Answers.Body: <p>There are two excellent modern surveys of openings: Sam Collins' <em>Understanding the Chess Openings</em> and Paul van der Sterren's <em>Fundamental Chess Openings</em>. They both cover every major opening, demonstrating the main ideas and variations. I would start with Collins, since it is shorter and easier to read through in its entirety, but both are highly recommended.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: dfan
Answers.Body: <p>It depends on what you are after and what your level is, but John Watson's <a href="http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_1.html" rel="noreferrer">Mastering the Chess Openings</a> series has a good reputation.</p>
  
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Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-02-17T15:27:28.140Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Dag Oskar Madsen
Answers.Body: <p>If you're not familiar with openings your best bet would be to start with a decent general book on openings rather than going for something too specific. Being familiar with chess you will probably have settled on what kind of player you are, and therefore what types of openings suit your style. </p>
  
  <p>Your first task should be to find the kinds of openings that suit you by studying something broad. Once you've found the types of openings you like you can then focus on learning more specific openings with more specific books. </p>
  
  <p>Sorry I don't know any books off the top of my head. I prefer to learn openings by playing and supplementing this with general internet searches.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-18T11:57:09.093Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: OnABauer
Answers.Body: <p>I like "Chess Opening for Dummies". It features the main openings with two commented games for each one: one game in which white wins and one in which black wins. This allows to avoid bias toward the choice of adding an opening in the repertoire.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-19T08:37:27.017Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-02-19T12:10:49.147Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2014-02-19T12:10:49.147Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: pim999
Answers.Body: <p><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1890085014" rel="nofollow">The Complete Book of Chess Strategy</a> by Silman. Just saw this yesterday for the first time and its the first Chess Book I felt I had to spend the money on. Simple, easy to digest and full of tactics and strategy. I'm already finding myself playing better in just one day as a direct result. I find a lot of the above books to either be to loaded with notation and grand master games to be useful to a beginner, or in the case of Collins' <em>Understanding Chess Openings</em>, to be a bit over the top in his language.</p>
  
  <p>Compare if you will:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>The development of White's bishop to c4 prepares castling, eyes the f7-pawn and hinders an early ...d5. We would need a pretty compelling reason not to play such an obviously logical move and unfortunately such abstention is justified by the fact that Black, by most accounts, has a pretty easy route to equality in all variations. Attention has thus moved away from the Italian Game, with its more durable neighbour the Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez) proving a more promising route to an enduring edge for White.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><em>-Collins</em></p>
  
  <p>There's just much easier ways to say the same ideas. All he does is make it more confusing.</p>
  
  <p>Compare that with some text from Silman:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>While the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5) and the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5) both strive to gain a central foothold with a defended d5-pawn, the Caro leads to calmer positions than its French brother. On the positive side, the move ...c6(instead of ...e6) keeps the c8-h3 diagonal open for Black's light-squared Bishop. The negative side of this opening revolves around the fact that ...c7-c5 is still an important source of counterplay and, as compared to the French, Black has already moved this pawn and lost a tempo as a result. This slight loss of time in playing ...c7-c6 followed by a later ...c6-c5 means that Black will try to slow the play down.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><em>-Silman</em></p>
  
  <p>Silman's book is just great in my opinion for beginners because of how clear and easy to use it is.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-07-31T17:25:33.590Z
Answers.Text: Here is what Collins actually says, for a better comparison: "**The development of White's bishop to c4 prepares castling, eyes the f7-pawn and hinders an early ...d5.** We would need **a pretty compelling reason not to play such** an obviously logical move and unfortunately such abstention is justified by the fact that Black, by most accounts, has a pretty easy route to equality in all variations. Attention has thus moved away from the Italian Game, with its more durable neighbour the Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez) proving a more promising route to an enduring edge for White."
Answers.UserDisplayName: dfan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-07-31T17:28:37.957Z
Answers.Text: (If people still find that excerpt hard to read, I won't argue with them; I just think that the context and restoration of the missing text are important for an apples-to-apples comparison, especially since it actually changes the meaning.)
Answers.UserDisplayName: dfan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-07-31T17:32:27.550Z
Answers.Text: @dfan woops thanks for spotting my mistake in transcribing. Edited to reflect you're correction, and expanded to include the previous sentence as well per your suggestion. Though in my opinion as a beginner of openings and chess books, its still much easier to digest Silman :)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ryan
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-07-31T17:34:17.077Z
Answers.Text: And the missing text from the Silman: "The negative side of this opening revolves around the fact that ...c7-c5 **is still an important source of counterplay and, as compared to the French, Black has already moved this pawn and lost a tempo as a result. This slight loss of time in playing ...c7-c6** followed by a later ...c6-c5 means that Black will try to slow the play down.
Answers.UserDisplayName: dfan
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Answers.Text: @dfan I clearly should've had my coffee before trying to answer this!
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ryan
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2014-07-31T17:33:35.877Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ryan
Answers.Body: <p>Both Sam Collins and Paul van der Sterren's books I also highly recommend. Besides books youtube is also a great source for learning about openings. Both thechesswebsite and Dereque Kelly's channels are excellent for such.</p>
  
