FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings

Those of us old enough to have used some edition of Modern Chess Openings (MCO) as our "bible" can give up on waiting for the next edition and hoping it is better edited than the last one. This Book, FCO, is both comprehensive and much more explanatory of the important opening lines. Anything MCO had that FCO doesn't is better accessed through a chess database. Give your chess bookshelf some open space by tossing those old editions of MCO and replacing them with this edition of FCO.

Well of course it gets a 5-star review because it's a modern classic of chess literature. I'm no chess expert, just an enthusiast and adult improver (I hope). Here's what makes this a great book IMHO: What I appreciate most is the structure of the book. The first half of the book is d4 openings, the second half is e4. Each half starts with a little 3-page essay with a paragraph or two on about a dozen of the most-used openings that spring from that first move, roughly organized in historical order. Then the 200 pages that follow are chapters which tackle more in-depth exploration of each of those openings, organized in the order that they are mentioned in that first essay. Even at over 450 pages, this book can only scratch the surface of opening theory; you can get an entire book about the Ruy-Lopez or Sicilian or King's Indian openings just on their own. But he gets you to about move 6 or 7 on most of the main lines in each, which is more than enough to develop a solid intermediate understanding of each, and he also includes some of the history of the development of each, which I found really fun. Finally, like most of the great chess writers, he writes with great excitement and enthusiasm. I have only had this a few months and have explored like 10% of it, but I am more than satisfied with this addition to my chess library.

It really gets 4.5 stars. This is a nice primer to all the openings, without going deep into all the variation and theories. This shouldn't be a surprise: there are so many openings, and even more variations and sub-variations to each, that it would take well over a thousand pages to cover it all in detail. This is not the intention of this book. Rather, the goal is to introduce each opening, with main variations lines to each, and supplement it with basic explanatory prose. On this score, the book achieves what it sets out to do. The strong points of this book are primarily its prose and its organization. The prose is excellent. The author provides a nice mini history of each opening, in addition to a few sentences on the theory. He then gives main variations that are typically played, and explores each one, with a few sub-variations. Occasionally, he mentions the development of the opening variations through the years, who popularized them, who refuted them, who famously played them and etc. The prose is also sparkled here and there with some dry humor and witty commentary, which give this book a particular flavor (i.e. "this move is meant to make a knight on e2 look silly"; etc.). The other strong point of the book is its exceptional organization. It is easy to follow all the variations and sub-variations given, because the book is nicely organized to keep the reader focused and without going into long and distracting lines of analysis. All the main variation and sub-variation lines that the author highlights are in bold and the few variants of variations/sub-variations are in normal font. The weaker points of the book, IMO, are that the author doesn't often mention (though sometimes he does) the common traps that exist in the openings. And I also wish that more theoretical grounding was provided for the openings and its variations. To be sure, the author usually mentions a few sentences about the strengths and weaknesses of the openings, but never going much under the surface. Of course, great depth is not expected in a survey book of this sort; but some depth coverage would have been nice. This book is geared toward intermediate players, and perhaps as a refresher course to more advanced players. It would have no use for more seasoned masters of the game, and might be a little advanced for the early beginners. In conclusion, it's a solid primer for all the openings and provides a good introduction to each, thus serving as a starting point for further and deeper exploration of each particular opening and/or variation.

Without a doubt this is the best opening book to start with, and possibly the only one you might need for quite a while. Oh how I wish this had been available when I started out. What's the first thing a beginner does (ignoring all advice)? He starts surveying all the openings to find a few that he likes (and then changes his mind repeatedly). Before this book that involved buying a book on each opening, at great expense, both of money and time. That's no longer necessary - you can buy this one and get all you need for that purpose. It does expect some experience, but no more than any opening book does. The book reminds me alot of Watson's Mastering the Chess Openings, except that it's much broader and less deep. It's far less selective and sophisticated than Watson, but it's not superficial at all given the target audience. It gives very good explanations of the general themes, historical development, and early move orders of pretty much every opening you could want, although it does have a strong focus on mainlines. For a beginner or intermediate, this book will give you enough theory to get started - your first half dozen moves with some deviations - but not enough to distract you from tactics and endgames. Coaches should love it. I'm sure they would tell you it's all you need until you are an expert. The book is targeted at non-Masters. It's perfect for beginners to intermediates - I would say this is an essential book for beginner to Class C. Higher class players would still get a lot of value as a reference for unfamiliar openings they encounter and for broadening their repertoires, but I suspect an Expert would get diminished value from it. It has 450 some pages of large page size and has a huge amount of prose for each bit of analysis. I bought this expecting to be disappointed by superficiality, but I was wrong. After the fact, it's hard to imagine this book hasn't existed until now. Thank you Grandmaster van der Sterren. Thank you Gambit. Update: I find myself immersed in this thing all the time - it's addictive. I defy anybody in the target audience to read about their favorite opening and not learn something.

