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Starting out: opening books?

Starting out: opening books?

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Anyone who buys chess books knows about the "Starting out" series..

It covers an opening for beginners etc etc.

The question i have is....what rating level are these books geared to?
Yes i know beginners...but how high?...1400?...1600?

i was looking to buy them cause clearly i suck...but is it pointless if me being 1400 is already to high for the books?

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
Anyone who buys chess books knows about the "Starting out" series..

It covers an opening for beginners etc etc.

The question i have is....what rating level are these books geared to?
Yes i know beginners...but how high?...1400?...1600?

i was looking to buy them cause clearly i suck...but is it pointless if me being 1400 is already to high for the books?
youe not too high for these, and id expect the range to be very wide as they give general lines and then take a look deeper, in general.

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
Anyone who buys chess books knows about the "Starting out" series..

It covers an opening for beginners etc etc.

The question i have is....what rating level are these books geared to?
Yes i know beginners...but how high?...1400?...1600?

i was looking to buy them cause clearly i suck...but is it pointless if me being 1400 is already to high for the books?
I suspect you're fine. RahimKs only opening book was Starting Out: The Sicillian and he was 1800+ (he never peaked, so it's hard to say exactly how strong he was).

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
Anyone who buys chess books knows about the "Starting out" series..

It covers an opening for beginners etc etc.

The question i have is....what rating level are these books geared to?
Yes i know beginners...but how high?...1400?...1600?

i was looking to buy them cause clearly i suck...but is it pointless if me being 1400 is already to high for the books?
Jeremy Silman's web site has reviews for almost 20 of the Starting Out opening books, and the reviewers usually recommend a rating range for the reader of that book. The range can vary quite a bit, depending on the specific book.

http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews/index_universal.html

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Originally posted by Mad Rook
Jeremy Silman's web site has reviews for almost 20 of the Starting Out opening books, The range can vary quite a bit, http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews/index_universal.html
LOL!!
i just went there and it varied a LOT! thanks for warning me...

range:1400 to grandmaster 😛

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
Anyone who buys chess books knows about the "Starting out" series..

It covers an opening for beginners etc etc.

The question i have is....what rating level are these books geared to?
Yes i know beginners...but how high?...1400?...1600?

i was looking to buy them cause clearly i suck...but is it pointless if me being 1400 is already to high for the books?
I have pretty much all of them...........they are very good!!

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Originally posted by zebano
I suspect you're fine. RahimKs only opening book was Starting Out: The Sicillian and he was 1800+ (he never peaked, so it's hard to say exactly how strong he was).
RahimK is severly overrated imo. I'd say he's about 1650-1750 if he had a normal game load. And 2) RahimK has chessbase. I would recommend getting chessbase over an opening book.

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chessbase doesn't explain the "why" of an opening.

1 edit
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Originally posted by chessisvanity
Anyone who buys chess books knows about the "Starting out" series..

It covers an opening for beginners etc etc.

The question i have is....what rating level are these books geared to?
Yes i know beginners...but how high?...1400?...1600?

i was looking to buy them cause clearly i suck...but is it pointless if me being 1400 is already to high for the books?
Maybe get a book on the concepts but I find it easier to just look through the games to see the ideas of the opening

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
chessbase doesn't explain the "why" of an opening.
Very few opening books have the "why" anyway, I own about a dozen opening books and most of them are lines with very sparing commentary

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is yer avatar from when moneymaker won?

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yeah damnit.

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lol...well to make you feel better i hear he hasn't won since.

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
is yer avatar from when moneymaker won?
Great for the poker and yet horrible for poker at the same time :p

2 edits
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Originally posted by chessisvanity
Anyone who buys chess books knows about the "Starting out" series..

It covers an opening for beginners etc etc.

The question i have is....what rating level are these books geared to?
Yes i know beginners...but how high?...1400?...1600?

i was looking to buy them cause clearly i suck...but is it pointless if me being 1400 is already to high for the books?
I have a few of them.

They are, in common with most opening books, geared at players above 1400-1600.

Below 1600 you would do better working on gereral opening theory and honing your tactics. Above 1600 they begin to come into use and will certainly pay studying and help you improve.

I use the few I purchased extensively coupled with Batsford MCO and Nunns MCO and find them extremely useful. If you have a good database it is greatly beneficial reading the books in conjunction with a DB but never make a move in a DB simply because it seems the best or is the most common without understanding why you make it and the type of position it is leading you to.

Contrary to some other posts here I would recommend getting decent books before a DB as books explain why a move is played much better and understanding why is the best way to improve.

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