A favorite short book with lots of good information: http://www.amazon.com/100-Endgames-...

More complete favorites:

http://www.amazon.com/Endgame-Tacti...

http://www.amazon.com/Practical-End...

v1 - 0713420855 http://www.amazon.com/English-P-K4-...

v2 - 0713420871 http://www.amazon.com/English-Vol-S...

v3 - 0713426888 http://www.amazon.com/English-P-QB4...

Yes, it would be helpful.

<GiuocoPianoMan: Anyone hear care to recommend a book on the English Opening? I have an MCO, but I wouldn't mind a monograph. This a new opening to me- and I have drawn twice with a computer program set at approx. my level 1700. Thanks!>

<diceman: <GiuocoPianoMan: Anyone hear care to recommend a book on the English Opening? I have an MCO, but I wouldn't mind a monograph.> Starting Out: The English
Neil McDonald

The Dynamic English
Tony Kosten

...and any of the Watson books mentioned.

<This a new opening to me->

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chess-Libra...

<Finding Bobby Fischer: Chess Interviews> By Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam (NIC 2015)

<Z> Jinx! Good heavens what a coincidence. That's the last chess book I read, and I read it just last week.

<Finding Bobby Fischer: Chess Interviews> By Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam (NIC 2015) http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Bobby...

If you like the kind of chess history written by Genna Sosonko, Tim Krabbe, or J.H. Donner you will like this book too. Hmm all of them are from the Nederlands eh? Even Genna ended up living in the Nederlands.

Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam interviews Kasparov, Karpov, Botvinnik, Timman, Polugaevsky and others. Also of great interest are his anecdotes about curious meetings with the greats- these are like mini short stories and his account of meeting Bobby Fischer is worth the price of the book alone.

I have a question about Max Euwe's books. I worked through his The Logical Approach to Chess and a lot of his endgame book, both a long time ago. I benefited greatly from them. Recently I picked up his Strategy and Tactics in Chess and like it a lot. I want to work through as many of his books as I can/should.

Can anyone put them in order in terms of when they should be studied, or which if any might be redundant? Thank you!

He has a lot.

The Logical Approach to Chess

Strategy and Tactics in Chess

Chess Master vs Chess Amateur

Judgement and Planning in Chess

Middle Game books 1 and 2

The Development of a Chess Style

The Road to Chess Mastery

Fisher World Champion

The Hague-Moscow 1948

From My Games 1920-1937

Bobby Fisher and his Predecessors in the World Chess Championship

Meet The Masters

Bobby Fisher: The Greatest? (clearly he knew how to cash in on a hot topic)

A Guide to Chess Endings

Thanks for the good wishes!

My surgery went fine but I’ve had ongoing problems with the medications and that has slowed down my full recovery. My doctor said I am good enough to travel a bit now so we are headed to Scottsdale for a long week of sunshine rehab. It has been a LONG winter here in Colorado.

<TheFocus> I’ll fill you in email when I get back. Re:<Breyer> – I think it may be best just to send you the MS as the scans did not come out well. Buschke and Streeter hand copied games onto scoresheets and even those are somewhat difficult to make out in many cases. I found the Bottlik book but no luck on the other Breyer volume.

I played quite a few Internet games with this over a couple of years and had some decent success. I gave it up (for now) not finding anything particularly effective against simple …d5 setups.

While most books recommend White pushing the b-pawn to b5 against ...d5 variations, I think defending it with a3 is often better – a Polish Defense Reversed. 

Here is a game I felt pretty good about:

[Date "2012.02.26"]
[EndDate "2012.03.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ParisAttack"]
[Black "Mike P"]
[WhiteRating "2204"]
[BlackRating "2150"]
[WhiteElo "2204"]
[BlackElo "2150"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. b4 e5 2. Bc1b2 Bf8xb4 3. Bb2xe5 Ng8f6 4. Nb1c3 Nb8c6 5. Be5xf6 Qd8xf6 6. Nc3d5 Qf6e5 7. Nd5xb4 Nc6xb4 8. Ra1b1 a5 9. a3 Nb4c6 10. Ng1f3 Qe5e7 11. Qd1c1 O-O 12. e3 d5 13. Qc1b2 b6 14. Bf1b5 Qe7d6 15. O-O f6 16. c4 Bc8e6 17. d4 Nc6e7 18. cxd5 Be6xd5 19. Nf3d2 f5 20. Rf1c1 Kg8h8 21. Qb2c3 Rf8c8 22. Nd2c4 Qd6g6 23. g3 Qg6e6 24. Nc4e5 Rc8d8 25. Bb5d3 Rd8c8 26. Rb1b5 Rc8f8 27. f3 Ne7g6 28. Bd3c4 Bd5xc4 29. Qc3xc4 Qe6xc4 30. Ne5xc4 Ra8e8 31. Kg1f2 Kh8g8 32. h3 Rf8f6 33. g4 fxg4 34. hxg4 Re8f8 35. f4 Ng6xf4 36. exf4 Rf6xf4 37. Kf2e3 Rf4xg4 38. Nc4e5 Rg4g3 39. Ke3e4 Rg3xa3 40. Rc1xc7 Ra3a1 41. Rb5xb6 Ra1e1 42. Ke4d5 Re1g1 43. Rc7a7 h5 44. Ra7xa5 h4 45. Ra5a3 Rg1h1 46. Rb6g6 Rf8d8 47. Kd5e6 Rd8e8 48. Ke6d7 Re8f8 49. d5 1-0

