I, on the other hand, was able to prepare some interesting 'novelties' in this line that was relatively unexplored. I have not seen many high-level games with this obscure variations since, but Watson calls it ' an independent variation and a transpositional tool'. For this tournament, I decided to play the off-beat 1.c4 e5 2.Nf3!? which I supposed my opponents hardly knew anything about. More than a decade ago, I played in a local tournament where the move 1.c4 was compulsory. Secondly, the English is one of the most difficult openings to write about, and I was curious how Watson, who is very good at explaining ideas, did it. Finally, it was a nice opportunity to compare it to some other books on the English Opening, for example by Alexander Khalifman and Mihai Suba.Let me start with a little experiment. So what's in it for people like me? Mastering the Chess Openings Volume 3 is the third volume in Watson's series, which, according to the back cover, 'helps chess players achieve a more holistic and insightful view of the openings'. But why not a review of the first two volumes? Well, first of all I thought it would be a nice challenge for me to delve into an opening I knew next to nothing about. I was especially interested in this part, because I have almost no experience with this opening, yet have always found it extremely fascinating.
I will take a look at the latest volume in his 'Mastering the Chess Openings' series, published by Gambit Books, which is about the English Opening.
#Modern chess openings vol. 3 series#
Currently, he's writing a series of high-quality opening books, focussing (as always) on understanding and framing the opening in its proper context. John Watson is one of the best chess authors around.