Fully revised and updated award-winning, bestselling classic chess book, with a foreword by Dr John Nunn, Grandmaster and three-times World Chess Solving Champion

The award-winning, bestselling, classic chess book by FIDE Master and chess world-record holder, Graham Burgess.


Comprehensive and clear, this fully revised and updated fourth edition of Graham Burgess's bestselling chess classic is an invaluable guide to help any player progress to good club level and better. It provides a complete guide to the main chess openings along with hundreds of test positions for players at every level. This new edition includes:

Expanded and updated sections on playing online chess and using computers.

A complete and detailed guide to all the main chess openings.

Hundreds of new training exercises for players of all standards.

Courses in tactics, attacking strategy, combinations and endgames.

Analysis of some of the greatest games ever played.

Information and advice on club, national, and international tournaments.

A comprehensive A-Z glossary of chess terminology.

Practical advice and information for further study.

New sections on endgame studies and problems, with all examples from 2020 or 2021.

A detailed analysis of the chess games featured in Netflix's The Queen's Gambit.

GRAHAM BURGESS has written thirty highly acclaimed chess books, and edited over 300. He is a FIDE Master and a former champion of the Danish region of Funen, and in 1994 set a world record for marathon blitz chess playing. His Mammoth Book of Chess won the prestigious British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award.

'A terrific work that is particularly suited for those from beginner to club player'
JOHN WATSON, The Week in Chess


The fully revised and updated award-winning, bestselling, classic chess book by FIDE Master and chess world-record holder, Graham Burgess.

Comprehensive and clear, this fully revised and updated fourth edition of Graham Burgess's bestselling chess classic is an invaluable guide to help any player progress to good club level and better. It provides a complete guide to the main chess openings along with hundreds of test positions for players at every level. This new edition includes:

Expanded and updated sections on playing online chess and using computers.

A complete and detailed guide to all the main chess openings.

Hundreds of new training exercises for players of all standards.

Courses in tactics, attacking strategy, combinations and endgames.

Analysis of some of the greatest games ever played.

Information and advice on club, national, and international tournaments.

A comprehensive A-Z glossary of chess terminology.

Practical advice and information for further study.

New sections on endgame studies and problems, with all examples from 2020 or 2021.