What reading do you guys recommend for a comprehensive study of chess openings, for someone who is a beginner to medium skilled player? Thanks. 
The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings by Fine. Until you get to the level where you no longer hang pawns (let alone pieces), it isn’t useful to memorize long lines of theory. A very rough idea of principles will get you much farther than almost anyone thinks it will.
To make a small point, it doesn’t matter if you’ve memorized all the lines of the Ruy Lopez 30 moves deep if your opponent answers 1.e4 with a6.
Alex Relyea
Additionally, focus on the study of games, not openings. Else you’ll find yourself reaching move 12 with no concept of what to do next.
FCO Fundamental Chess Openings by van de Sterren
I dunno, I think a book that goes over several lines, then just pick two or three lines you find suitable to your playing style. Then just get your toosh kicked over and over until you figure out what doesn’t work.
That seems to work for me. Hell, I barely ever study opening outside of about 5 moves max. After a while, I’ll figure out the nuances of the line.
for example I like the Sicilian, playing black, I’ve never formally studied it, but I got a feel for certain line. When I first started, I had the habit of wanting to place my queen’s knight on d7, because I just tried it a few times and won some games. But now I don’t play it there unless I’m forced to because it’s much better placed on c6, but when I was first playing the Sicilian, I kept getting kicked to high heaven putting there. But that was years ago and at lot has to do with knowing how to control the center of the board. Long ago, I had no real feel for the center of the board for that line. If an opponent, as white, castled queenside, I was roasted. Nowadays it’s makes no difference to me.
More recently I started muddling around with the Dutch Defense as black and do very well, but overall, my strength is much more than even several years ago, so I was able to use the lessons learned playing the Sicilian to much shorten my learning curve.
I just think it’s not good to memorize more than a few moves of a line unless your over 1800 or 1900, because the average opponent lower than that isn’t going to have a ton of book knowledge outside of a few moves, so the chance of going more than 5 or 6 moves deep into book is unlikely. You more likely to just pick up more book moves deeper than that just from losing to opponents and learning what moves are pretty bad if not traps or outright blunders.
Only in College did I meet a player, a teenager, that was very bookish and rated about 1650. He won all his games against me, but I was barely 1350 in a classical game, so in a 5 minute game I had no chance. I’m still terrible at speed chess, so I never play that online. I like to slow down if I need, to really look at a position.
Eventually I want to get some, or maybe eventually all, the specific opening libraries from Chessbase. I’ve found over the years it can be difficult to get a chess engine to play a certain line without holding it’s hand for every move until you max out how many book moves you want to delve into whichever line. Rather annoying when you just want the engine to play in a certain line from move one to say move three and randomize it’s next book move. I mean, I could hold the hand of the engine for say, 3 book moves, but then it’s nearly a certainty to play the next 2 book moves the same every time, so I’d have to hold it’s hand for at least 5 books moves, then for a different, but similar line, hold it’s hand for a different set of 5 book moves. So if there’s 20 different variations of 5 book moves with the first 3 moves being the same, an engine will usually pick the same book move for move #4.
Hell, if an engine is playing white, they seem to want to play 1. e4 every bloody time. Good Grief!
I agree. Fine’s book was great in it’s day, but it’s pretty obsolete in many lines.
If you are looking for books to explain the openings, “Mastering the Chess Openings,” by John Watson is very good. He includes a number of model games to help you to understand what you are to do in the middle game. This is a four volume set, with the first two books covering 1.e4 and 1.d4 openings. The last two volumes cover the “Indian” defenses, the English Opening and some oddities. The last volume talks about opening preparation and some general stuff about openings and chess. Note that the books are not comprehensive as Watson is selective in the opening variations explored.
If you want a “repertoire style” book that picks lines for you to play, I can suggest “An Attacking Repertoire for White”, by Sam Collins, if you like to play 1.e4. However, since you consider yourself a beginner, it would likely be best for you to read “Logical Chess: Move by Move” by Irving Chernev. He explains the flow of the game from the opening moves through the middlegame and into the endgame. His emphasis is on the “why” a move is played. Emulate some of the openings he explains. Before you get heavily enmeshed in opening study, you need to learn how to play chess first: basic tactics, complex tactics, positional play, and basic endgame theory. Don’t buy a $35 book on endgames. Buy “Capablanca’s Best Chess Endings” by Irving Chernev instead to learn the fundamental techniques of winning a won game. Before you start spending hundreds of dollars on books, videos, and software, spend about $20 on the two Chernev books. You have to read them cover to cover.
