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The Canal & Prins Gambits: Two Surprising Weapons against the Queen’s Gambit
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 20, 2026
About the author
Carsten Hansen
173 books37 followersCarsten Hansen, a Danish FIDE Master at Chess, was born in 1971, a year where the winter came very early and heavy to the region of Denmark where his parents had settled. After his father had shoveled snow for five hours he realized that not even the main roads were being cleared anymore. The national guard came to pick up his pregnant wife and eight hours later Carsten was brought into the world.
At age 14, Carsten became the youngest master player in chess in Denmark at the time. he was, however, soon surpassed by a player that came to play an important role in his writing career several years later, Peter Heine Nielsen.
After a trip to the Soviet Union/Russia (the switch happened during the visit) at the end of 1991, Carsten put his full-time chess-playing days behind him to pursue a career in the shipping industry (where he is still employed).
In late 1995, Carsten was contacted by Peter Heine Nielsen to co-author a chess book on the "Sicilian Accelerated Dragon". Peter had been offered a contract but felt that he wouldn't be able to write the book on his own and since Carsten had played the opening his entire life, it was a natural fit. The book was released in 1998 to high acclaim and near universal positive reviews.
Carsten being eager to write more, contacted another publisher, the recently started Gambit Publications, to write more chess books, whereas Peter pursued his own chess career, reaching a rating peak of above 2700 (the highest for a Danish player) and later became the coach for World Champion Anand from India and is currently coaching the reigning World Champion, Magnus Carlsen.
Carsten then wrote: "The Gambit Guide to the English Opening: 1...e5", "Symmetrical English", "Nimzo-Indian: 4 e3", and "Improve Your Positional Chess", his best-reviewed work to date, it has subsequently been translated into Spanish "Mejore Su Ajedrez Posicional". Recently, the English version book has been released in e-format.
After that, Carsten and Gambit parted ways.
From 1999 to 2013, Carsten was a columnist for the very popular website, ChessCafe.com, run by Hanon Russell. For Russell Enterprises, Carsten co-authored a book with American International Master John Donaldson, "A Strategic Opening Repertoire" and then wrote "Back to Basics: Openings". Another book in the "Back to Basics..." series, on endings is in production. Carsten and Russell Enterprises has released two new titles in the "Winning Quickly at Chess Series", "Miniatures in the Sicilian Najdorf" and "Miniatures in the Queen's Indian: 4 g3", with several more to come in 2016 and 2017.
In October 2016, Carsten's most recent work "The Sicilian Dragon - move by move" was published by Everyman Chess. Two further titles in that series are in production and are due to be released in 2017.
Carsten Hansen lives and works just outside New York City, and still enjoys playing and writing about chess. Aside from his books, Carsten has been a contributor to Skakbladet, Chess Life, New In Chess Yearbook and most recently become a columnist for the new chess quarterly: American Chess Magazine.
At age 14, Carsten became the youngest master player in chess in Denmark at the time. he was, however, soon surpassed by a player that came to play an important role in his writing career several years later, Peter Heine Nielsen.
After a trip to the Soviet Union/Russia (the switch happened during the visit) at the end of 1991, Carsten put his full-time chess-playing days behind him to pursue a career in the shipping industry (where he is still employed).
In late 1995, Carsten was contacted by Peter Heine Nielsen to co-author a chess book on the "Sicilian Accelerated Dragon". Peter had been offered a contract but felt that he wouldn't be able to write the book on his own and since Carsten had played the opening his entire life, it was a natural fit. The book was released in 1998 to high acclaim and near universal positive reviews.
Carsten being eager to write more, contacted another publisher, the recently started Gambit Publications, to write more chess books, whereas Peter pursued his own chess career, reaching a rating peak of above 2700 (the highest for a Danish player) and later became the coach for World Champion Anand from India and is currently coaching the reigning World Champion, Magnus Carlsen.
Carsten then wrote: "The Gambit Guide to the English Opening: 1...e5", "Symmetrical English", "Nimzo-Indian: 4 e3", and "Improve Your Positional Chess", his best-reviewed work to date, it has subsequently been translated into Spanish "Mejore Su Ajedrez Posicional". Recently, the English version book has been released in e-format.
After that, Carsten and Gambit parted ways.
From 1999 to 2013, Carsten was a columnist for the very popular website, ChessCafe.com, run by Hanon Russell. For Russell Enterprises, Carsten co-authored a book with American International Master John Donaldson, "A Strategic Opening Repertoire" and then wrote "Back to Basics: Openings". Another book in the "Back to Basics..." series, on endings is in production. Carsten and Russell Enterprises has released two new titles in the "Winning Quickly at Chess Series", "Miniatures in the Sicilian Najdorf" and "Miniatures in the Queen's Indian: 4 g3", with several more to come in 2016 and 2017.
In October 2016, Carsten's most recent work "The Sicilian Dragon - move by move" was published by Everyman Chess. Two further titles in that series are in production and are due to be released in 2017.
Carsten Hansen lives and works just outside New York City, and still enjoys playing and writing about chess. Aside from his books, Carsten has been a contributor to Skakbladet, Chess Life, New In Chess Yearbook and most recently become a columnist for the new chess quarterly: American Chess Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
August 30, 2026
Carsten Hansen presents two weapons against the Queen’s Gambit, namely the Canal and Prins Gambits. White is of course under no obligation to accept, but it makes for a fun and exciting game if he or she does. Both gambits are dubious, and there are lines in this book that can be refuted with proper play, so these gambits should only be tried OTB or in live chess. The less time on the clock the better.
There are eighteen chapters in this 304 page book, and each chapter usually contains one main game that we follow for some time, plus loads of variations, like page after page after page. I find it challenging to follow these variations and would have preferred to have them presented as annotated games. Nonetheless, the amount of study can be overcome by ignoring the really bad variations and focusing on the reasonably sound lines.
I’m going to test these gambits OTB at some point, after working on the repertoire a bit, just for the fun of it. Oh, by the way, this book is excellent for the white players too, so they can avoid opening a can of worms.
There are eighteen chapters in this 304 page book, and each chapter usually contains one main game that we follow for some time, plus loads of variations, like page after page after page. I find it challenging to follow these variations and would have preferred to have them presented as annotated games. Nonetheless, the amount of study can be overcome by ignoring the really bad variations and focusing on the reasonably sound lines.
I’m going to test these gambits OTB at some point, after working on the repertoire a bit, just for the fun of it. Oh, by the way, this book is excellent for the white players too, so they can avoid opening a can of worms.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review