interesting post.  What about The Chigorin According to Morozevich?  The man is 2750+++....  I think the Morozevich of today would beat the Kasparov of the 1980's but that is just an opinion!   

Kasparovs book on the Scheveningen published in the 80s is really a classic. I did not knew that Euw has written a repertoire book.
Here is my list of repertoire books by >Elo 2600 of the last 10-15 years
Nunn: Beating the sicilian
Khalifmann: Opening according to....
Bologan: King´sindian
Delchev(2645) the safest sicilian
Kiril Georgiev the sharpest sicilian

any additions?

LeeRoth wrote on 06/25/09 at 03:18:39:


While these are all good books, I don't consider them repertoire books.

If we were to go that route, Geller's The Application of Chess Theory should be considered, as should V Poickakh Garmonii (In Search of Harmony) by V.V. Smyslov.

But then, every book of best games by any player will contain aspects of their repertoire, so Kasparov and Fischer also bear mentioning.  After all, I imagine that a great number of players here learned the Sicilian and improved their Spanish by reading My 60 Memorable Games.

My point, however quibbly it may be, is that if we are to discuss the best player ever to devote an entire book to a complete repertoire, we should define our terms.

The best player ever who wrote a repertoire book was undoubtedly Max Euwe. He probably was also the first: 1970. Some of his choices:

White: Italian, Sicilian Bb5, French Tarrasch, Classical Pirc, Classical Alekhine; QGD Exchange Variation, NID 4.Qc2, KID Fianchetto, Benoni Fianchetto.
Black: Petrov, Alekhine, QGA, Classical Dutch

It is really surprising that he mostly advocated stuff that was out of fashion in 1970 but became much more popular - and remained so! - withing 20 years. In fact the book probably is still useful for amateurs and beginners these days. There is only one line in the Classical Dutch (IZ 8.Re1 d5) that really sucks.

The reason you guys never heard of this book is that Euwe wrote it in Dutch. It belongs to the same series as Judgment and Planning. It is not volume 4 as Willempie assumed, but volume 3. Volume 4 is about endgames.

I will only second the statement that Khalifman's level is higher if he also manages to write such a sensible and useful repertoire book in 300 pages.

Larsen (a several-time Candidate, for the youngsters ) also wrote a thin book advocating the Open Ruy.

Of course it is Euwe. He wrote a double repertoire book (practical chess lessons 4 if I am not mistaken), with two choices for white and black.
It covered 1.e4 or 1.d4 as white and Alekhine or Petrov and Dutch or QGA as black.
It is prolly not up to Khalifman's level of a repertoire, but I am pretty sure many amateurs used it in its day.

Sadler too. An outstandingly good player who went the sensible route and got a reliable income. 
Wonderful Socratic style in his writing.
Few people know which questions to ask. Fewer still know how to answer.

Karpov - all ghost written. Just read closely.

The best opening books written by the best players are those written by the best ghost writers.