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| From | Message | Posted by nemesis1010 legalserv.com
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 legalserv.com
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 legalserv.com
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.
——— It's All in the Programming: Computer Falls to a Beginner — It has been commonly accepted for about a decade that computers are better than people at chess. But a couple of weeks ago, a widely circulated story out of Ukraine suggested that a man who learned to play the game less than a year ago had beaten the world’s best chess program. The story seemed preposterous. The man, Andriy Slyusarchuk, beat Rybka 4, the strongest commercially available chess program, in a two-game match, winning one and drawing the other. He not only won, he played what is known as blindfold chess, meaning he called out his moves and had the computer’s relayed to him. The match was taped in front of an audience and broadcast on television. Slyusarchuk, 39, claims ...
Posted by bogg legalserv.com
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) ——— U.S. chess championship felt like a tornado — I wasn’t at the airport last month, but I still feel like I got hit by a tornado. For some players, the 2011 U.S. Chess Championship concluded April 29, but unfortunately April 21 was my last game. On the bright side, I had a ringside seat for the remainder of the chess matches, including the heart-pounding women’s finals, which went into an Armageddon round (that’s triple overtime)! The chess tournament featured an interesting format – the top two players from two eight-player round-robin groups qualified for the semi-final matches. The two semi-finalists from the “A” group were no surprise. Reigning Chess Champion and Grandmaster (GM) Gata Kamsky and last year’s runner-up, GM Yury Shulman, easily ...
Posted by mathemagician_ legalserv.com
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. ——— Chess notes — China is steadily gaining the respect of the world chess community as some of its players have emerged to become substantially dangerous competitors in the West. So the Chinese chess championships have been watched with interest this year. In the 2011 championship, a dark horse has once again emerged to take first place: Ding Liren. The 18-year-old won the title in 2009 (in part because of a defaulted game), despite being one of the lower-rated chess players in the field. His score this year was a startling 9-2 against such well-known chess grandmasters as Yue Wang and Xiangzhi Bu. Ding has only occasionally played in the West. World Women’s chess champion Hou Yifan scored an impressive ...
Posted by mathemagician_ legalserv.com
6/22/2008 04:52:37 Play online chess |
Message: *Giuoco Piano, of course. ——— Chess: A pawn endgame dilemma — Should White force a pawn endgame? It's a tricky decision... RB: My first reaction is: no, White should definitely not exchange. After 1 Nf4 Bxf4 2 Kxf4 Kd5 it seems to me as though Black is definitely better. But what else does White have? I don't want to drop the king back and allow the black king to invade. I could try 1 a4, but after 1…b6 I'm back to my original dilemma. It makes me nervous, but let's see what happens after 1 Nf4. Black takes, obviously, 1…Bxf4 2 Kxf4 Kd5. Now what? As long as ...
Posted by doctor_knight legalserv.com
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. ——— For Want of a Draw, a Player Loses the U.S. Chess Title — Yury Shulman forgot the old saying that a tie is better than a loss during his quest to win the United States Chess Championship last week. And that opened the door for Gata Kamsky to capture his second straight title. Kamsky and Shulman met in the tournament final, as they did last year, when four competitors competed in round robin play. Kamsky and Shulman emerged as the top scorers of that round and met in an Armageddon game, in which White has more time but Black only has to draw to be declared the winner. No Armageddon was needed at this year’s final, which ended Wednesday in St. Louis, because Kamsky won the first game and the second was drawn. The first game would ...
Posted by thunker legalserv.com
6/23/2008 12:03:43 Play online chess |
Message: "Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" by Reuben Fine
| Posted by ccmcacollister legalserv.com
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 legalserv.com
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
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