Complete Book Of Chess Openings

This is a tough little tome to track down. In fact, it is less than 200 pages and too short to be a tome. No matter, "Complete Book of Chess Openings" by the late Fred Reinfeld is packed with openings, gambits, defenses and explanations why which moves will impact your playing.Reinfeld authored dozens of chess books, and was one of America's top players. He summed up his understanding of openings into this book, suitable for beginning and intermediate players.Included are what you'd find in most opening books:Center Opening, Danish Game, Bishop's Opening, Vienna Game, King's Gambit, Giuco Piano, Four Knights, French Defense, Sicilian Defense, Queen's Gambit, and much more. The moves are described in notation form, and he briefly points out the sensibility behind a given move. There is a page with a notation chart for those players unfamiliar with it.Where many great players falter as they prepare opening books is that they often overwhelm the reader with more material than is useful. Unless the player understands the reasoning behind the openings, the secondary and tertiary lines and variations are pointless. The player will have already lost. Reinfeld wrote this not for Bobby Fischer or even Garry Kasparov, but for the average player.I fully recommend "Complete Book of Chess Openings" by Fred Reinfeld. It should be on every student of chess' desk, ready as reference or for study.Anthony Trendl