Catalogue text:
This collection of superb opening traps is essential reading for any chess player.
The only thing more humiliating than losing a game quickly is to lose a game quickly to a known opening trap. On the other hand, the easy point scored by the trapper is a great confidence booster, and allows the winner a good rest before the next game in a competition.
As the traps in this book show, no one should feel safe from an opponent armed to the teeth with cunning traps - in these pages we regularly see masters losing in a handful of moves.
Steve Giddins has collected these traps from a wide variety of sources, and has focused his attention on risk-free traps - those that can be laid ´incidentally´ by moves that are good and useful even if the opponent avoids the trap.
- All major openings covered
- Focuses on traps that club players are most likely to fall for
- Provides excellent training in tactics
- Shows opening principles in - frequently brutal - action
Steve Giddins is a FIDE Master from England who plays regularly in international events. As a fluent Russian speaker who has recently been based in Moscow, he has access to sources not normally available in the West. He contributes frequently to the British Chess Magazine.
Review(s):
Steve Giddins recently had the tournament of his life at the Lost Boys Open in Antwerpen. The year old Kent player beat two 2500+ players and reached his IM Norm with a round to spare. His lively mind is also very much in evidence in this most enjoyable collection of traps from a wide range of openings. The tricks included here are of the kind that you could well get the chance to spring in practical play. Some are seen time and again, even at international level where grandmasters have been known to get caught out! There are three diagrams for each trap so you may not always need to set up a board and men. Some chapter headings: You Mean he can Capture That Way?, An Accident Waiting to Happen, When is a Trap not a Trap?, Never Trust What You Read, The One Tree GMs Missed!, The One Hundred Percenter ... Nice one Steve. Let's have some more books from you!
Chess Monthly, September 1998