Taming Wild Chess Openings: How to Deal with the Good, the Bad and the Ugly over the Chess Board

by John L. Watson, Eric Schiller

No matter how unconventional, irrational or even crazy an opening is, sooner or later every chess player will have to face it. When that happens, you can count on a well-prepared opponent who is more than happy to roll out his pet line.
John Watson and Eric Schiller provide club-players with solutions to a huge selection of these rarely-played or tricky chess openings. They concentrate upon ideas and strategy, with enough analysis to satisfy the needs of practical play.
Only when a sharp reply is required, Watson end Schiller will recommend a more complex variation filled with tactics. In the vast majority of cases they present a simple and safe way to approach the position, requiring little memorization and still leading to a promising game.
There is a lot of fun material in this book, and you may be surprised to see how even strong grandmasters have indulged in the craziest variations. Chess isn’t all main lines and 20 moves of theory!

Genres: Chess

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Leonard Watson is an International chess Master and author.

Reviews

[Ben de Groot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting overview of various "wilder" openings. It doesn't go very deep, but that is not the point of this book. It does provide a clear idea of the main theme(s) of the various openings it discusses.

In chess, I like going off-book and explore uncommon paths. I have tried and enjoyed playing some of the "ugly" openings in this book, such as the Smith-Morra Gambit, the Sicilian O'Kelly variation, and the Pterodactyl.