Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
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The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). It is currently undergoing its fifth edition. ECO may also refer to the opening classification system used by the encyclopedia.
Overview
Both ECO and
The books are intended for an international audience and contain only a small amount of text, which is in several languages. The bulk of the content consists of diagrams of positions and chess moves, annotated with symbols, many of them developed by Chess Informant. Chess Informant pioneered the use of Figurine Algebraic Notation to avoid the use of initials for the names of the pieces, which vary between languages.
Instead of the traditional names for the openings, ECO has developed a coding system that has also been adopted by other
Openings covered
Volume A: Flank openings
- English Opening
- Benoni Defence
- Dutch Defence
- Réti Opening
- Benko Gambit
- Old Indian Defence
- Bird's Opening
- Anti-Indian systems (Trompowsky Attack, Torre Attack, Richter–Veresov Attack)
- Irregular openings, etc.
Volume B: Semi-Open Games other than the French Defence
- Sicilian Defence
- Caro-Kann Defence
- Pirc Defence
- Alekhine's Defence
- Modern Defence
- Scandinavian Defence, etc.
Volume C: Open Games and the French Defence
- Ruy Lopez
- French Defence
- Petrov's Defence
- Vienna Game
- Centre Game
- King's Gambit
- Philidor Defence
- Two Knights)
- Scotch Game
- Four Knights Game, etc.
- King's Pawn Opening, etc. (covers unusual/rare 1. e4 openings such as the Elephant Gambit and Ponziani Opening).
Volume D: Closed Games and Semi-Closed Games
- (including Grünfeld Defence but not other Indian Defenses)
- Queen's Gambit
- Accepted
- Declined (Slav, Orthodox, Tarrasch, Tartakower, Albin Countergambit, etc.)
- Grünfeld Defence
- Queen's Pawn Game, etc.
Volume E: Indian Defences
- (other than Grünfeld Defence and Old Indian Defence)
- Nimzo-Indian Defence
- Queen's Indian Defence
- King's Indian Defence
- Catalan Opening
- Bogo-Indian Defence, etc.
Main ECO codes
A
- White first moves other than 1.e4, 1.d4 (A00–A39)
- 1.d4 without 1...d5, 1...Nf6 or 1...f5: Atypical replies to 1.d4 (A40–A44)
- 1.d4 Nf6 without 2.c4: Atypical replies to 1...Nf6 (A45–A49)
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 without 2...e6, 2...g6: Atypical Indian systems (A50–A79)
- 1.d4 f5: Dutch Defence (A80–A99)
B
- 1.e4 without 1...c6, 1...c5, 1...e6, 1...e5 (B00–B09)
- 1.e4 c6: Caro–Kann Defence (B10–B19)
- 1.e4 c5: Sicilian Defence (B20–B99)
C
- 1.e4 e6: French Defence (C00–C19)
- 1.e4 e5: Double King Pawn games (C20–C99)
D
- 1.d4 d5: Double Queen Pawn games (D00–D69)
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 with 3...d5: Grünfeld Defence (D70–D99)
E
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6: Indian systems with ...e6 (E00–E59)
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 without 3...d5: Indian systems with ...g6 (except Grünfeld) (E60–E99)
First edition
The first edition was published in the following years:
- Volume A: 1979
- Volume B: 1975
- Volume C: 1974
- Volume D: 1976
- Volume E: 1978
Second edition
The second edition was published in the following years:
- Volume A: 1996
- Volume B: 1984
- Volume C: 1981
- Volume D: 1987
- Volume E: 1991
Code | Author |
---|---|
04–05 | Bagirov, Vladimir |
18–19 | Bagirov, Vladimir |
13–14 | Botvinnik, Mikhail |
13–14 | Abramov, Lev |
10 | Filip, Miroslav |
12 | Filip, Miroslav |
15 | Filip, Miroslav |
17 | Filip, Miroslav |
36–39 | Filip, Miroslav |
70–79 | Geller, Efim |
95–99 | Gipslis, Aivars |
20–21 | Gufeld, Eduard |
23–26 | Gufeld, Eduard |
02–03 | Hort, Vlastimil |
80–85 | Kasparov, Garry |
30–31 | Korchnoi, Viktor |
34–35 | Korchnoi, Viktor |
28–29 | Krnić, Zdenko |
87 | Krnić, Zdenko |
28–29 | Cvetković, Srđan |
00–01 | Larsen, Bent |
16 | Larsen, Bent |
60–69 | Matanović, Aleksandar |
60–69 | Ugrinović, Dragan |
06 | Minev, Nikolay |
11 | Minev, Nikolay |
57 | Nunn, John |
88–89 | Nunn, John |
07–09 | Parma, Bruno |
44 | Polugaevsky, Lev |
50–53 | Polugaevsky, Lev |
86 | Polugaevsky, Lev |
90–94 | Polugaevsky, Lev |
96 | Polugaevsky, Lev |
27 | Suetin, Alexey |
54–56 | Suetin, Alexey |
58–59 | Suetin, Alexey |
22 | Sveshnikov, Evgeny |
33 | Sveshnikov, Evgeny |
40–43 | Taimanov, Mark |
45–49 | Taimanov, Mark |
32 | Uhlmann, Wolfgang |
Third edition
The third edition was published in the following years:
- Volume A: 1999
- Volume B: 1997
- Volume C: 1997
- Volume D: 1998
- Volume E: 1998
Fourth edition
The fourth edition was published in the following years:
- Volume A: 2001
- Volume B: 2002
- Volume C: 2000
- Volume D: 2004
- Volume E: 2008
Fifth edition
The fifth edition was published in the following years:
- Volume C: 2006
- Volume B part 1 [ECO codes: B00–B49]: 2020
- Volume B part 2 [ECO codes: B50-B99]: 2021
See also
- Chess annotation symbols – ECO uses symbols instead of text
- Chess Informant
- List of chess books
- List of chess openings – for all ECO codes
- Opening book
References
Bibliography
- Matanović, Aleksandar; Molorović, Milivoje; Božić, Aleksandar (1971). "Classification of Chess Openings". Chess Informant.
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(help) - Abramov, Lev; ISBN 0-7134-3716-2.
- ISBN 0-19-280049-3.
External links
- "Chess Informant". Publisher's site
- "Openings". Chess Archaeology. ECO codes with names