Opening Books

This opening manual completes the Black repertoire against the Sicilian that uses the Kalashnikov as the main line. When possible, Black will opt for the adventurous moves 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5, covered in the book King’s Kalashnikov. But everyone playing 1...c5 has to be ready when White chooses to avoid the Open Sicilian.

In this volume King gives you the answer to all of the so-called Anti-Sicilians, including the Rossolimo, the Alapin and the Grand Prix Attack. All other, less frequently played variations such as the Morra and the Wing Gambit, are covered as well.

Grandmaster Daniel King has extensive experience playing the Sicilian, having done so for over forty years. His clear explanations and practical approach will help you achieve your own successes with the Sicilian. Additionally, there is a selection of annotated model games by grandmasters such as Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, and Daniel King, which demonstrate how the recommendations are applied in real games.

The two volumes provide a compact and versatile repertoire for Black, focusing on the most important lines, and always aiming for dynamic middlegame play.

Daniel King is an English chess grandmaster, coach, journalist, and broadcaster. He has authored dozens of chess books and courses on a range of topics, including opening preparation and the historical biography of Sultan Khan. His PowerPlay YouTube channel is a must-see destionation for chess players interested in elite chess events and chess book reviews.

Stjepan Tomić (chessreads.com) 

“King's Anti-Sicilians is a book that accompanies Daniel King’s Kalashnikov, and with it creates a complete Sicilian repertoire for black. If you’re a Sicilian player and you want to play relatively rare, very sharp systems that will force white to either know tons of theory or improvise in madly complex positions, look no further! It may be insufficient for serious tournament players who may have to supplement it. Still, it will definitely be an easily digestible introduction to Anti-Sicilian variations for players of all levels.”

IM Gary Lane (Australian Chess) 

“The explanations are clear and concise, which any club player would appreciate and applaud. This practical opening repertoire suddenly makes defending the Sicilian a lot easier.”

Jan Sybren Zagema (Schaaksite.nl) 

“With practical recommendations and a dose of humor, King presents a repertoire in which dynamic and active counterplay is central. With his book King’s Kalashnikov Sicilian, King offers a complete repertoire for the Sicilian that many players will enjoy.”

Rubinstein French

The Rubinstein Variation — reached after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 and an early ...dxe4 — is the French Defence at its most solid. Black gives up the centre but gets a rock-hard, low-risk structure with no weaknesses for White to target, which is exactly what makes it such a dependable answer to 1.e4. This book builds a complete Black repertoire around it, with a foreword by French authority John Watson.

The treatment is thorough and reassuring. Hannes Langrock covers every way White can try to punish the Rubinstein — the natural main lines, Kasparov’s 7.c3, the various ways of handling or relinquishing the pin on f6, Khalifman’s 6.Bd3 set-up, and the plans with queenside castling — and then deals with everything Black must know besides: the Advance, the Exchange, the King’s Indian Attack, and the sidelines.

The recommendation suits a particular kind of player perfectly: someone who wants a sound, durable defence that doesn’t require constant theoretical maintenance and steers the game toward clear, understandable middlegames and endgames.

Ideal for club players who want a "set it and forget it" French repertoire — solid, respectable, and hard to break down.

The idea of the Miniatures series is to present a mix of interesting miniatures, combinations, instructive mistakes along with some accompanying opening theory putting everything into context This volume is dedicated to Sicilian Najdorf.

Are you ready to shock your opponent on move 3?

The Reti Opening is a dynamic opening invented by Richard Reti more than a century ago. It has since been featured in the repertoires of countless grandmasters and world champions, including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Garry Kasparov, Tigran Petrosian, Vassily Smyslov, and many others.

The Navara Gambit takes dynamic chess into a bizarro world on move 3: 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 g5!

It looks ridiculous, but that doesn't make it so. It is the brainchild of Czech grandmaster David Navara and was first introduced in 2011. Since then, it has been played in the games of many grandmasters and international masters, in regular tournament games, and in many of the most important online events over the last decade.

