Opening Books

The Nimzo-Indian and Queen’s Gambit Declined are among Black’s soundest and most universal answers to 1.d4. In his trademark style, Milos investigates the most positional ways to proceed after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6

The Original Arkhangelsk anti-Ruy Lopez weapon is reached through the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7. It has been played as Black by many great players, including Carlsen, Anand, Caruana, Svidler, Ivanchuk, Pragg, Vachier-Lagrave, Shirov, Adams, Grischuk, Topalov, Beliavsky, Firouzja, Mamedyarov, and Morozevich. The Original Arkhangelsk can lead to tactical fights and wild positions, where knowledge of theory is important for both sides – perfect for a repertoire where Black wishes to take control of the game and make use of attacking possibilities.

Such attacks at times include the ...d5 or ...f5 pawn breaks, or the ...g5-g4 battering ram. Black’s bishops often target the white king and f2 pawn from b7 and b6 as the centre opens, while the black queen and king’s knight may add to the attack from the f, g or h files. At other times Black may target White’s central d4 or e4 pawns, play on the queenside with ...Na5 (attacking White’s light-squared bishop), sometimes together with ...c5, or play to push the b-pawn. This flexible variation is equally effective in classical, rapid and blitz.

International Master Tibor Karolyi, former Hungarian national champion and previously coach of stars such as Peter Leko and Sofia Polgar, shows the reader how to get a fully playable position as Black with fighting opportunities through 166 games and several hundred fragments, as well as a number of suggested novelties. He demonstrates the key strategic and tactical themes that the sides will encounter, as well as 25 miniatures where Black got a crushing position out of the opening thanks to superior preparation. If you’re an ...e5 player looking for a theoretically sound and ambitious yet fun response to the Ruy Lopez, the Original Arkhangelsk offers a fully playable path to dynamic positions with real winning chances.

“There can be no Plan B because there is no Planet B,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. We disagree when it comes to chess. In this book you will see analyzed not only 1.d4 b5 (the Polish Defense) but also the St. George Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 a6 intending 3...b5), 1.Nf3 b5, also 1.f4 b5 and, most shocking of all, 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5. Grandmasters have lost to these systems; other Grandmasters even try them out themselves when they have the black pieces. No, an early ...b7-b5 is not Plan A. However, if you want to humiliate the opposition by being literally eccentric (off-center) and disrespectful ... Welcome to Planet B!

After studying this book, I feel that you should be comfortable using the Polish Defense in your games; it will boost your creativity and will allow you to notch unexpected victories... Although the Polish may not be ideal as a full-time weapon, its version of unorthodoxy will embarrass your opponents, especially if you are well-armed to endure the opening phase. The present work ensures that this is accomplished and gives you valuable tips for the middlegame as well. – Grandmaster Vassilios Kotronias in his Foreword

At the end of each chapter, there are fully annotated illustrative games, and at the very end of the book over a hundred unannotated games from recent practice have been added. In many respects, these represent the most important part of the book. These examples show what human players actually play and just how effective this underrated defense is.

The final, and eagerly awaited, volume of the series will complete the opening repertoire for White according to Wojo.

The Tarrasch Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined is a fierce counter-attacking line arising after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5. In this variation Black gains free and easy piece play but in return usually has to accept the structural weakness of an Isolated Queen’s Pawn (IQP). In the early development of chess theory this line was somewhat frowned upon due to the vulnerability of the IQP. However, Siegbert Tarrasch, after whom the opening is named, famously declared that, “he who fears an Isolated Queen’s Pawn should give up chess”.

The Tarrasch has had many powerful adherents over the years including the legendary Garry Kasparov who made much use of it in the early part of his career. In this book Cyrus Lakdawala guides the reader through the complexities of the Tarrasch and carves out a repertoire for Black, based on a modern treatment popularised by the Russian grandmaster Daniil Dubov. He examines all aspects of this highly complex opening and provides the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on how to play the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans.

