This book aims to provide a no-nonsense, straightforward introduction to key strategic ideas and developments in the English Opening. It is aimed primarily at the club and tournament player and is repertoire based. In writing this book, I hope that my readers will not just be entertained by the many great games it contains, but that they will also be inspired to play the English.
The Repertoire
Apart from the variation 1 c4 e5, which should be regarded as a 'reversed' form of the Sicilian Defence, very broadly there are two main ways to play the English. Either White plays his central pawns, particularly his d-pawn, with restraint in the centre, usually combining this approach with a kingside fianchetto and slow manoeuvring, or he combines 1 c4 with 2 Nf3 and plays for a space-gaining break in the centre with an early d4 (with or without a kingside fianchetto).
This book covers both 'reversed' Sicilians and lines which combine 1 c4 and 2 Nf3 with d4 in mind. This is my preferred way of playing the English. Thus this book does not include many lines based on c4, g3 and d3 systems, except in the reversed Sicilian lines, where this is a necessary and major exception. The book's main exclusion is those slow symmetrical English lines, where both sides fianchetto on the kingside and play c4/...c5 and d3/...d6. You don't have to play them.
Our approach is a full-blooded way to play the English. It perhaps suits players, like me, who have migrated to the flank openings from 1 e4. We like that early d4 idea. It reminds us of our aggressive roots in open 1 e4 play. Apart from that, playing the English this way offers a flexible bonus. We can enter all the lines in this book by playing 1 Nf3, except for the 1...e5 systems. If not in the mood to play the reversed Sicilian lines, opening with 1 Nf3, of course, rules out these lines altogether.
Content:
004 Bibliography and Acknowledgements
007 Introduction
Black Plays 1. ..e5
010 The Four Knights: 4.g3 Bb4
044 The Four Knights: 4.g3 without 4. .. Bb4
081 Black's Alternative Set-ups after 1. ..e5
1. ..c5 and Other Defences
112 Symmetrical Four Knights, 3. ..d5 and Keres-Parma
149 The Hedgehog
169 English-Indians
The Repertoire
Apart from the variation 1 c4 e5, which should be regarded as a 'reversed' form of the Sicilian Defence, very broadly there are two main ways to play the English. Either White plays his central pawns, particularly his d-pawn, with restraint in the centre, usually combining this approach with a kingside fianchetto and slow manoeuvring, or he combines 1 c4 with 2 Nf3 and plays for a space-gaining break in the centre with an early d4 (with or without a kingside fianchetto).
This book covers both 'reversed' Sicilians and lines which combine 1 c4 and 2 Nf3 with d4 in mind. This is my preferred way of playing the English. Thus this book does not include many lines based on c4, g3 and d3 systems, except in the reversed Sicilian lines, where this is a necessary and major exception. The book's main exclusion is those slow symmetrical English lines, where both sides fianchetto on the kingside and play c4/...c5 and d3/...d6. You don't have to play them.
Our approach is a full-blooded way to play the English. It perhaps suits players, like me, who have migrated to the flank openings from 1 e4. We like that early d4 idea. It reminds us of our aggressive roots in open 1 e4 play. Apart from that, playing the English this way offers a flexible bonus. We can enter all the lines in this book by playing 1 Nf3, except for the 1...e5 systems. If not in the mood to play the reversed Sicilian lines, opening with 1 Nf3, of course, rules out these lines altogether.
Content:
004 Bibliography and Acknowledgements
007 Introduction
Black Plays 1. ..e5
010 The Four Knights: 4.g3 Bb4
044 The Four Knights: 4.g3 without 4. .. Bb4
081 Black's Alternative Set-ups after 1. ..e5
1. ..c5 and Other Defences
112 Symmetrical Four Knights, 3. ..d5 and Keres-Parma
149 The Hedgehog
169 English-Indians