Chess opening book

There are several types of opening manuals:

1. Manuals dealing with one specific opening - Often these manuals have highly optimistic titles, like Black to Play and Win with 1...g6 (Andrew Soltis),{{Cite book |url=https://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=732801 |title=Black to Play and Win with 1-G6: A Complete Defensive System |language=en}} but some are more modest: Starting out: the King's Indian (Joe Gallagher).{{Cite web |last=Vestar |title=Long Beach Towne Center |url=https://www.longbeachtownecenter.net/ |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.longbeachtownecenter.net |language=en-US}} 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).{{Cite web |last=Vestar |title=Long Beach Towne Center |url=https://www.longbeachtownecenter.net/ |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.longbeachtownecenter.net |language=en-US}}
2. Manuals giving a system or repertoire - These manuals discuss two or more opening systems, often related by similar tactical themes, pawn structures, 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.Chess Openings Ancient and Modern, {{cite web |url=http://www.chessville.com/reviews/ChessOpeningsAncientandModern_and_ChessEndings.htm |title=Chessville - Reviews - Chess Openings Ancient and Modern by Freeborough and Rankin, and Chess Endings by Freeborough - Reviewed by Rick Kennedy |access-date=2008-12-03 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007101938/http://chessville.com/reviews/ChessOpeningsAncientandModern_and_ChessEndings.htm |archive-date=7 October 2008 |df=dmy-all }}, 16 June 2012
3. Manuals giving general opening advice and guidance - Possibly the most famous example of this type of manual (in English) is Reuben Fine'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.{{Cite web |title=Reader's guide: Fine's Ideas Behind the Chess Openings {{!}} Exeter Chess Club |url=https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/readers-guide-fines-ideas-behind-chess-openings |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=exeterchessclub.org.uk}}
4. Encyclopedic manuals that aim to be comprehensive - These manuals, from the five volume Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO) {{Cite web |title=ECO - Encyclopedia of Chess Openings |url=http://www.chessinformant.rs/eco-encyclopaedia-of-chess-openings |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20131203021743/http://www.chessinformant.rs/eco-encyclopaedia-of-chess-openings |archive-date=2013-12-03 |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.chessinformant.rs |language=en}} to the single volume works like Nunn's Chess Openings (NCO){{Cite web |title=Nunn's Chess Openings |url=http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_jw/jw_nunn_chess_opening.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20120518053439/http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_jw/jw_nunn_chess_opening.html |archive-date=2012-05-18 |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.jeremysilman.com}} and Modern Chess Openings (MCO) by Nick de Firmian and Walter Korn 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.{{Cite web |title=Chessforums.org - YourBrand.ca - Memorable, Catchy Domains That Give Your Venture a Competitive Edge. |url=https://yourbrand.ca/chessforums.org |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=yourbrand.ca}}{{Cite web |title=Chessforums.org - YourBrand.ca - Memorable, Catchy Domains That Give Your Venture a Competitive Edge. |url=https://yourbrand.ca/chessforums.org |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=yourbrand.ca}} Historically, the prototype for this style of opening book was the German Handbuch des Schachspiels (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.
5. 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.{{Cite web |title=Chess on Video - Chess Opening - Page 1 - ChessCentral |url=https://www.chesscentral.com/categories/chess-on-video/chess-opening.html |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.chesscentral.com}}{{Cite web |title=Foxy Openings DVDs |url=https://www.chesshouse.com/collections/foxy-openings-dvds |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=Chess House |language=en}}

These books cover a wide variety of chess openings. They are in English, except that the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings has minimal text but instead uses universal symbols to annotate moves and ideas that can be understood in many languages (see Punctuation (chess)).Geocities Silicon Valley, {{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/eco.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-02-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028033349/http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/eco.htm |archive-date=28 October 2009 |df=dmy }}, 16 June 2012

• How to Play the Opening in Chess. 1993. Raymond Keene and David Levy. {{ISBN|0-8050-2937-0}}.
• The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, five volumes, Chess Informant, Belgrade.{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of Chess Openings |url=http://www.chessopeningspgn.com/chess/Openings.html |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.chessopeningspgn.com}}
• Batsford Chess Openings 2. 1989, 1994. Garry Kasparov and Raymond Keene. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company. {{ISBN|0-8050-3409-9}}.
• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, & Joe Gallagher. {{ISBN|1-85744-221-0}}.
• Modern Chess Openings, 15th edition (MCO-15). 2008. Nick de Firmian. {{ISBN|978-0-8129-3682-7}}.Book Reviews by IM John L Watson #11, http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic/jwatson11.html{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 16 June 2012
• Fundamental Chess Openings, Paul van der Sterren, 2009, Gambit, {{ISBN|978-1-906454-13-5}}.{{Cite web |title=Review: Fundamental Chess Openings {{!}} ChessVibes |url=http://www.chessvibes.com/reviews/review-fundamental-chess-openings |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20140410023649/http://www.chessvibes.com:80/reviews/review-fundamental-chess-openings |archive-date=2014-04-10 |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.chessvibes.com |language=en}}
• Mastering the Chess Openings, four volumes, John Watson, 2007, Gambit.GAMBIT PUBLICATIONS MASTERING THE CHESS OPENINGS volume 1 (John Watson), http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/masterops.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729012556/http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/masterops.html |date=29 July 2012 }}, 16 June 2012
• Chess Opening Essentials, four volumes, Stefan Djuric, Dimitri Komarov, & Claudio Pantaleoni, 2008, New in Chess.{{Cite book |last=Djuric |first=Stefan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AROMOQAACAAJ |title=Chess Opening Essentials: 1.d4-d5 / 1.d4-various / Queen's Gambits |last2=Komarov |first2=Dimitri |last3=Pantaleoni |first3=Claudio |date=2009 |publisher=New in Chess |isbn=978-90-5691-269-7 |language=en}}

• Modern Chess Openings
• Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
• List of chess books
• List of chess openings
• Chess endgame literature

{{Reflist|35em}}

{{Chess}}

*Opening book

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Category:Chess books