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This book aims to offer an active Black repertoire against The English Opening 1.c4, the Reti 1.Nf3, and their siblings that arise after 1.g3. More importantly, it tries to offer not only variations, but also a philosophy of how to treat such openings.

This book presents an opening repertoire for Black to players who are looking for initiative and counterplay in the Ruy Lopez.

This book presents a Black repertoire based on the QGA. The authors consider the Classical System with 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6, but they also offer alternative approaches – building up tension with 4…Bg4, and the destructive 4…a6 aimed at quick equalisation.

The Modern Vienna

The Vienna Game — 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 — has quietly become a favourite way for ambitious White players to dodge the heavy theory of the Ruy Lopez and Italian while still playing for a real attack. This book presents a complete, up-to-date White repertoire built on it.

The recommended approach blends aggression with soundness. Rather than charging in blindly, White develops the bishop to c4, supports the centre with d3, plays the thematic f4 break, castles, and only then launches the kingside attack — so the assault rests on a healthy positional foundation and White is rarely left overextended.

The coverage is organised by Black’s defensive scheme, addressing the lines with ...Nf6 and ...Nc6, the various ...Bc5 and ...Bb4 set-ups, the tricky ...Nxe4 grab, and the King’s-Gambit-flavoured positions that arise after f4. Each is handled with the strategic ideas explained alongside the concrete lines.

A practical, modern repertoire for club players who want an attacking but principled answer to 1...e5 that keeps the game on their own terms and away from their opponents’ preparation.

GM Dreev offers a new look at the old system 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 Nge7 which is one of the most challenging ways to combat the Spanish.

The Leningrad Dutch

Of all the ways to meet 1.d4, the Leningrad Dutch is among the most combative: Black plays ...f5 and fianchettoes the king’s bishop, aiming for a King’s-Indian-style kingside attack but on his own original terms. And no one has done more for the variation than Vladimir Malaniuk, who has championed it at the highest level for decades.

This is Malaniuk’s own repertoire, the distilled product of a lifetime with the opening. He presents the Leningrad as an active, genuinely dangerous weapon rather than a dubious sideline, full of the original plans and counterattacking resources he has pioneered over thousands of games.

The coverage is complete from move one: the main Leningrad lines after 1.d4 f5 2.g3, the full range of Anti-Dutch tries (2.e3, 2.Bg5, 2.Nc3, 2.g4, 2.e4 and the rest), and the move orders via the Réti (1.Nf3 f5) and the Anglo-Dutch (1.c4 f5). The Chess Stars format pairs explanatory sections with complete annotated games.

A fighting, ambitious repertoire for club players and above who want to play for the win with Black against 1.d4 — straight from the opening’s leading authority.

The move order 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 is designed to keep Black's options open. By delaying the development of the queenside knight, Black avoids being forced into a specific Sicilian structure early — preserving the choice between the Taimanov (eventually ...Nc6) and the Kan (eventually ...a6), depending on how White plays.

This book, a follow-up to the same authors' The Safest Sicilian, develops that flexible approach into a complete repertoire. Delchev and Semkov cover both the Taimanov and the Kan systems, as well as the various ways White can try to take Black out of book early — the English Attack, the Keres Attack, the Bb5+ lines — and how to handle them with the flexible move order intact.

Chess Stars books tend to be theory-heavy and are aimed at serious club players and above who want a deep understanding of the positions, not just a surface repertoire. At 340 pages this is a thorough treatment, though readers who prefer prose explanations over dense variation trees may find the style demanding.

Practical White Repertoire, Volume 3

The concluding volume of Alexei Kornev’s practical White repertoire with 1.d4 and 2.c4 mops up everything the first two books didn’t — and at its heart sits the most important customer of all: the Nimzo-Indian Defence.

Against the Nimzo, Kornev recommends the solid, classical Rubinstein System with 4.e3, giving complete coverage of the Taimanov, Botvinnik, Fischer, and Reshevsky variations. Around that he supplies clear answers to the whole supporting cast: the Dutch (in its various move orders), the Benoni and Volga/Benko Gambit, the Budapest and Fajarowicz, the Czech Benoni, and the many offbeat first moves and Queen’s-Indian-Accelerated tries Black can throw at a 1.d4 player.

As throughout the series, the watchword is practicality — sound, unified lines a club player can actually learn and rely on, with the key plans and move-orders spelled out clearly so you understand the ideas behind them.

Together with Volumes 1 and 2 it completes a coherent, classical 1.d4 and 2.c4 repertoire covering everything Black can play. Best suited to club players and above who want a principled, low-fuss White system for life.

This book consists of eleven chapters devoted to different variations of the all-purpose defence for Black 1.d4 d6.