Taming Wild Chess Openings: How to Deal with the Good, the Bad and the Ugly over the Chess Board Paperback – August 15, 2015

I have several books by John Watson all of which are excellent.Unfortunately that's not the case with Eric Schiller. His early edition of 'Unorthodox Openings' I like however,and the combination of Watson; who always gives clear plans and objectives to reduce memorization, plus thorough analysis of important main lines,plus Schillers extraordinary knowledge of Unorthodox Openings, make this book excellent for club players, students, and masters if they are flexible and use discretion when employing these ideas.The reason I don't give 5 stars is because they left out 2.Na3 against the Sicilian with which Vadim Zviagintsev beat Khalifman (who burst out laughing then resigned 37 moves later) and Ponomariov. Also the Closed Sicilian with 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g4!? a specialty of GMs Kavalek and Vokac.There is an abundance of interesting ideas you can use at your next tournament.For example:A little known Defence against the Sicilian Morra Gambit:1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd4 3.c3 dc3 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nf3 Bc5!? is barely mentioned in the 2 latest books advocating the Morra.And against the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.e4 de4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 c6!? 5.Bc4 Qa5!? or 5...b5!? will probably take your opponent by surprise.Then there's the Korchnoi Attack against the Dutch: 1.d4 f5 2.h3!? and several near refutations to both the Cochrane Gambit of the Petroff and the Albin Counter Gambit.These are but a few of the many interesting ideas contained in this book, which also covers taking the sting out of popular openings like the Evans Gambit and Colle System.Quite a bit is devoted to 1.Nc3 including the interesting Morozevitch/Kasparov encounter.The reason why Spassky beat Fischer with a Kings Gambit in 1960 is because Fischer was expecting a Ruy Lopez. This book is therefore a must have for club players that are flexible in their opening choices.

Great reference book to understand what's good, bad and ugly.It mainly gives you the proper defenses against weird and offbeat openings, like The Bird,The Grob, The Orangutan(Polish), etc. I tried the Orangutan for a while, without much success, thengot this book. It gave the Orangutan a Monkey or Poison rating. You might have a little fun with it, butyou don't want to try this opening in serious games. lol Wish I'd bought this book sooner. It'll show you different lines that you wouldn't think of, thus a powerful guide. Also, I disagree withSOME of the ratings, like Monkey, Snake, Thumbs Down, etc. These are geared toward1800 players and up. Many are still reasonable and sound for 1500 and down players. E.G.The Englund. I'm about 1550 rated and have won many games with it; some very quick games.Often play it well against higher rated players. But the book give the Englund a Thumbs Down.That was just an example. 1800 to 2000 and above players would do well against the Englund.

Good for reference purposes. Not really very useful if you're looking for general principles for dealing with offbeat openings. It's basically a reference book, like MCO but not as conveniently formatted.

love the book. Did not like the format they chose for the variations.

Printed on good quality paper with plenty of clear diagrams this is the book for the active over the board chess player. The world of weird and wild openings is covered in surprising detail. Now I am not a fan of Eric Schiller's work but this collaboration with John Watson appears to have improved content. I also think this is a book that will stimulate "the little grey cells" and that you will enjoy revisiting it for years!

Un livre original. Bien conçu et parfois riche en variantes secondaires, cet ouvrage nous permet de sortir des sentiers battus avec des conseils judicieux. Attention, s'il peut être déroutant pour votre adversaire, il peut l'être également pour vous. Cerise sur le gâteau, Il est actuellement à un prix canon !

An excellent book.Anyone interested in chess should have a copy of this book on bookshelf.

nice