Nunn's Chess Openings (Everyman Chess Series) Paperback – January 1, 1999

I decided to write this review after reading the other reviews on this book. I have used this book for about two years and I think it is very helpful. However, there are a few things to remember when deciding to purchase this book:1. This is a reference book meant for people who are serious about learning chess openings. It is not meant as an "instructional" tool to tell you the ideas of the openings, but instead as a reference if you already have some knowledge of openings and basic strategy.2. This is not meant for beginners. When it comes to openings, players under say 1300-1400 should concentrate on learning the ideas behind the openings rather than worrying about specific opening lines past move 10. Players under 1300 should try Reuben Fine's Idea's Behind the Chess Openings or Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings to get ideas that come from these openings. Players below this level more often lose games because of tactical blunders rather than not knowing an opening. I actually got this book when I was rated around 1200, and I basically put it away until I was rated around 1500. Now, at 1700, I use it after each of my games to see what "theory" says about the opening I play.3. This is a comprehensive reference, so it will not have every opening known to man. Some of the unsound gambits and "trick" openings are not covered because a) not many people play them and b) these can be refuted or defeated by understanding tactics better (many of these off-beat openings require the other player to play a natural move and lose because they "missed" the tactical trick. These types of openings should not be in a book such as this, because many players can probably figure out these traps and avoid them in their play. It is true that some of my openings are not covered very much in this book, but a majority of them are, and usually the ones that aren't covered I play because I already have a book or other resource for that opening.This is a great book if you have some experience in chess and wish to look up openings when analyzing your games or even to learn new openings (until you get good enough that you need more specialized material).

Although it's 20 years out of date, it's still a great resource. Sure, there're newer opening lines that it doesn't include, but that'd be true of any printed volume.I only have a few quibbles:--I wish NCO had labeled all of the names of the opening lines: the only names you get are at the top of the page, and as a result many named openings aren't mentioned at all (even though the moves for them are included below), and for those opening names that are mentioned, it's often difficult to figure out which lines in the table correspond to them.--It could've used an "index by opening names" as well.--Transpositions are labeled with a dash, but sometimes it takes some snooping to figure out which line in which table the transposition is pointing to. A couple more words here would've been helpful.

I read the reviews for this book. Some say it is advanced, others say no prose etc. First and foremost this is a openings manual, therefore either you need it or you dont. It is useful if you play regular tournaments, since you can carry it with you and refer to the lines at the end of the game. It is like any other MCO or whatever. It is a personal choice which one is better, and I dont think it makes a big difference unless you are of and IM or GM strength.As I said it is a good book to have if 1) You play tournaments regularly 2) you can find one under 15 bucks. If you just play blitz on ICC or at the local club then this book is of little use to you.A word of caution opening books are like PC's they get oudated rather quickly, but then again unless you are a Garry or Vishy that should make little difference.

Every hear of the Velimirovic Attack, how about the difference between the tarrasch and the winiwar. Whats the difference between the flohr-zaitsev and other spanish openings. This is an excellent book for people who like openings and don't want a lot of text. If you play a line you want to know how its played and what the name of the line is. This book covers all that. Every opening in chess is listed with lines going 30 deep. Not a book to read cover to cover but this massive tome is an excellent reference book for proper ways to open a chess game. One of my favorites.

This book is a valuable collection of large number of variants organized for different chess openings. In fact Nunn et. al should not be considered as the author of this book, rather they are the editor, as there is no explanation over the strategies, and tactics taken in each variant. The editors of the book failed to make any comment on every move or at least for each variant, and they remained silent throughout the book! those who are experts in chess know the stuff, or at least they came across these variants before, and those who are new to chess do not benefit, as there is no guidance or comment to make sense out of each opening. I'll rate this book as one star, however if the editors of the book provide complete explanation and proper comments for each opening, then it can turn into a five-star masterpiece.Pros.Good collection of chess openings along with different variants taken from the games played by chess mastersGood database for programming the computer chess processorsCons.No explanation nor commentsToo dry and confusing for new chess playersExperienced players can have access to this stuff free of charge over the internet, or through the computer chess engines, whenever necessary to refresh their minds

I like the wide covering of openings. A good reference book for analyzing your games or for preparing in any opening you plan to try.

If you can't afford to own a GM's library, then Nunn's Openings is for you. John Nunn is an excellent teacher and he has amassed a ton of wealth about chess openings in this book which isvery easy to follow. This will definitely help your chess openings preparation. Highly recommended.

Order this old book, but I found in great condition. Very fast delivery. Value for money. I wish the seller success. Love it

This can be compared to Modern chess openings.To be on the original side, Nunn starts with unusual openings to get the awkward questions out of the way. As Nunn's says, his text is devoid of flourish. That's what is said about the Najdorf;" ...One of the main points behind 5...a6 is to prepare the advance on ...e5, which would not be so good at once in view of 6 B b5 +." The book is full of comments of this sort and perhaps in this sense, it is more useful for its comments than "Modern chess openings" (MCO) as it is down to earth advice no more no less.Why I give four stars only is because of the difficulty sometimes in following the notes. They are copious, more copious than in MCO, but you need to enlarge them and write some lines on a piece of paper to make sense of them.Otherwise, like MCO, this is a book that will keep you going for many long years. It is a dictionary, with tables, notes and comments, treat it as such, you could not read it from cover to cover; in small doses, there's a mine to learn from it.Buy it, and set you chess set on your table and seep the knowledge of Grand Masters opened for you.

it's a great opening book... there are lots of openings with important lines...

Great book