Misnomer Improve Your Opening Play by Chris Ward, 2000 Everyman Publishers, English Algebraic Notation, Paperback, 143pp., $14. Reviewed by Glenn Budzinski English GM Chris Ward's latest entry, Improve Your Opening Play, looks at the fundamentals necessary for the beginning player to start the game. According to the back cover, he "emphasises the need to understand the key elements of each opening rather than simply memorise a series of complicated variations which leave you stranded if the opponent varies from the expected route." In Chapter One, Ward writes that his "aim here is to provide the reader with an instructive introduction to a variety of ways to approach the start of a chess game." Let's see if he succeeded. The structure of the book consists of seven chapters. "Opening Fundamentals", which discusses a few of the basic opening principles, Is the first chapter followed by five chapters that review the initial moves of many of the popular opening systems. Thus, Chapter Two is titled "Symmetrical e-pawn Openings" and covers 1.e4 e5 openings; Chapter Three is "Other Defences to 1 e4" and includes Alekhine's, Caro-Kann, the Pirc, Center Counter, etc. Chapter Four is "Symmetrical d-pawn Openings" such as the Queen's Gambit, etc. "Other Defences" to the d-pawn (i.e., Modern Benoni, King's Indian, etc.) are covered in Chapter Five, while Chapter Six, "Other Openings", looks at the English and Reti Systems; Chapter Seven provides answers to twenty questions posed throughout the book. There is no index, no formal introduction and only an abbreviated Table of Contents. To ensure that my supposed knowledge about opening general principles coincided with reality, I consulted three books, each well-regarded for providing explanations of opening basics: C.J.S. Purdy's Guide to Good Chess, Edmar Mednis' Practical Opening Tips and the recent Tips for Young Players by Matthew Sadler. (The Chess Caf‚ has reviewed them all see the Archives section.) These experts agree on at least three immutable truths to be followed when playing the opening: (1) Develop your pieces; (2) Don't ignore the center; and (3) In most cases, capture pawns towards the center. In addition, I doubt that any of the three would voice much criticism, were one to put two other maxims into the mix: the importance of king safety and avoidance of moving the same piece twice. In any event, in Chapter One "Opening Fundamentals", Ward addresses the necessity of placing pawns in the center, rapid piece development, early castling, planning a pawn break and, in general, the development of knights ahead of bishops. Although I would've liked more emphasis on the significance of the center, I'll begrudgingly give Ward a passing grade for successfully covering the basics. Explanations and ideas are provided for some openings, but other openings are treated by little more than listings of moves. For instance, when presenting the "Open Sicilian", which Ward characterizes as 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3, he stops his narrative at this point and identifies about the next half- dozen moves in the Dragon and Najdorf variations, while briefly mentioning the move order for the Classical, Sveshnikov and Kan lines. No narrative or further explanations appear. Still other lines, such as the Tarrasch variation of the French (1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7) and the London System (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Bf4), are given such skimpy coverage as to make one wonder why the author bothered to include them at all. Does the identification of only three or four moves of an opening, even accompanied by a brief narrative, constitute meaningful coverage? Other than the name of a variation, what could anyone realistically be expected to learn from a few, unannotated moves of complex lines of the Sicilian? Even the openings that happen to be the recipients of meaningful explanations often contain unexpected mysteries. In the Veresov System, Ward offers 1 d4 d5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Bg5 Nbd7 4 f3 c5 5 e4 cxd4 6 Qxd4 e5 7 Qa4 d4 and comments "White's direct, but irregular opening play has backfired a little " (page 78). However, the reader should be aware that several respectable sources, including Nunn's Chess Openings (NCO), suggest that White proceed with 6 Bxf6 instead of 6 Qxd4, leading to positions with different outcomes than that given by Ward. NCO, for instance, evaluates the position after 6 Bxf6 Nxf6 as leading to equality. Unfortunately, beginners who lack the technical sophistication of the game are most susceptible to Ward's occasionally misleading