Flank Openings: A Study of Reti's Opening, the Catalan, English and King's Indian Attack Complex: Fourth Edition

by Raymond D. Keene

Traditional chess openings emphasize control of the center. Flank Openings are opening systems first developed by such players as Reti and Nimzowitsch in which the player of the white pieces concedes control of the center to Black, but then seeks to undermine the center and cause it to collapse with attacks from the sides. Grandmaster Raymond Keene explains the concepts and ideas behind these chess opening systems.

Genres: Chess

190 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1979

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book at age 14, shortly after I decided to get serious about chess, and it was far too advanced for me. I did at least get that Benkö had managed to crush Fischer using the move 1. g3, so presumably that was worth looking at. I started playing 1. g3 myself, and achieved some quite good results until I switched to the more mainstream 1. Nf3.

During my 1. g3 period, I remember looking at a game of Larsen's from this book, which started 1. g3 g6 2. Bg2 Bg7 3. Nc3!? I knew so little about chess that it never even occurred to me that the main point of the sequence was to get Black disoriented by creating a non-standard position. I thought it was a serious opening, and spent some time wondering what I was supposed to do if Black answered 3... Nc6. I still don't know.

On reflection, this is quite a common occurrence when reading all kinds of things. You think carefully about what the author was trying to achieve, and later understand that he just wanted to confuse you.