Tired of being surprised in the opening by your opponents? Horrified by the idea of studying many hours each week to keep up to date with main-line openings? Then this is the book for you!

For here is a repertoire of opening lines for White, based on starting with Bobby Fischer's favourite move 1.e4, that are slightly off the beaten track, but full of practical sting and cunning traps for unwary opponents. All are based on rapid, healthy development, central control and play against the enemy king. You go straight from the opening into a sharp, little-explored middlegame where you will be better prepared than your opponent.

Chris Baker is a strong English player who achieved his final norm for the International Master title in the British League in 1995/96. He is a full-time chess trainer and a regular tournament competitor. This is his first book for Cadogan.

List of Content

4 Symbols

5 Introduction

7 1 Max Lange Attack

27 2 Petroff Defence

44 3 Philidor Defence

57 4 Latvian Gambit

63 5 Sicilian Defence

130 6 French Defence

149 7 Caro-Kann Defence

176 8 Pirc Defence

186 9 Modern Defence

200 10 Alekhine Defence

207 11 Scandinavian Defence

218 12 Nimzowitsch Defence

228 13 Odds and Ends

239 Index of Variations