In this book, IM Richard Pert shares his own complete repertoire for Black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6. The main subject is the Ragozin, which occurs after 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4, but the author also provides thoughtful recommendations in the related 3.Nc3 Bb4 variation, as well as against the Catalan (3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3) and all other popular White options.
King's Indian Warfare
This is not a repertoire book but something rarer: a master class in the King’s Indian told through the games of a lifelong expert. Grandmaster Ilya Smirin has played the King’s Indian his whole career, and here he annotates his best efforts with it — with a foreword by his friend and compatriot Boris Gelfand.
The selection is thematic rather than theoretical. Chapters group the games by the ideas that make the King’s Indian so dangerous: the long-range power of the dark-squared bishop, opening lines toward the enemy king, deliberately wrecking your own pawn structure for activity, nimble knight manoeuvres, and the famous "kamikaze" rook sacrifices of the kingside attack. A highlight is his mini-match record against former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, which Smirin won 2½–1½.
Because the lessons come through complete, deeply annotated games, you absorb not just moves but the attacking instinct and judgement behind them — including, refreshingly, a chapter on two of his favourite losses, where the same fire backfired.
Ideal for club players and above who already play, or want to understand, the King’s Indian as an attacking weapon. Read it for inspiration and pattern-knowledge rather than line-by-line preparation.
Beating Minor Openings
offers a world-class repertoire for Black against every sensible first move apart from 1.d4 and 1.e4. GM Victor Mikhalevski advocates an ambitious approach for Black, with the aim of occupying the center and fighting for an advantage, rather than mere equality, wherever possible.
Continuing from Volume 1A (The Catalan), this book completes Boris Avrukh's reworking of his Grandmaster Repertoire series on 1.d4, covering all of Black's remaining answers to the Queen's Gambit across 24 chapters.
The biggest departure from Avrukh's earlier work is in the Queen's Gambit Accepted: he has replaced 3.e3 with the more ambitious 3.e4, applying immediate central pressure rather than the quieter development of his previous recommendation. This requires more theoretical preparation but, as Avrukh argues, pays off in positions White can genuinely enjoy playing.
The Slav Defence takes up the largest section. The core recommendation — 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 — remains, but the coverage has expanded from 95 pages in the original to 203 pages here, reflecting how heavily the theory has developed. The main change is after 4...Bg4, where Avrukh now prefers 5.h3 over his previous 5.Nc3.
The final section covers Black's smaller lines: the Chigorin (now split across two chapters due to new developments), the Albin Counter Gambit, the Tarrasch, and various rare defences including 2...Bf5, 2...Nf6 and 2...c5.
As with Volume 1A, this is an advanced book designed for serious study rather than quick preparation. The two volumes together give White a complete, deeply researched repertoire for 1.d4 against everything Black can play.
Boris Gelfand continues his investigation into decision-making at the top level, discussing some of his best games as well as his worst slips, giving the reader a unique insight into the mind of a world-class grandmaster.
This ebook is a part of Bundle: Gelfand Decision Making
Grandmaster Repertoire - 1.e4 vs The Sicilian III
This volume completes Parimarjan Negi’s coverage of the Sicilian within his landmark Grandmaster Repertoire — 1.e4 series. Having dealt with the Najdorf and the other ...d6 Sicilians earlier, here he tackles the flexible "small centre" systems and tidies up everything that remains.
The core of the book is a world-class White repertoire against the Taimanov, the Kan, and the Scheveningen — three of the most resilient and fashionable Sicilians, favoured precisely because they keep Black’s structure flexible and hard to attack. Negi meets them with ambitious, deeply worked-out lines, including a "New Main Line" against the Taimanov and the sharp Keres Attack against the Scheveningen.
A final section covers the remaining Sicilian sidelines — the various 2...d6, 2...Nc6 and 2...e6 move orders and second-move alternatives — so that, together with the earlier volumes, White has a complete answer to 1...c5.
Like the rest of the series, this is demanding, theory-intensive material aimed at strong, ambitious players who play 1.e4 and want to fight for the advantage against every Sicilian rather than sidestepping the main battle.
