Chess Openings for White Explained and Chess Openings for Black Explained are complete opening repertoires for the tournament player. Written by GMs and renowned opening experts Lev Alburt, Roman Dzindzichashvili, and Eugene Perelshteyn, the books have found great popularity among players who want to play exciting openings without learning a huge amount of material.
The White book recommends openings such as the Scotch Gambit and the Grand Prix attack, both of which can often lead to dynamic positions and also have the advantage of being openings where Black can really get in serious trouble if they mess something up.
The White book also includes very solid systems against the French (3. Nc3), Caro Kann (exchange variation), and systems against a bunch of more uncommon openings such as the Pirc or Alekhine.
The Black book provides excellent analysis on the Accelerated Dragon, hardened from years of practice in the high-level tournament games of Perelshteyn. This is a very solid system, and the book includes extensive analysis against everything white can throw at it. This includes lines and ideas against the main lines, the Alapin/Morra, the Maroczy Bind (black can handle this feared system by knowing a few key ideas), and other variations such as the Closed Sicilian.
The other big recommendation of the black book is the Nimzo Indian, a very solid and easy to play system that also offers black a good game. This is an easy opening to learn and the lines given in this book are all you need to play it on a very high level. Against the English the book recommends the enterprising e5, which leads to an interesting and level game.
These two books offer an easy-to-learn, practical, and complete opening repertoire. In fact, no less an expert than 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov called these books “A must for every chess player!” The books are, however, a little outdated (they were last updated in 2010). Theory moves on, and this website is an update and supplement to the books by co-author GM Eugene Perelshteyn.
In the members area of the site you’ll get access to PGNs of the original books updated to reflect changes in theory. You’ll also get access to a video library that’s being updated multiple times per week, and be able to ask questions and read answers at our Opening FAQ. Our site is specifically about helping chess players play the lines recommended in these books. If you’re interested in learning/sharpening these lines with Grandmaster help, then you can become a member.