Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition Paperback – Illustrated, April 8, 2008

My go-to gift for all intermediate players. The best one on the market.

I highly recommend this book for people who wishes to have a good opening repertoire. Should be used along with computer opening insight. It’s good value for money!

My Grandson loved it ...

Not much to say about this classic. I've owned editions from the late 1960s when they used descriptive notation, which frequently led to errors on my chessboard attempting to follow opening moves and variations. The use of algebraic notation is so much easier. Still this is on paper, so using a board is still essential. It is IMO, the best and most complete opening reference generally available (in book form). It's the most recent version I could find, so opening theory since this was published (2008; 16 years ago!) is a bit out-of-date for new theory, but I am not a grandmaster, and find this reference serves me quite well. I do often use it with chess analysis software as a learning aid, so I don't think I'm losing much, but gaining a lot.This is a paperback with substantial pages, which presents the main drawback if heavily used - I suspect it will not wear well over time. My old hardcover MCOs were well-made; I still have them and they're intact.I don't think there is a newer version than MCO-15. If there is, I couldn't find it. Openings databases have likely supplanted paper book references. I like hard copy I can annotate.

As Described

Very good for openings

Good opening sets the stage for starting out in a superior position, a must use reference book for anyone that wants to increasing your rating

I bought this particular copy for some aspiring chess players. I am beyond the point where I'm going to study openings in any sort of formal manner. I first read this book at least 20+ years ago and I worked through many of the variations in the book for some of the openings that I preferred. You could probably spend at least half a lifetime investigating all of the openings contained in this book.I used this book to attack opponents who were less salient in opening theory. If you are serious about learning chess, you can't hardly beat MCO as the defacto standard for the opening game. I'm torn between learning the end game before opening theory, but you can't hardly do one without the other. This is probably not the most recent edition, but if you're looking for a big list of standard openings and their numerous variations, just about any recent revision should work nicely. If you're not really interested in working with a few chess sets and several positions at the same time, you may not be interested in this title. Imagine 20+ variations to every opening and a dissertation on the pros and cons of each in relatively terse prose. That's MCO in a nutshell. If you feel that you need opening study, this is the bible of openings in chess.If you've ever had someone smack you down and claim some named opening for which you had no knowledge of, then you probably need this book to continue your chess prowess. If you're not really ready to study the positions and work through them...you may want to pass. If you want to kill at chess, you should already own this book--in a hopefully recent rendition. If you have *never* studied openings, then buy the cheapest version because there is a lot of value in the basic openings that are fully commented in this book.