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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.
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)
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.
Posted by mathemagician_ legalserv.com 6/22/2008 04:52:37 play online chess	Message: *Giuoco Piano, of course.
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.
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
Chess news: Aronian Leads Hard-Fought Chess Grand Prix -- Affirming his status as the No. 1 seed, Levon Aronian of Armenia holds a slim lead in the Grand Prix in Nalchik, Russia, after eight rounds. Five chess players are bunched up a half point behind him and another four are another half-point back. This is the fourth of six Grand Prix chess tournaments to select two challengers for the world chess championship cycle. Currently, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Wang Yue of China, who played the first three Grand Prix events, but are not playing in Nalchik, are the points leaders. The Grand Prix has been beset by difficulties. Several of the original sites for the chess tournaments fell through and two of the original competitors, Magnus Carlsen ... FIDE feels the recession bite -- Magnus Carlsen and Michael Adams are playing elsewhere but the Fide Grand Prix remain a high-class chess contest. The International Chess Federation (Fide) Grand Prix, an attempt to create a chess tournament circuit for world title contenders, has had a rocky start. Downgrading of the overall winner's rights plus the global recession led to the withdrawal of Montreux, Qatar and Karlovy Vary as venues and of the favourite Magnus Carlsen and the UK's Michael Adams as competitors. After these exits all four (of the planned six) chess events have been staged in the Caucasus, and a huge majority of the remaining chess players are from the old Soviet Union. Yet such is the strength ... Importing Attack Style From a Game Big in Japan -- The traditional form of chess is played everywhere, but in some countries variations on the game have wider appeal. In Japan, for example, both go and shogi are more popular. Of the two, shogi is closer to chess. The object of the game and some of the pieces are the same as in chess, and it would be logical to assume that someone who is good at shogi would also be good at chess. Based on the experience of Toshiyuki Moriuchi, that would seem to be true. Moriuchi is a professional shogi player of the highest order. He has won the Meijin Championship — among the most prestigious in Japan — five times, earning the rank of permanent meijin (the equivalent of chess grandmaster) ...