Opening Books

Dive into the wild world of the Sokolsky Opening with this unique and entertaining chess book. International chess author Marek Soszynski examines Magnus Carlsen’s remarkable experiments with 1.b4 — also known as the Orangutan — across more than a dozen annotated blitz and rapid games. Blending fresh analysis, practical advice, opening theory, and even a brief look at orangutans themselves, this book offers both instruction and fun.

Whether you’re a club player looking for an offbeat weapon, a fan of Carlsen’s creativity, or simply a chess enthusiast eager to explore one of the game’s rarest first moves, Carlsen Goes Ape delivers an insightful and enjoyable journey into an opening where anything can happen.

The French Defence is one of the most popular and reliable responses to 1.e4. Grandmaster Repertoire 15 – The French Defence 2 covers the most critical variation of the Winawer, which occurs after the opening moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3† 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4. This volume presents three contrasting ways of meeting White’s aggressive opening system: 7...cxd4 leading to the notorious Winawer Poisoned Pawn; 7...0–0 8.Bd3 f5, a solid yet strategically complex system; and 7...0–0 8.Bd3 Nbc6, which leads to a tense, full-blooded battle

Is the Grob/Basman a con artist's bogus-operandi, or is the line actually sound? The truthful answer is that the opening is a bit of both! And we can call 1.g4 a "good opening," the same way a mob member calls a hitman colleague "a stand-up guy." The engine already prefers Black's chances after 1.g4, so nobody can honestly claim it is White's optimal first move from an empirical standpoint. But is it refuted? The answer is "no," and what we nearly always get is a disorienting mess by the early middlegame.

In this volume, experienced authors Lakdawala & Hansen take the Basmanic plunge and examine some of International Master Michael Basman's most remarkable victories with 1.g4 or 1...g5, along with some of his less successful tries, as well as some games by other occasional adherents, like Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.

This should not become a cornerstone of your repertoire, but you are guaranteed a bunch of fun and entertaining games.

Coach Christof has thoroughly revised and updated his 2018 best-selling chess opening manual. It covers everything you need to know when opening with 1.e4. You will get a complete White chess opening repertoire.

Why is this opening repertoire called simple? For the simple reason that the variations are easy to remember and require little or no maintenance.

International Master Christof Sielecki has created a hit series with his reliable opening lines for chess players of almost all levels. He developed this repertoire by working with students looking for something easy to understand and learn. Sielecki always clearly explains the plans and counter plans and keeps you focused on the position's requirements. Ambitious players rated 1500 or higher will benefit from studying this extremely accessible book.

Christof Sielecki is an International Master from Germany. He has taught and trained chess for many years and runs a popular YouTube channel called ChessExplained. He won numerous awards with his course on Chessable and has created three volumes of the Keep it Simple opening manuals.

GM Matthew Sadler (New In Chess magazine) 

"There are a few different approaches to drawing up a complete opening course for White like this. At the extremes, you can pick a single setup or pawn structure (something like the King’s Indian Attack for example) and use it against as many Black systems as you can manage, or you take the grandmaster repertoire approach where you pick the best concrete line for each situation. Both have drawbacks of course. Sielecki manages a good blend of both approaches."

IM John Donaldson (Mechanics Institute) 

“Keep it Simple 1.e4 – 2.0 is an invaluable tool for those rated 1800 to 2300 who want to play 1.e4 but don’t have the option of quitting their day job. There is plenty of explanatory prose to make this book accessible to the lower end of this rating group. There are also plenty of well-thought-out opening suggestions to make it interesting for master-level players and above. They will benefit from using the lines in this book as a starting point for further investigations.”

In My First Chess Opening Repertoire you will learn how to play the opening. This book gives you a compact and easy-to-learn repertoire for White, starting with the move 1.e4. And it gives you a similar repertoire for Black, with answers to all of White's approaches.

For beginners and improvers, for anyone with a rating up to 1200 (or even higher!), there is probably no better guide than Christof Sielecki, who has already published four opening books and more than a dozen courses on the Chessable platform. He knows exactly what his students need and has indeed received thousands of five-star ratings. The author strikes the perfect balance between fun, easy to understand and theoretically sound opening choices. And he keeps it entertaining with attacking and counterattacking lines!

First you'll learn the general opening principles that will guide you in any situation - even if your opponent doesn't play the exact moves in the book. Then you'll learn specific variations that will improve both your opening play and your general understanding of chess.

With White you will start with 1.e4 and build your repertoire around timeless opening principles with logical moves that almost play themselves. With Black, for example, you will study the Sicilian Defence - an opening that guarantees you the most interesting games and the most attacking opportunities.

This repertoire will allow you to hit the ground running.

Christof Sielecki is an International Master from Germany. He has coached chess for many years and runs a popular YouTube channel called ChessExplained. He won numerous awards with his course on Chessable and has created three volumes of the Keep it Simple opening manuals.

Sean Marsh (CHESS magazine) 

“If you are a club player needing to know the very basics of an opening repertoire, then this is the book for you.”

