Opening book
From Chesspedia, the Free Chess Encyclopedia.
Opening books, which discuss chess openings, are by far the most common type of literature on Chess play. These describe many major lines, like Sicilian Defence, Ruy Lopez, and Queen's Gambit, as well many minor variations of the main lines.
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), 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.
- 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.
- 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 doesn't analyze any opening system to much depth, but teaches the ideas that will help you understand opening play.
- Encyclopedic manuals that aim to be comprehensive - These manuals, from the five volume Encyclopedia of Chess Openings to the single volume works like Nunn's Chess Openings and Modern Chess Openings by Nick de Firmian and Walter Korn (ISBN 0-8129-3084-3), 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.
"Opening Book" is also used to describe the database of openings given to Computer chess programs. Such programs are quite significantly enhanced through the provision of an electronic version of an opening book. This eliminates the need for the program to calculate the best lines during approximately the first ten moves of the game, where the positions are extremely open-ended and thus computationally expensive to evaluate. As a result it places the computer in a stronger position using considerably less resources than if it had to calculate the moves itself.
Chess opening literature:
- How to Play the Opening in Chess. 1993. Raymond Keene and David Levy. ISBN 0-8050-2937-0.
- The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings - This is a very technical and advanced work in 5 volumes published by Chess Informant of Belgrade. http://www.sahovski.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 1-8574-4221-0.
- Modern Chess Openings: MCO-14. 1999. Nick de Firmian, Walter Korn. ISBN 0-8129-3084-3.
- How to Beat 1 d4. 2005. James Rizzitano. Gambit Publications. ISBN 1-9046-0033-6.
