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The French Defence is coming back to fashion again! One of the leaders in the 2020 Candidates tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi, successfully staked on it. Lately World champion himself also embraced the French several times. A great expert of this opening is the last challenger for the world title Fabiano Caruana. The French became a real arena of the battle of the engines – neural network genius Leela was confidently repelling the attacks of its powerful rivals. The author’s view on the French allows Black to obtain fresh creative positions without having to compete with deep knowledge in well trodden paths. The theoretical material is based on the author’s tournament practice, and passed the test at a GM level during the writing of the book.

The French Defence is coming back to fashion again! One of the leaders in the 2020 Candidates tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi, successfully staked on it. Lately World champion himself also embraced the French several times. A great expert of this opening is the last challenger for the world title Fabiano Caruana. The French became a real arena of the battle of the engines – neural network genius Leela was confidently repelling the attacks of its powerful rivals. The author’s view on the French allows Black to obtain fresh creative positions without having to compete with deep knowledge in well trodden paths. The theoretical material is based on the author’s tournament practice, and passed the test at a GM level during the writing of the book.

This book presents a full repertoire based on the Gligoric System against the King’s Indian Defence – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3. The key point of this set-up is that White does not commit his king to any flank, at least for a while. That makes Black’s thematic attack with ...f5-f4, ...g4 pointless and allows White to play chess without having to memorise tons of variations. The authors focus on typical positions and methods of handling them, which is essential for the Gligoric System.

In the Alapin System White's strategic idea is extremely simple. He prepares to advance with d2-d4, to build a solid pawn centre and then dictate the play. He will have to pay for this with the fact that his queen's knight has been deprived of the best square for its development, but it may have other suitable squares (in many variations this will be not the d2-square but a3). Secondly, it very often happens that after d4 cxd4 cxd4, White's queen's knight still gets access to its best square on c3. The modern evaluation of this system is that Black has comfortable enough lines in which he can obtain an acceptable game. The authors try to prove that not all of these lines are equally good.

This book presents the Triangle set-up, which arises after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3/Nf3 c6. This move order avoids many unpleasant systems for White, notably the Catalan, the Exchange Slav and the Botvinnik Variation. It leads to sharp strategically unbalanced play and brings Black excellent practical results. Semko Semkov is a chess journalist and theoretician. He has co-authored the famous books The Modern English, The Most Flexible Sicilian, Attacking the English/Reti, Attacking the Flexible Sicilian and Understanding the Queen’s Gambit Accepted.

The previous book of Khalifman and Soloviov, The Modern Scotch, discussed how to counter 1.e4 e5 in the most direct, aggressive and sometimes even risky fashion. Their new work explores a radically different approach. It presents a White repertoire based on the Four Knights Game, and in particular, the main line – the traditional system with 4.Bb5. The authors summarise the method they propose in the following way: 1. White controls the centre, develops quickly and castles. He DOES NOT strive for a direct clash with the opponent after the first few moves in the opening. 2. He begins active operations only after the completion of his development; as a rule, these will take place in the centre and on the kingside. 3. White strives to reach positions in which basic strategical principles, correct evaluation and ability to choose the correct plan will be at least as important as calculation and theoretical knowledge. 4. He still fights for an opening advantage even though the focus is on the middlegame.

This book is a completely new edition of the original The Safest Grünfeld of 2011. I rechecked all the lines and changed my recommendations according to latest developments of theory and my new understanding. Especially the anti-Grünfeld chapters are basically new. In my opinion top players have long lost hope to find advantage in the main lines and try early deviations. Anand chose 3.f3 against Gelfand and 5.Bd2 against Carlsen. So I devoted special attention to the Sämish approach with two different propositions. 3...Nc6 is less studied and probably more rewarding from a practical standpoint, while 3...d5 is in perfect theoretical shape, but requires more memorization. Every too often White players try to avoid the Grünfeld by refraining from d4 or c4. I added an additional chapter on the very topical lately Trompowsky and Barry/Jobava attack. The 7.Bc4 system in the Exchange Variation, and the Russian System have also underwent a major reconstruction.

The Scotch Game is the most “open” of all the Open Games. In fact this is the only really Open Game, in its essence, which matches the traditional terminology. The move 3.d2-d4 breaks immediately the symmetry. White tries to occupy the centre and gain additional space. Rapid contact between the opposing forces takes place, in fact much quicker than in the other open (and not only open...) games, which increases the value of every move and requires from both sides tremendous accuracy at a very early stage of the game. Positions with opposite castles arise much more often in the Scotch than in all the other Open Games put together.

This is the second half of Kiril Georgiev and Semko Semkov’s White repertoire with the English Opening, and it covers everything except 1...e5 (which is handled in Volume 1). In other words, this is your answer to the Symmetrical English and to Black’s attempts to steer the game into Indian and Slav structures.

The backbone is 1.c4 c5 — the Symmetrical complex — where the authors give clear recommendations against the ...g6, ...e6, ...b6 and Maróczy Bind set-ups. From there the book systematically shuts down Black’s independent tries: anti-Grünfeld and anti-Nimzo lines, anti-Slav and Chebanenko set-ups, an anti-Meran, and an anti-Queen’s-Gambit approach, plus a closing chapter on the odds and ends.

As with all Chess Stars repertoire books, each chapter is built in three layers — a "Main Ideas" overview for the strategic picture, a detailed "Step by Step" theoretical section, and annotated complete games — so you can study as deeply or as lightly as you need.

Together with Volume 1 it forms a complete, coherent 1.c4 repertoire. Aimed at club players and above who want a low-maintenance but principled way to play the English.

In the Alekhine Defence, contrary to the classical methods of playing in the opening, Black does not fight for the centre with his pawns, but begins to exert immediate pressure against White’s centre. Black’s knight on f6 attacks the pawn on e4, and if it advances, then Black’s d-pawn joins into the attack against it. The Alekhine Defence is particularly applicable in encounters against players who are inferior in class, as well as in games with a short time-control. This opening is not used so often in practice, so your opponent might lose plenty of time to recollect the opening theory. That might prove to be a very negative factor for him in the forthcoming fight.

The Queen's Indian Defence has the reputation of a very reliable system for Black. Although his chances of obtaining sharp double-edged positions are restricted, good knowledge of piece set-ups and different plans should offer Black chances of seizing the initiative even in calm variations. The opening monographs on the QID, as a rule, focus on the move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6. What is Black supposed to do if the opponent wishes to avoid the QID and begins the game with the moves 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4, or 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3?. How should Black deploy his pieces and what should he aim for in the middlegame? The book of the grandmaster from Saint Petersburg and chess-coach Evgeniy Solozhenkin answers these questions!