Mastering The Chess Openings: Vol. 2

John Watson

Sample pages (pdf)

In the second volume of this series, John Watson concentrates on the queen's pawn (d pawn) openings. As with volume one the emphasis is on explanation of the underlying ideas and strategies behind each opening system and the various plans available to each side. By using key games and verbal explanations Watson shows how the theory of each opening has developed with time and why certain lines are nowadays more popular than others.

The book is aimed at club and tournament players and offers enough information to enable a player to take up an opening, without being a comprehensive reference on d pawn openings. More coverage is given to popular openings that have stood the test of time but many sidelines are covered in the nine chapters:
1 Introduction to 1 d4 and the Closed Games
2 Queen's Gambit Declined
3 Slav and Semi-Slav
4 Introduction to the Indian Defences
5 Nimzo-Indian Defence
6 Queen's Indian Defence
7 King’s Indian Defence
8 Grünfeld Defence
9 Modern Benoni

International Master John Watson is one of the world's most respected writers on chess. In 1999, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy won the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award and the United States Chess Federation Fred Cramer Award for Best Book.

Published 2007, softback, 319 pages.