The book presents a full repertoire for Black against the Reti Opening proper (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4), thus including not only the lines where White plays 3.b4 but also 3.g3, 3.e3, and 3.d3, but also much less frequently seen lines such as 3.e4, 3.a3, and even 3.c5.

It is time to have fun against the Reti and 1.Nf3!

has been played a few times since and remains a popular opening at all levels of play. 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. As for the games, they are typically between players with a rating of at least 2350 and often well more than that; you will find games between players rated above 2700 in this book. However, I have made some exceptions when a lower rated player beats a player rated above the magical 2350 number. To show the relative strength of the players, I have included the ELO rating of the players involved in the miniatures. A few games are of older date, but are otherwise as recent as 2015.

Former US Open Champion Timothy Taylor takes a contemporary look at one of Black's most ambitious counters to 1 e4, the Alekhine Defence. This is a sharp opening in which Black attacks from the very beginning, luring White's central pawns forward in the expectation of destroying them later on. The Alekhine is a favourite among creative players such as Nigel Short, Vassily Ivanchuk and Hikaru Nakamura.

By studying the most important games and also drawing upon his own experience in the opening, Taylor constructs a practical repertoire for Black, ideal for the modern-day player. All the key tactical and positional ideas for both players are covered, and crucial move-order nuances are highlighted. This book provides everything you need to know to play the Alekhine with confidence.

– A dynamic repertoire for Black 

– Provides answers to all of White's possibilities 

– Ideal for improvers, club players and tournament players.

DragonMasters volume 1 charts the history of the most exciting and dangerous opening known to chess - the Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defense.

Unlike almost all other books on the Dragon, the focus is not purely on theoretical development. Instead, the author has combined the most historically important games, the famous players who chose to fight either side (sometimes both sides!) of the opening, and the most unexpected and interesting stories featuring the Dragon. World Champions, contenders of the crown, code-breakers, revolutionaries in every sense of the world - all feature in this remarkable and entirely unique look into the history of an opening variation. as the ancient may say: Here be Dragons!

The Barry Attack is a highly aggressive system that arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4. Although the concept of the Barry Attack has been known for a century or so, the modern interpretation (as with a number of other dynamic white systems) has mainly been developed by English grandmasters over the past couple of decades.

This “modern interpretation” is often not very subtle. If Black provides a target by castling early on the kingside, White will often let rip with moves such as Qd2, Bh6, 0-0-0 and h4-h5, playing very directly for a quick checkmate. If this strikes you as too crude to have a chance against a sophisticated and competent defender, then a quick glance through this book will undoubtedly change your mind. You will witness countless games where very strong players are destroyed on the black side in less than 30 moves. Sometimes a lot less.

This makes the Barry an ideal weapon for those who love to attack. Black’s defence has to be very accurate. If not, a quick annihilation is on the cards.

Play the Barry Attack is the ideal guide to this fascinating opening. Anyone who reads this book carefully and studies all White’s attacking ideas will have a fearsome weapon in their armoury.

A complete and practical repertoire against the Ruy Lopez built around the solid and flexible Deferred Steinitz Variation. This guide equips players with reliable structures, clear plans, and modern insights, while also providing full coverage of the critical Exchange Variation—ensuring you’re prepared for both positional battles and tactical challenges.

This book presents a full repertoire against open Sicilians with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6. It advocates the modern set-up with Bc1-e3 and Qd1-f3 against the Taimanov, an innovative treatment of the Keres Attack, 5.c4 against the Kan.

The Fighting Dragon showcases a variety of ways for Black to handle White’s responses. After taking in the key concepts, aspiring Dragon players can then deepen their understanding with three dozen critical test positions.

The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence continues to be extremely popular. Advocated by great fighting champions like Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer, this flexible, wonderfully rich system offers one of the best ways for Black to play for a win.

Young Armenian grandmaster Zaven Andriasyan has developed and successfully employed his very own attacking repertoire for Black in the Najdorf.

In this book he points out ways to avoid the most dangerous white systems, such as the English Attack, and presents ideas for Black to fight for the initiative right from the start.

