101 Chess Opening Surprises (Gambit Chess) [Paperback]

Graham Burgess (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gambit Chess | Publication Date: March 1, 1998

Most chess players are fed a set of dogmatic rules about how the opening must be played. The result: stereotyped, unimaginative play. The opening surprises in this book land like bombshells in the apparent calm of standard openings and disorientate your opponents as they grapple with original problems. This book is a treasure-trove of unusual ideas at an early stage of the opening, yet running against the grain of conventional play. Each idea has quick-strike potential and is supported by enough concrete analysis to enable you to try it with confidence.

All major openings are covered. There are surprises for both White and Black, deeply researched and up-to-date. Each idea is assessed in terms of its soundness and its ability to surprise and shock. A thought-provoking introduction examines the underlying concepts of opening play and considers how the standard principles need to be modified in the light of the highly combative handling of the opening now favoured by the world's top players.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Gambit Publications specialises in chess and has an unrivalled reputation for originality and editorial excellence. The company is owned and staffed entirely by leading chess masters and grandmasters.

About the Author

FIDE Master Graham Burgess holds the world record for marathon blitz chess playing. He is a highly versatile chess writer, whose "Mammoth Book of Chess" won the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award in 1997.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Gambit Publications (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1901983021
• ISBN-13: 978-1901983029
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining book of a combination of OPENING CHESS TRAPS and IRREGULAR OPENING MOVES, October 2, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: 101 Chess Opening Surprises (Gambit Chess) (Paperback)

I really found this to be a FUN book to read. Like after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a5! OPPS! I meant to move the Pawn to "a6". Your opponent will look at you and say, ah "touch move!". Then he thinks your are a real FISH and will relax thinking he has "gotcha!". Then you play your best and play well. This isn't really sound chess, but it is fun chess, and I wouldn't really do that. But what about 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 h5! - OPPS! I meant to put my Bishop on "h5" not the "Pawn", can I take it back? Your opponent will say "touch move!" and then falls for the trap by greed, 6 hxg4? hxg4 7 Nxe5? (he just cannot stop feeding his army!) Qh4 8 g3 and checkmate cannot be stopped. I like this book, but give it four stars intead of 5 because it might give a beginner some bad ideas to play weak moves to try to trick your opponent instead of playing sound moves. I would also therefore suggest getting a book on "sound" opening traps like "Winning Chess Traps, Tactics in the Opening". Also, "Winning Chess Traps" is old but still good. Do I recommend "101 Chess Opening Surprises" - I do if you are getting it for fun first and understand that you shouldn't really use some of the ideas in it, but get some fun reading them.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Bunch of Ideas, July 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 101 Chess Opening Surprises (Gambit Chess) (Paperback)

This book is a collection of unusual opening ideas. Most of them are pretty sound, but the funniest is the Bulgarian Defense to the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a5! ), which makes it look as if Black intended ...a6, but accidentally pushed the pawn two squares. Also amusing is Bucker's idea in the Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 h6. The idea is that if White plays the normal 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5, Black gets a Sveshnikov/Pelikan set-up without allowing White to play Bg5. There are a lot of interesting and unusual ideas in this book. The author is very careful with his analysis and rarely makes a serious analytical error in any of his books.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Opening traps and curiosities, August 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: 101 Chess Opening Surprises (Gambit Chess) (Paperback)

This book is intended for light entertainment, not for instruction. I cannot see how anyone could benefit from more than 20% of the lines in here, because they are from various openings and sometimes require very cooperative play from the opponent.

Basically I saw this book as a collection of more or less amusing opening traps. If I play an opening, I usually buy a specialized book on it, and those books usually include all the lines that you find in this book, and tons more.

I read this book through in half an hour, and found little reason to return to it later. But it is not badly written. If your local library has it, why not borrow it for a train trip.