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Summary: 1300-1700USCF in 2 yrs thx to this and 5 other books
Review: This is ALL you will need to know about the opening until U reach a rating of about 1800 or so. This book is great because it offers UNDERSTANDING rather than MEMORIZATION. The other 5 books are: 1. Chess tactics for students by Bain. 2. Essential chess endings by Silman. 3. How to reassess your chess by Silman. 4. Chess master at any age by Wetzell. 5. Chess training pocket book by Alburt. Start with Bain first then use the other 5 in combination. The KEY is to ANALYSE your OWN GAMES using a computer for tactics and a strong human for positional play. Then store the important concepts into chess computer software. Finally, review these concepts so that you know them like the back of your hand. Discipline yourself and good luck!
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Summary: This book explains the ideas
Review: This is not a book to get if you are looking for a lot of good opening lines. This book will help you understand the reasons why the moves are played and give you some of the main opening lines.
If you get a book like Modern Chess Openings and this one they go hand in hand!
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Summary: A Classic To Know, Feel Smug About, But Not Esp. Useful
Review: This is one of those "classic" books that, having read, allows you to feel superior to those barbarians who haven't been so enlightened. The truth though is that Fine isn't the only one with the "ideas behing the chess openings" - contemporary writers, with equal access to these ideas AND current variations have written equally good books. Actually, the layout of variations within Fine's book make it of little use if you're a casual tournament player looking for some info on a specific opening. Really, this is a bookshelf book. You know: a classic work, in its day, not all that useful now. Just like Ptolemy, or Copernicus, or Newton wrote classic works, Fine's relevance is mainly historical. Try Kallai, or Basman, or Reuben, or even Nunn's Chess Openings, for better practical help.
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Summary: Flawed Masterpiece...
Review: This is truly a great book for beginners and medium-level players. It really helps in understanding the reasons behind the first or so 10-15 moves, rather than mechanically following what the grand masters play. This book should be one of the first in every chess player's library.
Why only 3 stars then ? I hear you ask. Well, this edition "supersedes" previous ones by converting the moves to the now-popular algebraic notation. Unfortunately, I counted over a dozen mistakes in the conversion. It's already hard enough to follow the hundreds of variations as it is, without inserting red herrings. The proof reading done on this edition is really quite unacceptable !
It's quite difficult to follow through the variations to their end using a normal chess board. Too many times positions need to be restored to a certain complicated position. My solution: I went through the book using a chess program on my lap top. It was then easy when required to reset the board to a given move.
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Summary: very good book
Review: this opening book was written in an excellent manner. not all of our best chess players can claim to be good teachers...Fine in this book displayed how well he teaches chess. this book may not compare to our latest chess opening manuals but it sure was written well that whatever we have in our opening manuals nowadays are given a clearer light.
Rating: 
Summary: very good, but not enough info
Review: To me, this book was a good first step in opening theory. However, it needs to be updated, and has MANY errors (typos, not analytical). What always bothered me was that it only went into the "main lines" of openings for the most part, and in some instances avoided some of the riskier yet popular variations. I still highly reccommend it.I just bought Standard Chess Openings, by Schiller. I like it even more, as it has analysis of landmark games for all of the openings listed. I might choose that as the next step after Fine's book.
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Summary: Beware!
Review: Unless you are a Master or above, you will most probably learn a lot from this book. BUUUUT---- but but but--- it will take a lot of work, a lot of setting up of pieces on chess boards, and a lot of patience. It is also quite diffucult to find the opening you are looking for.
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Summary: Useful? Yes. Outdated? Somewhat.
Review: Useful primarily because of Fine's emphasis on verbally explaining the ideas that generate specific move sequences, thus helping a player who understands the basic goals of an opening to come up with moves that fit logically "into its overall scheme." For example, in the Slav defence (1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 dxc4), Fine writes that Black "gives up the center" in order to "get his bishop out." He explains how Black's development has much to do with the developing the bishop, restraining White's center, etc. However, the book's secondary value, as a survey of the openings as they are currently played, is less useful, even for beginners (presumably experienced players use more advanced texts anyway). Again, using the Slav as an example, Fine does not mention that Black's current variaton 4...a6 in which Black does not surrender the center. Random examples: He dismisses the Scotch game as vapid and holding little advantage for White - although we now have seen Kasparov himself use it in his tournament matches. The Benko gambit is mentioned only in one paragraph as being good for White. The Closed Sicilian ( 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3) is described as being too "passive" to be of any use for White. So, the paradox is that this is a book that presumably teaches us how to evaluate an opening move and yet disagrees with much of current theory. P.S. Don't even think about the Pirc - 'cause Fine sure doesn't.
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Summary: Great book!
Review: While this isn't a book for the casual player, it will help a player who wants to study the game by giving him or her insight into how to approach and play the opening, in general. This is accomplished, somewhat surprsingly, through the lucid explanation of specific lines and typical plans across across a wide range of openings. The benefit of Fine's work is that a diligent reader eventually sees more than the thickets of variations, and comes to understand how and why openings are played the way they are by the game's strongest players. If you're looking for a reference work with lots of modern variations and sub-variations, this isn't for you. If you want to learn how to play the opening in chess, this is a great book!
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