Against 1. …c5 (Birmingham Gambit) going into a Sicilian Wing is the best try.

I don’t think the much vaunted …d5 …Qd6 is as good as some say it is.

Against 1. …e5 I had success with 2. Bb2, Bb4: 3. Be5: Nf6; 4. Nc3!?: Nc6; 5. Bf6: Qf6: 6. Nd5. I tried an Accelerated Hippo Reversed with a KB fianchetto without much luck although it is worth exploring.

Similar to 1. b3 White can get seriously behind in development, especially on the K-side. An attraction (for me) is getting a central pawn majority – although in practice it is very difficult to mobilize because of White’s poor development.

‘Sokolsky’ is the most common name for this opening. Indeed, except for Schiffler’s work, Sokolsky’s is the seminal treatise. Levy’s book is a translation and update of that work.

To explore this opening I would recommend starting with the Lapshun volume, then move on to Levy. A fast play through the games in Wall’s book is highly recommended to get a feel for the opening.

I do not have the Yakovlev volume, would like to own it. I missed on eBay the only copy I’ve seen, being outbid at $35.00. Apparently there were only 250 copies printed on this record of a Sokolsky correspondence tournament.

I would be remiss not to point out Marek’s awesome database 1.b4: http://www.b2b4.eu/

Bickford - Sokolsky Gambit
Bickford - Sokolsky with 1. ...e5
Elwert - Gewinnt mit 1. b4!
Gillian - Sokolsky Opening
Grund - Sokolski-Eroffnung
Harding - Dynamic Chess Openings
Hildebrand - 1. b2-b4 (German)
Ivanov - Orangutan 1. b4
Konikowsky -Theory and Practice of the Sokolsky *
Lapshun -Play 1. b2-b4 *
Levy - Sokolsky’s *
Lonsdale - Sokolsky Opening: Birmingham Gambit
Lonsdale: Sokolsky Opening: Symmetrical Variation
Pallister - Beating Unusual Chess Openings
Santesiere - The Futuristic Chess Opening
Schiffler - Orang-Utan *
Sokolsky - 1. b2-b4 *
Soltis - 1. P-QN4
Soltjar / Kadratjew - Sokolski-Eroffnung
Tangborn - Beating the Flank Openings
The Moravian Series (1-4)
Wall – Orangutan *
Yakovyev- Debyut Sokolskova (Kiev 1958)

Hurt - The Sicilian Wing Gambit
Kapitaniak - Sicilian Defense Wing Gambits
Romeo - Sicilian Wing Gambit: An Historical Survey
Stauffer - The Winger

POLISH DEFENSE BOOKS

Basman - Play the St. George
Harding - Dynamic Black Defenses
Kapianiak - The Polish Defense
Lonsdale: The Polish Defence: Spassky Gambit Accepted Zimmer - Die Polnische Verteidigung

Came here because I noticed your comment of today, in which you expressed the view that the anti-Sokolsky system 1....d5 and 2....Qd6 is not all it is cracked up to be.

<Perfidious> Thx! Regards ...d5, ...Qd6 - I played five games against it, three wins, draw, loss. The loss was to 2400 player... The main-main line to me is 1. b4, d5; 2. Bb2, Qd6; 3. a3, e5; 4. Nf3, Nd7 (I won a nice game against 4...f6). But even there I think the game is equal but dynamic. Since I am a sucker for hypermodern sorties White appeals to me.

I think this is one of the lines where White might want to try an extended Hippo with a K-side fianchetto. I've also played the gambit line with 3. e3 and got lots for the pawn.

Personally below 2400 ELO my take is its pointless to try for an opening advantage...use the extra move to get a position you know well, feel comfortable with. Just my take on things.