John Shaw’s aim, stated plainly in his preface, is to supply a top-class White repertoire after 1.e4 — one effective all the way up to grandmaster level, but with a workload an ambitious club player can actually manage. This first volume handles the Caro-Kann, 1...e5, and the various minor defences; a second volume completes the repertoire against the Sicilian and French.
Shaw’s selection principle is sensible: where two lines are equally good he picks the one demanding less memorisation, but where one option is clearly best he recommends it even if it requires serious study. And because 1.e4 players, as he puts it, tend to have “dark intentions against the black king,” the choices throughout are active and space-gaining, chosen to create attacking chances.
The two main battlegrounds set the tone. Against the Caro-Kann he gives the Advance Variation, meeting 3...Bf5 with the aggressive 4.h4 to seize space and harry the bishop. Against 1...e5 he chooses the Scotch — a forcing, challenging system that sidesteps the heavily-analysed Berlin and Marshall of the Ruy Lopez. The Petroff, Scandinavian, Philidor, Alekhine (with a principled 6.Nxf7 sacrifice), Pirc, Modern, and assorted gambits are all given clear, explained recommendations.
At 632 pages this is a thorough, fighting repertoire rather than a shortcut, illustrated throughout with deeply annotated games. Best suited to intermediate and advanced players who want a 1.e4 repertoire they can rely on for years.
Few books have shaped modern chess strategy as deeply as Aron Nimzowitsch's My System. Chess Praxis is its practical sequel — the book where Nimzowitsch shows his theories at work.
In Chess Praxis, Nimzowitsch revisits his core principles — centralization, prophylaxis, overprotection, restriction and blockade — through deeply annotated games from his own tournament career, demonstrating his methods against world-class opposition.
About the Author:
Aron Nimzowitsch (1886–1935) was one of the strongest players of his era and one of the most influential theoreticians in the history of chess. A leading figure of the hypermodern school alongside Réti and Tartakower, he challenged the classical orthodoxy of his day and replaced it with a new vocabulary of chess concepts — many of which remain core teaching ideas a century later.
In the fourth volume of the epic Kotronias on the King’s Indian series Grandmaster Vassilios Kotronias tackles a variety of White’s attempts to challenge his favorite opening, starting with the sequence 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6.
Every 1.e4 player needs a reliable answer, and few are as principled as 1...e5 — meeting White head-on, claiming the centre, and developing naturally. The challenge today is building a sound Black repertoire on these lines without drowning in theory. That is exactly what Nikolaos Ntirlis sets out to do here, in a book opened by a foreword from grandmaster Parimarjan Negi.
Against the Ruy Lopez — the most important battleground — Ntirlis recommends the Breyer System, one of the most solid and computer-resistant set-ups available to Black, where the knight retreats to b8 and redeploys to d7 behind a flexible pawn structure. The choice reflects the book’s philosophy: lines that rest on understanding and sound structures rather than memorised forcing sequences.
The rest of the repertoire is handled with the same clarity. The Scotch, the Italian and Two Knights, the full range of Four Knights systems, the Bishop’s Opening and Vienna, the Scotch and the King’s Gambit, and the various gambits and sidelines White can throw at 1...e5 are each given a clear recommendation and explanation.
This is a complete, classical Black repertoire after 1.e4 e5, built for players who want a dependable defence they can rely on for years. Best suited to intermediate and advanced players willing to learn ideas as well as moves.
Grandmaster Repertoire - 1.e4 vs The Sicilian II
Grandmaster Repertoire – 1.e4 vs The Sicilian II is the second volume of Parimarjan Negi's elite White repertoire against the Sicilian. Where Volume I was devoted to the Najdorf, this book takes on three separate battlegrounds.
Negi gives deep, ambitious recommendations against the Dragon and Accelerated Dragon, against the Richter-Rauzer, and against the …e5 Sicilians — the Sveshnikov, Kalashnikov and Löwenthal — each backed by the original, top-level analysis that made the series famous.
This is a theory-intensive repertoire, not a light read: the lines are sharp and the coverage thorough, aimed at players who want a genuine advantage against these dynamic defenses and are willing to put in the work.
Best suited to strong, ambitious 1.e4 players — tournament competitors and aspiring masters — who are not afraid to play the Open Sicilian.
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