A Cunning Chess Opening Repertoire for White

A good opening repertoire need not require an enormous amount of study to be highly effective. A cunning choice of lines and move-orders can steer the game to positions that we like and deny the opponent his preferred strategies.

In this book, highly experienced chess opening writer Graham Burgess presents a repertoire based on 1 d4 and Nf3 with precisely those aims. Black s possibilities for counterplay - and sharp gambit play - are kept to a minimum. Our aim is to give Black exactly the type of position he doesn t want. If he is seeking blocked positions with pawn-chains, we ll keep the game fluid. If he wants complex strategy, we ll attack him with simple piece-play. Simplifications? No thanks, we ll keep the pieces on and intensify the battle. Gambits? Hardly, as we simply prevent most of them!

The main cornerstones of the repertoire are carefully chosen Queen s Gambit lines, the Torre Attack (vs ...e6), and a variety of fianchetto options against the King s Indian and related set-ups. White s position is kept highly flexible, with many possible transpositions to a wide variety of systems that the reader can use to extend and vary the repertoire. The book features a wealth of new ideas and original analysis.

FIDE Master Graham Burgess is Gambit s Editorial Director, and one of the founders of the company. He holds the world record for marathon blitz chess playing, and lives in Minnesota. This is his 23rd chess book.