Discovering Chess Openings: Building Opening Skills from Basic Principles

Many chess teachers advise against spending excessive time on the study of openings variations for the beginner, but they do agree it is important to acquire a solid understanding of opening PRINCIPLES right from the start. This book explains the basics of opening FUNDAMENTALS better than any other book! If you are uncertain about what you should be thinking and doing during the opening, this book does an exceptional job of addressing these issues.Lets be clear what this book is and is not. The book is NOT an openings reference or manual. It does not attempt to deal comprehensively with the myriad lines of any chess openings. There are many other (thousands!) of books that serve that purpose. The book contains 6 chapters, the first 5 of which deal exclusively with chess opening PRINCIPLES, their theory and application. There is no other single book that deals with this topic as exhaustively and effectively, at the beginner/novice level (I own hundreds of chess books so I'm reasonably confident about this). The last chapter rounds out the book with a succinct survey of some of the major openings, from the perspective of how these openings apply chess principles. So, I could not disagree more with the one reviewer who opined that this book could have been better. In fact, this is an outstanding book and admirably achieves its intended purpose, which is to explain and clarify fundamental chess opening PRINCIPLES!P.S. - Two other books which are targeted to the beginner/novice chess player and which do a better than average job addressing and explaining opening principles, are Chess Openings by Michael (Mike) Basman and Back to Basics Openings by Carsten Hansen.

Great gift for granddaughter

There are six sections to the book:Introduction to chess openings and their importanceUnderstanding opening principlesDeveloping a repertoire of openingsAnalyzing and choosing the best opening for your styleExploring common openings and their variationsTips for improving your opening playIdeas to study by:The importance of developing a solid understanding of basic opening principles, such as controlling the center, developing pieces efficiently, and creating a strong pawn structure.The value of studying and learning from grandmaster games, in order to gain insights into how top players approach the opening phase of the game.The importance of understanding the motivations behind different opening systems, and how to choose an opening that best suits your own style and preferences.The importance of tactical awareness and calculation skills in the opening phase of the game, as well as the need to be prepared to defend against aggressive play by your opponent.The value of studying and analyzing your own games in order to identify and address any weaknesses in your opening play, and to continually improve and refine your opening repertoire.Chess maxims included:"Openings are the foundation upon which the rest of the game is built.""The aim of an opening is not to win material, but to put your pieces in good positions and develop an advantage.""A good opening repertoire is one that allows you to play comfortably and confidently in a wide range of positions.""The best opening is the one that suits your style and strengths as a player.""The ability to analyze and evaluate positions is crucial for success in the opening phase."

This book is outstanding for a beginning chess player who has little experience in developing an appropriate chess opening repertoire.

. . . and believe me, I've read lots of them. I'm a struggling intermediate player (a "developing" player, as this author would call me) and I've never read anything so clear or so helpful. I plan to read through the book two or three more times, to glean everything I can from it.

The author starts out explaining that as a chess coach, his students new to opening theory have had more success concentrating on the "basic principles of opening play", than the traditional way of teaching them the main openings by explaining the reasoning behind every move. His thinking was that when faced with a new position, (Something that happens quite a bit in beginner's games!) the student would have more confidence, and be able to generate much stronger moves. In the first three chapters, he discusses 1. Control of the center; 2.Rapid piece development; and 3.King safety. Then comes what I consider to be the heart and soul of this book, and why it's different from all the others. Chapter 4 kicks things off with 'Delving Deeper'. And delve deeper he does, discussing: luxury pawn moves; moving a piece twice; grabbing pawns; gaining time; the queen (exposed or not?); holding up and restricting; pinning and unpinning; pinning and the question of castling; gambits; checking; and springing off the edge. And then Chapter 5 continues things with 'Pawn Play'. Discussed are: the classic center; the timing of c2-c3; the Sicilian; pawn play with 1.d4 d5; the queen's gambit; the blocked center; the hypermodern school; pawn breaks; attacking with the f-pawn; understanding doubled pawns; and pawn captures. (Have you ever seen an opening book with this much pawn instruction?) Chapter 6 'Chess Openings in Practice' then wraps things up with the: Giuoco Piano; Two Knights Defence; Ruy Lopez; Petroff Defence; Sicilian Dragon; Sicilian Sveshnikov; French; Caro-Kann and Scandinavian; Queen's Gambit Declined; Slav; Dutch; King's Indian; Grunfeld; and English. He doesn't cover every opening, but includes a lot of analysis, and goes about 10 to 15 moves deep on average, depending on the opening. 31 openings are covered altogether, not including the Fool's Mate; Scholar's Mate; and Legall's Mate. I think if you wanted to get started right away, you could just read the first three chapters, and then skip to the openings. And when you do read Chapter 6, he does a good job of explaining where to find more information about an opening in chapters 4 and 5, if relevant. I think reading the chapters in order is best, but if you're in a rush because you have a tournament or something coming up this weekend, there is a little bit of a short cut for you. Highly recommend!

The only problem I have with this book is that it feels like the different openings are presented at random. I was never sure when I needed to start memorizing and it doesn't provide a narrative about which openings a beginner should focus on in order to speed up learning.I found this book to have a nice sampling of openings for beginners. It lays out the mistakes and traps of what to watch out for in the opening so as not to lose before you start, and what strategic concepts to think about and remember. Includes an index of openings used in the book.

Ovviamente orientato ai principianti, per me ė utile a chiunque abbia bisogno di capire il perché di un'apertura, senza particolari studi approfonditi.

Belles introductions efficaces et sans chichis. Se lit presque comme un roman tout en apprenant vite les bases des ouvertures pour enfin vaincre ses proches aux échecs.

Well organized and easy to understand.

As a female chess player, it's quite annoying seeing the player being addressed with male pronouns in every sentence. I would very much appreciate if the author released a non-gendered edition. Other than that, I am pleased with the contents so far.