's and MCO can supply that. If I find an opening looks interesting, then I'll find a book which deals with that specific opening.
Hmmm, I think the days of the print "opening encyclopedia" are numbered. The books that provide just variations with no analysis are easily replaced by chess databases. You don't even have to spend any money for them, just pick up SCID (http://scid.sourceforge.net/). You can build your own database or donate to the project and pick up a 1 million games dat ...[text shortened]... I can focus on just those openings that give me a complete toolkit for over the board play.
Since most of my games, other than against my computer are correspondence, the one volume encyclopedia comes in handy for looking at different lines and analyzing different variations. Not such a factor in games where chess programs can be used to analyze games, but on sites like this where that is not permitted, I use Nunn's and MCO a lot.