Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings

The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator ('Chess Informant'). It is currently undergoing its fifth edition.

The moves are taken from thousands of master games and from published analysis in Informant and compiled by the editors, most of whom are grandmasters, who select the lines that they consider most relevant or critical. The chief editor since the first edition has been Aleksandar Matanović (1930–2023). The openings are provided in an ECO table that concisely presents the opening lines considered most critical by the editors. ECO covers the openings in more detail than rival single-volume publications such as Modern Chess Openings and Nunn's Chess Openings, but in less detail than specialized opening books.

The books are intended for an international audience and contain only a small amount of text, which is in several languages. The bulk of the content consists of diagrams of positions and of annotated chess moves presented in Figurine Algebraic Notation.

Instead of the traditional names for the openings, ECO has developed a coding system that has also been adopted by other chess publications and chess websites. There are five main categories, "A" to "E", corresponding to the five volumes of the earlier editions, each of which is further subdivided into 100 subcategories, for a total of 500 codes. The term ECO is often used as a shorthand for this coding system. ECO code is a registered trademark of Chess Informant.

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Openings covered

Volume A: Flank openings

English Opening
Benoni Defence
Dutch Defence
Réti Opening
Benko Gambit
Old Indian Defence
Bird's Opening
Anti-Indian systems (Trompowsky Attack, Torre Attack, Richter–Veresov Attack)
Irregular openings, etc.

Volume B: Semi-Open Games other than French Defence

Volume C: Open Games and French Defence

Ruy Lopez
French Defence
Petrov's Defence
Vienna Game
Centre Game
King's Gambit
Philidor Defence
Italian (Giuoco Piano, Evans Gambit, Hungarian Defence, and Two Knights)
Scotch Game
Four Knights Game, etc.
King's Pawn Opening, etc. (covers unusual/rare 1. e4 openings such as the Elephant Gambit and Ponziani Opening).

Volume D: Closed Games and Semi-Closed Games

(including Grünfeld Defence but not other Indian Defences)

Queen's Gambit
- Accepted
- Declined (Slav, Orthodox, Tarrasch, Tartakower, Albin Countergambit, etc.)
Grünfeld Defence
Queen's Pawn Game, etc.

Volume E: Indian Defences

(other than Grünfeld Defence and Old Indian Defence)

First edition

The first edition was published in the following years:

