English Chess Forum

Hi, I'm new to the forum.

I'm surprised books are so little discussed here.

I'm 65 years old and would be a beginner, except that I read Teschner's 1980 books on openings and endings back in 1983.

I briefly belonged to a club near Southampton in 1985, I wasn't good, then I moved to London and gave up chess for bridge.

Now my other half is keen on learning chess, so I've bought Teschner's trilogy and Pachman's Complete Chess Strategy too, which I coveted 40 years ago.

My basic feeling is that Teschner on openings is not quite right for someone like me. It's too old, and I consider myself to be a beginner and want to stay a beginner, except that I want to understand a game from beginning to end. There is possibly a non-existent fusion, where there should be a fusion, between Teschner and Pachmann (bearing in mind I haven't read Teschner on the middle game). So I think I should acquire ONE more, modern, book on openings - with the emphasis on theory rather than variants. For example, I'm happy to open d4 for the rest of my life just to avoid 2/3 of Teschner's variants.

I couldn't care less about theoretical advantages after the opening because I once read that most moves are blunders and the winner is the one who makes the penultimate blunder. Although the grandmaster who wrote that was probably being tongue-in-cheek, I think it literally applies to someone like me. Do you feel it applies to you?

Is there a suitable openings book published after the year 2000, or even before?

I don't even own a chess set yet - I'll be off to Euston Road one day soon.

Andrew Fryer wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 12:24 pm

I couldn't care less about theoretical advantages after the opening because I once read that most moves are blunders and the winner is the one who makes the penultimate blunder.

I could suspect that opinion is obsolete as even lower ranked players can get an awful lot of practice by playing online. But it depends what level someone aspires too. Someone without a working knowledge of the positions likely to arise in the first few moves of a game is likely to be vulnerable to any number of cheap tricks if playing in leagues or Congresses.

Someone at a reasonably high amateur level who analyses his games deeply is Tim Spanton. I'm sometimes amazed at the potential number of turning points that he detects in his games when he lets computer engines loose on them.

https://beauchess.blogspot.com/

Euston road shop has moved to 44 Baker street.

Old openings books aren't completely useless if you want a general overview of opening strategy and principles rather than lots of concrete variations (even though the former *has* changed a bit since the 1980s, it will still have done so a lot less than the latter) And a lot of the traps you see in lower level tournament and club games won't appear in most books anyway.....

Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 3:28 pm

And a lot of the traps you see in lower level tournament and club games won't appear in most books anyway.....

It's necessary to be cautious about accepting verdicts in old books that certain plausible moves or ideas are "bad" or look wrong. A number have been proved completely playable.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 1:32 pm

Someone without a working knowledge of the positions likely to arise in the first few moves of a game is likely to be vulnerable to any number of cheap tricks if playing in leagues or Congresses.

Good point, but "few" needs defining.

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 2:30 pm

Euston road shop has moved to 44 Baker street.

That might be useful to know, lol.

Andrew Fryer wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 5:06 pm

]Good point, but "few" needs defining.

It varies by position.

For example the sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. Nxe5 doesn't win a pawn because 5. .. Qd4 is the reply hitting both the pawn on e4 and the Knight on e5. However in the sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 a6 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 does win a pawn because if 6. .. Qd4 then 7 Nf3 and if 7. .. Qxe4 then 8. Re1 pinning the Queen to the King.

Another early one is in the Kings Indian. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. Bg5 e5 is a mistake because of 7 dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Nd5 which hits both the pinned Knight on f6 and the pawn on c7. The move 6. .. Na6 thwarts this and then 7. .. e5 can be played if you want. Other sixth moves by Black are possible as the opening books should demonstrate.

Also in the Kings Indian, Black can lose an early pawn. it runs 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 0-0 6. Be3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8. Bxc5. In that one the current belief now is that Black can get enough compensation with some accurate moves.

I fell for that trap in the first serious KID I ever played, in 1973. I struggled on the exchange down, but the result was never in doubt. Around the same time I was clueless against the 4 Pawns, not realising the importance of gaining a foothold in the centre with ...c5 and ...e6.

Quite soon I gave up the KID completely, not liking the closed positions that often result.

"Fundamental Chess Openings" by Paul van der Sterren, published in 2009, strikes a good balance between explanation and theory.

It gets good reviews and costs less than £20 at Amazon or Chess and Bridge. I've recommended it to newcomers at my chess club.

Andrew you will get a lot of differing suggestions, everyone will mean well.
I can only suggest a book I know gave me good leg up.
Logical Chess by Irving Chernev it takes you all the way through each game guided by basic clear notes.
You will pick one cheap in descriptive notation but if you prefer algebraic which is the best way to go these days, get that one, it should not be too expensive. Your library may have a copy.

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 6:53 pm

Andrew you will get a lot of differing suggestions, everyone will mean well.

I know, I'm not new to forums, lol.
On a violin forum someone will ask for string or rosin recommendations, and when the dust has settled, every make on the planet will have been named.

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 6:53 pm

I can only suggest a book I know gave me good leg up.
Logical Chess by Irving Chernev it takes you all the way through each game guided by basic clear notes.

I would endorse that as well. The positional assessments may not stand the test of time but the method of thinking that every move should have a purpose and you can explain the reasoning behind it is valuable.

I believe they've fallen out of favour because, over the last 10 years or so, video training courses have gotten a lot better; it's at the point where I would say Chess books are close to obsolete now. For me (and I suspect most players) it is a lot easier to take information in when the position is set up on a computer screen and the GM is explaining things to you, rather than having to go through endless variations and sub-variations yourself on a board or computer screen and reading the dry comments.

When I first started playing around 2005 you only really had the very early Fritz trainers and the Foxy opening stuff - a lot of those were like an hour of information, with nowhere near a definitive analysis of the subject. No disrespect to Andrew Martin (I know he posts on here from time to time) but I remember a lot of his early stuff left a lot to be desired - his Foxy on the Czech Pirc, misses white can just play an early h3 and basically all his analysis is out the window.

Because of this, books were still very much a necessity, but now you have Chessable etc, which offers 6 hour video courses - if you pick the right one, it's pretty much all the information you need.

I need to have a clear out to be honest, I have 100's of Chess books I'll never touch again and are just dust collectors now.

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 5:49 pm

I fell for that trap in the first serious KID I ever played, in 1973. I struggled on the exchange down, but the result was never in doubt. Around the same time I was clueless against the 4 Pawns, not realising the importance of gaining a foothold in the centre with ...c5 and ...e6.

Quite soon I gave up the KID completely, not liking the closed positions that often result.

When learning a new opening isn't falling for these traps part of the learning experience- albeit a painful one?

Jon Mahony wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 20, 2025 8:09 pm

I believe they've fallen out of favour because, over the last 10 years or so, video training courses have gotten a lot better; it's at the point where I would say Chess books are close to obsolete now. For me (and I suspect most players) it is a lot easier to take information in when the position is set up on a computer screen and the GM is explaining things to you, rather than having to go through endless variations and sub-variations yourself on a board or computer screen and reading the dry comments.

For someone who is taking up a new openings I think books still have their place. They certainly do for me. I think the evidence shows that humans process information presented onscreen and on the page in different ways. So it depends how you learn. Moreover if books were obsolete publishers would stop releasing them. I think opening books still outnumber other types of chess books.