A Cunning Chess Opening for Black

An original and shrewd opening for Black against 1.e4 

Taking your opponent out of his comfort zone is a good idea to start your game with.

Grandmaster Sergey Kasparov pushes this concept one step further: lure your opponent onto the slippery paths of the Philidor Swamp!

After 1…d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5, White is confronted with a stark choice: either to continue on the road of a calm Philidor Defence, or to immediately gain almost two tempi by forcing Black into an endgame that looks better for White, if not close to winning.

This second option, however, is a treacherous road strewn with pitfalls, as Kasparov demonstrates in his fresh, humorous and persuasive style.

White will walk into the Philidor Swamp in which he runs a big risk of getting stuck.

Sergey Kasparov does not bother the amateur reader with variations of 15 or 20 moves deep, but concentrates on the plans and counterplans for both Black and White.

Kaspariov provides dozens of entertaining and instructive exercises to test your understanding.

International Grandmaster Sergey Kasparov (1968) was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and now lives in Belarus.

GM David Smerdon, Chess.com:
"The book is engaging, humorous, mercurial and ‘unputdownable', an imaginary adjective I reserve only for those books that bait me into a full read in one sitting (..) Notes about general principles, tips for practical chess and interesting positional and endgame analyses abound. There are 156(!) illustrated games in the book, and I don’t think there was a single one in which I didn’t read at least one comment I found useful and instructional."

CHESS Magazine:
"Right from the off Black offers a queenless middlegame, but it is easy to outplay an inexperienced white opponent (..) The Lesser Kasparov (still a decent grandmaster in his own right) is concentrating on the typical plans and manoeuvres rather than becoming overly bogged down in theory (..) How many players with the white pieces will have prepared thoroughly for these lines? Not many, that's for sure."

IM John Donaldson:
"One-stop shopping for those looking for an answer to 1.e4. Everything the reader needs to meet 1.e4 will be found in this volume (..) This book has much more explanatory prose than the typical opening treatise."


Uwe Bekemann, German Correspondence Chess Federation:
"Offers a broad as well as a deep fundament for this unusual variation."

GM Glenn Flear, author of 'Starting out: The Open Games':
"As usual, Sergey Kasparov prefers gentle explanations to a labyrinth of variations (..) Kasparov’s easy-reading style will appeal to those seeking a solid grounding."

Max Euwe Centre, Amsterdam:
"Kasparov analyses in a lively style that appeals directly to the reader."

B.Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad:
"An excellent opening book (..) Kasparov has a fresh style, and not only presents variations and deviations, but above all the plans and counterplans."

Former British Champion GM Matthew Sadler, on 'Steamrolling the Sicilian':
"I enjoyed it greatly. The author lightens up the text with non-chess digressions and little flashes of humour (..) I felt the author had done a particularly good job in bringing across the little move order tricks you need to navigate in the early stages of the opening."

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