Opening Books

The Hungarian Dragon (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5!?) is a creative and resourceful way of dealing with White's dangerous Yugoslav Attack to the Sicilian Dragon. With the line's endorsement by the creative Hungarian Grandmaster Richard Rapport in the World Blitz Championships 2021, the line is now receiving the scrutiny of Dragon exponents.

In this book, FIDE Candidate Master and ICCF Senior International Master Junior Tay explains this dangerous creature's concepts, tactics, strategic nuances, and theory using model examples and analytical positions.

The most testing reply to 1.c4 is the direct 1...e5 — Black grabs the centre and plays a "reversed Sicilian" with an extra tempo. This book, the first of Kiril Georgiev and Semko Semkov’s two-volume English repertoire for White, is devoted entirely to meeting it.

The authors focus on the modern, flexible approach: after 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 they recommend the restrained 4.e3 and 4.d3 set-ups rather than the older, heavily-analysed main lines. The idea is to reach sound, strategically rich middlegames where understanding matters more than memorised theory — and where White’s extra tempo gives genuine, low-risk chances to play for the advantage.

Coverage includes the critical 4.e3 Bb4 lines with 5.Qc2, the Suba Variation, Anand’s pet 2...Bb4, and the various King’s-Indian-style set-ups Black can adopt with ...d6 and ...g6. As usual for Chess Stars, each chapter combines a "Main Ideas" overview, a "Step by Step" theory section, and annotated games.

Aimed at club players and above who want a complete, modern way to handle 1...e5 against the English. Volume 2 completes the repertoire against everything else.

Throughout the book I have tried not only to look for variations where there is always life and winning chances for Black, but also to offer decent continuations, not just say that ‘Black has counterplay’, when he might clearly be worse, which is the case in some books. The work presented here is designed for every player willing to improve his or her general understanding of the Dutch Defense, especially of the Leningrad Variation, with both colors. It provides a full repertoire for Black not only against 1.d4, but also against 1.c4 and 1.Nf3. I believe that the material offered here can help players from club level to GM level, and I hope you will enjoy reading it as much I did writing it!

With the seemingly bulletproof Berlin Wall and Marshall Attack continuing to thwart White’s best efforts to find an advantage in the Ruy Lopez, many top players have incorporated the Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4) along with the related Bishop’s Opening (2.Bc4) into their repertoires. In this two-volume work, GM Martyn Kravtsiv shares his insights on this Italian Renaissance from White’s perspective. Before reaching the Italian, White must be ready to deal with the Petroff Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6). In the first part of this, the first volume, Kravtsiv advocates the well-regarded 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 variation, offering an array of weapons to cause problems for Black, including a large number of untested yet dangerous ideas. The next topic is the Bishop’s Opening, which can be used as an optional Anti-Petroff move order as well as a weapon in its own right. 2.Bc4 may or may not transpose to the main Italian lines, and it is useful to be able to play both move orders in order to choose the most effective sequence against each opponent. By combining this book with its companion volume, you too can be a part of The Italian Renaissance. Martyn Kravtsiv is a Ukrainian Grandmaster with a peak rating of 2685, with expert knowledge and experience of 1.e4.

IM Richard Palliser outlines a combative Trompowsky (1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5) repertoire for White. The lines analysed deal with all of Black’s common responses.

A perennial favourite of creative players, the ‘Tromp’ sets Black complex problems from the very beginning. It has been played by Anand in a World Championship match and used as a surprise weapon by Carlsen, Nakamura, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and many other top players. While offbeat, the Trompowsky is difficult to face.

One colourful variation outlined within is the audacious 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. h4!? – a favourite of ‘Mr Trompowsky’, the four-time British Champion, Julian Hodgson. Leading to unusual and rich middlegame play, this variation maintains its venom in 2024.

IM Richard Palliser is a highly experienced chess writer and opening expert, having worked closely with Gawain Jones and Simon Williams. He is also the editor of CHESS Magazine and the author of numerous books, including Starting Out: The Trompowsky Attack in 2009.

Building on the tremendous success of Openings for Amateurs in 2014, Pete Tamburro offers a new collection of practical tips to help club-level and young chessplayers to play the opening on their own terms. Centering the discussion around 67 selected model games, Openings for Amateurs – Next Steps covers troublesome variations commonly seen in amateur play, such as the Smith-Morra Gambit, Grand Prix Attack, Schliemann Defense, Anti-Grünfeld, Two Knights, London System, Stonewall Attack, and the Benko Gambit, among others. As befits an experienced chess teacher, the author gives special attention to promoting positional understanding of the Open Games, isolated queen’s pawn strategies, and plans revolving around the queenside pawn majority. In combination with the original volume, you will enjoy over 600 pages of common-sense explanations for average players and 122 model games, enabling you to cope with your booked-up opponents because you understand what the positions are about once you get out of the opening.

In blitz and rapid it is important to make the right decisions quickly and almost instinctively. That is why world-famous opening expert Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov and his son, International Master Vladimir Sveshnikov, have created a chess opening repertoire for club players that is forcing, both narrow and deep, and aggressive.

