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Title: Essential Chess Openings (Batsford Chess Library) by Jon Speelman, Raymond Keene, Jonathan Speelman ISBN: 0-8050-2430-1 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: February, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Really Great Effort !
Comment: This is an extremely nice opening book. I only wish someone would take on the job of updating it - this one was published in 1992.

The book is still excellent for a number of reasons. I recommend that you buy it if you can find a copy - it is currently out of print.

As the title suggests, the focus is on the critical or main lines of each major opening system. The physical size of the book makes it very convenient to carry along to a tournament.

The depth of the book is less than say, Modern Chess Openings, or Nunn's Chess Openings, but as I said the lines covered are the really critical "must know" variations.

Frankly, with the advent of computer databases, this type of "readers digest" approach to the opening variations makes much more sense. This book could be used to really understand the meat of an opening system. Once the particular system of interest is learned by following the main lines, the reader could later do more intensive research using the computer database.

In this way the two approaches compliment each other and the reader beneftis from the best of both worlds.

I truly believe that this book is quite useful to own, even though it was copyrighted nearly 10 years ago. Many of the main line openings shown are still very playable.

An over-the-board tournament competitor could do quite nicely using this as a study guide. A correspondance chess player would be more likely to need the added depth and up-to-date lines of Nunn's Chess Openings.

Rating: 5
Summary: Review of Essential Chess Openings
Comment: The lines chosen by the authors to review in this book were ideal, since they eliminated excessive and unneeded information. The lines were also original, but contemporary and critical in the openings chosen. The book is one that a serious chess player would benefit from owning and using to his or her advantage. The format of this book is very nice and easy to understand. I would highly recommend this book.