The ideas & plans behind all chess openings

Volume 3 of an accessible primer and reference book about chess openings.

Provides a solid foundation to build your opening repertoire on. Explains what you should be trying to achieve, with clear indications for further study.

Beginning and improving players should get a copy of this book before they buy ANY other chess opening book.

Comprehensive: covers all main variations likely to arise

Easy-to-use: important moves and key positions are highlighted in colour

Long-lasting: it doesn’t outdate because it is about basics – not the latest fashions

Complete: explains the plans and counterplans for both Black and White

Down-to-earth: simple, verbal introductions (not a database dump full of dead trees)

Convenient: every opening is illustrated with a number of instructive games

Prize-winning: received the Golden Award of the Italian Chess Federation

This book helps beginners to develop a solid understanding of fundamental opening play, gives casual players the ability to choose the opening that suits their style and taste, and is a tool for club players to test and review their opening repertoire.

Schakers.Info:
"I don't think something like 'Chess Opening Essentials', in this size, yet exists. For players with a rating up to 1900 this book covers a large part of the road."

British Chess Magazine:
"It gives an outline of each opening and major variation in turn, explaining the ideas and most popular choices for the benefit of elementary players. The reviewer was impressed by the practical advice given in the notes in this well-produced volume."

FreeChess:
"The amount of information available on chess openings is so gigantic that one gets almost suffocated. All systems are clearly listed and presented, without losing itself in endless variations."

GM Paul Motwani, The Scotsman:
"Full of great ideas, clear explanations and instructive games."

Dr Erik Rausch, Rochade Europa Magazine:
"When you open this fat paperback for the first time, you will be surprised: colour! Compared with this, books from Everyman, Gambit or Olms look like black-and-white television (..) Not only is the main line explained and the reader made hungry for more, but he gets enough strategic knowledge and insider-tips to get, even if he plays the opening for the first time, into the middlegame safely."

Nederlands Dagblad:
"It is about the basics of the opening, about ensuing middlegame positions, and about the plans one should pursue. Ideal for the club player who wishes to improve."

Pekka Pakarinen, Suomen Shakki Magazine (Finland):
"A patzer like me, let alone someone with an Elo under 1700, should not buy a complex monography (..) before getting this instructive opening book."