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Which I tell him. Tactics, tactics, tactics, I say. He persists. He wants to know something about the individual openings. Not a lot, just more than the basic principles of control of the center, efficient development and King safety, he says. I still think he’s in over his head, but I ask: what books has he been looking at? The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, for one, he says. Yeah, right. And what did you get from those books, I ask, with one eyebrow raised. A headache, he says. I think ECO is too much for me, he adds. Go figure... Which I don’t say. Instead, I ask for the name of another book he’s tried. Modern Chess Openings, he says, shuffling his feet. Two-for-two, I figure. Of any help, I ask him. Well, he mumbles, the lines and columns were overwhelming, but the introductions to each section helped a bit. Not much more than that. Bingo! Now we’re on more solid ground. I ask him if he’s heard of Stefan Djuric, Dimitri Komarov and Claudio Pantaleoni. Of course I’m being a wise guy, and of course he gives me a quizzical look. Like he should know every Grandmaster and International Master who writes a book, right, even for New In Chess? (GM, GM & IM, for the record). I earn a blank stare. So I go to the Club bookshelf and return with Chess Opening Essentials Volume 1: The Complete 1.e4 – the second, improved edition, of course. Only the best for my students. Even the unpaid, not-quite-enrolled ones. (Okay, okay, this is the second English edition, a year after the first English edition; the first edition was published in Italian four years earlier. Approvazione?) The book goes *whomp* on the table and he takes a step back as his eyes widen. Three hundred and fifty eight pages makes for a decent volume. (I avoid making a joke about “mass” and “volume” as he seems overwhelmed enough as it is.) Try this, I tell him. He starts flipping pages, and then slows down and buries his nose. A good sign. Lots of openings, he says at last. More than 51, I think. Wise guy, I think. He’s gone again. It’s a good-looking book, he manages. Diagrams, arrows and two-color printing I say. Typical classy New In Chess layout. Double-columned, readable type, good use of bolding, italics and white space. It’s not as confusing as Fine’s Ideas Behind the Chess Openings, he mumbles. Not as deep, either, I tell myself. This guy isn’t asking for deep, he’s asking for wide. Explanations and sample games, he says. Many modern games. Looks good. More than that barn burner, How to Talk (Sparingly) About the Openings Like A Grandmaster (But Not Too Deeply), I offer. How’s his sense of irony? It goes over his head. What’s the downside, he finally asks, retrieving his face from the print; and for a moment I’m wondering if he’s looking for the bunny hill, say, as opposed to the double black diamond… A Jean-Claude Killy I’m not. Then I get it. The coverage of some of the minor openings and defenses like the Owen Defense, the Nimzovich Defense and the Elephant Gambit is light, I say. No Jerome Gambit, he asks. I smack my forehead before I can catch myself. No Jerome Gambit, I say, trying to add a tone of mournfulness for his benefit. The Center Game, Danish Gambit and Bishop’s Opening get only two pages, while the Vienna Game gets three, I tell him. He nods like that’s a plus for him. Okay… So I push on. The coverage of the Petroff is a bit light, I say – but the coverage of the Ruy Lopez, French and Sicilian is beefier. Broad, though, not too deep, he asks pleadingly, and then adds, the Petroff always put me to sleep, anyhow. He begins to drift. Volume 2, covering 1.d4 and the Queen’s Gambit, and Volume 3, covering the Indian Defences, will be out later this year, I say. He suddenly looks conflicted, and I can understand why. Two more books of openings? A potential thousand pages on the openings in all? I can see him wavering. It does say “ideas and plans behind ALL chess openings,” he manages, reflectively. I wait. I suppose I could start with just Volume 1, he says. Aren’t we beginners supposed to always open with 1.e4, anyhow? I find the inclusive “we beginners” to be offensive, but I shrug it off. I’m the teacher, he’s the student, I tell myself. My blood pressure slowly returns to normal. Say, he ventures, do you have Chess Opening Essentials at home, yourself? I admit that I don’t, that I’m still working my way through Farnsworth’s two volumes of Predator at the Chessboard A Field Guide to Tactics. But I’ve borrowed COE from the club library on occasion, I reassure him, and repeat a quote from Djuric, Komarov and Pantaleoni: “…over a hundred years of tournament experience has demonstrated that there is no single opening or variation that is able to magically give a clear advantage to White, or easy equality to Black.” He seems satisfied. Maybe I’ll start by borrowing it, he says. If I like what I see, I’ll get myself a copy. I remind him that he can always check out the Contents page or look at some sample pages at the New In Chess website if he needs to remind himself. And then he is gone. If he makes some general progress in chess, I tell myself, I can always steer him to Everyman’s Starting Out series. And if he brings those darn kids in, I can always mention Gambit’s Chess Explained series for them. My mind wanders off for a moment to I.A. Horowitz’s venerable Chess Openings: Theory and Practice. *Sigh*. When will we ever get an updated version of that gem?
But,
all in all, I think I gave him good advice.
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