"Chess Explained" is a new series of books about chess openings. These are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over-the-board experience with an opening. Readers of this debut volume will gain a thorough understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which the Queen's Indian leads, enabling them to find the right moves and plans for their own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering all your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what knowledge you need to amass.

The Queen's Indian is an important and popular opening at all levels of play. Black's flexible stance allows him to choose between a range of solid and dynamic structures. In turn, White can play flexibly, opposing Black's fianchetto, or can try to force the pace in the centre and start a hand-to-hand fight. It is an opening rich in nuances, and many of the modern main lines involve moves that look extravagant, but are backed up by a deep underlying logic.

Peter Wells is an English grandmaster who regularly competes internationally. He was runner-up in the British Championship in 1991, 1999 and 2001. He has written extensively on both opening play and middlegame strategy, and has a wealth of experience as a trainer.

Specifications:

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Gambit Publications (June 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches

Quotes:

• "Rather than focus on variation after variation in a database style or the old opening manual style of Modern Chess Openings, [Gambit] have focused instead, on explaining in a great deal of detail, the ideas behind the opening and have done so in a manner that will appeal to the novice or intermediate player rather than an expert or a master. While other publishers have also done this, ... the key difference for Gambit is the length to which their author, in this case Peter Wells, explains the kinds of middle games that each variation tends to create and the depth and clarity of the annotation of the explanatory game." - Bill Whited
• "The 'Chess Explained' series achieves its aim of providing a thorough yet easily understood introduction to this very popular defence. Incisive & compelling reading." - Michael Blake