  <p>For learning about specific openings I can recommend the Starting Out series by Everyman Chess which covers the selected opening in a very clear and instructive manner, also covering its variations.</p>
  
  <p>For a more advanced look at an opening the Grandmaster Repertoire series by Quality Chess is top notch. Likewise any opening book published by Quality Chess is of good quality. <a href="http://www.qualitychess.co.uk" rel="nofollow">http://www.qualitychess.co.uk</a></p>
  
  <p>Of course Everyman Chess also produces more advanced openings books such as the Play the... (or Play...) and Move by Move series. <a href="http://www.everymanchess.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.everymanchess.com</a></p>
  
  <p>The Chess Opening Essentials series by New In Chess is great, the series of four books covers various openings from the various defenses to 1.e4 to 1.d4 and so forth. <a href="http://www.newinchess.com/Chess_Opening_Essentials__Vol__1___4-p-1930.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.newinchess.com/Chess_Opening_Essentials__Vol__1___4-p-1930.html</a></p>
  
  <p>Winning Chess Openings by Yasser Seirawan is fantastic <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1857443497" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Openings-Everyman/dp/1857443497/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1406887013&amp;sr=1-8&amp;keywords=Chess+openings</a></p>
  
  <p>I assume at your level it is much more beneficial to know about the basic ideas of an opening rather than memorizing lines which stem from it. A simple google search can inform you greatly about an opening. If there is any opening book you should buy let it be one which covers many openings and presents the various ideas behind them. The already mentioned books are all excellent and I would like to add to their recommendation. I can only offer by this post some more fantastic books and advanced ones for if you progress to that level.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-08-01T10:27:59.360Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-08-01T10:27:59.360Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: sco-ish
Answers.Body: <p>You'll hear many masters tell any chess enthusiast of the "beginner" to intermediate level to pick of the books "Winning chess strategies for kids" by Jeff Coakley (which doesn't read like a kids book and is fantastically written) and "Chess strategies for club members" by Herman Grooten.</p>
  
  <p>Also, chess.com has a great opening explorer. There's always YouTube as well! Hope that helps.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-17T20:11:42.600Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Coro
Answers.Body: <p>Mastering the Chess Openings in 4 Volumes by John Watson:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1904600603" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Chess-Openings-Unlocking-Mysteries/dp/1904600603/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469395910&amp;sr=1-1-spell&amp;keywords=mastering+ches+openings+john+watson</a></p>
  
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Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-07-24T21:32:54.843Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: MichalRyszardWojcik
Answers.Body: <p>A classic reference book (or more like an encyclopedia) is Modern Chess Openings (or colloquially, MCO) by Nick de Firmian. While it doesn't have a lot of discussion on chess openings or the strategy behind a chess opening, and is noted for typos, it is extensive in types of commonly used openings. Definitely not easy reading. I believe the most recent edition is the 15th. Again, it will not teach you strategy behind the moves, but for that, I would pick up books specific to the opening you want to learn. Additionally, nothing can substitute good old fashioned tournament experience.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: BarocliniCplusplus
Answers.Body: <p>Some chess opening books for beginners, I can recommend:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Chess Openings by Michael Basman</li>
  <li>Discovering Chess Openings: Building Opening Skills from Basic Principles
  By John Emms</li>
  <li>Mastering the Chess Openings: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Modern Chess Openings, Volume 1 By John Watson</li>
  </ul>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2016-10-09T18:00:55.023Z
Answers.Text: The _Mastering the Chess Openings_ book that you mention is 1 of a set of 4. Each volume deals with a different section of the ECO codes, so Vol 1 only covers the Open Games (1.e4 e5) and Semi-Open Games (Pirc, French, Caro-Kann, etc.).
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Body: <p>I am not new to chess, I have been playing for around 6 years. But I don't know much about chess openings technically. What are some of the very good books to learn important opening moves?</p>
  