views. One gets the impression that, for whatever reason, he doesn't like certain openings. The Center Counter Defense, for instance, is illustrated by a 20-move mate by White beginning with the variation 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5. Although Ward mentions that 2 Qxd5 "contravenes one of the most basic opening principles" and that "2 Nf6 probably deserves equal billing", he does not discuss the lines where Black can achieve easy equality (if not more) which usually begin with 2 Nf6, as shown convincingly by the analyses of authors such as John Emms and Selby Anderson. Given such one-sided treatment, it seems pretty unlikely that one can expect beginners who read this book to be playing the Center Counter any time soon. Another opening that seems to have fallen out of favor with Ward is Alekhine's Defense (called "Alekhine Defence"). After 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3, he comments that "Black will try to chisel away at the White centre, but as long as White keeps it intact he will retain an initiative". He concludes with the moves 4 Bg4 5 Be2 e6 6 0-0, opining that White has a "pleasant space advantage" (page 70). Again, the beginning player may be easily misled into believing that Alekhine's Defense is an unattractive opening for Black. Such may be the case if Black opts to proceed with Ward's suggestion of 4 Bg4, but there are other choices. For example, there is no mention of the alternative 4 dxe5 5 Nxe5 and now, either 5 g6 or 5 Nd7, which give Black reasonably good chances of reaching equality according to NCO, among others. Ward's treatment of the Dutch Defense is also an "eye opener". Interesting is his recommendation of the provocative 1 d4 f5 2 Bg5 instead of the more common 2 c4 Nf6 3 g3 g6 4 Bg2 Bg7. After 2 Bg5, he notes "This move is designed to throw a spanner in the works. White justifies developing a bishop before a knight by preventing the natural 2 Nf6. Well, actually that move is still possible, but after 3 Bxf6 exf6 4 e3, there is little doubt who has the easier game. The f5-pawn is a clear target" (page 109). While this may be a sufficient explanation for an audience of a more advanced skill level, beginners will probably require some additional elaboration about to how to proceed. Arguably, 2 Nf6 may also be the most popular response to 2 Bg5 that a beginner faces, since that knight move can be considered a "normal" developing move. (It even has been an occasional visitor to master-level competition. Although White has won the majority of contests after 2 Bg5 Nf6, Black has not been without resources.) Continuing with Ward's recommended line against the Dutch, he gives 2 Bg5 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 fxe4 5 Nxe4 d5, concluding "Black shifts the central knight, but now the outpost on e5 is a key square." Okay, so is how one to assess this relatively unusual position? Since there was no further guidance, I decided to seek some assistance from NCO. According to it, after 5 d5 6 Nc5 b6 7 Nb3 Qd6 8 Nf3 Nd7 9 Be2 Ngf6 10 Qc1 e5, Black has equalized by striking back in the center (which, by the way, would've been a good illustration of one of Ward's opening principles.) There is little more to be said about this book. In actuality, the author achieved his goal of providing "the reader with an instructive introduction to a variety of ways to approach the start of a chess game" and as a responsible reviewer, I must acknowledge that as fact. However, it is my opinion that there is more to writing an opening book for beginners than the mere mention of names of variations and a brief discussion of the standard fundamentals. Were it that simple, every novice throughout the world would be able to write a successful beginner's book on the openings. Of course, it isn't that simple and that's the problem with Improve Your Opening Play. There really is more to learning how to play the opening than memorizing a few moves (as Ward admits) and recognizing some fundamental concepts. The hard part is applying those (or other) concepts to each opening that one plays and then understanding how the opening play fits with the rest of the game. It is here where this book pales by comparison to works such as Purdy's Guide to Good Chess, Sadler's Tips for Young Players and Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry. If you only wish to learn the names of the openings, Improve Your Opening Play should get the job done and save you from temporarily buying one of the "two pound monsters", NCO or "Modern Chess Openings". But, if you're serious about improving your opening play, I would suggest, looking elsewhere.