A Complete Opening Repertoire for Black after 1...e6

A Complete Opening Repertoire for Black after 1...e6 offers a full Black repertoire grounded in answering 1...e6 against any move!

The answer against 1. d4 is the Stonewall, while the answer against 1. e4 is the French.

The Stonewall Dutch is a defence that nowadays has a dodgy reputation, but this is ungrounded. It is true that Black willingly creates a bad bishop, but the author has both improved on modern theory and offers some odd-looking, interesting, and innovative new ways to play this once-renowned (and soon-to-be renowned!) defence. A defence that powerhouses such as Viktor Korchnoi used to play a lot is not being scrapped and thrown into the bin, despite what people nowadays believe, but rather shall be revitalised and spring to life anew. As this book binds the Stonewall Dutch with the French, the move order is 1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5. If White wants to transpose into the French with 2. e4 after having played 1. d4 and has learnt all of the theory to do so, then let them.

The French Defense needs no introduction. Oft derided and dehumanised, many have said that the French is refuted, that it is a forced loss, that engines would slaughter it; the author has heard it all. As the ethos of this book is flexibility, it presents several different answers within these two opening complexes. While the Stonewall Dutch is not known for flexibility—indeed the pawn structure is often locked and fixed before move ten—there are some new, outlandish-looking ideas that are seldom played that will serve you well and give you a long-term surprise factor. This type of surprise factor means that you will not have the 'one-game surprise' whereby your opponents catch on to your ideas and then you get defeated in all your following games. What is meant is that you can keep using these seldom-played ideas, and your opponents will start scrambling for weeks or months trying to find a killer answer, banging their heads against the wall, only to find out that none exists. Opening theory accepts these ideas as totally playable, and in many cases, at least as good as the 'traditional' main lines. New theory in these once seldom-played lines will grow and blossom into the main lines of the future. You will see this in the 1. d4 part of the book.

Coming up with answers to White's attempts to dodge the main lines after 1.c4 and 1.Nf3 was cumbersome to say the least, but something interesting has been found. This shall be left as a surprise. In modern chess, every opening book must be diligently checked with engines, but often the engine's top choice is not selected. This does not mean that Black does not equalise in these recommendations—he does—it is just that weirder, offbeat variations that hold have been chosen instead. All in all, this book gives you a full fighting repertoire against all of White's first moves. While the next World Championship contenders probably will not follow these recommendations, perhaps they should! Other than making this repertoire akin to street-fighting, it has been backed up with highly rigorous and painstaking computer analysis using cloud engines that make the repertoire bulletproof.