Renowned German chess trainers Erik Zude and Jörg Hickl have created an ideal club player’s repertoire for Black. This compact manual presents a set of lines that is conveniently limited in scope, yet varied, solid and complete. The core repertoire is based on lines that the authors have successfully played at (grand)master level for decades: the Antoshin variation of the Philidor Defence against 1.e4 and the Old-Indian Defence against 1.d4. There is only a limited number of plans, ideas and structures that you need to learn, and very few forcing variations.
The Sveshnikovs clearly explain the ideas and plans for both sides and provide exercises and test positions. After reading and studying this book, White players, from amateurs to Grandmasters, will make their opponents’ lives even more difficult.
The Complete Manual of Positional Chess, volume 2
This is the second half of the training course Konstantin Sakaev and Konstantin Landa built for the DYSS, Russia’s elite sports school for young chess talents. Where Volume 1 laid the foundations, Volume 2 goes wide and deep — a genuinely comprehensive reference covering the two engines of practical play: pawns and dynamics.
The first part takes Nimzowitsch’s dictum that "pawns are the soul of chess" literally, working through every important structure in turn: passed and protected passed pawns, blockades, pawn chains and how to break them, backward, doubled, isolated, connected and hanging pawns, the minority attack, pawn breaks, and the destruction of the enemy centre.
The second part turns to dynamics and tactics — open and discovered attacks, the standard combinational motifs (pin, fork, double attack, deflection, overload, interference), the classic sacrifices on h7 and f7, attacks on the castled and uncastled king, opposite-side castling races, and the art of eliminating defenders and bringing every piece into the attack.
Each topic is explained as a transferable tool rather than a list of examples, in the structured DYSS style. This is an advanced reference for players aiming at master strength who want one coherent treatment of the whole middlegame. Best used alongside Volume 1.
My First Repertoire for Black
The companion to Vincent Moret’s popular White repertoire, this book does the same job for the other side of the board: a complete, ready-to-play set of Black openings for the player who wants something sound and understandable rather than a thicket of theory to memorise.
Against 1.e4 the recommendation is the Scandinavian — specifically the lively Portuguese Variation, with its early ...Bg4 and gambit ideas — chosen because it leads to clear, comfortable development and the same kinds of positions game after game. Against 1.d4 Moret gives the Stonewall, a solid "unbreachable fortress" set-up, and the book rounds out the repertoire with sensible answers to the English, the Réti, and the various irregular first moves.
The guiding principles are the same throughout the series: lines that don’t date quickly, don’t demand heavy memorisation, and are easy for an improving player to absorb. Every chapter is reinforced with exercises so you learn the typical plans and tactics, not just the move order.
Ideal for juniors and adult improvers assembling their first real Black repertoire — and a natural pairing with My First Repertoire for White.
This book presents a Black repertoire against the opening hit of the year – the London System, which arises after 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4. The author also covers various move orders with 2.Nf3 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5. Kiril Georgiev analyses several different set-ups for Black, so the book would be of help to White players, too
When Axel Smith was chasing his final GM norm, he decided he needed a change in his White opening repertoire. Instead of his usual approach of memorizing many concrete moves to try to force an advantage, he would focus on pawn structures and typical plans. The result was a repertoire based on a set-up with the moves d4, Nf3, c4 and e3. It helped Axel Smith to the GM title, and led to the creation of e3 Poison.
Practical Black Repertoire with d5, c6 Volume 1
This book is built on a clever, economical idea: combine the Slav and the Caro-Kann into a single ...d5/...c6 system, so that the same structures and plans serve you against almost everything White can open with. Learn one set of ideas and you are equipped against 1.d4, 1.c4, and 1.Nf3 alike.
The practical payoff is real. After 1.c4 Black can simply play 1...c6 without fearing 2.e4, and many of White’s most annoying tries — including London System lines — transpose into harmless, familiar Caro-Kann or Slav positions where Black already knows the plan. That overlap dramatically cuts the amount of theory you must carry.
Volume 1 covers the Slav complex in detail: the Exchange and main-line Slav, the various ...Bg4 and ...Bf5 set-ups, the Qb3 and g3 systems, and the sharp lines after 5.Bg5, all in the Chess Stars format of clear theory plus complete annotated games.
A solid, unified repertoire for club players and above who want a dependable, low-maintenance answer to the whole family of queen’s-pawn and flank openings, rather than memorising a separate defence for each.
A new collection of puzzles carefully selected by two experienced trainers.
A Practical Black Repertoire with Nf6, g6, d6 Volume 1
The great appeal of a universal system is economy: learn one harmonious set-up and play it against almost anything. Alexei Kornev builds exactly that for Black here — a repertoire founded on the flexible ...Nf6, ...g6, ...d6 structure (the King’s-Indian/Pirc/Modern family), where the same fianchettoed bishop on g7 and the same core plans recur whatever White does.
This first volume handles everything except the main King’s Indian battleground. Against 1.e4 it gives the Pirc Defence; against everything where White declines the big centre it supplies clear, unified answers — the English and Réti, the offbeat 1.f4, 1.b3 and 1.b4, and the whole Queen’s-Pawn family (the Trompowsky, London, Torre, and fianchetto systems). Because all of these are met with the same ...g6 scheme, the amount you must learn stays remarkably small.
In the Chess Stars house style, each chapter pairs a "Main Ideas" overview of the typical plans and structures with a detailed "Step by Step" theoretical section, so you can study to whatever depth suits you.
Volume 2 completes the system, covering the main King’s Indian Defence after 1.d4 and c4. Together they give Black one coherent, low-maintenance answer to the entire opening landscape — ideal for club players and above who would rather master one set-up deeply than juggle a different defence for every White move.
FIDE Master and coach Tigran Gyozalyan fills a gap in the chess literature with the first systematic exploration of the king’s role and capabilities in the opening and the middlegame
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