Best place to find recent books/dvd on Chess Openings

[Bruce Baer]

Hi there
Can anyone point me in the right direction to find the latest information on openings ? I havent bought a Chess Book/DVD in 20 years so really could do with a heads up.
Thanks
Bruce

[Roger de Coverly]

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find the latest information on openings ?

There's the www.chesspublishing.com website and its related discussion forum www.chesspub.com

[Joshua Gibbs]

Hi there
Can anyone point me in the right direction to find the latest information on openings ? I havent bought a Chess Book/DVD in 20 years so really could do with a heads up.
Thanks
Bruce

i would reccomend getting a strong player to go through the openings. he or she can point out how to combat weak moves which often arent mentioned in the theory.

[Joey Stewart]

Go on youtube - plenty of "masters" willingly dispense free knowledge there

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Bruce,

Not much has changed in the last 20 years.

The pieces still move the same, the opening traps that caught our 19th century pioneers still catch players today.

If you have the precious time available to memorise an opening book looking at variations you will never see OTB,
may I humbly suggest that the effort (akin to memorising every capital city in the world but never actually visiting one)
would be more beneficial by letting daylight once again fall onto the yellowing pages of that collection complete of games
you have and have not cracked open since puberty. (We all have them and promise ourselves one day to look at them again....we never do.)

Of course if your regular opponent is a G.M. then you will need 3 coaches, the best computer money can buy, a dietician
and a passport. (then memorising capital cities will be a positive boon as you are bound to visit quite a few.)

[Roger de Coverly]

The pieces still move the same, the opening traps that caught our 19th century pioneers still catch players today.

It can be worth checking that the traps really are so. Playing through the line with an engine in the background may help and establish that the bad move is later than you thought.

It's been mentioned on here before, but the line in the Vienna that goes 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. Nf3, it isn't 5. .. Qh4 which is the error but 6 .. Nxg3 because 6. .. Nxc3 is playable. After 7. bxc3, you either return the Queen home, or park it on a4.
[FEN "rnb1kb1r/ppp2ppp/8/3pP3/4n2q/2NP2P1/PPP4P/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 6"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. Nf3

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Roger,

Now I'm home ground. Opening Traps!

You are correct if you are sticking a few i tricks/traps and pitfalls in your back pocket for a rainy day
then always poke them about to make sure you can handle any after trap setting wriggling and swindling.

The good players of today are much better than the good guys from the 19th century but
the under 2000's are under 2000 in every century and merrily fall into the same snares.

The most common trap is players losing a piece in the QGA.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 b5 3... h5 4. a4 c6 5. axb5 cxb5 6. Qf3 *

rnbqkbnr/p3pppp/8/1p6/2pP4/4PQ2/1P3PPP/RNB1KBNR b KQkq - 0 6

I can lay my hands on over 2000 (sic) recent examples of this happening from 2002 onwards.
Greco first dug that pitfall it in 1620. Not all of them end up as White wins.
Sometimes White slips into easy street and gets their Queen trapped.

You can happily fall into Blackburne's Shilling Trap. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4

r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/2BnP3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 4

4.Nxe5 (which a lot of books drops a ''?' onto. ) 4....Qg4 5.0-0 Qxe5 6.c3.

r1b1kbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4q3/2BnP3/2P5/PP1P1PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 0 6

Computers will sneer at this though every red bloodied human will adore it as White.

And every opening trap for Black can work,with a bit of tweaking, for White.

I hope Bruce gets the book he is after, but I'd lay odds he already has a better non-opening book in his library.
Partially unread and unstudied and catching a guilty look from you every time you pass it by looking for something else.
Within it's fading pages you may re-discover the reason why you fell in love with chess in the first place.

[Bruce Baer]

Thanks guys for the heads up

[Simon Rogers]

Some interesting positions thanks Roger and Geoff.