''Modern Chess Openings'' (usually called ) is a

reference book A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to f ...

chess opening A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defens ...

s, first published in 1911 by the British players Richard Clewin Griffith (1872–1955) and

John Herbert White John Herbert White (22 February 1880 – 18 November 1920, London, England) was co-author with Richard Clewin Griffith of the first three editions of the famous chess opening treatise ''Modern Chess Openings''. It was first published in 1911 an ...

(1880–1920). The fifteenth edition was published in 2008.

Harry Golombek Harry Golombek OBE (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He was born in Lambeth t ...

called it "the first scientific study of the openings in the twentieth century".Harry Golombek (editor-in-chief), ''Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess'', Crown Publishers, 1977, p. 202. .

History

Although Bilguer's ''

Handbuch des Schachspiels ''Handbuch des Schachspiels'' (''Handbook of Chess'', often simply called the ''Handbuch'') is a chess book, first published in 1843 by Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa. It was a comprehensive reference book on the game, and one of the most imp ...

'' was more authoritative at the time ''MCO'' was first published, it was last published between 1912 and 1916, and was becoming outdated by the 1930s. ''MCO'' was popular with English-speaking players and has continued to be updated throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, with fifteen editions from 1911 through 2008. Early editions were small enough to fit in a pocket (the first edition was 190 pages), but later editions grew and the fifteenth and most recent version is 768 pages. In 1977,

said "The work became popular at once and for over forty years was regarded as the main book on the openings throughout the world." The first three editions (1911, 1913, and 1916) were the work of Griffith (who won the 1912 British Championship) and White, with an introduction by

Henry Ernest Atkins Henry Ernest Atkins (20 August 1872 – 31 January 1955) was a British chess master who is best known for his unparalleled record of winning the British Chess Championship nine times in eleven attempts. He won every year from 1905 to 1911, and ...

. Editions through at least 1946 continued to be attributed to Griffith and White, with P. W. Sergeant and Maurice Edward Goldstein providing revisions starting with the fourth edition in 1925. In 1939,

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

, who had won the

AVRO tournament The AVRO tournament was a famous chess tournament held in the Netherlands in 1938, sponsored by the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO. The event was a double round-robin tournament between the eight strongest players in the world. Paul Keres and ...

the year before, edited ''MCO''. Fine was not able to work on subsequent editions of ''MCO'', so in 1948 he wrote ''Practical Chess Openings''. As ''Practical Chess Openings'' was not revised in any further editions, ''MCO'' remained the most popular English language opening reference. Modern Chess Openings Second Edition

American

Walter Korn Walter Korn (May 22, 1908 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) – July 9, 1997 in San Mateo, California, United States) was an Austro-Hungarian writer of books and magazine articles about chess. Despite his status as a writer, ...

worked on the seventh through thirteenth editions, assuming editorship starting with ''MCO-8'' in 1952. Korn was assisted on certain editions by Jack Collins, Larry Evans, and

Nick de Firmian Nicholas Ernest de Firmian (born July 26, 1957) is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1985. He is a three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 (with Joel Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. He also tied for ...

; Evans and de Firmian have held the U.S. Championship. The first twelve editions used

descriptive notation Descriptive notation is a chess notation system based on abbreviated natural language. Its distinctive features are that it refers to files by the piece that occupies the back rank square in the starting position and that it describes each square ...

to record the moves, and only with ''MCO-13'' in 1990 did the series begin to use the now-standard algebraic notation. The most recent edition, ''MCO-15'' in 2008, was written and edited by de Firmian. Since 1980, there have been other one-volume opening encyclopedias to rival ''MCO'': ''Batsford Chess Openings'' (''BCO'') in 1982 and 1989, and ''

Nunn's Chess Openings John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was forme ...

'' (''NCO'') in 1999. John Watson wrote that ''MCO-13'' "really isn't up to modern expectations", but called ''MCO-14'' "a vast improvement over its predecessor No. 13 in almost every respect" and comparable in quality to ''NCO''.Book Reviews by IM John L Watson #28
2000.

Editions

Quotations

* "... the most important single book in world chess literature". – ''American Chess Correspondent'', writing about the tenth edition.

History

Editions

Quotations

See also

References

Further reading