From the first moment (about a year ago) when Mr. Daniel Vanheirzeele from Thinkers Publishing contacted me about the possibility of writing an opening book, I was really excited about the prospect. Writing a chess book was a completely new direction for me, and anything new excites me and gives me a high. Then after some discussion we narrowed the topic down to 1.e4 (‘Best by test’) and I found myself with a contract to cover two major variations within the Sicilian: the sharp Najdorf and the trendy Taimanov. I actually already had a decent reputation as a dangerous theoretician on the white side of 1.e4, and in particular against these two openings. I had shown some interesting ideas in my games over the years which were the result of my real passion for opening knowledge, a trait which has stayed with me throughout my chess career.
Grandmaster Repertoire 11 – Beating 1.d4 Sidelines provides a sound and active repertoire against virtually every non-standard opening line at White’s disposal after both 1.d4 d5 and 1.d4 Nf6.
This ebook is a part of Bundle: Avrukh Grandmaster Repertoire
Do you struggle to score against the Hedgehog and find it difficult to break the Black fortress? This opening manual, which could double as a positional middlegame manual, will show you how White can use a space advantage in this chess opening with maximum results.
The Hedgehog System, a personal favourite of many club players, is important to understand for all White players as the positions are near-universal. They can arise from the English Opening, the Nimzo-Indian and Queen’s Indian Defences and the Sicilian Opening. The Hedgehog is a flexible defence as Black can undermine your centre with …b6-b5 or …d6-d5. Black can attack your kingside dark squares with a queen-and-bishop battery or go after your king by launching the g-pawn.
That’s why Beating The Hedgehog System focuses on the most airtight variations, taking the sting out of Black’s counterplay and making White’s space advantage count. You will learn the general strategies but also essential features such as:
– how to get the ideal queenside formation versus the Hedgehog
– how to use x-rays and little tactics to stop Black’s …d6-d5 break
– how to provoke Black’s e-pawn to move to e5
– when to push your a-pawn to the fourth rank… and when to hold it back
Included are fifteen model games and thirty strategy and tactics exercises to fine-tune your feel for this Opening. This book has been adapted from the MoveTrainer® and video Chessable course with the same name.
Hanna Ivan-Gal is a top-100 player in Hungary, Woman FIDE Master and an experienced coach. She is also the presenter of the Hedgehog video course on Chessable.
Laszlo Hazai from Hungary is an International Master, a lifetime FIDE Senior Trainer, a former coach of the Polgar sisters, and a distinguished opening theoretician who wrote dozens of Opening Surveys for New In Chess Yearbook.
A comprehensive guide through the Najdorf Sicilian jungle that enables you to find your way to security and initiative with the black pieces.
The so called “rare lines” have become extremely popular in recent times, so we offer you a single volume “solution” to all the nuances and complications that may arise in these less common lines.
Over the years some of the variations covered in this book got a strong following among the professionals and amateurs alike (6.h3 in particular), while some remained less explored and essayed only by the very elite (6.a3, or 6.Qd3).
IM Szuhanek presents you his deep and diligent analysis of all the possible (and reasonable) White tries with focus on more common lines. Throughout the book you will find many improvements for both sides, but with author’s clear preference for the black side.
Now you got a highly practical weapon to tackle all the White’s pesky Najdorf options!
GM Dreev analyses many different ways for White to fight for the opening advantage in two modern schemes, in the Slav Defence and in the Queen’s Gambit Deferred.
Bird's Opening, 1.f4, is an ideal choice for freethinking chess players who prefer to rely on their general chess knowledge and intuition rather than having to memorize and keep up to date with mainline opening theory. Bird's Opening is essentially the Dutch Defence with an extra move, and White can choose between a number of different set-ups, including the reversed Leningrad, Classical and Stonewall variations, depending on mood and opponents' responses. In this book, International Master Cyrus Lakdawala examines all the important variations of Bird's Opening, including the sharp From's Gambit. Using illustrative games, he explains the main positional and tactical ideas for both sides, provides answers to all the key questions and tells you everything you need to know about successfully playing 1.f4.