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Posted by nemesis1010
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6/21/2008
14:50:18

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Subject: Books on Openings

Message:
Can anyone recommend a good book on openings that you've used and has genuinely improved your game? A quick search on Amazon produces far too many and very similar looking results, so I don't really know where to begin :). Basically I'd like one or two books that demonstrate the pros and cons of all popular openings and defences, so that I can hopefully expand my game beyond my current staple of Queen's pawn and English openings, and French defence.

Cheers in advance
Mike


Posted by tag1153
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6/21/2008
19:21:10

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fwiw

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I have about 100 chess books....probably 95 were impulse buys at tourneys, and they sre doing a wonderful job of collecting dust on the bookshelf. The one book that any serious student needs imho is an MCO (or other encyclopedic style opening manual). My MCO is about 20 years old now, and practically falling apart - but it has 20 years of my handwritten notes on the "trees" of just about every opening you've ever heard of....it is the one tool that helped me to be able identify openings better. But keep this mind - this "advice" is coming from a lifelong class C patzer, so it is probably best to disregard it:)

tag1153


Posted by chessisvanity
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6/21/2008
20:15:40

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MCO no thanks.

Message:
MCO covers lines but no explanation.

I suggest "Understanding the chess openings" by Collins.


———
Chess: The patience of Anand — The world chess champion might have rushed his attack, but his gradual squeeze gave him the upper hand. Ponomariov-Anand, Wijk aan Zee 2011. White has just played 1 Qc6-c8. How should Black reply? We rejoin the game from last week, but a few moves further on. Anand has improved his position, notably on the kingside, and remains in control. How can he make further progress? RB: Last week it occurred to me that Ponomariov's queen looked locked in on the queenside, but I couldn't see a way to trap it. Some moves further along, the idea seems even more attractive. What happens if I play 1...Rf8...? Hmm, White has ...
Posted by bogg
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6/22/2008
00:09:33

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nemesis1010

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It is hard to go wrong with books written by John Watson. Although I haven't read them, his two volume set 'Mastering the Chess Openings' has been spoken highly of by friends.

CTCampbell (Bogg)
———
Chess Puzzles: King Tut in Studies — Last week we invoked memories of King Tut, presenting two chess compositions in which the black king is mated, surrounded by eight black pawns. You can find the solutions at the end of this column. This week we present a slightly different "King Tut motif. " Entombing the king in chess studies is usually done at the edge of the chessboard and often leads to spectacular stalemates. It can save draws in tournament games. Puzzle #1: A simple king tomb was created by the Austrian chess master, theoretician and writer Johann Berger in his important work on endgames, Theorie un Praxis der Endspiele, published in 1890. Johann Berger White draws
Posted by mathemagician_
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6/22/2008
04:40:28

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I would recommend 'Chess Openings' by Mike Basman, it's quite an old book - first published in 1987 - but inside it describes some general principles etc. then goes onto give insight into The Guico Piano, Sicilian, Nimzo-Indian and Morra-gambit. So if those openings interest you, and you can find a copy (I found my copy in a second-hand-book store), it has my seal of approval - quite an honour if i do say so myself.
———
For One Teenage Chess Champion, Moscow Is a Charmed City — Le Quang Liem startled the chess world last year when he won the top section of the prestigious Aeroflot Open in Moscow. He was 18 and had just entered the top 100. The victory earned Le Quang an invitation to the Sparkassen Chess Meeting tournament in Dortmund, Germany. There he showed that his performance in Moscow had not been a fluke by finishing second. By September, he was ranked No. 41 in the world. His fall came just as quickly, first at the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, where he struggled, and then at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, where he lost all but one of his games. Le Quang, who is from Vietnam, began 2011 ranked No. 79. Last week, ...
Posted by mathemagician_
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6/22/2008
04:52:37

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Message:
*Giuoco Piano, of course.
———
Le Quang Liem produces second shock win at Moscow Aeroflot — Moscow Aeroflot is the strongest and most fiercely competitive open chess tournament in the world, with a €20,000 first prize and nearly 50 entrants rated above 2600, the level of a high-class grandmaster. So it was remarkable that the winner in this week's Aeroflot 2011 should be the same Vietnamese teenager who scored a shock victory there in 2010. Last year Le Quang Liem won Aeroflot at 18, finished second in an elite chess event at Dortmund ahead of the former world chess champion Vlad Kramnik and soared up the world rankings. Le's hot streak then subsided until the second half of Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee last month, where he almost caught Luke McShane at the post. Now he ...
Posted by doctor_knight
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6/23/2008
08:49:40

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Message:
I'm not sure how advanced a book you're looking for, but if you're not looking for an advanced book, Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings is quite good. I've also got a big book by Graham Burgess (I believe it was my first real chess book) that has a fairly comprehensive overview of openings. He usually shows the main line with some commentary and depending on the importance of the opening, he may show and comment on all the major variations and show a game or two for each. I believe the book was called "Chess Strategy" or something similar and it is big and red. It has lots of other interesting/useful information too.
———
Ugandan girl, Phiona Mutesi leads chess revolution from the slums — Despite background the 15-year-old girl is already country's number two chess player and has competed at World Chess Olympiad. In a rickety church in a Ugandan slum, a girl's hand thrusts forward and a black bishop falls. The girl shows no emotion, though she knows the end is near. Striking quickly, silently, the black queen is toppled, and then the king. Only then does she smile. "You attacked too much," she tells the boy sitting opposite her on the wooden bench, a homemade board between them. Phiona Mutesi is 15. She has just finished primary school and is still learning to read. Her family is so poor they have been evicted from tiny, rented shacks more times than she ...
Posted by thunker
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6/23/2008
12:03:43

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Message:
"Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" by Reuben Fine

Posted by ccmcacollister
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6/25/2008
13:15:40

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Just dropping in ....

Message:
to say I certainly second BOGG's recommendation of IM John Watson. (Of Course ... BOGG's
always right on Chess, in case you haven't noticed yet :)
Great books and author. I especially liked Play The French #1. The info there was enough to
boost several adherents from Iowa alone, into Sr. Master Postal Performances in the French at
that time. Of course there was something of a French Conspiracy here at the time :)
Very popular.


Posted by nemesis1010
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6/26/2008
04:33:02

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Cheers everyone

Message:
Though I'm still undecided, lol :)

I will probably start doctor_knight's Yasser Seirawan recommendation and then move onto John Watson's series (I note on Amazon there's a third volume due for release in October).

mathemagician_'s Mike Basman book does sounds interesting. But also appears to be a bit of a rarity - can't see it at all on Amazon or Ebay.

I actually find this link useful as an encyclopaedia of all openings, although the strategy and thinking behind them is very minimal:

www.csm.astate.edu