Revisiting all major Najdorf battlegrounds, Andriasyan challenges accepted views and sheds new light on this great opening. In his search for new paths he has found a great number of radical improvements, resulting in a complete, surprising and punchy repertoire.

After you have read and studied Winning with the Najdorf Sicilian, you will be ready and happy to take on 1.e4 players at all times!

With a foreword by Levon Aronian.

Zaven Andriasyan (1989) was both European under-18 and World under-20 champion in 2006. He is currently one of the strongest grandmasters in Armenia. Zaven Andriasyan regularly writes for the New In Chess Yearbooks.

Sam Collins, Chess Today: 

"Andriasyan has an excellent writing style (..) He often interrupts dry analysis with explanations about which pieces to trade, why he likes certain manoeuvres and dislikes others. This is all entertaining and instructive and makes the material much easier to digest and remember. His line selection is also excellent, frequently giving a choice for Black but always explaining why he prefers the variations he recommends (..) One of the very best opening books I've ever seen."

Dennis Monokroussos, The Chess Mind: 

"I learned new things not only for Black, which is what you'd expect, but for White too. He is very even-handed, and quite regularly shows a main line for Black that has troubles, so that he can better motivate and explain his preferred line. That makes this an even more valuable resource - it's a good source of ideas for the first player too."

Adam Hunt, British Chess Magazine: 

"Excellently researched with some very interesting ideas and novelties along the way (..) There is also a chapter at the end on Najdorf exercises, which I enjoyed very much (..) It will become my new Najdorf reference and if you are serious about this opening I would recommend you get yourself a copy."

Max Euwe Center, Amsterdam: 

"All variations of the Najdorf are being treated and the objective is for Black to be the first to deviate from the main lines (..) Andriasyan concludes that the Najdorf is the best way for Black to play for a win."

Richard Vedder, Schakers.info: 

"Andriasyan advocates a sharp but rather narrow repertoire for Black to play for a win (..) Within that repertoire he presents comprehensive analyis with various tips and tricks (..) White players, as well, can pick up a few things as well."

Practical White Repertoire, Volume 2

This is the second volume of Alexei Kornev’s practical White repertoire with 1.d4 and 2.c4, and it is devoted to the defences in which Black fianchettoes the dark-squared bishop — the most ambitious, attacking replies to the Queen’s-Pawn game.

Kornev gives clear, complete recommendations against the whole fianchetto family: the Grünfeld (with the main 4.cxd5 and 5.e4 approach), the King’s Indian in all its branches, and the Modern, Pirc, and Philidor/Lion structures that arise when Black combines ...g6 or ...d6 with an early kingside fianchetto. Each is met with a coherent, unified plan rather than a patchwork of unrelated lines.

As the title promises, the emphasis is practical: the repertoire is chosen to be sound and genuinely playable for a club player, with the key plans and move-orders laid out clearly so you know not just the moves but the ideas behind them.

This is the middle book of a three-volume series: together with Volume 1 (the 1...d5 defences) and Volume 3 (the Nimzo-Indian and others), it forms a complete, classical 1.d4 and 2.c4 repertoire. Best suited to club players and above who want a principled, low-fuss way to meet the King’s Indian and Grünfeld.

But let me now explain the idea of this second book. I will show you some 18 games with the more or less current trends in the double fianchetto. These games include some openings like the Tarrasch and the King’s Indian, just to name a few. The main part of the book is divided into exercises and solutions, with 110 positions taken from double fianchetto games. I have divided the exercises into chapters, with each chapter featuring games by players who have deployed the double fianchetto quite often. You will find a lot of typical motifs used by these players. The difficulty level ranges from very easy through to very tough, but I won’t give points for the solutions. The ideas vary from tactics to important strategic subtleties. The reader decides how honestly he or she tries to solve these exercises. It is also not necessary to solve all of them, but it is definitely important to think about these positions and take your time. The reader should gain an impression of the many ideas and structures which are possible in the double fianchetto positions.

