A chess opening book is a book on chess openings. This is by far the most common type of literature on

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

. These books describe many major lines, like the Sicilian Defence, Ruy Lopez, and

Queen's Gambit The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 It is one of the oldest openings and is still commonly played today. It is traditionally described as a ''gambit'' because White appears to sacrifice the ...

, as well many minor variations of the main lines.

Types

There are several types of opening manuals: # Manuals dealing with one specific opening - Often these manuals have highly optimistic titles, like ''Black to Play and Win with 1...g6'' (

Andrew Soltis Andrew Eden Soltis (born May 28, 1947) is an American chess grandmaster, author and columnist. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in September 2011. Chess career Soltis learned how the chess pieces moved at age 10 when he ...

), but some are more modest: ''Starting out: the King's Indian'' ( Joe Gallagher). 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). # Manuals giving a system or repertoire - These manuals discuss two or more opening systems, often related by similar tactical themes,

pawn structure In a game of chess, the pawn structure (sometimes known as the pawn skeleton) is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Because pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus plays a large ...

s, 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. # Manuals giving general opening advice and guidance - Possibly the most famous example of this type of manual (in English) is

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 ...

'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. # Encyclopedic manuals that aim to be comprehensive - These manuals, from the five volume ''

Encyclopedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator ( Chess Informant). It is curren ...

'' (ECO) to the single volume works like ''Nunn's Chess Openings'' (NCO) and ''

Modern Chess Openings ''Modern Chess Openings'' (usually called ) is a reference book on chess openings, first published in 1911 by the British players Richard Clewin Griffith (1872–1955) and John Herbert White (1880–1920). The fifteenth edition was published in ...

'' (MCO) by

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 ...

and

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, ...

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. Historically, the prototype for this style of opening book was the German ''

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 im ...

'' (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. # 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.

General chess opening books

These books cover a wide variety of chess openings. They are in English, except that the ''

'' has minimal text but instead uses universal symbols to annotate moves and ideas that can be understood in many languages (see Punctuation (chess)). * ''How to Play the Opening in Chess''. 1993. Raymond Keene and David Levy. . * The ''

'', five volumes,

Chess Informant Chess Informant (Šahovski Informator) is a publishing company from Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) that periodically (since 2012, four volumes per year) produces a book entitled ''Chess Informant'', as well as the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Op ...

, Belgrade. * ''Batsford Chess Openings 2''. 1989, 1994.

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

and Raymond Keene. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company. . * ''Nunn's Chess Openings''. 1999.

John Nunn 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 ...

(Editor),

Graham Burgess Graham K. Burgess (born 24 February 1968 in Liverpool, England) is an English FIDE Master of chess and a noted writer and trainer. He became a FIDE Master at the age of twenty. He attended Birkdale High School in Southport, Merseyside. In 198 ...

, John Emms, & Joe Gallagher. . * ''

'', 15th edition (MCO-15). 2008.

. . *''Fundamental Chess Openings'',

Paul van der Sterren Paul van der Sterren (born 17 March 1956 in Venlo, Netherlands) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He won the Dutch Chess Championship twice, in 1985 and 1993. In 1993 he qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship ...

, 2009, Gambit, . * ''Mastering the Chess Openings'', four volumes, John Watson, 2007, Gambit. * ''Chess Opening Essentials'', four volumes, Stefan Djuric, Dimitri Komarov, & Claudio Pantaleoni, 2008, New in Chess.Chess Opening Essentials: 1.d4-d5 / 1.d4-various / Queen's Gambits, https://books.google.com/books/about/Chess_Opening_Essentials.html?id=AROMOQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y, 16 June 2012

References

{{Chess *Opening book

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

Chess books

Types

General chess opening books

See also

References