Reddit reviews Chess Openings for Black, Explained: A Complete Repertoire (Revised and Updated)

I'd recommend the same as the FAQ, namely this book.

On a related note, does anyone know what's up with the base book and Amazon Kindle? I find references that it's available on Kindle, but it's not on the store: How to Reassess Your Chess

The availability of chess books on Kindle is weird. This one for black is.

but this one for white isn't.

My personal recommendation, the stuff by Roman Dzindzichashvili ("Dzindzi"):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188932311X

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1889323187

I have not read the whole thing, just the parts related to my personal repertoire (see below). Which I slowly build upon as openings are not my weakest point at the moment.

He has summarised stuff on DVD too, and you can find part of it on youtube.

While you are building a repertoire, which takes time, you may want to mix in modest but safe "systems" like the Colle, Torre, or London System. Which are unambitious but will get you safely to the middle game, and can be learnt very quickly, then perfected over time.

Building a repertoire takes time and even the top GMs dedicate many hours to preparing new ideas and refining their openings.

I recommend you start with narrow lines until you feel confident about them and then maybe incorporate different things for versatility and so that you are not too predictable. Some players play very few lines with many variations. For instance Karjakin will almost always go for the Sicilian or Ruy Lopez if given the chance. It works for him but at intermediate levels it's also true that varying the openings will let you master different styles and you will be able to play against them better, as you will understand their threats better.

Try not to move to many openings while you still haven't quite mastered your previous lines, because that's the way you forget everything as you go and waste a lot of time. Keep a reasonably spaced repetition if you can.

My personal favourites are:

1 d4 as white, 2. c4 in reply to Nf6 or g6 or e6 , 2.Bf4 against most other replies except Queen's Gambit. Against silly/novelty stuff from the queenside I go for d4-e4-Bd3 if black wastes time just to get me off book with ultra-passive stuff I continue gaining space and building a stonewall with the Bishop outside and the typical London system safeguards. Silly gambit? I take and go back to Colle to avoid any traps. The good thing about d4 as opposed to e4, is that black has very few traps available if he tries novelty stuff, you can play it safe and still come out clearly on top. Against d4 black needs to play the common replies or he's just hurting his chances.

As black, I avoid 1.e4 e5 because far too many people have pet gambits and then I don't learn anything from the game when I analyse it, it will be a blunder competition and it will be down to a bad move on either part. Maybe later on I'll play Ruy Lopez, 4 knights etc, but vs 1 e4 I play strictly Caro-Kann or Sicilian. Since there are many people specialised in Sicilian and I'm not an expert, I'm focusing more in Caro-Kann which is very versatile and takes a long time to master as it transposes quite a bit. I'm skipping Sicilian although it works, because I don't play 1 e4 as white so it's a more effective use of time to me to play the openings that transpose into those I use more (which is why I want to incorporate the French as black and the English as white - tried them but I have very shallow knowledge about them). I'm playing mostly Caro-Kann vs e4 and Nimzo-Indian or Queen's Gambit vs d4. I play this because it's what my opposition used against me and I found them very solid, basically by analysing my own games. The Nimzo really works. If the game evolves to a stable formation similar to a Colle or a London, I play them mirrored and it works well as to knowing what to do and how to plan next.

> My personal recommendation, the stuff by Roman Dzindzichashvili ("Dzindzi"):
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188932311X[1]
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1889323187[2]
> I have not read the whole thing, just the parts related to my personal repertoire (see below). Which I slowly build upon as openings are not my weakest point at the moment.

I have these books, and they're good, but maybe not suitable for beginners. There are too many spots where at the end of a line the authors will say something like "white stands better" or "Qd5 wins" but don't explain why. And Learn From My Fail: Don't play Qd5 just because the book said it wins without understanding why and being able to demonstrate it.

Check out Chess Openings for Black, Explained. There's a version for white as well.

I once built a CPT set for this, but it was on a computer that I got rid of. I would be willing to bet that someone has one online somewhere if you look around.