GM Matthew Sadler (New In Chess magazine) 

“I’d have said that it was impossible, but reading through the book, I rarely came across any line where I felt that a line was cut short prematurely. Essentially, Sielecki has chosen his lines carefully to make this whole approach work well, and I guess that a lot of unseen work went into achieving this.“

The Benoni Defense can be divided into two main structures…

The Richter-Veresov Attack is characterized by the moves 1.d4, 2.Nc3 and 3.Bg5. It is a great system for players who want to take their opponents away from well-known theory, force them into unfamiliar situations and make them fight on their own resources. There are various modern interpretations of the Richter-Veresov Attack which usual involve White playing f3 at some point. However, in this book, the highly experienced chess author and coach Cyrus Lakdawala focuses on the traditional treatment which generally eschews f3 in favour of more classical development with moves such as Nf3, e3 or even Qf3.

In Opening Repertoire: Richter-Veresov Attack, Lakdawala guides the reader through the complexities and carves out a repertoire for White. 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.

The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White

Larry Kaufman — grandmaster, former World Senior Champion, and a pioneer of computer chess — offers something unusual here: a complete, ready-to-play repertoire for both colours, chosen not by the cold standard of what is "objectively best" but by what actually works for amateurs who lack the time to memorise endless theory.

That guiding principle shapes every recommendation. Kaufman deliberately favours sound, durable lines that are easy to understand and remember over the sharpest computer-approved main lines that change every few months. The White repertoire is built around 1.d4/1.Nf3 with answers to everything Black can throw back; the Black repertoire leans on the resilient defences favoured by Magnus Carlsen, including the Grünfeld and the Breyer.

Because Kaufman is a computer-chess authority, the analysis is rigorously engine-checked, and his discussion of material values and how to use engines sensibly is a bonus rarely found in repertoire books. A "repertoire in practice" section shows the systems working in real games.

Ideal for club players who want one trustworthy book to supply their entire opening repertoire — practical, honest, and built to last.

¿Cada vez te juegan más la Defensa Holandesa cuando juegas peón de dama? ¿Juegas distintos esquemas contra esta defensa y ninguno termina de convencerte?

Si tu respuesta es SI a alguna de estas dos preguntas, este libro es para ti.

En el último año, han salido distintas publicaciones recomendando esta variante para jugadores aficionados. ¿La razón? Es una variante universal contra 1.d4, 1.c4 y 1.Cf3 por parte de las blancas.

Sin embargo, considero que la Defensa Holandesa no es una variante buena y, en caso de que las blancas sepan como jugar, pueden conseguir una gran ventaja.

En este libro ofrezco una forma de jugar innovadora que te permitirá hacerte con ventaja contra jugadores de todos los niveles.

Las variantes han sido revisadas con Stockfish. La apertura está analizada de manera sistemática y organizada de manera que sea cómoda para el lector.

Además, no solamente se analiza la apertura, sino que también me adentro en el medio juego, analizando partidas modelo que nos servirán de guía en el momento que se termine la apertura.

Para terminar, como no podría ser de otra manera, ofrezco ejercicios típicos del medio juego de la Defensa Holandesa, la mejor forma para estar preparados para la partida.

Al terminar este libro, estarás preparado contra esta apertura para toda tu vida y estoy convencido de que podrás conseguir muchas victorias gracias a mis ideas.

The Dragon Sicilian is the perfect choice for club players searching for chaotic and imbalanced positions. This opening manual shows how Black can turn up the heat against 1.e4, and enjoy dynamic winning chances game after game.

Top-10 player Anish Giri is the best tutor to bring this complicated opening across to 'everyday' club players. Anish serves up his super-GM lines and clearly explains the ideas and strategies behind the moves. So when game time comes, you know exactly which moves to play, at what moment, and how to deliver the knockout blow.

Make no mistake: This repertoire's "take-no-prisoners"-strategy means you will sometimes reach razor-sharp positions, where both sides must play 'only moves'. But that's why you'll love having Anish Giri as your opening coach. Giri delivers just the right mix of cutting-edge analysis and practical guidance for players of all levels with his trademark witty and down-to-earth teaching style.

The Dragon Sicilian also covers all other major systems Black could face, including what to play against Anti-Sicilians such as the Rossolimo, the 2.c3 Alapin, and the Grand-Prix Attack.

Grandmaster and world top-10 player Anish Giri is one of today’s most popular chess players. He has an active Twitter account, a massive YouTube channel, and is a regular contributor to New In Chess magazine. Giri has Russian, Nepalese, and Indian ancestry. He lived in Russia and Japan before his family settled in the Netherlands. His opening preparation is one of his strongest suits, and Giri is often referred to as the most prominent theory expert in the world.

‘This book, which is highly recommended, will interest a wide audience. Club players will find it provides all the detail they need while higher rated players are pushed the right direction for further investigation. Giri’s assessments are clear and to the point.’ – IM John Donaldson, Mechanics Institute Newletter

You can hardly find a more unconventional idea than pushing your g-pawn 2 squares down the board.

