A chess opening book is a book on

chess opening The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...

s. This is by far the most common type of literature on

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

. These books describe many major lines, like the

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. e4 c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. The opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for Whi ...

Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez remains one of the most popular chess openings, featuring many variations. In ...

, and

Queen's Gambit The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 It is one of the oldest openings and is still commonly played today. It is traditionally described as a '' gambit'' because White appears to sacrifice the ...

, as well as many minor variations of the main lines.

Types

There are several types of opening manuals: # Manuals dealing with one specific opening - Often these manuals have highly optimistic titles, like ''Black to Play and Win with 1...g6'' (

Andrew Soltis Andrew Eden Soltis (born May 28, 1947) is an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, author and columnist. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in September 2011. Chess career Soltis learned how the chess pieces mov ...

), but some are more modest: ''Starting out: the King's Indian'' ( Joe Gallagher). In general, these books are the most accessible to the general reader, and cover the most material for individual opening systems (though some also cover openings in general). # Manuals giving a system or repertoire - These manuals discuss two or more opening systems, often related by similar tactical themes,

pawn structure In a game of chess, the pawn structure (sometimes known as the pawn skeleton) is the configuration of pawn (chess), pawns on the chessboard. Because pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus ...

s, or strategic aims. The aim is generally to get the player to the middle game with a playable position without too much trouble, no matter what the opposing player does. # Manuals giving general opening advice and guidance - Possibly the most famous example of this type of manual (in English) is

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

's ''The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings''. This type of book does not analyze any opening system to much depth, but teaches the ideas that will help its reader understand opening play. # Encyclopedic manuals that aim to be comprehensive - These manuals, from the five volume ''

Encyclopedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Yugoslavian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). It ...

'' (ECO) to the single volume works like ''Nunn's Chess Openings'' (NCO) and ''

Modern Chess Openings ''Modern Chess Openings'' (usually called ) is a reference book on chess openings, first published in 1911 by the British players Richard Griffith (chess player), Richard Clewin Griffith (1872–1955) and John Herbert White (1880–1920). The fif ...

'' (MCO) by

Nick de Firmian Nicholas Ernest de Firmian (born July 26, 1957) is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1985. He is a three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 (with Joel Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. He also tied f ...

and

Walter Korn Walter Korn (May 22, 1908 in Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a popula ...

aim to cover as many opening systems as possible at the expense of understanding the ideas behind the opening. Usually, at the end of a sequence of moves provided in a theory table, the reader is told that one side stands slightly better than the other. However no information is given on what that assessment is based on or how to proceed in the game. Historically, the prototype for this style of opening book was the German ''

Handbuch des Schachspiels ''Handbuch des Schachspiels'' (''Handbook of Chess'', often simply called the ''Handbuch'') is a chess book, first published in 1843 by Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa. It was a comprehensive reference book on the game, and one of the most i ...

'' (also known as the "''Bilguer Handbuch''"), first published in 1843, which pioneered the use of theory tables. It remained a standard reference work until the emergence of MCO in the early twentieth century. # DVD demonstrating the openings - These DVDs are the modern idea of describing the main ideas and themes of the openings. Those are explained by strong masters, using video to explain as a teacher performs the principles.

General chess opening books

These books cover a wide variety of chess openings. They are in English, except that the ''

'' has minimal text but instead uses universal symbols to annotate moves and ideas that can be understood in many languages (see

Punctuation (chess) When annotating chess games, commentators frequently use widely recognized annotation symbols. Question marks and exclamation points that denote a move as bad or good are ubiquitous in chess literature. Some publications intended for an interna ...

). * ''How to Play the Opening in Chess''. 1993.

Raymond Keene Raymond Dennis Keene (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971 and was the first player from England t ...

and David Levy. . * The ''

'', five volumes,

Chess Informant Chess Informant () is a publishing company from Belgrade, Serbia, that periodically (since 2012, four volumes per year) produces volumes of a book entitled ''Chess Informant'', as well as the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'', ''Encyclopaedia ...

, Belgrade. * ''Batsford Chess Openings 2''. 1989, 1994.

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

and

. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company. . * ''Nunn's Chess Openings''. 1999.

John Nunn John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was form ...

(Editor),

Graham Burgess Graham K. Burgess (born 24 February 1968 in Liverpool, England) is an English FIDE Master of chess and a noted writer and trainer. He became a FIDE Master at the age of twenty. He attended Birkdale High School in Southport, Merseyside. In 1 ...

, John Emms, & Joe Gallagher. . * ''

'', 15th edition (MCO-15). 2008.

. . *''Fundamental Chess Openings'', Paul van der Sterren, 2009, Gambit, . * ''Mastering the Chess Openings'', four volumes, John Watson, 2007, Gambit. * ''Chess Opening Essentials'', four volumes, Stefan Djuric, Dimitri Komarov, & Claudio Pantaleoni, 2008, New in Chess.

References

{{Chess *Opening book

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

Chess books

Types

General chess opening books

See also

References