Mastering the Opening (Everyman Chess) [Paperback]

Byron Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

Series: Everyman Chess | Publication Date: January 1, 2002

This book enables keen students to improve their understanding of the opening phase of the game. It develops themes originally discussed in Improve Your Opening Play.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The opening phase of the game throws up difficult questions for those keen to study and improve their chess. In Mastering the Opening, international master Byron Jacobs outlines the key plans and strategies in all major openings and helps the reader to decide upon an opening repertoire.This guide deals with every major opening, has numerous thematic games that illustrate important principles and a revolutionary layout allows readers to absorb the key ideas. (6 3/4 x 9 1/2, 176 pages, diagrams)

About the Author

International master Byron Jacobs is a highly experienced chess author and journalist, having worked for numerous newspapers, magazines and chess websites around the world. He has written extensively on all aspects of the game and is the chief adviser on the Everyman Chess list.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Everyman Chess; 1st edition (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857442237
• ISBN-13: 978-1857442236
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,610,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars some useful guidance for club players, April 11, 2004

By A Customer

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., October 31, 2004

By 

J. Graham (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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, March 26, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

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.