Mastering the Opening (Everyman Chess): Amazon.co.uk: Byron Jacobs: 9781857442236: Books

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These three books are ideal for keen club players who want to improve and are seeking to better their understanding of the three key stages of a chess game: the opening, when the battle lines are drawn; the middlegame, when the armies commence hand to hand combat; and the endgame, when theoretical knowledge can make the difference between winning and losing. All three books are written in a user-friendly style with plenty of notes, tips, and warnings to illustrate key points. The authors are experienced at writing for players on all levels and are noted for their ability to explain ideas in a clear and straightforward fashion. These books are particularly useful for those players who honed their skills with the earlier books Improve Your Opening Play, Improve Your Middlegame Play and Improve Your Endgame Play:
-- A revolutionary layout that helps readers absorb the key ideas
-- Emphasis placed on the application of simple principles
-- Numerous exercises enable readers to gauge their progress

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to the opening, 19 Nov 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mastering the Opening (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

There are many books out there that provide introductions to chess openings (Bill Hartston's Penguin Guide is - or was - the best of them, but that is out of print), but this must be the best of what is available. It is a comprehensive introduction to the main chess openings. It is at a level somewhere between the general introduction to openings (develop your pieces, castle early etc.) and encyclopaedic reference works such as ECO, MCO, and Nunn. In particular, it takes most of the currently used openings, covers the main lines, and discusses the rationale of the opening in terms of both black and white's strategic goals. It also gives you some idea of how much theoretical knowledge would be necessary to maintain that opening, and how popular it is. It is very clearly written and nicely presented. It would be useful for any chess player above beginner level who wants to choose an opening for further work, or wants to get an idea of all the other openings they might encounter.

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Amazon.com: 4.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars some useful guidance for club players, 12 April 2004

By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Mastering the Opening (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

Openings covered are Sicilian (Sveshnikov, Scheveningen, Dragon, Taimonov, Closed and c3 systems); Spanish (main line with Be7 after a6/b5); French (Winawer, Tarrasch, Advance); Caro-Kann (main line and Advance); Alekhine, Center-Counter, and Pirc/Modern; King's Indian (main line, Saemisch, Four-Pawn attack); Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian, Bogo-Indian; Queen's Gambit Declined, Slav, Semi-Slav; Queen's Gambit Accepted; Gruenfeld; Dutch; English

......(Note: there just isn't enough in this book on the double king pawn openings if that's what you are looking for)

.....So that's what he writes about. Each opening is discussed under the headings 1) What is white's strategy? 2) What is black's strategy? 3) Tactical/strategic/dynamic? 4) Theoretical? 5) How popular is it? (and Annoted Illustrative games follow).
.....I find these headings interesting and basically helpful. 1) and 2) give you a sense of what the opening is all about. 3) gives you a sense of what kind of typical positions arise out of the opening. 4) is a nice addition and lets you know what how much you need to worry about booked-up opponents (or not...sometimes he is confident that you won't need loads of theory to play a variation well). 5) is interesting just for showing whether an opening is played much or not, or sometimes whether you see it more frequently or less frequently at club level vs. master level.
.....I found the book helpful to me because he explained some basic stuff to me that gave me some confidence in my games. For instance, I'd been experimented with 2.c3 in the Sicilian and finding the games more tactical than I'd expected. Jacobs pointed out in this book that in the c3 sicilian white usually plays for active piece play with an open center...which encouraged me to think more about having active pieces as I play than nursing central pawns. I also found myself being encouraged on the black side to try the sveshnikov, which I'd always avoided because black's pawn structure looks so bad...Jacobs made it clear that black basically accepts the weak pawn structure in return for active play...so again, instead of wondering what "grandmasterly" strategic ideas were embedded in this strange pawn formation, I realized I simply should be looking for active piece play! I think little pointers like this are a nice help, like having an IM give you a little advice over a cup of coffee.
.....Yes, the book suffers for lack of comprehensive detail. But I think it still is useful for giving you some basic knowledge about openings that you are actually likely to face at a club level. This book is an encouragement to get a little sense of what an opening is about and then go try it. And if he has recommended that you have a little theoretical knowledge in a particular line you like, then you can go fill in as needed. I like that style.

....Note: Everybody knows that amateur players spend way too much time studying openings! ...this book helps you get some opening knowledge without falling into that trap!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for beginning and low level club players., 31 Oct 2004

By J. Graham - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Mastering the Opening (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

This book gives a nice survey of today's most popular openings, with tips on planning and strategy for both white and black. For a book of this size (176 pages), obviously each opening is covered very briefly. A player looking to build or change his opening repetoire may find this book useful in deciding which opening to choose. But to 'master' any opening, the player will need to go get a few more detailed books. Hence the title is very inappropriate - maybe something like 'Introduction to Modern Chess Openings' would have been more fitting.

8 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly presented "how to" title, 26 Mar 2002

By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Mastering the Opening (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

The opening phase of chess receives strong attention in Mastering The Opening, a superbly presented "how to" title devoted to dealing with every major opening. Chess players will enjoy the attention to numerous thematic games and a layout which requires basic chess knowledge but still proves easy to understand.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews 4.2 out of 5 stars

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