That's the spirit.  These lists should be completely subjective, of course!   

I have always heard good things about the Keene & Botterill book, but I don't have it so it didn't make my list.  The Sakaev book on the Grunfeld and Benko's book on the Benko are ones that almost made my list.  Greet's Accelerated Dragon book and Emms on the Open Games are also  favorites.  

For a while, Nunn was the go-to opening author.  MNb mentioned his Najdorf book, but he also had good ones on the Pirc, the Benoni, the Kings Indian (w/Burgess), and the Marshall (w/Harding).  Of these, I almost went for the Benoni  because of its intro and its honesty.  I also thought about the 1st ed. of Beating the Sicilian, which was ground breaking for its time, and of course NCO.  

Occurs to me that many of the ChessPublishing authors are among my favorite opening book authors -- Emms, Flear, Palliser, Vigorito, Watson, etc. 

katar wrote on 04/18/14 at 02:13:35:


Agree, ultimately its subjective, but its fun making a list 

Of the ones you mentioned there a few came very close to making my list as well, some of my favourite books:
Chigorin Acc. to Morozevich
Play 1b3 by Odessky
Kindermann's Leningrad System
Beating Unusual 1e4 Defences - Greet

Also I was very unhappy to not have space to include Simon Williams (2003). Play The Classical Dutch

There's that word again, "best."  I own and have studied exactly zero of the masterworks in the canon identified by Keano.  Should I consider an opening book "best" if I haven't seen it or if I don't care about the subject opening?  I have found some books very useful that I would not describe as "best"-- e.g., Taylor's Slay the Sicilian is the only game in town on Be2 Sicilians for White.  There is also a continuum of practical/didactic vs. authoritative and one quality usually comes at the expense of the other.  Can we say McDonald:How to Beat 1e4 is better or worse than Emanuel Berg's new two-volume set?  It obviously depends on one's purpose.  Still another quality relates to the personal inventions of the author-- a few that score highly on that scale are Tiger's Modern; Chigorin Acc. to Morozevich; Play 1b3 by Odessky; Kindermann's Leningrader System; and Esserman's Mayhem in the Morra.

So anyway.  Here are ten books that: (1) I happily own; (2) I have played thru in large part; and (3) left me with a favorable impression.  Obviously not an optimal pool but it's the one I'm workin with.

Chess Advantage in Black & White - Kaufman
Playing 1d4: QG & Indian Defences - Schandorff
Mastering the Nimzo-Indian - Kosten
Play the Open Games - Emms
Fundamental Chess Openings - van der Sterren
Chigorin Acc. to Morozevich
Beating Unusual 1e4 Defences - Greet
Kill KID - Semkov
Berlin Wall - Cox
Gambit Repertoire for Black - Schiller  

I don't own Avrukh/Marin/Scherbakov but I am sure they are wonderful.

Keano wrote on 04/17/14 at 20:15:51:


Please make sure to make an additional list of those books that didn't make it

I would definitely include Neil McDonald's Mastering the French with the Read and Play Method.

Scherbakov on the Triangle, Sokolov on the Rubinstein, Johansson on the King's Bishop Gambit and Nunn on the Najdorf 6.Bg5.
If we neglect how outdated they are: Pachmann (in German) on the Open Games, Halfopen Games and Sicilian are excellent overviews. They should be updated and published again.

In honor of David Letterman, a top ten list from the home office . . . 

The Ten Best Opening Books Ever

1.  Delchev & Semkov, The Safest Siclian
2.  Avrukh,1.d4
3.  ECO
4.  Watson, Play the French
5.  Sadler, Queen's Gambit Declined
6.  Kasparov & Nikitin, Sicilian ..e6 ..d6 Systems (Sicilian Scheveningen)
7.  Levy & O'Connell, How to Play the Siclian Defence
8.  Khalifman, An Opening for White According to Anand
9.  Summerscale, A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
10. Marin, The English Opening