Volume A: 1979
Volume B: 1975
Volume C: 1974
Volume D: 1976
Volume E: 1978

1st Edition Contributions
Author	Codes
Author	A	B	C	D	E
Lev Abramov (USSR)				70–79, 98–99	27–29, 47–49
Yuri Averbakh (USSR)					00–05
Vladimir Bagirov (USSR)	25–29			00–01, 94–95	32–37
Gedeon Barcza (HUN)				60–65
Isaac Boleslavsky (USSR)					67–69
Mikhail Botvinnik (USSR)	86–89, 92–95	13–14		70–79, 98–99	27–29, 47–49
Enver Bukić (YUG)				56–57
Robert Byrne (USA)	82–83				97–99
Victor Ciocâltea (ROM)	43–44
Srđan Cvetković (YUG)	40–42			02–05	06–07, 93–94
Max Euwe (NED)	06	28–29		31–32	90–92
Miroslav Filip (CSK)	10–15	10, 12, 15, 17, 36–39		50–55	46, 56–59
Tibor Flórián (HUN)				60–65	87–89
Efim Geller (USSR)	68, 77–79	20–26, 70–79, 80–81, 97–98
Florin Gheorghiu (ROM)				45–46
Aivars Gipslis (USSR)	30–34	92, 99		38–39, 80, 90–91	10–11, 20–23
Eduard Gufeld (USSR)	53–55, 65–66
Vlastimil Hort (CSK)	45, 48–49	02–03		58–59	95–96
Borislav Ivkov (YUG)	80–81, 84–85				54–55
Anatoly Karpov (USSR)	62–64			85–89	83–84
Raymond Keene (ENG)	73–76
Paul Keres (USSR)		04–05
Viktor Korchnoi (FIDE)		30–31, 34–35		43–44, 47–49
Alexander Kotov (USSR)	67, 96–99			15–19	43, 50–51
Zdenko Krnić (YUG)	40–42			25	06–07, 93–94
Bent Larsen (DEN)	00–01	00–01, 16		33–34	85–86
Vladimir Lepeshkin (USSR)					67–69
Andor Lilienthal (USSR)					87–89
Aleksandar Matanović (YUG)	16–19	62–69		30, 35–36	08–09, 15–19
Milan Matulović (YUG)				25
Edmar Mednis (USA)	82–83				97–99
Nikolay Minev (BUL)	50–52, 56			06–09, 37–38	70–72, 76–79
Yakov Neishtadt (USSR)					00–05
Albéric O'Kelly de Galway (BEL)	02
Bruno Parma (YUG)	03, 46–47	07–09		40–42	24–26, 53
Tigran Petrosian (USSR)	69–70, 90–91
Lev Polugaevsky (USSR)	20–24	44, 50–53, 60–61, 86, 90–91, 93–96		26–29	14, 73–75
Yuri Razuvayev (USSR)	62–64				80–82, 83–84
Oleg Romanishin (USSR)	04-05
Sergiu Samarian (FIDE)				45–46
Vasily Smyslov (USSR)				96–97
Vladimir Sokolov (YUG)	80–81, 84–85			02–05
Alexey Suetin (USSR)	07, 09	27, 54–56, 58–59, 87		10–14	12–13
Mikhail Tal (USSR)		82–85
Mark Taimanov (USSR)	34–39	40–43, 45–49		20–24	30–31, 40–45
Petar Trifunović (USSR)		06, 11, 18–19
Vladimir Tukmakov (USSR)	57–59
Dragan Ugrinović (YUG)	16–19	62–69		30, 35–36	08–09, 15–19
Wolfgang Uhlmann (DDR)	08, 60–61, 71	32–33		81–84, 92–93	60–63
Wolfgang Unzicker (DEU)					38–39
Dragoljub Velimirović (YUG)		57, 88–89
Robert Wade (ENG)	72				64–66
Mikhail Yudovich (USSR)	00			66–69	52

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

Volume B (1984)
Author	Codes
Lev Abramov (USSR)	13–14
Vladimir Bagirov (USSR)	04–05, 18–19
Mikhail Botvinnik (USSR)	13–14
Srđan Cvetković (YUG)	28–29
Miroslav Filip (CSK)	10, 12, 15, 17, 36–39
Efim Geller (USSR)	70–79
Aivars Gipslis (USSR)	95–99
Eduard Gufeld (USSR)	20–21, 23–26
Vlastimil Hort (CSK)	02–03
Garry Kasparov (USSR)	80–85
Viktor Korchnoi (SUI)	30–31, 34–35
Zdenko Krnić (YUG)	28–29, 87
Bent Larsen (DEN)	00–01, 16
Aleksandar Matanović (YUG)	60–69
Nikolay Minev (BUL)	06, 11
John Nunn (ENG)	57, 88–89
Bruno Parma (YUG)	07–09
Lev Polugaevsky (USSR)	44, 50–53, 86, 90–94, 96
Alexey Suetin (USSR)	27, 54–56, 58–59
Evgeny Sveshnikov (USSR)	22, 33
Mark Taimanov (USSR)	40–43, 45–49
Dragan Ugrinović (YUG)	60–69
Wolfgang Uhlmann (DDR)	32

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
Volume B: 2002
Volume C: 2000
Volume D: 2004
Volume E: 2008

Fifth edition

The fifth edition was published in the following years:

Volume C: 2006
Volume B part 1 [ECO codes: B00–B49]: 2020
Volume B part 2 [ECO codes: B50-B99]: 2021

References

Bibliography

Matanović, Aleksandar; Molorović, Milivoje; Božić, Aleksandar (1971). Classification of Chess Openings. Chess Informant.
Abramov, Lev; Bagirov, Vladimir; Botvinnik, Mikhail; Cvetkovic, Srdan; Filip, Miroslav; Geller, Efim; Gipslis, Aivars; Gufeld, Eduard; Hort, Vlastimil; Kasparov, Garry; Korchnoi, Viktor; Krnic, Zdenko; Larsen, Bent; Matanović, 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.
Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1996) [First pub. 1992]. "Encyclopedia of Chess Openings". The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.

External links

"Chess Informant". Publisher's site
"Openings". Chess Archaeology. ECO codes with names