Tags: play chess, online chess, play chess online, play chess online, online chess, chess online, backgammon online
Chess Forum chessbase.net << online chess - < chess - chess > - chess online >>
| From | Message | Posted by nemesis1010 chessbase.net
6/21/2008 14:50:18 Play online chess | 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 chessbase.net
6/21/2008 19:21:10 Play online chess | fwiw
Message: 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 chessbase.net
6/21/2008 20:15:40 Play online chess | MCO no thanks.
Message: MCO covers lines but no explanation.
I suggest "Understanding the chess openings" by Collins.
——— Chess: Knight moves — The finely tuned positional antennae of Ulf Andersson sense a problem requiring a harmonious solution. More from the master of positional play, Ulf Andersson. How did he manage to improve his position? RB: Last week I went for an exchange sacrifice in the game Andersson-Tempone. It wasn't the continuation that Andersson chose, which should perhaps be enough to warn me against the move I am thinking of here – 1…Rd4. If White accepts the offer, 2 Bxd4 then 2…exd4 and the knight, which is pinned to the queen, is lost. But, of course, it's not going to be that simple. White can refuse to play ball and instead go ...
Posted by bogg chessbase.net
6/22/2008 00:09:33 Play online chess | nemesis1010
Message: 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) ——— Rise of computers has lifted game — Bobby Fischer was rarely wrong about chess matters. But in one critical issue, he erred grievously: Late in life, he concluded that chess was played out. Most of the important possibilities in the opening phase had been explored and understood, he thought, and grandmasters’ reliance on computers had taken the creativity out of the game. But it seems that the opposite is true. A complete database of chess games now would be in the millions, not in the tens or hundreds of thousands as in Fischer’s time. And that volume continues to grow as an increasing number of strong chess players, playing an ever larger number of games, dominates chess. Not surprisingly, chess players’ repertoires have ...
Posted by mathemagician_ chessbase.net
6/22/2008 04:40:28 Play online chess |
Message: 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. ——— Armenia Takes Team Title; Chinese Player Is Top Scorer — The Chess Olympiad, which was first held in 1924, is the most elite national team event in the chess world. But the World Team Chess Championship is in some ways more competitive because it includes only 10 squads, so there are no easy matches. This year, Armenia, the No. 4 seed, was the runaway winner at the chess event, which ended on Tuesday in Ningbo, China. It was hardly an upset; the Armenians, behind Levon Aronian, have won two of the last three Chess Olympiads, which are held every two years. China, the No. 6 seed, finished second, and Ukraine lived up to its seeding by winning the bronze medal. Russia, which was the top seed and had won the last two Team Chess Championships, finished ...
Posted by mathemagician_ chessbase.net
6/22/2008 04:52:37 Play online chess |
Message: *Giuoco Piano, of course. ——— Armenia replaces England as nation that punches above its weight — In the 1980s and 1990s England punched above their weight in world chess events. Silver medals in the Chess Olympiads of 1984, 1986 and 1988 and bronze at the 1985 and 1989 world teams were followed by gold at the 1997 Euroteams. After that the England chess team aged or retired, while competition increased with the break-up of the Soviet Union. There have been hopes in the past two years that a new England chess group could become international contenders, as Luke McShane, David Howell and Gawain Jones became strong chess grandmasters to support the established stars Michael Adams and Nigel Short. But recently McShane has reverted to a full-time job and is not competing in ...
Posted by doctor_knight chessbase.net
6/23/2008 08:49:40 Play online chess |
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. ——— Chess-mad Armenia's heroes return in triumph — Armenia's top chess players, lauded as heroes after winning the 2011 World Team Chess Championship this week, vowed on Friday to boost the small chess-mad country's status in the game even further. The team's head coach said that future successes will be secured through official support and an unusual new scheme to promote the game among schoolchildren initiated by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, a keen chess player who also heads the country's Chess Federation. "Because of this attention and care, we can improve our game," coach Arshak Petrosian told a press conference, two days after returning from the chess tournament in China to a rapturous welcome from fans and ...
Posted by thunker chessbase.net
6/23/2008 12:03:43 Play online chess |
Message: "Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" by Reuben Fine
| Posted by ccmcacollister chessbase.net
6/25/2008 13:15:40 Play online chess | 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 chessbase.net
6/26/2008 04:33:02 Play online chess | 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
|
| | | | |
|