Batsford Chess Openings II

An openings book is always a gamble because the moment you buy it, it is already out-dated. So why even bother buying this old book? Because it contains knowledge that remains current! However, as with ANY other openings book: Use a database to check your analyses and, why not?, a chess engine. As a reference book this is just as good as NCO or MCO but it is not intended to be an all inclussive treatise (at most it will show you what's played in this or that opening...)I still go back to this book to check variations or learn about obscure things I face from time to time. All in all BCO's still serves me well. What I like the most is its impecable format. Any variation you wish to find can be found efficiently and the evaluations at the end of the lines are fair.Is it worth buying the book? Yes, if you don't mind it being outadated... See, some lines that are no longer fashionable are not included in the so up-to-date manuals and what if those are your bread and butter? This happens with BCO's in my case... And, since I check it with databases I don't see a problem with BCO.

Published in 1989. Authored by Garry Kasparov and Raymond Keene. Certainly not the most up to date material on the wide variety of openings it covers, but it does explain each opening rather well. Over 400 pages with a good Index at the back. I have referenced this book dozens of times and have found it very helpful. Contains several variations for all the main openings.