The first volume of the extremely popular series "Opening for White According to Kramnik" was published in 2000. Now 14th world champion Alexander Khalifman presents the audience with two entirely new books.Volume 1a covers the Old Indian Defence, Anti-Gruenfeld, and less popular lines of the King's Indian Defence. The first part of the book analyses 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.d4, where Black delays the development of his bishop to g7, or prepares it for another deployment altogether, for example after e7-e5 and Bf8-e7. These opening set-ups have long had the reputation of being solid, but with not so good prospects for Black. The second part deals with 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 where Black follows up with 3…d5. Thus he emphasizes that he does not intend to play the KID and he invites his opponent to enter the main lines of the Gruenfeld Defence. White counters however with 4.Qa4+!? facing the opponent with difficult problems while turning the Gruenfeld out of question. In the third part of this book Khalifman begins to analyze the King's Indian Defence, starting with some currently offbeat lines. Its main and most fashionable variations are so complex and strategically independent that Khalifman singled them out in the separate volume 1b.

A Complete, Solid and Flexible Chess Opening Repertoire for Black & White – with the King’s Fianchetto When experienced chess teacher Emmanuel Neiman learned that some of his pupils hesitated to play in competitions for fear of being crushed in the opening, he wanted to help. Neiman knew that amateurs have little time to seriously study opening theory, so he had to come up with a practical, complete, easy-to-learn and solid opening repertoire that would not outdate rapidly. And that is what he did. Neiman advises amateurs to play (with both colours!) the flexible King’s Fianchetto system, where the Bishop is a defender of the King and at the same time an attacker. No matter what side you are, you use the same basic ideas: as White you are targeting the light squares and as Black the dark squares, while applying roughly the same strategies, plans and tactical motifs. Neiman has teamed up with Samy Shoker, who gained the Grandmaster title by mainly playing the King’s Fianchetto systems (and sometimes beating 2700+ rated players with it!). The result is a complete and practical repertoire which will give club players a sound and flexible middlegame position they can feel at home in. In many lines Neiman and Shoker not only present a solid approach but also a sharp and aggressive alternative. The authors don’t promise you a large advantage every time you play their system, but one thing is certain: after studying this entertaining book you can play the opening confidently and you will be a better all-round player because you have learned many essential middlegame lessons. Even (very) strong players will find the ideas of Neiman and Shoker useful as an easy-to-play occasional weapon.