The fourth book of the series "Opening for White According to Anand 1.e4" is devoted to opening schemes, which arise after the moves 1.e4 d6, or 1.e4 g6. These positions are so diverse strategi­cally and so rich tactically that they deserve a separate volume.

It is worth mentioning that contrary to some other openings, like for example the Ruy Lopez, the Sicilian Defence, the Petroff Defence, or the Caro - Kann Defence, these openings are not so popular in the top-class tournaments. World's best players try those flank set-ups only very seldom. Gary Kasparov was very skeptical about his opponent's opening choice, while commenting his brilliant win against Veselin Topalov in Wijk aan Zee 1999. Still, we must acknowledge for fairness sake that White did not have any serious advantage as a result of the opening in that game. The chess-world however, is not confined only to Wijk aan Zee and Linares, and it is essential to understand that flank openings are quite popular among chess players at lower levels.

We have to emphasize how special the situation with the flank openings is, by noting that plenty of systems, which have been analysed in our book, have not been even named yet. These systems have proved their right of existence, beyond any doubt, de­spite the numerous attempts to refute them once and for all. They are not called "Irregular Openings" anymore; nevertheless there is no consent about how they should properly be named. What are the specific features of those systems?

Black avoids early clashes that are so typical for openings in which he fights for the centre right from the beginning of the game. He prefers to narrow his "sphere of influence" to only three ranks and thus presents White with a powerful centre and extra space. Black usually tries first to complete his development and he fianchettoes his dark squared bishop most of the times. He begins active operations in the centre and on the queenside only later. We cannot define such approach as classical at all. As early as during the times of the hyper-modernists, when opening systems for White like Nf3-g3-Bg2 became popular, it was considered that White can experiment freely in the opening due to the advantage of having the first move. Similar experiments for Black have always been re­garded as extremely dangerous and accordingly condemned. It was only during the second half of the 20th century that thanks to the efforts of some non-conformists, and you are going to find their names mentioned quite often in this book, the flank systems were proved to be respectably vital. Black's position is often similar to a coiled spring and his harmonious development enables him to at­tack often White's powerful centre successfully. So, are really open­ings like 1.e4 d6 or 1.e4 g6 as good as the Ruy Lopez, or the Sicilian Defence? Well, yes, but maybe not quite...

Preface

List of Content

007 Preface

Part 1.

1.e4 d6 2.d4

010 1 various without 2...Nf6

018 2 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 various

023 3 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7

035 4 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8 Kxd8 6.Bg5 without 6...Be6

045 5 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8 Kxd8 6.Bg5 Be6 7.0-0-0 Ke8;

7...Kc8; 7...Nbd7 8.f4 exf4 9.Nf3 without 9...h6

056 6 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8 Kxd8 6.Bg5 Be6 7.0-0-0 Nbd7 8.f4 exf4 9.Nf3 h6

Part 2.

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4

067 7 various without 4...Qa5

089 8 4...Qa5 5.Bd3 without 5...e5

096 9 4...Qa5 5.Bd3 e5 6.Nf3 exd4

102 10 4...Qa5 5.Bd3 e5 6.Nf3 Nbd7

108 11 4...Qa5 5.Bd3 e5 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 without 7...Nbd7

117 12 4...Qa5 5.Bd3 e5 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 Nbd7

Part 3. Pirc Defence

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4

134 13 various without 4...Bg7

139 14 4...Bg7 5.Nf3 without 5...c5 and 5...0-0

155 15 4...Bg7 5.Nf3 c5

168 16 4...Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 without 6...Bg4, 6...Nc6, and 6...Na6

199 17 4 ...Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Bg4

209 18 4 ...Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Nc6

234 19 4...Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Na6 7.0-0 Nb4; 7...c5 8.d5 without 8 ...Bg4 and 8...Rb8

248 20 4 ...Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Na6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 Bg4

259 21 4 ...Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Na6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 Rb8

Part 4. Modern Defence

1.e4 g6 2.d4

271 22 various; 2 ...Bg7 3.Nc3 without 3...c5 and 3...d6

290 23 2 ...Bg7 3.Nc3 c5

302 24 2 ...Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 various

313 25 2 ...Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nd7

321 26 2 ...Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nc6

348 27 2 ...Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 c6

372 28 2 ...Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 a6

394 Index of Variations