Playing 1.e4 - Caro-Kann, 1...e5 & Minor Lines

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.