Keep It Simple 1. d4: A Solid and Straightforward Chess Opening Repertoire for White

by Christof Sielecki

After the success of his award-winning book ‘Keep it Simple 1.e4’ International Master Christof Sielecki is back. His new repertoire based on 1.d4 has a similar profile: variations that are straightforward and easy to remember, and require little or no maintenance. Sielecki has created a reliable set of opening lines for chess players of almost all levels. The major objective is to dominate Black from the opening, by simple means. You don’t need to sacrifice anything or memorize long tactical lines. His main concept is for White to play 1.d4, 2.Nf3, 3.g3, 4.Bg2, 5.0-0 and in most cases 6.c4. Sielecki developed this repertoire while working with students who were looking for something that was easy to understand and easy to learn. This new 1.d4 repertoire may be even easier to master than his 1.e4 recommendations, because it is such a coherent system. Sielecki always clearly explains the plans and counterplans and keeps you focussed on what the position requires. Ambitious players rated 1500 or higher will get great value out of studying this extremely accessible book.

Genres: Chess

368 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2019

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually one to recommend Repertoire books as they either suggest systems which you learn by rote and do little for your game, or unsound lines which look clever but your opponent never co-operates! But this is different - its based on his excellent Chessable course and is well annotated and is very instructive.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and well-researched opening repertoire based on a delayed or pseudo Catalan. I would not, however, consider this a "simple" repertoire. Positions can be quite complex, and White's setups and move orders can vary quite a bit based on subtleties of the positions, making some lines hard to remember or implement (for me at least). The opening analysis is very good, and clearly viable at a high rating level. Mostly the analysis is very good, with a lot of variations and possibilities covered with text explanations. I have also felt the plans and continuations into the middlegame are pretty clear. I don't feel like the Catalan is the most challenging approach against everything Black can do, and the book freely admits this while finding lines that are at least safe and give some pressure or pull in the position somewhere. So I may end up incorporating these lines into a larger repertoire. But I definitely think there's some great analysis in here and I recommend it for intermediate players or above who want some more options when playing 1.d4