– A complete repertoire for Black to counter 1 d4.

– The question and answer approach provides an excellent study method.

In this book the reader will find an opening repertoire for Black against 1. e4, based on the Petroff Defence and designed to be used up to the highest level.

Despite the Najdorf’s great popularity and reputation as a theoretical labyrinth, Bryan Smith believes it is possible to play it “by the light of nature,” with experience providing a guide. The play is concrete and sharp, but original positions can be obtained fairly early. The twenty-nine annotated games in this book were carefully selected for their instructional value, their theoretical relevance, and – most of all – their esthetic appeal. Designed both for players of the Najdorf and for those facing it, The Najdorf in Black and White is a collection of creative and unique battles that you can use to learn the ins and outs of this opening.

In the first full book to examine 2.b3 against the Sicilian, French and Caro-Kann, mainlines, interesting sidelines and current theory are reviewed. In addition, what actually happens in modern practice is surveyed. The authors are optimistic for White, and concentrate on the best continuations while trying to be objective. It is in that spirit that they conclude that 2.b3 is sound against the Sicilian, fun against the French, and curious against the Caro-Kann. In all three cases, the objective is to sabotage Black’s play, to take him out of his comfort zone.

The Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6) is a great choice against 1.d4 for players who are after a solid position from the opening but one that also contains dynamic possibilities. The pawn on c6 guarantees Black a firm foothold in the centre but there is also the ever-present possibility to capture on c4 and possibly even try to hold on to this pawn. The Slav is ideal for combining reliability with a promise for dynamic counterplay in the middlegame.

In Opening Repertoire: The Slav, highly experienced chess author and coach Cyrus Lakdawala guides the reader through the complexities of the Slav and carves out a repertoire for Black. He examines all aspects of this highly complex opening and provides the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on how to play the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans.

Are you bored with playing it safe in the opening? Had enough of developing your pieces sensibly, aiming to control the centre and getting your king castled? Do you yearn to tear the opposition apart in the style of the great 19th century masters? Then Grandmaster Gambits 1 e4 is the book for you!

The highly successful writing duo of Richard Palliser and Simon (GingerGM) Williams have teamed up again to create a repertoire based on jettisoning a pawn (and often a whole lot more) very early on. Whatever opening your opponent favours against 1 e4, the authors have a dynamic gambiteering counter which will throw them onto their own resources.

The Sicilian Defence? Attack it with the Wing Gambit.

1...e5? Tear Black apart with the Max Lange Attack.

The French? Suffocate Black with the Advance Variation including Magnus Carlsen’s souped-up version of the Milner-Barry Gambit.

The Caro-Kann? Play the Hillbilly Attack with 2 Bc4! Your opponent might laugh but they won’t be laughing when you crash through on f7.

Forget about playing “properly” in the opening. Open 1 e4, play the Grandmaster Gambits and rip your unprepared opponents apart!

Bird's Opening, 1.f4, is an ideal choice for freethinking chess players who prefer to rely on their general chess knowledge and intuition rather than having to memorize and keep up to date with mainline opening theory. Bird's Opening is essentially the Dutch Defence with an extra move, and White can choose between a number of different set-ups, including the reversed Leningrad, Classical and Stonewall variations, depending on mood and opponents' responses. In this book, International Master Cyrus Lakdawala examines all the important variations of Bird's Opening, including the sharp From's Gambit. Using illustrative games, he explains the main positional and tactical ideas for both sides, provides answers to all the key questions and tells you everything you need to know about successfully playing 1.f4.

The author presents a full opening repertory for the club player, which is analysed in seven volumes. In the books you will find many novelties for both sides, with a full move-to-move presentation. Furthermore, the reader will get access to middlegame strategies, endgame techniques and common tactical motifs, which are patterning the proposed variations.

In the third volume the openings of the Queen's Indian Defence, the Bogoindian Defence, and the Budapest Gambit are presented.

