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| From | Message | Posted by nemesis1010 playchesscomputer.net
6/21/2008 14:50:18 Play chess computer | 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 playchesscomputer.net
6/21/2008 19:21:10 Play chess computer | 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 playchesscomputer.net
6/21/2008 20:15:40 Play chess computer | MCO no thanks.
Message: MCO covers lines but no explanation.
I suggest "Understanding the chess openings" by Collins.
——— Bobby Fischer: from chess prodigy to pariah — He played some of the most sublime chess ever seen. Then, as a new book and film illustrate, he disappeared from view. What made such a brilliant mind go into freefall? In 1999, I spent three days sitting in a variety of thermal baths dotted around Budapest. As grand and attractive as the Hungarian capital's spas are, I wasn't stewing myself for therapeutic or leisure purposes. Instead, I was waiting for someone I'd been told frequented the baths, someone who was said to be a genius and a paranoid obsessive, the greatest chess player who ever lived and an obnoxious crackpot. I was looking for Bobby Fischer. For the last four decades of his life, that's what people ...
Posted by bogg playchesscomputer.net
6/22/2008 00:09:33 Play chess computer | 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) ——— On Chess: Computers hardly a threat to game — Some chess grandmasters have lamented that computers take the creativity out of chess, but their concern for the future of the game of chess is off the mark. An excessive use of chess computers undeniably dulls a player's mind - especially if the reliance on computer analysis leaves no room for hardscrabble human inquiry. The games of top chess players such as Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura vividly demonstrate that free-flowing, swashbuckling creative chess might thrive even more in the age of computers. It is, however, no longer possible to hide behind time-tested lines of play based on years of personal exploration and expertise. Computer analysis usually can ...
Posted by mathemagician_ playchesscomputer.net
6/22/2008 04:40:28 Play chess computer |
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. ——— Queen to Play (movie review) — In “Queen to Play,” a subtle, absorbing film that features Kevin Kline in his first French-speaking role, the only thing that happens, really, is that a hard-working, soft-spoken woman learns to play chess. Seriously. That’s it. Because this “Queen” arrives in Washington at the start of the summer movie season, nearly two years after its initial release in France, that narrative simplicity has a certain appeal. At a time when most pictures are all CGI’d up and Imaxed out, there’s something particularly enjoyable about settling into a film whose pleasures reside in quiet moments, understated performances and the reading of subtitles. “Queen to Play,” originally titled “Joueuse” in French, or “Player,” introduces us to ...
Posted by mathemagician_ playchesscomputer.net
6/22/2008 04:52:37 Play chess computer |
Message: *Giuoco Piano, of course. ——— Vishy Anand able to smile after world title candidates take shape — Vishy Anand can smile. The chess champion's hopes of retaining his crown in 2012 were already boosted when the world No2 Magnus Carlsen withdrew as a candidate. Now the world No3 and favourite Levon Aronian is also out after his tense and nervous play led to missed chances and a 3.5-4.5 loss to Russia's Alex Grischuk. Anand has good form against all four semi-finalists. Gata Kamsky (US), Boris Gelfand (Israel) and Vlad Kramnik (Russia) are from the Indian's 40ish generation, while Grischuk splits his time between chess and poker. Cautious waiting tactics ruled for most of Kramnik's match with the 23-year-old Azeri Teimour Radjabov, as they drew four classical chess games and four rapid. The ninth ...
Posted by doctor_knight playchesscomputer.net
6/23/2008 08:49:40 Play chess computer |
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. ——— From the archive, 12 May 1997: Deep Blue win a giant step for computerkind — Originally published in the Guardian on 12 May 1997. When Gary Kasparov beat IBM's chess computer in 1989 he arrogantly told the programmers to "teach it to resign earlier". Yesterday, though, the world chess champion found himself humbled by a 1.4-ton heap of silicone in a victory for IBM's Deep Blue that marks a milestone in the progress of artificial intelligence. It is a depressing day for humankind in general. But why did the computer win? IBM's Deep Blue first caused a sensation in Philadelphia last year when it crushed the world chess champion in the first game of their match. "I was rightfully massacred," said Kasparov. Yet he won the series 4-2, striking a blow for the human race at the same time. Game by game, he learned more ...
Posted by thunker playchesscomputer.net
6/23/2008 12:03:43 Play chess computer |
Message: "Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" by Reuben Fine
| Posted by ccmcacollister playchesscomputer.net
6/25/2008 13:15:40 Play chess computer | 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 playchesscomputer.net
6/26/2008 04:33:02 Play chess computer | 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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