The Petroff Defence has traditionally been regarded as a reliable defensive mechanism to counter the aggressive 1.e4. It also has a reputation for being one of the most drawish of all openings and a choice that Black only makes when content to achieve a draw. However, in recent years, this has all changed. A new generation of players, spearheaded by the 2018 World Championship challenger, Fabiano Caruana (whose qualification route was built heavily around the Petroff), are re-interpreting this ancient defence. While recognising the impressive solidity of the Petroff they are honing it into a fine counter-attacking weapon. Opening Repertoire: The Petroff Defence 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 suggested lines for Black are based around the very latest games and analysis.

Playing the Trompowsky

The Trompowsky — 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 — is the great theory-dodger’s weapon. By pinning or harassing the knight on move two, White sidesteps the Nimzo-Indian, the Grünfeld, and the King’s Indian in one stroke, avoiding the deep, well-trodden main lines those defences demand and steering the game into fresh, creative, and genuinely complex positions instead.

Richard Pert — a Trompowsky specialist who has played it for years — turns that idea into a complete White repertoire. He works systematically through Black’s replies, from the solid 2...e6 and the combative 2...c5 to the immediate 2...Ne4 and the structural 2...d5, giving a clear recommendation and the typical plans in each case, and he also covers the related 2.Bg5 systems against the Dutch and against 1...d5.

The appeal is practical: the amount of theory you must learn is modest, the resulting middlegames reward understanding and imagination over memorisation, and you will routinely take better-prepared opponents out of their comfort zone early. Pert’s recommendations are ambitious without being unsound — he is happy to fight for an advantage rather than settle for a quiet game.

A sound, low-maintenance opening for club players and above who want an aggressive, off-beat answer to 1...Nf6 and would rather play chess than recite the latest 25-move main line.

Have you ever admired an amazing game of chess, simultaneously thinking “I could never play like that”? In Tiger’s Chaos Theory, you will find a different perspective, treating extraordinary play and creativity as a learnable skill. Thinking outside the box is a stock phrase of the commentators; champions expand their box.

GM Tiger Hillarp Persson is renowned as one of the most creative and original thinkers in chess – attributes he developed through targeted study. Tiger shares how to map patterns and navigate the outrageous, using games and ideas that helped him expand his creative approach.

Tiger’s Chaos Theory will take you on an inspirational journey, featuring concepts such as extreme Hecatomb sacrifices, Houdini-style pawn breakouts and even becoming another player at the board. With thought-provoking chess content, amusing anecdotes and candid reflections on the author’s games and career, this book is unmissable.

In the Scotch Gambit, White immediately strikes in the center and attacks the f7-pawn, provoking concessions from Black. An imbalance typically results, where White has attacking chances on the kingside. The Scotch Gambit will help you develop a finer feeling for the initiative and improve your combinational vision.

The Orangutan, 1.b4, is also known as the Sokolsky opening, respectively named by the endearing name given to the opening by grandmaster Savielly Tartakower in 1924 after a visit to the New York Central Park Zoo or the opening's primary researcher and practitioner, Alexei Sokolsky. The opening challenges normal conventions by launching an instant attack on Black's queenside right from the outset of the game and leads to an interesting game where both players are challenged to play creatively right from outset. This book by experienced chess author Carsten Hansen presents a repertoire for White to help navigate Black's many tricky alternatives and lead White to a position of playing for the win.

Danish grandmaster Lars Schandorff is known for clear explanations and practical, fighting recommendations, and this volume delivers both. It presents a complete white repertoire against Black's Queen's Gambit responses — the positions arising after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 — covering the Slav, the Semi-Slav, the Queen's Gambit Accepted, and various other systems.

Schandorff's approach throughout the GM Repertoire series has been to choose lines that create real problems for Black rather than opting for technical, drawish variations. This volume continues that philosophy: the repertoire here is designed to produce middlegames with genuine winning chances for White, even at the cost of some theoretical complexity.

At 320 pages this is a focused treatment of one branch of 1.d4 play. Volume 2 (The Indian Defences) completes the repertoire by handling the Nimzo-Indian, King's Indian, Grünfeld, and other systems Black can choose by delaying ...d5. The two books together give White a complete, tested approach to 1.d4 written by a grandmaster who plays these lines himself.

The Sicilian Defense (1.e4 c5) contains countless variations and sub-variations that have been discussed in detail at all levels of play for many years. Even "small" specialized systems have been covered in exhaustive detail in book after book. That is why this book is unique, The Carlsen Variation, which arises after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4, has never previously been covered in detail before. The variation was uncorked by World Champion Magnus Carlsen in 2018 and has since been played by several other top grandmasters such as Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and several others. Yet despite this attention, the theory of the variation is largely unexplored and this book aims to set this discrepancy straight. Main lines are established and carefully analyzed with hundreds of new ideas and improvements suggested along the way. For the reader, this book is an excellent resource to get the opponent out of their opponent's "book" into our book. Time to have some fun in the Sicilian - enjoy!

