Product Description

Acclaimed author and chess grandmaster Mihail Marin presents an opening repertoire for Black against the Open Games. This means providing an answer to 1.e4, but not considering the main lines of the Spanish Opening. This includes openings such as the Scotch, the Vienna, the Spanish Exchange Variation, and even the notorious King’s Gambit. Marin uses his renowned writing skills to explain the ideas behind each move, so Beating the Open Games escapes the standard opening book trap of being a boring list of analysis. Marin has based the book mainly on his own repertoire and reveals many original moves and ideas. After studying this book the reader will not only have an excellent repertoire but also a deeper understanding of chess.

I can’t recall having seen a better book in the last two decades. -- Jeremy Silman, BCF Book of the Year winner Jeremy Silman

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #515686 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 332 pages

About the Author
Mihail Marin is a strong Grandmaster and the author of three previous books on chess, including Learn from the Legends, nominated for the British Chess Federation Book of the Year award and the biggest American award, the ChessCafe.com Book of the Year 2005.

Customer Reviews

Setting a new standard of quality for opening books
Ever since I purchased his book Learn from the legends, I had begun to appreciate Mihail Marin as an exemplary chess writer. So, in my drive to broaden my tournament repertoire against e4 I taught I found an ideal starting point to begin with - this book. Reason is obvious for many chess (amateur) players; a dreaded and obscure lines and archaic swashbuckling openings coming regularly to you after 1.e4,e5 moves. After reading casually through this book I realized in what misconception I had been. Handle his instructions, and this book would become one's best friend before beginning a serious study of Ruy Lopez proper. Now, after reading this one, I ordered his Spanish main lines book in a wish of the same high quality as this in the book I am writing about.
Recommended.

The finest chess book ever written!
I had for many years avoided the open games (1.e4 e5) as black because frankly I was intimidated by the work load. As I'm now nearing 1800 rating, I've been able to appreciate more how important learning these openings from the start is to the club player.

Just about every club player it seems is looking for that "easy opening" pet line they can trot out to play a comfortable system into the middlegame. This kind of thinking only slows proper developement of chess skill. The best way to approach getting better at chess is to jump right into the thick of it with classical developing moves. You learn how to use the power and scope of your pieces more efficiently by starting from the cornerstone of chess openings; the open games!

With the release of this book alongside Marin's other brilliant masterpiece "A Spanish Repertoire for Black", players seeking to learn the open games now have a definitive guide to pull knowledge from. The structure of Marin's book is truly the best I have ever read. Each of white's main openings like the King's Gambit, Scotch game, exchange Ruy, etc., are first described in concepts and ideas rather than flood you with page after page of diagrams & sub-variations. The idea is you actually LEARN the key points of the opening instead of memorizing moves. After you finish the chapter lesson, you get a section devoted to all of the subvariations by themselves in a nice condenced reference form. I found it especially useful for entering the lines into my openings training program based on Marin's suggestions and analysis. Without a doubt, all chess openings books should be structured this way.

I'm in agreement with many reviewers in chess circles that this is clearly one of the best chess books ever written regardless of content. Every club chess player should own a copy of this book, as well as Marin's "A Spanish Repertoire for Black". It's a rare treasure among the thousands of generic opening books out there!

Chess Writing Has a New Superstar...
and his name is Mihail Marin. The combination of ECO-style columns of variations and in-depth coverage of games, variations and ideas makes this and its companion volume, A SPANISH REPERTOIRE FOR BLACK, the new gold standard in repertoire books. I cannot say enough for the quality of the writing; it has to be experienced to be appreciated.