An Opening Repertoire for White (A Batsford chess book)

by Raymond D. Keene

Book Overview

This book provides "ammunition" for White chess players wishing to open with 1 d4 and 2 c4. A solid, agressive style is presented and well-known players' moves from famous tournaments are cited... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0713442387
• ISBN13: 9780713442380
• Release Date: October 1984
• Publisher: Batsford Ltd
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An excellent way to explore 1.d4

This is book gives very playable lines with 1.d4 without giving highly analyzed lines that are constantly revised. This is invaluable for me because I want a readily playable repertoire without going deep into every possible reply. I especially like the repertoire for the Nimzo-Indian and the King's Indian, which I have had difficulty playing against until I used this repertoire. My only criticism with the repertoire is that sometimes the lines are somewhat tame for my style--for example he chooses a Slav exchange variation. However, I supplement this repertoire with Steffen Pederson and Graham's QGD for the attacking player. Between these books, I have basically everything I need to play 1.d4.

A real killer repertoire...

If you are looking for a repertoire that is solid and agressive, this book is a very good choice.The lines with 1.d4 and 2.c4 are timeless, good and tested in GM play. To avoid memorization and the need to keep up with opening theory, the authors recommend lines that are relatively less used by GMs. Such lines are, nevertheless, very good (the line against the King's Indian with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 is relatively unknown (among amateurs) and can generate a powerful attack which is not easy to stop - namely the "h" pawn push. White can, in many instances, transpose to favorable lines of the Samich).What I like best about this book is that most of the lines are easy to learn, positionally sound and strong (white gets a firm grip of the center in almost every line) and fun to play (almost all of them lead to logical strategic plans for white to attack against black's king).If you are rated between 1300 and 1900, this book alone will provide you with all you need to learn from the white side of the board. If (when!) you reach 1900 +, you can expand and add variety to this repertoire, which is, in spite of the small size of the book, complete enough for any club player.

Decent one volume reference for club players rated 1400-1900

This is a repertoire book (I guess that's why the title, huh?) that picks one variation for white in response to each black defence.The repetoire is based around the Queen's pawn opening (1. d2-d4 followed normally by 2. c2-c4).The lines featured are typically fairly solid - the authors tend to avoid the highly complex, overly sharp lines that require a lot of memorization.I have personally had pretty decent results by following the recommendations contained in the book.The book has an explanation at the beginning of each chapter outlining the ideas behind the opening. This feature alone makes the book valuable, especially for lower rated players who will get nothing out of the typical opening monograph with no words and all symbols.The books limited size means that a higher rated player, such as 1900+ will definitely have to supplement the book with more specialized materials in order to be prepared for that exalted level of opponent.There seem to be few (if any) typos in the book and the selection of illustrative games are pretty good. The only reason I subtracted one star was for the lack of depth in certain chapters.