The Benko and Blumenfeld Gambits have, for decades, been known as ways for Black to fight for the initiative.

While the Benko Gambit has its foundation in positional ideas, the Blumenfeld Gambit is more of a traditional gambit: play for a lead in development, a broad center, and ultimately an attack.

In this book, FM Carsten Hansen covers one hundred miniature games (games that are decided in 25 moves or fewer) across all variations of the Benko and Blumenfeld Gambits: The material is split up into the following chapters:

– Chapter 1: 4.Nf3 

– Chapter 2: 4.Qc2, 4.a4 and other 4th Move Options 

– Chapter 3: 4.cxb5 a6 5.Nc3 

– Chapter 4: 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6 

– Chapter 5: 4.cxb5 axb5 5.f3 

– Chapter 6: 4.cxb5 a6 5.e3 

– Chapter 7: 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 – 5th and 6th Move Alternatives 

– Chapter 8: Accepted – White plays a quick e2-e4 

– Chapter 9: Accepted – Fianchetto Lines 

– Chapter 10: Blumenfeld Gambit: 5.Bg5 & Minor Lines 

– Chapter 11: Blumenfeld Gambit: Accepted 

– Chapter 12: The Dzindzi-Indian

Throughout the book, there are hundreds of puzzle positions for both players, where you will be challenged to find the best move or to figure out why a certain move does or does not work.

If you play the Benko or Blumenfeld Gambits (or both), this book will help you be better prepared to recognize tactical patterns for both sides.

Andrew Burnett is a Scottish FM who has represented his country on numerous occasions. He is the author of cult classic Streetfighting Chess and his love of the Dragon opening stretches back to his teenage years when he was looking to escape from 1.e4 e5! He is currently working on the third – and final – volume of DragonMasters.

When 1975 dawned, the Sicilian Dragon, the most ferocious and exciting of openings the chess world had ever known, was on its knees begging for mercy.

Anatoly Karpov had just slain Viktor Korchnoi and Fischer’s contemptuous approach – “open the h-file, sac, sac, mate!” – seemed to have spelled the Dragon’s end. But already in the background there were acolytes attempting to repair the damage, to replace the beast’s scales and recharge its fiery breath.

DragonMasters 2 covers the tempestuous two decades that followed, pitting the world’s deadliest attackers against each other: tactical brutes such as Planinc and Velimirovic, Miles and Mestel, Short and Tiviakov – all choosing sides in the greatest opening debate of all.

Would the sword-and-spear DragonSlayer followers of Karpov and Fischer prevail once again? Or would the reinvigorated DragonMasters prove that myth and legend could survive in a modern setting? The final answer would arrive at the very top of the world...

This series provides an ideal platform to study chess openings. By continually challenging the reader to answer probing questions throughout the book, the Move by Move format greatly encourages the learning and practising of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of opening knowledge. Carefully selected questions and answers are designed to keep you actively involved and allow you to monitor your progress as you learn. This is an excellent way to study any chess opening and at the same time improve your general chess skills and knowledge.

The Queen’s Indian enjoys a deserved reputation as a reliable opening choice for Black against 1 d4. Black’s opening system involves an early queenside fianchetto with the hypermodern approach of controlling the centre with pieces, and the resulting positions are rich in dynamic and strategic possibilities for both sides. The Queen’s Indian is a popular choice at all levels of chess, and many of the World’s top players have employed it as part of their opening repertoires. In this book, International Master and chess coach Lorin D’Costa invites you to join him in studying the Queen’s Indian. He highlights the typical plans and tactics for both sides, constructs a practical repertoire for Black and provides answers to all the key questions.

– Essential guidance and training with the Queen’s Indian 

– Includes repertoire options for Black 

– Utilizes an ideal approach to chess study

In this volume, the authors cover the main lines of the Closed Ruy Lopez. These lines include: The Marshall Attack, The Anti-Marshall, The Zaitsev Variation, The Breyer Variation, The Chigorin Variation, and a number of minor lines, such as the Bogoljubow Variation, The Smyslov Variation, The Keres Variation and more.