Tags: <opening><learning><books><recommendations>
Title: What are some good books for chess openings?
ThreadText: # What are some good books for chess openings?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-17)
  
  I am not new to chess, I have been playing for around 6 years. But I don't know much about chess openings technically. What are some of the very good books to learn important opening moves?
  
  **Tags:** opening, learning, books, recommendations
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 10 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2014-02-18. Score: 13
  
  There are two excellent modern surveys of openings: Sam Collins' *Understanding the Chess Openings* and Paul van der Sterren's *Fundamental Chess Openings*. They both cover every major opening, demonstrating the main ideas and variations. I would start with Collins, since it is shorter and easier to read through in its entirety, but both are highly recommended.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2014-02-17. Score: 4
  
  It depends on what you are after and what your level is, but John Watson's [Mastering the Chess Openings](http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_1.html) series has a good reputation.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2014-02-18. Score: 4
  
  If you're not familiar with openings your best bet would be to start with a decent general book on openings rather than going for something too specific. Being familiar with chess you will probably have settled on what kind of player you are, and therefore what types of openings suit your style.
  
  Your first task should be to find the kinds of openings that suit you by studying something broad. Once you've found the types of openings you like you can then focus on learning more specific openings with more specific books.
  
  Sorry I don't know any books off the top of my head. I prefer to learn openings by playing and supplementing this with general internet searches.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2014-02-19. Score: 4
  
  I like "Chess Opening for Dummies". It features the main openings with two commented games for each one: one game in which white wins and one in which black wins. This allows to avoid bias toward the choice of adding an opening in the repertoire.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2014-07-31. Score: 3
  
  [The Complete Book of Chess Strategy](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1890085014) by Silman. Just saw this yesterday for the first time and its the first Chess Book I felt I had to spend the money on. Simple, easy to digest and full of tactics and strategy. I'm already finding myself playing better in just one day as a direct result. I find a lot of the above books to either be to loaded with notation and grand master games to be useful to a beginner, or in the case of Collins' *Understanding Chess Openings*, to be a bit over the top in his language.
  
  Compare if you will:
  
  > The development of White's bishop to c4 prepares castling, eyes the f7-pawn and hinders an early ...d5. We would need a pretty compelling reason not to play such an obviously logical move and unfortunately such abstention is justified by the fact that Black, by most accounts, has a pretty easy route to equality in all variations. Attention has thus moved away from the Italian Game, with its more durable neighbour the Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez) proving a more promising route to an enduring edge for White.
  
  *-Collins*
  
  There's just much easier ways to say the same ideas. All he does is make it more confusing.
  
  Compare that with some text from Silman:
  
  > While the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5) and the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5) both strive to gain a central foothold with a defended d5-pawn, the Caro leads to calmer positions than its French brother. On the positive side, the move ...c6(instead of ...e6) keeps the c8-h3 diagonal open for Black's light-squared Bishop. The negative side of this opening revolves around the fact that ...c7-c5 is still an important source of counterplay and, as compared to the French, Black has already moved this pawn and lost a tempo as a result. This slight loss of time in playing ...c7-c6 followed by a later ...c6-c5 means that Black will try to slow the play down.
  
