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Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings

categories, A to E, each of which is divided into one


hundred subcategories.
ECO code is a registered trademark of Chess Informant.

1 Openings covered
1.1 Volume A: Flank openings
English Opening
Benoni Defense
Dutch Defence
Rti Opening
Benko Gambit
Old Indian Defense
Birds Opening
Irregular openings, etc.
ECO volume E. The rst 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.

1.2 Volume B: Semi-Open Games other


than the French Defense
Sicilian Defence

The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (or ECO) is a clas


sication system for the opening moves in chess. It is pre
sented as a ve-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 Matanovi. Both the ECO


and the Chess Informant are published by the Serbian
company ahovski Informator (Chess Informant). These
openings are typically provided in an ECO table that con- 1.3
cisely presents the best opening lines.

Caro-Kann Defence
Pirc Defence
Alekhines Defence
Modern Defense
Scandinavian Defense, etc.

Volume C: Open Games and the


French Defense

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
gurine algebraic notation, with special symbols for comments about moves (see Chess annotation symbols).

Ruy Lopez

Instead of the traditional names for the openings, ECO


has developed a unique coding system that has also been
adopted by other chess publications. There are ve main

Kings Gambit

French Defence
Petrovs Defence

Philidor Defence
1

SECOND EDITION

Italian (Giuoco Piano, Evans Gambit, and Two 2.2 B


Knights)
1.e4 without 1...c6, 1...c5, 1...e6, 1...e5 (B00B09)
Scotch Game
1.e4 c6: Caro-Kann Defence (B10B19)
Four Knights Game, etc.
1.e4 c5: Sicilian Defence (B20B99)

1.4

Volume D: Closed Games and Semi2.3 C


Closed Games
(including Grnfeld Defence but not other Indian Defenses)

Queens Gambit
Accepted
Declined (Slav, Orthodox, Tarrasch, Tartakower, Albin Countergambit, etc.)
Grnfeld Defence
Queens Pawn Game, etc.

1.5

Volume E: Indian Defenses


(other than Grnfeld Defence and Old Indian
Defense)

1.e4 e6: French Defence (C00C19)


1.e4 e5: Double King Pawn games (C20C99)

2.4 D
1.d4 d5: Double Queen Pawn games (D00D69)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 with 3...d5: Grnfeld Defence
(D70D99)

2.5 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 Grnfeld) (E60E99)

Nimzo-Indian Defence
Queens Indian Defense
Kings Indian Defence
Catalan Opening
Bogo-Indian Defence, etc.

3 First edition
The rst edition was published in the following years:
Volume A: 1979
Volume B: 1975

Main ECO codes

Main article: list of chess openings

2.1

White rst moves other than 1.e4, 1.d4 (A00A39)


1.d4 without 1...d5, 1...Nf6: Atypical replies to 1.d4
(A40A44)
1.d4 Nf6 without 2.c4: Atypical replies to 1...Nf6
(A45A49)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 without 2...e6, 2...g6: Atypical Indian
systems (A50A79)
1.d4 f5: Dutch Defence (A80A99)

Volume C: 1974
Volume D: 1976
Volume E: 1978

4 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

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

Abramov, Lev; Bagirov, Vladimir; Botvinnik,


Mikhail; Cvetkovic, Srdan; Filip, Miroslav; Geller,
Em; Gipslis, Aivars; Gufeld, Eduard; Hort, Vlastimil; Kasparov, Garry; Korchnoi, Viktor; Krnic, Zdenko; Larsen, Bent; Matanovi, 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.

10 External links
Publisher website. ECO Encyclopedia of Chess
Openings.
Publisher website. ECO code Overview.
Bill Wall. ECO codes with names. Archived from
the original on 2010-02-20.

Volume B: 2002

Website Master Chess Openings. ECO codes with


names.

Volume D: 2004

Website Chess Archaeology.


names.

Volume E: 2008

ECO codes with

Complete List of Chess Openings Sorted by ECO


Code.

Fifth edition

The fth edition was published in the following years:


Volume C: 2008

See also
Chess annotation symbols (ECO uses a lot of symbols instead of text)
Chess Informant
List of chess books
List of chess openings for the full ECO codes
Opening book

References
Matanovi, Aleksandar; Molorovi, Milivoje;
Boi, Aleksandar (1971). Classication of Chess
Openings. Chess Informant.

Searchable Database of ECO Openings

11

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TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses


Text

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopaedia_of_Chess_Openings?oldid=739195286 Contributors: Arvindn, Camembert, Palnatoke, Dominus, Dori, Schneelocke, Chocolateboy, Romanm, Giftlite, Andris, Antandrus, ThreeE,
Discospinster, Andrejj, LAT NaDiR~enwiki, Alfanje~enwiki, Kdau, Velho, Sjakkalle, Quale, Bubba73, Tommy Kronkvist, FlaBot, YurikBot, Van der Hoorn, SmackBot, J carrillo vii, Bluebot, CyberSach, Shalom Yechiel, Albertod4, Ioannes Pragensis, Cream147, Thijs!bot,
Wikid77, Escarbot, Xeno, Rothorpe, Rjaroszewski, SyG, Perlnerd666, KylieTastic, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, MaxBrowne, JStripes, Caltas, Matthew Yeager, Randy Kryn, Sfan00 IMG, PipepBot, Ikaria, R.traverso, Alexbot, Sun Creator, Bitopar, Lab-oratory, CarsracBot,
Luckas-bot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Kelisa English, Ulric1313, Citation bot, Grabapawnski, MrsHudson, Wikipe-tan, Woolworth, Citation
bot 1, HRoestBot, 564dude, Mentac, Updatehelper, EmausBot, ZroBot, Ihardlythinkso, Toccata quarta, YFdyh-bot, MyTuppence, MasterChessOpenings and Anonymous: 43

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Images

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11.3

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