Openings for Amateurs

by Pete Tamburro

Don’t have the time to study opening theory, or to figure out where you’re going wrong with your games? Are you looking for guidance on how to handle the opening so that you can get a playable middlegame?

Openings for Amateurs is written with two kinds of chessplayers in average “club” players who can’t afford to learn variations 30 moves deep; and scholastic players looking to take the next step in their chess development.

This is really two books in one! The Primer covers the most frequent mistakes made in the opening and considers many common misconceptions about this phase of the game. Popular chess author and lecturer Pete Tamburro devotes special attention to the best ways to meet both tricky lines like the Blackmar-Diemer and the Belgrade Gambit, and “system” attacks such as the Colle and the Barry, while discussing such vexing topics as when to chase a bishop and whether to believe openings manuals.

Part II offers a selection of openings that you are invited to consider based on your needs, and presents 53 annotated model games to help you understand the openings’ ideas rather than just memorizing moves. The aim is to help you determine where you are now and then how to pursue your chess goals – while helping you right away to survive the opening in your next tournament!

Genres: Chess

360 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2014

Reviews

[Carl Palmateer]

A great book but I should have gotten it in a print edition. The kindle just doesn't allow me to flip back and forth. The first part is where this is most important, the Q & A. The second part flows enough that its not necessary. It is a great book for beginners to intermediate that can't be recommended highly enough.

[TjeerdFokkens]

Wonderful book to the your opening knowledge beyond the basics. I really like that the first section discusses common opening themes that occur often in practical play. It is definitely a section worth going back to occasionally. The second section is a bit more serious and discusses specific openings in more depth. Sometimes the number and the length of variations is a bit much. That is the only drawback of the book really. In this second section one gets a good feel for the openings and also for how to study them. It is really quite inspirational. Just a very nice book!

[Bobsie67]

Working through (because that's how you really "read" a chess book) this book on the FowardChess app on my iPad. Good app with clear diagrams. Some quirks. Excellent chess opening book for amateurs like me because it gives practical advice as well as an introduction to some chess openings with a focus on ideas on what to do!