MASTERING THE OPENING by Byron Jacobs isn’t your usual type of opening book. This one aims at introducing players to general opening concepts by examining sample variations and structures from just about every major opening. Interestingly, it is a continuation of the “Starting Out” series because it uses almost exactly the same structure: the introductory moves of a variation are followed by mini-sections called “What is White’s Strategy?” and “What is Black’s Strategy?”, “Tactical, Strategic, or Dynamic?,” “Theoretical?” and “How Popular is it?”. These sections are followed by illustrative games (very lightly annotated, since every major opening in chess is covered, however briefly).

The book contains many “warnings” and “tips” meant to help the reader grasp typical issues quickly. I think that they succeed in doing so without becoming too frequent or overbearing. Again, be aware that there is no systematic theory whatsoever, and there is not meant to be.

In my experience, this sort of book can be very badly written and fairly useless, or well written in the sense that the writing flows and the reader is stimulated. Jacobs is attentive to the readers’ needs and his book matches the latter description. It is like a much-improved IDEAS BEHIND THE CHESS OPENINGS, although obviously too short to tackle the breadth of modern theory (a task still to be undertaken).

For those developing-to-club players who want to get a grasp on general opening theory with some exposure to the most frequent types of standard structures, try out MASTERING THE OPENING and get rid of that old copy of Fine.

YOU CAN FIND THIS BOOK AT