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ECO volume E. The first 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. The title is given in eight languages.

The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (or ECO) is a classification system for the opening moves in chess. It is presented as a five-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 Matanović. Both the ECO and the Chess Informant are published by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). These openings are typically provided in an ECO table that concisely presents the best opening lines.

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

Instead of the traditional names for the openings, ECO has developed a coding system that has also been adopted by other chess publications. There are five main categories, "A" to "E", each of which is divided into 100 subcategories.

ECO codes generally only cover openings that are commonly seen at the master/grandmaster level of play and which have a significant body of high quality games to draw examples from. Openings such as the Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5) and Grob's Attack (1.g4) are not given their own ECO code as in practice, they are almost never seen outside amateur-level play. These openings are all lumped under a single code such as E00 or A00.

ECO code is a registered trademark of Chess Informant.

Openings covered

Volume A: Flank openings

• English Opening


• Benoni Defense


• Dutch Defence


• Réti Opening


• Benko Gambit


• Old Indian Defense


• Bird's Opening


• 
  Irregular openings, etc.

Volume B: Semi-Open Games other than the French Defense

• Sicilian Defence


• Caro-Kann Defence


• Pirc Defence


• Alekhine's Defence


• Modern Defense


• 
  Scandinavian Defense, etc.

Volume C: Open Games and the French Defense

• Ruy Lopez


• French Defence


• Petrov's Defence


• Vienna Game


• Center Game


• King's Gambit


• Philidor Defence


• 
  Italian (Giuoco Piano, Evans Gambit, Hungarian Defense, 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 Defenses)

• 
  Queen's Gambit
  
  • Accepted
  
  
  • 
    Declined (Slav, Orthodox, Tarrasch, Tartakower, Albin Countergambit, etc.)
  
  


• Grünfeld Defence


• 
  Queen's Pawn Game, etc.

Volume E: Indian Defenses

(other than Grünfeld Defence and Old Indian Defense)

• Nimzo-Indian Defence


• Queen's Indian Defense


• King's Indian Defence


• Catalan Opening


• 
  Bogo-Indian Defence, etc.

Main ECO codes

A

• White first moves other than 1.e4, 1.d4 (A00–A39)


• 1.d4 without 1...d5, 1...Nf6: Atypical replies to 1.d4 (A40–A44)


• 1.d4 Nf6 without 2.c4: Atypical replies to 1...Nf6 (A45–A49)


• 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 without 2...e6, 2...g6: Atypical Indian systems (A50–A79)


• 1.d4 f5: Dutch Defence (A80–A99)

B

• 1.e4 without 1...c6, 1...c5, 1...e6, 1...e5 (B00–B09)


• 1.e4 c6: Caro–Kann Defence (B10–B19)


• 1.e4 c5: Sicilian Defence (B20–B99)

C

• 1.e4 e6: French Defence (C00–C19)


• 1.e4 e5: Double King Pawn games (C20–C99)

D

• 1.d4 d5: Double Queen Pawn games (D00–D69)


• 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 with 3...d5: Grünfeld Defence (D70–D99)

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 Grünfeld) (E60–E99)

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

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


• Volume B: 2002


• Volume D: 2004


• Volume E: 2008

Fifth edition

The fifth edition was published in the following years:

• Volume C: 2008

See also

• 
  Chess annotation symbols – ECO uses symbols instead of text


• Chess Informant


• List of chess books


• 
  List of chess openings – for all ECO codes


• Opening book

References

• 
  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. 
  

External links

• 
  Publisher website. "ECO code – Overview". Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. 
  


• 
  Bill Wall. "ECO codes with names". Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. 
  


• 
  Website Clean Chess. "ECO – Encyclopedia of Chess Openings". 
  


• 
  "Openings". Chess Archaeology.  ECO codes with names


• Chess openings • ECO codes


• 
  Chess Opening Database Searchable ECO openings