Bücher der Reihe Chess Press Opening Guides

The Closed Sicilian has always been a great favorite with chess club and tournament players. Here, Grand Master Daniel King explains the strategy and tactics of this dynamic opening variation, using model games for both sides to illustrate the important ideas. Armed with this book, readers will have everything they need to know to play the opening with either White or Black.

The Advance variation of the Caro-Kann (1 e4 c6 d4 d5 3 e5) is a highly aggressive method of countering one of Black's most solid defenses. White immediately seizes ground in the center and lays the basis of a middlegame attack. Over the past few years Alexei Shirov, Nigel Short, Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky have made major contribution to update the theory of this variation and their example has inspired thousands of club and tournament plyaers to adopt it into their own repertoires. In this book, International Master Byron Jacobs explains the strategy and tactics of this highly fashionable variation. Through the use of model games for both sides, the author provides a thorough grounding in the key ideas, so that readers can quickly and confidently start to use the Advance Caro-Kann in their own games.

A new title aimed at club and tournament chess players which explains how to apply the Slav Defence. Draws upon model games to highlight basic theoretical elements, practical strategies, and tactics used, as well as recent alternative variations.

The Semi-Slav Defense (1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 nf3 Nf6 Nc3 c6) has been one of Black's most reliable defenses to the queen's pawn since the 1920s, having withstood decades of scrutiny at the highest level. Nowadays it is very popular at grandmaster level (it is used regularly by such imaginative players as Shirov and Kramnik) as well as with club and tournament players. In this book, Grandmaster Matthew Sadler explains the strategy and tactics of this dynamic opening. Through the use of model games for both sides, the author provides a thorough grounding in the key ideas so readers can quickly and confidently start to use the Semi-Slav in their own games.