Contents: 11 Introduction; 15 PART I: THE PRIMER; 18 1. Allowing the king to give up castling without a good reason; 19 2. Allowing early simplification; 21 3. Don’t lose time in the opening; 26 4. Don’t be an opening robot!; 28 5. Don’t help your opponent to do what he wants to do!; 29 6. Not all aggressive bishop moves are good; 31 7. Don’t panic against unusual moves; 34 8. Don’t create weaknesses that your opponent can exploit; 35 9. Don’t forget that play in the center is the essential point of all openings; 37 10. Be careful to avoid “plodding” development; 38 11. Playing an opening (especially a defense) without understanding why certain moves are played and when they are played, is not a good idea; 41 12. Know when it’s good to exchange a bishop for a knight and when it is not good. Oh – and vice versa!; 45 13. Don’t turn a won game into a draw – or worse!; 47 14. Always consider counterattacking in the center; 48 15. If your opponent gives you the center, it’s generally a good idea to accept the gift!; 50 16. Solid, passive defenses are the waiting rooms for defeat; 50 17. Even though you have an opening plan, be alert to good moves in changing circumstances; 51 18. Don’t forget, before every move, to look for all checks and captures; 53 19. Know when to play g4 or ... g5 against a bishop and know when not to play it; 63 20. Don’t make it easy for your opponent to make a freeing move; 65 21. Don’t incorrectly use computers; 66 22. Don’t be in a hurry to resign; 67 23. Don’t sleep in the streets!; 69 24. Be ever vigilant for Bxf7+; 69 25. Do not be so eager to play so “solidly” that you block in your bishops; 71 26. Don’t underestimate exchange variations; 72 27. Beware sudden pawn thrusts!; 73 28. Gambits are best met by countergambits. The best way to meet a gambit is to accept it. Huh?; 95 29. Do not play premature attacks; 99 30. Tempi! Tempi! Tempi!; 100 31. Don’t go crazy against hedgehog or hippo-type openings; 105 32. If you like attacking chess, don’t hesitate to use attacks based on h2-h4-h5 against fianchetto defenses; 116 33. Don’t go crazy when facing an offbeat opening, either; 123 34. When playing against the Colle System, do not think that simple, planless, developing moves will be sufficient; 128 35. When facing some of the “pre-planned” openings, don’t be afraid to have your own plan ready to go; 136 36. Speaking of preparation, don’t believe everything you read in opening books or articles (especially if you wrote them!); 141 37. Don’t just concentrate on openings!; 143 38. Pete, what should I play in the openings? What do you do? 145 39. Once I’ve picked my openings, how should I study them?; 145 40. What if I just want to have fun?; 148 PART II: OPENINGS FOR AMATEURS; 149 1. Sicilian (for White); 149 Hungarian Variation; 163 Rossolimo Attack; 167 Closed Sicilian; 172 c3 Sicilian; 177 2. French Defense; 177 Tarrasch Variation with ... Nf6; 180 Tarrasch Variation with ... c7-c5; 183 Guimard Variation; 188 3. Caro-Kann Defense; 188 Horowitz suggestion; 189 Keres suggestion; 190 Fantasy Variation; 197 4. Systems with ... g7-g6; 197 Pirc; 203 Modern; 204 Gurgenidze; 206 5. Alekhine’s Defense, Canal Variation; 211 6. Scandinavian/Center Counter; 211 3 ... Qa5 line; 213 3 ... Qd6 line; 215 2 ... Nf6 line; 220 7. Four Knights’ Game; 221 Classical Attack; 229 Rubinstein Variation; 231 8. Vienna Opening with g3; 231 Black plays ... d7-d5; 234 Black plays ... d7-d6; 238 9. Two Knights’ Defense; 239 Fritz Variation; 243 Classical Variation; 246 d4 Attack; 249 10. Scotch Opening; 254 11. If You Don’t Want to Play 1 ... e5 to Meet 1.e4: The Sicilian Dragon; 268 12. The English Opening According to Botvinnik; 283 13. Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian; 297 14. Dutch Defense; 309 15. A Plea for the Ruy López; 331 16. Final.
