Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings

The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO) is a classification system for the opening moves in chess. It is presented as a five-volume book collection (now also a computer database) describing chess openings. The moves were taken from hundreds of thousands of games between masters, from published analysis in the Chess Informant since 1966, and then compiled by notable chess players. The main editor is Aleksandar Matanović. Both the ECO and the Chess Informant are published by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). These openings are typically provided in an ECO table that concisely presents the best opening lines.

ECO volume E. The first line of moves means that it contains openings beginning 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6. The second line means it contains openings with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6, without an early ...d7–d5. The title is given in eight languages.

The books contain only a small amount of text, which is in eight languages. The bulk of the book consists of diagrams of positions and chess moves in International figurine algebraic notation, with special symbols for comments about moves (see Chess annotation symbols).

Instead of the traditional names for the openings, ECO has developed a coding system that has also been adopted by other chess publications. There are five main categories, "A" to "E", each of which is divided into 100 subcategories.

ECO codes generally only cover openings that are commonly seen at the master/grandmaster level of play and which have a significant body of high quality games to draw examples from. Openings such as the Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5) and Grob's Attack (1.g4) are not given their own ECO code as in practice, they are almost never seen outside amateur-level play. These openings are all lumped under a single code such as E00 or A00.

ECO code is a registered trademark of Chess Informant.


Openings covered

Volume A: Flank openings

Volume B: Semi-Open Games other than the French Defense

Volume C: Open Games and the French Defense

Volume D: Closed Games and Semi-Closed Games
(including Grünfeld Defence but not other Indian Defenses)

Volume E: Indian Defenses
(other than Grünfeld Defence and Old Indian Defense)

Main ECO codes
Main article: List of chess openings

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

C

D

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
Volume D (1976)
CodeAuthor
00–01Bagirov, Vladimir
94–95Bagirov, Vladimir
60–65Barcza, Gedeon
60–65Florian, Tibor
70–79Botvinnik, Mikhail
98–99Botvinnik, Mikhail
70–79Abramov, Lev
98–99Abramov, Lev
56–57Bukić, Enver
02–05Cvetković, Srđan
02–05Sokolov, Vladimir
31–32Euwe, Max
50–55Filip, Miroslav
45–46Gheorghiu, Florin
45–46Samarian, Sergiu
38–39Gipslis, Aivars
80Gipslis, Aivars
90–91Gipslis, Aivars
58–59Hort, Vlastimil
66–69Judovič, Mihail
85–89Karpov, Anatoly
43–44Korchnoi, Viktor
47–49Korchnoi, Viktor
15–19Kotov, Alexander
33–34Larsen, Bent
30Matanović, Aleksandar
35–36Matanović, Aleksandar
30Ugrinović, Dragan
35–36Ugrinović, Dragan
25Matulović, Milan
25Krnić, Zdenko
06–09Minev, Nikolay
37–38Minev, Nikolay
40–42Parma, Bruno
26–29Polugaevsky, Lev
96–97Smyslov, Vasily
10–14Suetin, Alexey
20–24Taimanov, Mark
81–84Uhlmann, Wolfgang
92–93Uhlmann, Wolfgang
Volume E (1978)
CodeAuthor
00–05Averbakh, Yuri
00–05Neishtadt, Yakov
32–37Bagirov, Vladimir
67–69Boleslavsky, Isaac
67–69Lepeshkin, Vladimir
27–29Botvinnik, Mikhail
47–49Botvinnik, Mikhail
27–29Abramov, Lev
47–49Abramov, Lev
97–99Byrne, Robert
97–99Mednis, Edmar
90–92Euwe, Max
46Filip, Miroslav
56–59Filip, Miroslav
10–11Gipslis, Aivars
20–23Gipslis, Aivars
95–96Vlastimil Hort
54–55Ivkov, Borislav
52Judovič, Mihail
83–84Karpov, Anatoly
83–84Razuvayev, Yuri
43Kotov, Alexander
50–51Kotov, Alexander
06–07Krnić, Zdenko
93–94Krnić, Zdenko
06–07Cvetković, Srđan
93–94Cvetković, Srđan
85–86Larsen, Bent
87–89Lilienthal, Andor
87–89Florian, Tibor
08–09Matanović, Aleksandar
15–19Matanović, Aleksandar
08–09Ugrinović, Dragan
15–19Ugrinović, Dragan
70–72Minev, Nikolay
76–79Minev, Nikolay
24–26Parma, Bruno
53Parma, Bruno
14Polugaevsky, Lev
73–75Polugaevsky, Lev
80–82Razuvayev, Yuri
12–13Suetin, Alexey
30–31Taimanov, Mark
40–45Taimanov, Mark
60–63Uhlmann, Wolfgang
38–39Unzicker, Wolfgang
64–66Wade, Robert

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
Volume B (1984)
CodeAuthor
04–05Bagirov, Vladimir
18–19Bagirov, Vladimir
13–14Botvinnik, Mikhail
13–14Abramov, Lev
10Filip, Miroslav
12Filip, Miroslav
15Filip, Miroslav
17Filip, Miroslav
36–39Filip, Miroslav
70–79Geller, Efim
95–99Gipslis, Aivars
20–21Gufeld, Eduard
23–26Gufeld, Eduard
02–03Hort, Vlastimil
80–85Kasparov, Garry
30–31Korchnoi, Viktor
34–35Korchnoi, Viktor
28–29Krnić, Zdenko
87Krnić, Zdenko
28–29Cvetković, Srđan
00–01Larsen, Bent
16Larsen, Bent
60–69Matanović, Aleksandar
60–69Ugrinović, Dragan
06Minev, Nikolay
11Minev, Nikolay
57Nunn, John
88–89Nunn, John
07–09Parma, Bruno
44Polugaevsky, Lev
50–53Polugaevsky, Lev
86Polugaevsky, Lev
90–94Polugaevsky, Lev
96Polugaevsky, Lev
27Suetin, Alexey
54–56Suetin, Alexey
58–59Suetin, Alexey
22Sveshnikov, Evgeny
33Sveshnikov, Evgeny
40–43Taimanov, Mark
45–49Taimanov, Mark
32Uhlmann, 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 D: 2004
  • Volume E: 2008

Fifth edition

The fifth edition was published in the following years:

  • Volume C: 2008

See also

References
  • Matanović, Aleksandar; Molorović, Milivoje; Božić, Aleksandar (1971). "Classification of Chess Openings". Chess Informant. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Abramov, Lev; Bagirov, Vladimir; Botvinnik, Mikhail; Cvetkovic, Srdan; Filip, Miroslav; Geller, Efim; Gipslis, Aivars; Gufeld, Eduard; Hort, Vlastimil; Kasparov, Garry; Korchnoi, Viktor; Krnic, Zdenko; Larsen, Bent; Matanović, Aleksandar; Minev, Nikolay; Nunn, John; Parma, Bruno; Polugaevsky, Lev; Suetin, Alexey; Sveshnikov, Evgeny; Taimanov, Mark; Ugrinovic, Dragan; Uhlmann, Wolfgang (1984). Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, volume B (2nd ed.). Belgrade: Chess Informant. ISBN 0-7134-3716-2.
  • Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1996) [First pub. 1992]. "Encyclopedia of Chess Openings". The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.
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