The Barry Attack is somewhat defensive-looking from the start. It tempts Black forward, provocatively. The Barry Attack is, after all, a little rebellious, flouting, as it does, all those common sense development rules. Perhaps your game needs a good shot of tactics to boost your results – it’s one of the fastest ways to improve and this is true not only for young players.

If your opponent plays an early move order that’s not in this book such as 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 for example, the good news is that Black will be forced to transpose back into the mass of material.

The ‘’super repertoire’’ that always keeps Black under pressure in all variations is of course, a total myth. Any reasonable opening set-up can work wonders for White or Black if they know it well. This is always going to outweigh theoretical evolution. Playing strong chess is also very much about your level of self-confidence, emotional and physical health. It’s about who you are and how you feel in many ways at the precise moment of play in addition to your opening knowledge and general technique.

Anyone who takes the trouble to play through each model example, move by move, note by note, will be rewarded. Your strategic play will deepen and your tactics will improve along with your assessment skills, and you’ll end up with a great repertoire!

When I set out to write this book, I was clear on certain aspects, like keeping the moves simple and giving as much explanation as possible at the critical moments, as I wanted to ensure that someone interested in learning the intricacies of the Berlin doesn’t get swamped by long theoretical lines, but acquires a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the positions. If you manage to grasp the dynamics of these lines, then you can play not just the systems recommended in the book, but also other popular Berlin variations that have not been covered in this book for the Black side.

The Center Game is a wonderful opening for club players. White starts with a center push, develops quickly, looks for opposite castling, and launches an attack. The setup will feel very familiar to you in no time. And the chess engines show that this opening is both sound and correct, and at least as good as the over-analyzed Ruy Lopez and Italian Opening.

With this opening, you'll get a middlegame position that you know very well, but quite often will be new to Black. This will probably guarantee you an advantage on the clock, which will further increase your winning chances.

The author, Arne Moll, is an experienced club player, chess writer and chess book reviewer, so he knows exactly what the reader needs: the historical context, the basic strategic ideas of each line, the tactical patterns that will emerge, and some inspiring model games by great players such as Ian Nepomniatchi and Arjun Erigaisi —who uses the Center Game as a surprise weapon

Arne Moll is an experienced club and tournament player with a peak rating well above 2200. He was a chess writer for the legendary blog Chess Vibes and Chess.com and has reviewed dozens of chess books. He lives in Amsterdam and works as an IT and Data specialist in the Finance industry.

Beating Unusual Chess Openings is a godsend to those chess players fed up with struggling against all opening moves other than White's main two: 1 e4 and 1 d4. From the respectable (English Opening, Réti and King's Indian Attack) through to theoffbeat (Nimzo-Larsen Attack, Bird's Opening) and the totally bizarre (Orang-utan, Grob); everything Black needs to know about facing unusual openings is covered within these pages. Richard Palliser gets to grips with all of White's possibilities, examining their strengths and weaknesses and in turn organizing a reliable and practical repertoire for Black.

The repertoire is based around two main themes: 1. The suggested variations for White are ones that rely far more on a generic understanding of strategic ideas rather than the memorisation of reams of opening theory. This explains the choice of the Bishop’s Opening (handled “Lopez-style”) against 1...e5 and the Bb5 variations against the Sicilian Defence. Both these lines are designed to create dynamic and interesting middlegame positions rather than attempting to score a quick knockout victory – a generally overambitious aim that often backfires 2. The variations are chosen so that White can gain space whenever possible. Therefore the Advance Variation is recommended against the French Defence (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5) and also the Caro-Kann Defence (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5). The fact that these lines often create similar middlegame structures is helpful for general comprehension of White’s plans.

The Polar Bear System starts after 1.f4 (the Bird opening) and then fianchetto of the King’s bishop.The system is for players who like interesting and original positions and want to avoid memorizing a lot of theory..

