Beating the Open Games [Paperback]

Mihail Marin (Author), Valentin Stoica (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2008

Acclaimed author and chess grandmaster, Mihail Marin presents an opening repertoire for Black against the Open Games. This means providing an answer to e4, but not considering the main lines of the Spanish Opening. This includes openings such as the Scotch, the Vienna, the Spanish Exchange Variation, and even the notorious King's Gambit. Marin uses his renowned writing skills to explain the ideas behind each move, so Beating the Open Games escapes the standard opening book trap of being a boring list of analysis. Marin has based the book mainly on his own repertoire and reveals many original moves and ideas. After studying this book the reader will not only have an excellent repertoire but also a deeper understanding of chess.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mihail Marin is a strong Grandmaster and the author of three previous books on chess, including Learn from the Legends, nominated for the British Chess Federation Book of the Year award and the biggest American award, the ChessCafe.com Book of the Year 2005.

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Quality Chess; 2nd Edition edition (March 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9197600431
• ISBN-13: 978-9197600439
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #543,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Setting a new standard of quality for opening books, June 5, 2008

By 

I. Knezovic (Croatia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beating the Open Games (Paperback)

Ever since I purchased his book Learn from the legends, I had begun to appreciate Mihail Marin as an exemplary chess writer. So, in my drive to broaden my tournament repertoire against e4 I taught I found an ideal starting point to begin with - this book. Reason is obvious for many chess (amateur) players; a dreaded and obscure lines and archaic swashbuckling openings coming regularly to you after 1.e4,e5 moves. After reading casually through this book I realized in what misconception I had been. Handle his instructions, and this book would become one's best friend before beginning a serious study of Ruy Lopez proper. Now, after reading this one, I ordered his Spanish main lines book in a wish of the same high quality as this in the book I am writing about.
Recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not the best book ever, February 25, 2010

By 

Rafael "Ro" (Rotterdam, netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beating the Open Games (Paperback)

I also wanted to add my 10 cents.I bought this book about a year ago and read it. I liked it and learned a lot from it. Marin is a good writer too.The quality of chess books is increasing and I think this book is good but I don't think this is the greatest book on the planet.

+ nice writing on the history of the systems
+ deep repertoire recommendation (a lot of effort is in this)
+ nice format
+ good treatment of max lange, glek system kings gambit four knight scotch etc...

- in the chapter of the spanish exchange with c3 I found some variations in the end which seemed misprinlded(I could not )
- repertoire is the one from Marin who is a grandmaster with good technique. This means this repertoire might not suit many average club players examples are below
- Bc5 against the Italian is quiet
- Nc6 against the scotch is inconsistenlt with the previous line, the positions with the doubled pawns are strategically complicated
- Nf6 against the ponziani usually leads to drawish position
- writer tends to be a bit philosophical at times this occasionally annoyed me.

Conclusion: Highly recommended, but not the greatest book on the planet and definitely not the perfect repertoire for everyone(for titled players it is a good start, weaker players might prefer other e4e5 books first): four stars.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest chess book ever written!, August 3, 2009

By 

Wolff Morrow (Denton, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beating the Open Games (Paperback)

I had for many years avoided the open games (1.e4 e5) as black because frankly I was intimidated by the work load. As I'm now nearing 1800 rating, I've been able to appreciate more how important learning these openings from the start is to the club player.

Just about every club player it seems is looking for that "easy opening" pet line they can trot out to play a comfortable system into the middlegame. This kind of thinking only slows proper developement of chess skill. The best way to approach getting better at chess is to jump right into the thick of it with classical developing moves. You learn how to use the power and scope of your pieces more efficiently by starting from the cornerstone of chess openings; the open games!

With the release of this book alongside Marin's other brilliant masterpiece "A Spanish Repertoire for Black", players seeking to learn the open games now have a definitive guide to pull knowledge from. The structure of Marin's book is truly the best I have ever read. Each of white's main openings like the King's Gambit, Scotch game, exchange Ruy, etc., are first described in concepts and ideas rather than flood you with page after page of diagrams & sub-variations. The idea is you actually LEARN the key points of the opening instead of memorizing moves. After you finish the chapter lesson, you get a section devoted to all of the subvariations by themselves in a nice condenced reference form. I found it especially useful for entering the lines into my openings training program based on Marin's suggestions and analysis. Without a doubt, all chess openings books should be structured this way.

I'm in agreement with many reviewers in chess circles that this is clearly one of the best chess books ever written regardless of content. Every club chess player should own a copy of this book, as well as Marin's "A Spanish Repertoire for Black". It's a rare treasure among the thousands of generic opening books out there!