Open files: original 1981-New and revised edition 2009
Over a quarter of a century ago, the first edition of this book (published in East Germany in 1981) was a huge best seller. Yet unfortunately it was never reprinted and it soon became a scarce collector's item. The reason: one of its co-authors, the chess trainer Gerhard Schmidt, left for the West. He thus became persona non grata in East Germany and the book was banned there. Despite the book's excellent qualities, which were acclaimed in chess circles, from then on its success could only be an underground one.

However, the subject of the book is timeless and transcends frontiers, and so at last we have a new edition, fully revised by the original authors them­selves to include modern games by world-class players such as Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Judit Polgar.

The book explains, clearly, systematically and comprehensively, the strate­gy and tactics associated with the open file: how files are opened, block­ed, occupied and exploited as roads along which to invade the enemy position. A brief introduction lays the theoretical foundations and is followed by carefully selected and organised material in the form of illustrative games, in all of which the open file is the dominant or deciding factor. In each game there is a pause at a key position where a clear verbal assess­ment is given; these assessments alone are of huge instructional value, since they do nothing less than teach the reader how strong chessplayers think: what to look for, how to assess, how to plan.

The book benefits not only from Gerhard Schmidt's experience as a trainer but also from the huge knowledge and skill gained by Grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann during his long and successful career in top-class chess, which at one point brought him close to the world title, and made him indis­putably one of Germany's greatest ever chessplayers.

Content:
006 Introduction

008 1 Aspects of the evaluation of open files

015 2 The creation of the open file

015 2.1 Methods of creating an open file

043 2.2 Preparing to occupy the open file

056 3 The struggle for control of the open file

056 3.1 The conquest of the open file

063 3.2 Square weaknesses on the open file

075 3.3 The struggle against the open file

084 4 The dominant open file

101 5 Exploiting the open file

101 5.1 Exploiting the open file in association with other positional advantages

119 5.2 Exchanging the advantage of the open file for other advantages

127 5.3 Tactics on the open file

143 6 The connection between the open file and the 7th and 8th ranks

143 6.1 The seventh rank

156 6.2 The eighth rank (back rank)

162 Appendix

162 Index of Players

164 Index of Openings