dajava wrote (2004-02-04 07:21:07 PST):
I have only one chess book, which covers all the
aspects of the game Now, I want to buy a chess
opening book for the first time in my life.
I am a very low level player as you can guess.
Any recommendations?

John Macnab wrote (2004-02-04 07:53:14 PST):
... you need to have some idea of the sort of
openings you would like ...

A good, more general choice is Edmar Mednis's
*How to Play Good Opening Moves*. It will give
you a range of lightly annotated openings from
a variety of systems to help you get an idea of
how to control the centre, castle safely, develop
your pieces, etc.

I wrote (2004-02-05 08:33:35 PST):
... my concern was about the statement that
the book gives "a range of lightly annotated
openings from a variety of systems". If the
book is as I remember it, such a remark might
be misleading. As I remember it, chapters two
and three discuss only the first move for each
side, and, elsewhere in the book, there is only
a discussion of a very limited number (two or
three) of specific openings. ... There are books
that try to discuss a fair number of openings,
giving some idea about what they are like. If
I remember correctly, How to Play Good Opening
Moves is not such a book.


John Macnab now writes:

I'll skip evaluations in this post, but just
give a count. Chapter 4 annotates a single
complete game from each of Ruy Lopez,
Alekhine's Defense, French Defense, Queen's
Indian, English (1. c4 e5) and Modern (1. g3
e4). Chapter 5 gives variations on the first
5 moves of several Sicilian variations.
Chapter 6 annotates a single Sicilian Dragon
game. Chapter 7 looks 7 moves into several
QGD systems. Chapter 8 annotates Fischer
-Spassky game 6, 1972 for a more detailed
look at a single QGD game. Chapter 9 lightly
annotates 11 miniatures and tries to diagnose
opening errors.

_
Evidently, the book mentions more openings than
I remember. Nevertheless, I think it is worth
clarifying that the book does not seem (in my
opinion) to be intended to help the reader get
some idea of the sort of openings he or she
would like to play. Books with that purpose
tend to cover more openings and in a more
organized fashion. For example, Seirawan's
book discusses:

Danish Gambit
Center Game
King's Gambit
Petroff
Scotch Game
Italian Game
Ruy Lopez
Veresov's Opening
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
Queen's Gambit Accepted
Queen's Gambit Declined
Alekhine Defense
Scandinavian Defense
French Defense
Caro-Kann Defense
Sicilian Defense
Polish Defense
Dutch Defense
Budapest Gambit
Benko Gambit
Benoni Defense
Nimzo-Indian Defense
Bogo-Indian Defense
Queen's Indian Defense
Grunfeld Defense
King's Indian Attack
King's Indian Defense
Pirc Defense