The history of the Queen's Gambit is connected with the very beginnings of modern chess, the opening being cited in the earliest published books on the science game, such as the Göttingen manuscript (1490) and the books of Ruy Lopez (1561) and Salvio (1604). The so-called Queen's Gambit Declined - or refused - is, together with the Slav, the main defense in the universe of Queenside openings, and shares with the aforementioned defense a well earned reputation for being a reliable and very solid scheme.

To make a book considering each and every possibility arising from the opening position of the Queen's Gambit Declined is a cyclopean task that would demand many volumes like the present one. Instead, my aim was to present a simpler repertoire, with no more than one or two variation options for each important position (in the latter case I generally present a more positional and a more aggressive line, although in many cases these boundaries are blurred).

The last section of the book is devoted to the other possible schemes starting from different white moves on their third or fourth move. Here the chapters on the Catalan order 3.g3, which is among the fashionable lines at the master level, and the move 4.e3 (preceded by a knight move to the third rank) are highlighted.

Each section presented here is composed of several chapters in which theory is developed with an emphasis on the most modern choices in practice. At the end of each chapter the author presented analyzed games that expose the most common ideas in middlegames. We hope that by the end of reading this material the reader will not only have incorporated some new ideas into his repertoire - and perhaps changed the idea that the Queen's Gambit Declined is a passive defense - but also have contributed to his general knowledge of chess.

The King's Indian Attack is a very popular system of development for White, which can be used against many defences. It's easy to learn and play, and is based on understanding ideas rather than move memorization. The King's Indian Attack usually involves a deliberate and sustained attack on the black king, which often proves to be highly effective and difficult to defend against. In this book Grandmaster Neil McDonald examines in depth the many variations of the King's Indian Attack. He outlines White's most promising options and Black's best defences, and provides answers to all the key questions.

The French Defence is coming back to fashion again! One of the leaders in the 2020 Candidates tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi, successfully staked on it. Lately World champion himself also embraced the French several times. A great expert of this opening is the last challenger for the world title Fabiano Caruana. The French became a real arena of the battle of the engines – neural network genius Leela was confidently repelling the attacks of its powerful rivals. The author’s view on the French allows Black to obtain fresh creative positions without having to compete with deep knowledge in well trodden paths. The theoretical material is based on the author’s tournament practice, and passed the test at a GM level during the writing of the book.

A completely reassessed study of the isolated queen's pawn structure. The book is based on modern examples, with a heavy accent on the practice of Magnus Carlsen. Two important chapters deal with:

– How to maintain the balance with an isolani when the opponent has successfully blockaded it and tamed the initial initiative;

– Examples on the theme “to create or not to create an isolani later into the game”.

When you are ready for a great fighting game in the Sicilian Defense, there are few things there are more annoying than facing the hatefully solid 2.c3 variation, the so-called Alapin Variation. 

This is not a shady gambit but it is a weapon that has been used by several grandmasters, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen. 

The gambit has the advantage of being unexplored and is still quite unknown. Therefore, this book constitutes the first work dedicated to this fun and tricky variation.

To get a good feel for the intricacies of the various lines, the authors took it upon themselves to play the opening in their online and training games where it proved remarkably effective.

In this work, you will find forty-four thoroughly analyzed main games with lots of explanations and additional analysis as well as a 'Quick Repertoire' that will allow you to play the opening in your games after a minimal amount of study time.

It is time to take your opponents out of their comfort zone and right into yours!

With all the many books and articles on the Sicilian Defense, there is surprisingly little about the Four Knights Variation. Its starting position is reached after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6. It may also be reached after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6. Some prefer 2...e6 to 2...Nc6 because it avoids 3.Bb5. The fundamentals of the Sicilian Four Knights are not hard to learn. Black reaches the middlegame quickly and safely, with lively piece play in the dynamic positions which arise. There is no easy ride for White here, and, in particular, if he gets over-ambitious, he can find himself on the receiving end of a powerful attack very quickly.

Ever since its inception in 2008, the Grandmaster Repertoire series has produced some of the world’s best opening books, but an elite repertoire with 1.e4 has always been missing – until now.

In this, the second volume of the Grandmaster Repertoire – 1.e4 series, Indian superstar Parimarjan Negi tackles the fearsome Sicilian Najdorf, presenting his own world-class repertoire with 6.Bg5. Building on a foundation of tried-and-tested main lines, the author unveils a wealth of new ideas against the Poisoned Pawn and other critical variations, making this an essential addition to the library of every ambitious player.

Parimarjan Negi is a former child prodigy who is the second-youngest player of all time to obtain the Grandmaster title. He was Asian Champion in 2012, and played on Board 1 for the Indian team which won bronze medals at the Tromsø 2014 Olympiad.

The Modernized Grunfeld Defense will be extremely helpful for any chess player looking for a reliable lifetime repertoire against White’s 1.d4. It will benefit current Grunfeld players as Yaro unveils his analysis and numerous novelties waiting to be played over the board.