  *-Silman*
  
  Silman's book is just great in my opinion for beginners because of how clear and easy to use it is.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Here is what Collins actually says, for a better comparison: "**The development of White's bishop to c4 prepares castling, eyes the f7-pawn and hinders an early ...d5.** We would need **a pretty compelling reason not to play such** an obviously logical move and unfortunately such abstention is justified by the fact that Black, by most accounts, has a pretty easy route to equality in all variations. Attention has thus moved away from the Italian Game, with its more durable neighbour the Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez) proving a more promising route to an enduring edge for White."  
  > **username_1**: (If people still find that excerpt hard to read, I won't argue with them; I just think that the context and restoration of the missing text are important for an apples-to-apples comparison, especially since it actually changes the meaning.)  
  > **username_5**: @username_1 woops thanks for spotting my mistake in transcribing. Edited to reflect you're correction, and expanded to include the previous sentence as well per your suggestion. Though in my opinion as a beginner of openings and chess books, its still much easier to digest Silman :)  
  > **username_1**: And the missing text from the Silman: "The negative side of this opening revolves around the fact that ...c7-c5 **is still an important source of counterplay and, as compared to the French, Black has already moved this pawn and lost a tempo as a result. This slight loss of time in playing ...c7-c6** followed by a later ...c6-c5 means that Black will try to slow the play down.  
  > **username_5**: @username_1 I clearly should've had my coffee before trying to answer this!  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2014-08-01. Score: 3
  
  Both Sam Collins and Paul van der Sterren's books I also highly recommend. Besides books youtube is also a great source for learning about openings. Both thechesswebsite and Dereque Kelly's channels are excellent for such.
  
  For learning about specific openings I can recommend the Starting Out series by Everyman Chess which covers the selected opening in a very clear and instructive manner, also covering its variations.
  
  For a more advanced look at an opening the Grandmaster Repertoire series by Quality Chess is top notch. Likewise any opening book published by Quality Chess is of good quality. <http://www.qualitychess.co.uk>
  
  Of course Everyman Chess also produces more advanced openings books such as the Play the... (or Play...) and Move by Move series. <http://www.everymanchess.com>
  
  The Chess Opening Essentials series by New In Chess is great, the series of four books covers various openings from the various defenses to 1.e4 to 1.d4 and so forth. <http://www.newinchess.com/Chess_Opening_Essentials__Vol__1___4-p-1930.html>
  
  Winning Chess Openings by Yasser Seirawan is fantastic [http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Openings-Everyman/dp/1857443497/ref=sr\_1\_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406887013&sr=1-8&keywords=Chess+openings](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1857443497)
  
  I assume at your level it is much more beneficial to know about the basic ideas of an opening rather than memorizing lines which stem from it. A simple google search can inform you greatly about an opening. If there is any opening book you should buy let it be one which covers many openings and presents the various ideas behind them. The already mentioned books are all excellent and I would like to add to their recommendation. I can only offer by this post some more fantastic books and advanced ones for if you progress to that level.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2014-02-17. Score: 3
  
  You'll hear many masters tell any chess enthusiast of the "beginner" to intermediate level to pick of the books "Winning chess strategies for kids" by Jeff Coakley (which doesn't read like a kids book and is fantastically written) and "Chess strategies for club members" by Herman Grooten.
  
  Also, chess.com has a great opening explorer. There's always YouTube as well! Hope that helps.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2016-07-24. Score: 1
  
  Mastering the Chess Openings in 4 Volumes by John Watson:
  
  [https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Chess-Openings-Unlocking-Mysteries/dp/1904600603/ref=sr\_1\_sc\_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469395910&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=mastering+ches+openings+john+watson](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1904600603)
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_9 on 2016-07-24. Score: 1
  
  A classic reference book (or more like an encyclopedia) is Modern Chess Openings (or colloquially, MCO) by Nick de Firmian. While it doesn't have a lot of discussion on chess openings or the strategy behind a chess opening, and is noted for typos, it is extensive in types of commonly used openings. Definitely not easy reading. I believe the most recent edition is the 15th. Again, it will not teach you strategy behind the moves, but for that, I would pick up books specific to the opening you want to learn. Additionally, nothing can substitute good old fashioned tournament experience.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_10 on 2016-07-23. Score: 1
  
  Some chess opening books for beginners, I can recommend:
  
  * Chess Openings by Michael Basman
  * Discovering Chess Openings: Building Opening Skills from Basic Principles
    By John Emms
  * Mastering the Chess Openings: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Modern Chess Openings, Volume 1 By John Watson
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_11**: The _Mastering the Chess Openings_ book that you mention is 1 of a set of 4. Each volume deals with a different section of the ECO codes, so Vol 1 only covers the Open Games (1.e4 e5) and Semi-Open Games (Pirc, French, Caro-Kann, etc.).  
  
  ---
  
  