Basic Chess Openings

By Gabor Kallai

Book Overview

In this comprehensive book for players of all ages, Grandmaster Kallai provides a straightforward, easy-to-use guide to surviving the maze of chess openings, covering all the popular modern openings starting with 1 e4. Rather than present a mass of bewildering variations, as is common in most opening books, the author concentrates on developing a solid understanding of the ideas of each opening, so that readers can start each game with confidence. He arms the aspiring player with the fundamental grounding essential for achieving sound and promising positions from the opening, with an emphasis on formulating good plans for the middlegame.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1857441133
• ISBN13: 9781857441130
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Everyman Chess
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great way to get started

My only problem with the book is the title: it is only about e4 openings, mostly from white's perspective. The companion d4 book is probably necessary to learn how to respond when playing black against d4. 5 stars otherwise; I love the presentation. I started learning openings with Reinfeld's very basic primer, but I think it would be easy to start with this book. I especially value the discussion of middlegame plans after each main variation; this is lacking in many other opening books that focus on variations. A nice balance of details and strategy.

Excellent book that bridges basic openings books with MCO

I have a number of general opening books: NCO, Horowitz's Theory and Pratice, Fine"s Ideas Behind Chess Opening's. Kallai's book is far superior to Fine's. It reads easier and provides more details (variations). It also shows the basic traps for both sides. I am surprised that this series of books are not more popular... I turned in my Fine's book and have no regrets.

Beautiful, crucial!

The two books by Kallai are quite wonderful. They are a nice modern complement to 500 Master Games of Chess by Tartakower. They are worthy to be joined with that great book. Each opening section cotnains a valuable section about subsequent plans and ideas. If people knew how good these books were, they would quickly be snatched up.

If you want to KNOW openings......this is the book for you.

I highly recomend this book. As an intermediate player (1700-1800), I found myself usually getting behind in the beggining against more advanced players. This will teach you just about every opening (along with "More Basic Chess Openings") and ensure your confidence at the start of a game. If you have never picked up a chess book, like myself, this is where you should start.