I wonder if there is stuff online that would be worth recommending to beginners. I can type “Chess Strategy” or “Chess Tactics” or “Chess Openings” to a search engine and get various sites, but are there good ones? Obviously I didn’t learn about chess online (in the 1960’s), but it occurred to me that maybe some people would be more comfortable going about it with a keyboard and monitor.
Maybe I"m just different in my learning style.
But I was perennially bad at the opening phase until on day I decided I was tired of playing the same few openings over and over and I just started playing the Sicilian. After a while I got a feel for the first few moves in some lines, but more importantly, by getting beat over and over, I eventually started to get an idea of how to actually read the opening phase on the chess board. Before, even with my few lines, I was basically toast if the opponent knew books moves deeper than I did.
But with the Sicilian, there came a convergence between getting beat cause I didn’t have a clue what to move next, and actually starting to really look at how the pieces dance on the board.
If I don’t play too fast, which I’m prone to doing too often, I can usually spot what the opponent is thinking. At my level, me and my opponents are both trying set up 1 and 2 move traps on top of looking for stronger lines that go deeper. The trick of course is to mingle longer term strategies into the short term tactical feints and parries. Often in a game, one might have to choose between offense and defense. There can come a moment when the only way to advance the game is to allow your opponent an offensive move, so it comes down to deciding if you or your opponent has the stronger or faster offense.
I know I kinda got off the topic, but like I said, I don’t really find too many bookish opponents knowing lines outside of the first few moves.
-I was playing in Anonymous mode. I edited the name post game to my own.
[Event “Lichess unrated standard 15+15”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2018.11.12”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Anonymous”]
[Black "James "]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “0”]
[Classes “?”]
[ECO “?”]
[TimeControl “900+15”]
[WhiteElo “0”]
- Nc3 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. dxe5 dxe5 6. Bg5 Bb4 7. Bxf6 Qxf6
- Qd3 O-O 9. O-O-O Bd6 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. h4 Nc5 12. Qe3 Bg4 13. Be2 Be6 14. Ng5
h6 15. Nf3 f5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Qxc5 fxe4 18. Nxc7 Qxc7 19. Qxc7 Bxc7 20. f3
exf3 21. Bxf3 Rab8 22. Rhe1 Bf5 23. Re7 Bf4+ 24. Kb1 Rbd8 25. Bd5+ Kh8 26. a3
Rc8 27. Bb3 Rfd8 28. Rf1 Bd6 29. Rxb7 Bg6 30. g4 Rb8 31. Rxa7 Rxb3 32. h5 Bh7 - Rff7 Be5 34. g5 hxg5 35. h6 Rg8 36. hxg7+ Rxg7 37. Rf8+ Rg8 38. Rff7 Rxb2+
- Kc1 Rxc2+ 40. Kd1 Rg7 41. Rf8+ Rg8 42. Rxh7+ Kxh7 43. Rxg8 Kxg8 44. Kxc2
g4 45. Kd3 Kf7 46. Ke3 Kf6 47. a4 Kg5 48. a5 Bb8 49. Kf2 Kf4 50. Kg2 g3 51. a6
Ba7 52. Kf1 Kf3 53. Ke1 g2 54. Kd2 g1=Q 55. Kd3 Qg4 56. Kd2 Qe4 57. Kd1 Qe2+ - Kc1 Ke3 59. Kb1 Kd3 60. Kc1 Qc2# 0-1
BLACK is at the bottom. That is h8 is bottom left
31. Rxa7 …
In any event, I thought the game was lively and dynamic.
At first glance it looks like my rook can swoop in and just take the bishop, but I’m down 3 pawns, and if I do, my opponent will surely get his rooks connected on the 7th rank. So I had to decide if I could survive that and win.
Thanks for your replies everyone! All helpful. I’ve got a couple books on openings coming in the mail and in the meantime I’m just studying a few games and looking at tactics…
Another good book by Sam Collins is Understanding the Chess Openings.
+1 The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings
One of the best books on openings is “Hypermodern Chess,” by Savielly Tartakover. He covers a number of variations in depth historically and technically. Many “modern” opening ideas are in this book and used by top level GMs to avoid the more trodden paths of analysis of the last couple of decades. I saw one GM snatch the book from a “$10 table” at the bookseller at a US Open as if he had found gold.