‘There are a huge number ot books dealing with the details ofthis or that opening, but here I arn only concemed with the general principles gov- feming opening play. Fach player has three ‘main objectives in the opening: 1) To develop ihe pieces; 2) To safeguard the king (usually by cas- sling): 4) To exert control over the centre. “The first of these is critical. Pieces sitting on their original squares are not really taking part in the battle. They need to be brought out as quickly as possible, so time is of the essence. Normally the minor pieces are developed fist. castling takes place, and then the rooks can be brought into play. However, one of the themes of this book is that all these basic principles have many exceptions, and you have to take the specifies of each position into account. We shall sce several gaines in which this standard paticrn of development does not occur, because the particular position demands different plan. However, a couple of general principles are valid in the majority of eases: board. One or more of the central pawns will ‘normally be advanced during the opening inor- der to let the pieces out and this removes some or all of the pawn-cover in front of the king, ‘Thus in most cases the king will need to be cas- ted to one side or the other, where there are still ‘unmoved pawns, in order to be reasonably sefe. Early castling is desirable, not only for reasons ‘of king safety, but also because it allows the rooks t0 come into play more easily Once again, there are exceptions and we shall see some later in the book. Ifthe opponsnt is not in any position to exploit the king in the centre, then castling can be delayed while some other, more important, operation takes place. However, one should always take great care when leaving the king uncastled and should only do so after careful consideration of the risks. In the vast majority of cases, however, early castling does take place. The dangers of leaving the king in the centre are discussed in Game 2. ‘The first two of the three main objectives in the opening can usually be achieved withoutUNDERSTANDING CHESS an LO)Vi=m od MUO) al Dee ree eid Bee Re ud alISBN 1 901983 412 DISTRIBUTION: Worldwide (except USA): Central Books Ltd, 99 Wallis Rd, London E9 SLN. Te] +44 (0)20 8986 4854 Fax +44 (0)20 8533 5821. E-mail: orders@Centralbooks.com USA: BHB Intemational, Inc., 302 West North 2nd Street, Seneca, SC 29678, USA, Forall other enquiries including a ful list ofall Gambit Chess ttle) please contact the publishers, Gambit Publications Ltd, P.O. Box 32640, London W14 OJIN. E-mail: info@ gambitbooks.com Or visit the GAMBIT web site at hup:/www.gambitbooks.com Edited by Graham Burgess eset by John Nunn Printed in Great Britain by The Bath Press, Bath, Somerset. 109876543 1 Opening Themes 8 Game | Get the Pieces Out! (Chernin-Van der Wiel) 9 Game 2 King in the Centre (Khalifiman-Sveshnikov) 4 Game 3 Successful Control of the Centre (Aseev-Rashkavsky) 19 Game 4 An Over-Exiended Pavin-Centre (Van der Wiel-Vaganian) 26 Game 5 Modern Gambit Play (Markowski-Onishchuk) 31 2 Middlegame Themes 3B 2.1 Attacking Play Eo Game 6 Basic Atacking Ideas (Kasparov-Short) 39 Game 7 Bring Up the Reserves (Kasparov-Karpov) 45 Game & Standard Sacrifices (Shirov-Reinderman) 56 Game 9 The All-Out Sacrificial Onslaught (Nunn-Natat) ot Game 10 OppositeSide Casting (Nunn-Ward) 70 Game 11 ‘The Deaily Long Diagonal (Timman-JPolgar) 1 2.2. Defensive Play 87 Game 12 Don’t Panic (Rotsagov-Lanka) 88 Game 13 The Defensive Sacrifice (Lalié-Khalifman) 96 sacha um Chama VA Mafiannn and Pruner Attack {Rn Kiana