World Champion Openings, 2nd Edition

This is one of Mr. Schiller's best books! If you really want to get some new ideas in the openings then this book is worth considering. It has a lot of different type of analysis. Don't just get a standard opening text like MCO without getting "World Champion Openings" to go along with it!

This is a "must-have" for those who are striving to get into the 1000~1500 rating (USCF rating) range. This serves as a good reference and many variations are reviewed and discussed. After he gives the moves for several variations, he gives us an analysis which is benefitial to your game in chess. Many of the openings in this book may not be used commonly - that's why it is helpful surprising your opponent in which moves you play in the opening. It is worth your expense.

A thorough, exemplary work, Schiller expounds on the essential openings requisite to any blossoming chessplayer's repertoire.There are many great features I find appealing about it. One, the book is very clear. The book pictorially presents the moves in each of the openings providing the reader with far more than just a tedious list of annotated moves. In addition, the book is very direct. Instead of trying to explain myriad openings, it qualifies its efforts to concentrate strictly on those openings which are considered the most essential so you don't overwork yourself like a mad man. And moreover, the openings are explained not just move-by-move but also by means of an explanation of the motives and skill factors needed of the chessplayer to successfully execute each opening. Each opening is presented with de facto games played by leading grandmasters including Fischer, Kasparov, Karpov, etc. The book explicitly identifies where moves by such grandmasters are now obsolete and provides the new theory for each move. Thus, I cannot agree with other reviewers who claim that this book is just a book of games and thereby has no qualifications to instruct. The games were simply implemented to better explain the concept of each opening.Finally, the book contains graphs of the moves world grandmasters preferred to begin games. For example, about 60% of world chess champions prefer the open game in response to the King's Pawn Opening, 30% the Sicilian Defense, and only 5% each for the Caro-Kahn or French Defense! This statistic as well as many others make this book a fine source for up-and-coming chessplayers. I would highly recommend this book for any chess player at any level of competition as a mentor for general chess opening schemes and strategy.

This book is an excellent introduction to the most solid openings in chess. All the openings used by World Champions are covered, and indexed by percentage of use. I found this book to be a great tool in shaping my opening repertoire.