Some may say it belongs to a backroom chess game in a café, some may say it belongs to olden times - back when the King's Gambit was the main line after 1.e4 e5. But we are seeing more and more occurrences at the top-level.

Is it a coincidence ??

It's safe to say that g2-g4 (or ...g7-g5) is one of the most weakening moves available. As a matter of fact, the objectively worst first-move happens to be 1.g4, accompanied by an evaluation of -1.30 when running Stockfish 15 on low-depth (we did not see the point on letting it run in this position, it will probably get lower, that's not good advertising).

Now, there are quite a few positions where g2-g4 (or ...g7-g5) makes more sense and brings an interesting fight. The player has to be willing to take some considerable amount of risk, and that may be too much for some of us. The resulting positions often get messy and veer very much away from traditional paths, which means the expected number of mistakes gets higher, thus decreasing the drawing percentage.

Still, it's important to remain somewhat objective and not to get too excited by the thrill of an upcoming attack. Yes, g-pawn pushes are aggressive, but can also very quickly turn out to have disastrous consequences. "I wish I could play g4-g2", is usually a sign the experiment has gone wrong. The book is aimed at covering a wide range of chess openings. We decided to showcase the different categories of g4 (...g5) one may meet in the early stage of the opening, no matter if the idea is strong, interesting or quite unadvisable (bad, you may also say).

Most of the time, g4 (...g5) won't be the best move, but we will try to show that the value of surprise and the tendency of players to react solidly to aggression can matter as well. Also, we have decided not to include any Sicilians, as the g2-g4 push has become so frequent there, and in many variations deeply analyzed already.

Over the 50 games that we picked, the 3 main reasons why the g-pawn is being launched are: 1) Attacking a short-castled king with a hook created by h2-h3 (or ...h7-h6) 2) Challenging the stable position of a Nf3 (or ...Nf6). It becomes stronger when the knight doesn't have a good square to hop to. 3) Seizing space on the kingside.

The more you dive into the examples, the more you'll see that it's a mix of the 3, with one reason prevailing. We wish you happy reading and hope that you'll implement some of these lines into your play!

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.

What you are holding in your hands is the natural follow up of Volume 1 where some “lesser” openings aft er 1.d4 d5 2.c4 were examined, as well as a couple of less popular variations of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted. This second Volume comprises all of the established main lines of the QGA aft er our recommended 3.e4 with the intention of giving you a full picture of this topical opening while helping you build a repertoire based on aggressive ideas. Objectively speaking, it is very hard for White to find an advantage in the event of the absolute main lines 3…Nf6 and 3…e5, but we believe we have done our duty. We scrutinized multiple interesting variations with the help of engines while applying our human understanding to select those lines that would be the most unpleasant for Black. Additionally, we tried to provide you with as many alternatives as possible so as not to become “victims” of a narrow repertoire.

Grandmasters Kotronias and Ivanov are renowned as leading theoreticians and chess trainers. They offer a unique and world-class repertoire based on 1.d4! They advocate an ambitious approach for White, with the aim to fight for an advantage in any position. This is their first joint effort; they tackle the ever-popular Queen’s Gambit Accepted and their sidelines in Volume 1A and 1B.

Even in the Sicilian Defense, one of the most popular and well-developed chess openings, it is possible to surprise your opponent at move four! With the Kalashnikov Variation, Black immediately forces the opponent to make a difficult decision. It all starts with a Black pawn, kicking White's knight off the central d4-square. This push will lead the game into turbulent waters where your rapid development, attacking options, sound pawn structure and superior preparation will leave your opponent bewildered. 

Grandmaster Daniel King knows what it takes to play the Sicilian with success, and his articulate explanations and practical approach to playing and learning will help you score your own Sicilian victories. This course is a repertoire for Black, focusing on the most important lines. In addition, there is a selection of well-annotated master games demonstrating key strategic concepts in practical settings. Once you hear about the Bad Bishop Bounce, Liberation Station, and The Trojan Horse, you will be eager to introduce them into your own games. The book also explains how to punish the sidelines you are most likely to face in club and online play, often allowing you to reach a superior position straight out of the opening! This complete repertoire includes answers to all possible alternatives for White after the moves 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e5. 

Daniel King is an English chess grandmaster, coach, journalist and broadcaster. He has authored dozens of chess books and courses on topics ranging from opening preparation to the historical biography Sultan Khan. With his frequent posts on his PowerPlay YouTube channel, he reaches a broad audience.

Jan Sybren Zagema (Schaaksite.nl) 

“King provides a very accessible introduction to the Sicilian and a practical and dynamic repertoire for Black. The precise wording and themes ensure that the various variations stick much better than with most other opening books.”

The Grand Prix Attack is one of White’s deadliest weapons against the Sicilian Defence. It continues to be highly popular with tournament chess players all over the world. While earlier publications mainly focused on tactics, this book the finally gives the GPA the coverage it deserves.