Any suggestions? I am looking for a combination of reference and explanation, mainly the latter. Like why is a particular move good, what is the strength of a certain opening and most importantly: once the book line is over what are the options open to the player - i.e. what lines of attack should he follow and what lines should he avoid (or should he just be defending).
I have seen a few in the forums:
The Ideas Behind The Chess Openings by Reuben Fine
Chess Openings for the Average Player by Harding and Barden
Any suggestions?
Originally posted by Mutt n StuWell, are there any openings in particular that you enjoy playing as either white or black?
Any suggestions? I am looking for a combination of reference and explanation, mainly the latter. Like why is a particular move good, what is the strength of a certain opening and most importantly: once the book line is over what are the options open to the player - i.e. what lines of attack should he follow and what lines should he avoid (or should he jus ...[text shortened]... by Reuben Fine
Chess Openings for the Average Player by Harding and Barden
Any suggestions?
What is you chess playing stlyle like? Agressive? Defensive?
There are some decent broad-based chess books available, but it might do some good to narrow your range a bit.
I was actually looking for a rather broad-based book so if my opponent plays a certain defense I can get some ideas on what to do.
I don't like to sit back and defend. However I would not say I am very aggressive in my attacking.
White I always used to play Guico Piano. I'd tried Ruy Lopez but could never come to terms with the bishop / knight trade vs. the bishop being driven back by the pawn. Have started playing Queen's Gambit and in quite a few games recently my opponents have let me play 1.e4 2. d4
Black I tried the Sicilian in the past and got myself in knots. Giving it a second chance now.
I seem to play worse when I try to follow specific openings - hence this post. I follow the book line and then things start to fall apart.
Originally posted by Mutt n StuIn my experience you are unlikely to gain a huge amount from general explanations such as those found in Fine's chess book or any other chess primer, which in general recycle the same advice - don't bring out the queen too early, knight before bishops, blah blah. The reason that most opening works are full of daunting variations is because the opening is a very complex and tactical phase of the game and the grandmasters have had to delve very deep in an effort to gain an upper hand on their rivals. Unless you get to grips with what is going on tactically from the very first move in the openings you choose you are unlikely to improve this phase of the game very much. I think the key thing is to understand what may constitute an advantage, for example "a queenside pawn majority" or "minority attack"
Any suggestions? I am looking for a combination of reference and explanation, mainly the latter. Like why is a particular move good, what is the strength of a certain opening and most importantly: once the book line is over what are the options open to the player - i.e. what lines of attack should he follow and what lines should he avoid (or should he jus ...[text shortened]... by Reuben Fine
Chess Openings for the Average Player by Harding and Barden
Any suggestions?
and understand how the tactics in the opening lead to the particular pawn positions in the early middle game. For this reason I think that annotated games collections are often the most revealing. Pulp opening books that express what is going on in an opening in neat prose sound plausible, but when they dump you in the forest at move 6 or 8 you have to go back to the basic tactics to find your way out.
Some of this is alluded to quite nicely towards the end of John Watson's Secrets of Chess Strategy, but hey, that is more of a middle game book.
Another point: do not believe people who say d4 openings are quiet, more positional, e4 openings are more aggressive and attacking. This is IMNSHO bunkum. Just look at all the "variations" in a variation centred opening manual and then try to tell me they are not tactical!!
Well I'd recommend a set of books to cover this subject (with the cautionary advice - often repeated - not to spend too much time on opening theory and to concentrate study on tactics and endings🙂
"Discovering Chess Openings" by John Emms - is aimed at a 1200 - 1500 player and it covers the basics and the principles of the opening in a very clear and accessible way....(only get this if you don't mind going over the first few moves and the ideas behind them...much of which your likely to already be familiar with but still a good refresher....and you can work right through in a reasonable time frame!)
"Mastering the Chess Openings" volume 1 & 2 by John Watsonis aimed at a much higher level. Vol 1 covers 1.e4 and vol 2 covers 1.d4... between them they go through the ideas and principles of the major systems in depth with many complete game examples. There is a good balance of text/games/ analysis and it's up to date (2007). John Watson is considered to be an expert in this area.
"Beating Unusual Openings" by Richard Palliser has a few chapters on meeting 1.c4 and covers things like the 1.g4, 1.b3, 1.Nf3, 1.Nc3 etc....designed to help you prepare as black for when you meet these systems. I guess the target audience for this book is 1500+
Once you have chosen a system that suits your style of play then you might consider adding a repertoire book for that opening. If you do want to proceed with 1.d4 then "Play the Queens Gambit" by Chris Ward is brilliant...I've found it really useful.
It might seem a bit of a contradiction to site the advice not to study the openings too much then recommend several books on it. But it does help to get out of the starting blocks and - if you like books as a method of study - the above are good works and make good reference material.
Originally posted by Sepia TintThere is something to be said for this. However, as Jeremy Silman points out, memorizing reams of opening variations isn't necessarily the way to go for amateurs, especially at an intermediate level, because their opponents are not generally going to possess a master's knowledge of the opening and will diverge from it sooner rather than later. When that happens one has to understand two things in order to be able to play good chess:
. . . . The reason that most opening works are full of daunting variations is because the opening is a very complex and tactical phase of the game...Unless you get to grips with what is going on tactically from the very first move in the openings you choose you are unlikely to improve this phase of the game very much...For this reason I think that annotated games collections are often the most revealing.
(1) Those "blah, blah, blah" positional principles
(2) The general ideas behind the opening in question.
As far as (2) is concerned, there is no doubt that learning these ideas in a holistic manner, in the context of annotated games involving the openings, so that one can see these ideas work together, as well as what kind of middlegames they might produce, is a good thing. Unfortunately, there are relatively few annotated games collections involving a particular opening (and what about transpositions, which may be common?), and even fewer targeted at the amateur player. Many of the "annotated" online games I've seen seem to be targeted at masters, with an occasional comment or cryptic "!?" and much else taken for granted.
So, unless he is really dedicated to learning a particular opening, he might be better off starting out with an "ideas behind the opening(s)" book; preferably one with a reasonable number of annotated games targeted at players in his (our) range, and dealing with the opening(s) in question. Others here might be better able to suggest particular titles, since I am in the unfortunate position of someone attempting to learn openings strictly through the use of databases (not recommended).
I've owned Chess Openings for the Average Player by Harding and Barden for over a decade. Its my most heavily thumbed book and its a testament to the quality of construction over at Dover Publishing that its still in one piece.
As others have said, studying openings is no substitute for a knowledge of tactics and what not; but like Mark, I feel they have their place in any aspiring chess player's arsenal. To that end, and even though its likely been surpassed by newer opening books, I would still recommend the Harding and Barden book as a place to start. The theory is not cutting edge, nor is there a lot of it in even the lines they give the most coverage to. But its still a good book (and a cheap one too) to get a feel for the different openings and help you along the path toward finding the openings that are right for you and some idea of how to play them.
And if you do buy it, buy its sister book "Better Chess for Average Players" as well. Like their opening book, this book will give you a good grounding in what to do when the opening is over. And it also contains some valuable endgame instruction as well. Plus it too is cheap and its an easy read that provides a good starting point to more specialized works.
I don't recommend the Fine book. It is very outdated and openings that are fashionable today you will find little to no coverage of in their book. Plus its in descriptive notation, which is harder to follow than the more recent books that are algebraic.