A Startling Chess Opening Repertoire - New edition

Tired of being surprised in the opening? Horrified by studying many hours each week to keep on top of the latest developments in main-line openings? Then this is the book for you!

For here is a repertoire of opening lines based on 1 e4 that are slightly off the beaten track, but full of practical sting and cunning traps for unwary opponents. All are based on rapid, healthy development, central control and play against the enemy king. You go straight from the opening into a sharp, little-explored middlegame where you will be better prepared than your opponent.

This new edition brings the repertoire completely up to date. The basic choice of main lines is unchanged, but each move has been re-examined and new ideas from practice and analysis incorporated at every turn.

• Teeming with dangerous new ideas never published anywhere else before
• Makes use of the new generation of neural-network based engines inspired by AlphaZero
• Updated by an openings expert and editor with a wealth of experience creating repertoires
• Emphasis on lines that are hard to meet in practice with the clock ticking!
• Future-proofed: recommendations against rare and untried ideas for Black

Chris Baker is an international master from England with a vast wealth of experience of chess at club and weekend tournament level. The first edition of A Startling Chess Opening Repertoire established his reputation as a writer and proved extremely popular, reprinting several times. Award-winning author Graham Burgess is a FIDE Master and a former champion of the Danish region of Funen. In 1994 he set a world record for marathon blitz chess playing.

Excerpt