The Dutch defense is a highly popular opening nowadays with the idea to get a sharp and assymetrical position against 1.d4. Together with the second part, the book gives the reader a full Dutch repertoire with black. The first volume will be useful for players who want to play the Stonewall, the Ilyin-Zhenevsky or the Hort systems without allowing the French or the Pirc defences.

The lines covered in this book, the Ruy Lopez Main Lines, arise (with a few exceptions for move order and such) after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0. Some of the lines are incredibly theoretical, but rather than burden you with a ton of theory in lines you will have limited chance of using in your own games, the emphasis is on the lines that are more likely to occur in your games. Those lines will be in chapters 3 and 4, the two longest chapters of the book. This book is by no means an all-encompassing theory work, which means that there is a lot of theory that is not discussed in the notes. This is of course intentional. The book is written to entertain and inspire. If you find some lines that you like, you are encouraged to dive deeper into those lines before using them in your own games.

The Scandinavian (also known as the Centre Counter Defence) occurs when Black meets White’s 1.e4 with 1...d5, immediately countering in the centre. White invariably continues with 2.exd5 when Black can choose between two systems, both of which are covered in this book. Firstly 2...Qxd5, which regains the pawn immediately but exposes the black queen early on – a feature that complicates the play for both players. Secondly 2...Nf6, which invites White to risk attempting to hold onto the d5-pawn. If White goes down this path then a complex tactical struggle can easily develop.

First Steps is a new opening series and is ideal for improving players who want simple and straightforward explanations. First Steps emphasizes:

– the basic principles 

– the basic strategies 

– the key tricks and traps

First Steps books are based around carefully selected instructive games which demonstrate exactly what both sides are trying to achieve. There is enough theory to enable the improving player to get to grips with the opening without feeling overwhelmed. If you want to take up a new opening, First Steps is the ideal place to start.

Wojo's Weapons, Volume 2

The late Aleksander Wojtkiewicz was one of the most successful tournament grandmasters of his era — a player who racked up wins year after year with a compact, repeatable White system rather than a sprawling theoretical repertoire. This series preserves and teaches that "Wojo System," and Volume 2 carries it forward into the heart of the Queen’s-Pawn battleground.

The backbone is the Catalan, reached via the flexible 1.Nf3 and g3 move orders Wojo favoured. The book gives a complete, layered treatment of both the Closed Catalan and the Open Catalan — the latter examined in real depth, line by line — and then extends the same fianchetto approach to the Slav, the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, the Tarrasch, and the Chigorin.

What makes the material so practical is its coherence: the same bishop on g2, the same pressure on the long diagonal and the c-file, and the same handful of plans recur across every line, so the repertoire is far easier to learn and maintain than its scope suggests. The authors explain how to assemble the pieces of the system into a working whole.

A sound, grandmaster-tested White repertoire for club players and above who want to win the way Wojo did — quietly building pressure and grinding out the point. It is the second of three volumes in the Wojo’s Weapons: Winning With White series; this book concentrates on the ...d5 and ...e6 defences (the Catalan and the Queen’s-Gambit family), while the companion volumes cover the rest, so the three together form the complete repertoire.

Bored of the same old Spanish and Scotch? Smashing the Spanish! Stunning the Scotch! gives 1...e5 players a bold and practical way to take back the initiative. Face 3.Bb5 with the sharp and surprising Bird’s Defense (3...Nd4) and meet 3.d4 with the nearly forgotten Lolli Variation (3...Nxd4). Both are rare, under-analyzed, and perfect for unsettling White right out of the opening.

Inside, you'll find focused theory, practical guidance, and annotated games – all from Black’s perspective. No overloaded repertoires, just fresh, fighting lines ready for real play.

If you enjoy catching opponents unready and rewriting the script from move three, this book is for you.

Marek Soszynski is a Correspondence Chess Master and a Master of Philosophy. He has authored or co-authored a growing number of chess books including How to Think in Chess, The Great Reshevsky, and Double Trouble Scandinavian Style.