One of my favourite books, and very cheap, is Edmar Mednis' Strategic Chess.  It basically is a strategic introduction to most of the closed games.  It's not comprehensive, but it's packed with excellent learning material about the Catalan, QGD, Slav, Semi-Slav, QID, Nimzo, etc...

The other book I'd recommend is Soltis' Pawn Structure Chess.  He has chapters on the isolated pawn, hanging pawns, Slav/Caro type formations, etc., all of which can come about from the Queen's Gambit.  Understanding how to play those different position types will help you understand why you might play particular moves in the openings.

Like the other posters I think you should get John Cox's d4 book. Only had it month but I'm very happy with it and would recommend it to anyone. Chris Ward's book seem not bad to me and would seem like a useful book for anyone playing the QG. FYI Ward & Cox both suggest the exchange version of the QGD.  You can view sample pages of both books at Amazon.com/co.uk and that should help you decide.

I have very fond memories of Karpov's "Closed Openings in Action". This was the book that taught me the Queen's Gambit and made me switch from 1 e4 to 1d4.  I am probably overrating it somewhat and since i no longer have my copy, I cannot take a fresh look at it to tell.  In any case, I suspect it is no longer available.

I am not sure you will fine one book the adequately explains the ideas behind the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGD and QGA in a single volume. There are really four separate openings with very different ideas.

I would, however, second Andrew Brett's reccommendation of "Starting out 1 d4" by John Cox. One of the things you will often hear is that he reccomends topical and hence highly theoretical lines. Don't let that scare you, since at your level it does not matter. In addition, his explanations of the ideas are first rate. In general, his explanations are much better than in Palliser's Play 1d4 with the latter being intented for a more advanced audience. You can actually browse through John Cox's book online at Amazon.com through the "Surprise Me" feature, and make up your mind for yourself before buying it.

However, I would warn you that Cox's book foucussed on the QGD Excahnge variation. So if you want to play the more traditional lines, you won't find much help here.

Failing that, you might want to wait to see what MASTERING THE CHESS OPENINGS volume 2 (John Watson) has to offer.

Good luck!

Hi,

I'm a new person to this forum. I've played chess for a while and i'm a 1.d4 devotee. I like to play the Trompowsky against 1.d4 Nf6, and I've experimented with the "D Pawn specials" openings, but found no opening satisfying and no book on them very interesting or sound.

So I've decided to come back to the Queen's Gambit and I'm curious which book about it is the best. I got Sadlers "Queen's Gambit Declined" but it only covers a small part of what the White player needs to know to play the opening, meaning I still need a plan against the Slav, the Semi Slav, and the Queen's Gambit Accepted. And to be honest Salder's writing style just wasn't for me. He seemed to unneccecarily counfuse me with the way he evaluated key lines.

I'm not an officially rated player, but I'm reasonably good (I estimate around 1600 strength or so based on online play) and I've been playing chess for about 10 years. I very much enjoyed "Winning with the Trompowsky" by Peter Wells and "Tiger's Modern" by Tiger Hillarp Perrson.

I know its naive of me to suggest that i can learn enough to play such a complex opening from a single book, but at the same I do enjoy reading most chess books very much, even if i end up not using the strategies they entail.

On this board, Chris Ward's book "Play the Queen's Gambit" was widely derided, so I'm guessing nobody will suggest that.

Richard Palliser's "Play 1.d4" was given praise, but most of the book is about strategies I won't need as I play 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 . Plus, I read Palliser's book "Tango" and it was a bit too confusing to me. I'm not sure if that is just Palliser's style or that particular strategy, but I usually like learning WHY a move is good instead of just a variation showing it working, because I find it far easier to remember over the board if there is a reason or principle behind it.

The same goes with "Starting Out: 1.d4" by Cox. Is the book good enough for me to get if i won't use the 1...Nf6 part? Is his style more "plan-rich" or more "theoretical?"

I'm not sure  if "Starting Out: The Queen's Gambit" by John Shaw, is any good. Has anybody here read it?

Other than those three, I'm not sure what else is out there or what I should be looking at. What do you guys think is best?

Thanks in advance for any reccomendations or any advice. I'm just very sick of actually having a greater win percentage using Black pieces rather than White ones. At this point I don't care what strategy I use, but I'd like some kind of guide I can trust for my 1.d4 d5 games as White.