In this highly-acclaimed series, John Watson helps chess-players achieve a more holistic and insightful view of the openings. He explains not only the ideas and strategies behind specific openings, but also the interconnections of chess openings taken as a whole. By presenting the common threads that underlie opening play, Watson provides a permanent basis for playing openings of any type.

This final volume draws together many themes in a wide-ranging discussion of general opening topics. By looking at familiar situations from new angles, Watson helps us greatly increase our understanding of them. In the process, he covers a wide variety of opening structures and variations not seen in the earlier volumes and presents a great wealth of original analysis.

• Réti and Fianchetto Systems
• Reversed Openings
• Symmetry
• Irregular Openings
• Gambits: Primitive or Positional
• Universal Openings

In the final two chapters, Watson presents his views on the importance of opening study and explains how players should best prepare and choose their openings for the level at which they play. He looks at the future of chess openings and explains which skills will be most important as chess evolves in the forthcoming decades.

International Master John Watson is one of the world's most respected writers on chess. In 1999, his Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy won 'Chess Book of the Year' awards in the USA and the UK. He reviews chess books for The Week in Chess and hosts a weekly radio show on the Internet Chess Club. As a trainer, he has worked with many talented pupils, including Tal Shaked and Hikaru Nakamura.

Content:
006 Symbols

006 Dedication

006 Acknowledgements

007 Bibliography

010 Introduction

012 1 Réti: Open and Closed Variations

034 2 Réti: Slav Variations

056 3 Modern Kingside Fianchetto

094 4 Modern Queenside Fianchetto

133 5 Gambits

182 6 f-Pawns and Reversed Openings

229 7 Symmetry and Its Descendants

249 8 Irregular Openings and Initial Moves

289 9 Choosing and Preparing Openings

308 10 The Future of Openings

312 Index of Openings for Volume 4

314 Index of Players

316 Index of Openings for the Entire Series