Great

Because each opening has endless Lines, you’ll need a small chess board to work the moves out yourself. Otherwise - too difficult to recall the major lines.

I was so excited to get this book and to start diving into a few different openings to elevate my game. Firstly, this is a very well organized and compiled book. There are 31 openings thoroughly covered (460 pages worth). Definitely a wealth of knowledge to be had. I’ve seen other chess opening books that just had chess notations written out with no image of the board showing the pieces. This book ALMOST meets the mark. Yes, each opening shows a printed visual of the board and the location of the pieces, BUT it’s up to you to already have the notation of the board memorized because the notations are NOT printed with the board for easy reference. If you don’t have the board notations memorized (like myself), you’re in for a long ride in trying to understand this book. I’m a visual learner and I’m just now starting to learn the board’s notation grid. So giving me a paragraph of "e4> 6h> b3> d7" without seeing the notation printed on the page to follow along with the sequence of play is fairly discouraging. Mainly because flipping back and forth between the notation key on page 5, then back to the page I’m studying takes SO MUCH TIME and disrupts the flow of reading, visualizing, and studying what is being taught. It seems like such an easy fix too. There is plenty of space round each printed board to include the a-h and 1-8 notation. It would speed up the new-average player’s processing time to take in and digest the information being given. For a book targeting teaching the "fundamentals" I think they dropped the ball in helping the student easily understand the positions and move locations outlined in the book without including these notations. Especially since every move/turn the reader doesn’t get a refreshed pic of the board with the piece’s new positions, only written explanation using notation. Gothamchess’ book How to Win at Chess is significantly easier to follow along with their board diagrams, notations, and move highlights. If FCO would adopt that, it would be a 12/5 star rating. *i still hope to use this book so I’m taking matters into my own hands.. I am personally adding the notation with pen on the sides of every board printed in the specific chapter for the opening I’m studying as I make my way through the book. Eventually the whole book will have the notation. Honestly, it’s helped. But again, this is something that should have been done by the author/publishing company. (Maybe when the publishing company does a revised version?, hint hint) All in all, it’s a great resource and offers a wealth of knowledge. If you have notation and board position memorized, this will likely be a 5 of 5 star book for you.

If you are a beginner or intermediate player who wishes to learn or improve your knowledge and understanding of openings, this is *the* book to read. I've tried other books, by well-known authors -- this is the only openings book that is "sticking" in my brain. The coverage of openings is excellent, the variation analyses are superb and at a just-right depth, the chapter organization is excellent, the historical discussions are fascinating and (quite contrary to some complaints by reviewers) actually assist in the understanding and retention of the material, and the writing style is simply superb throughout (the introduction to the King's Gambit is the best of piece of chess writing that I have ever read -- it actually brought tears to my eyes). This book was clearly a work of love; it is a masterpiece. The low-star reviews of this book utterly defy comprehension.

like a chess bible, paper and quality are good. An hardcover will be a good idea and redesign this cover will be "fundamental" , anyway this is a must have.

Very good book

Preso per mio figlio che me l'ha chiesto, mi sembra soddisfatto, l'ha trovato interessante.

Escrito por um Grande Mestre o livro traz um capítulo para cada abertura de xadrez. Ênfase em planos e ideias. Nada de dezenas de variantes que deixam o leitor confuso e que tem pouca ou nenhuma utilidade prática. Ou seja o leitor, com um pouco de disciplina, terá a oportunidade de criar seu próprio repertório de aberturas sem a necessidade de ficar semanas ou meses estudando variantes obscuras que não têm a menor chance de acontecer em suas partidas.

Nice book