Starting Out: the English (Starting Out - Everyman Chess) [Paperback]

Neil McDonald (Author)

Book Description

Series: Starting Out - Everyman Chess | Publication Date: August 1, 2003

In this revolutionary book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald revisits the basic principles behind the English and its many variations. Throughout this easy-to-read guide readers are aided by a wealth of notes, tips, and warnings from the author, while key strategies, ideas, and tactics for both sides are clearly illustrated. This book is ideal for the improving players.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Ideal for those wanting to understand the basics of the English Opening.
The English is a sophisticated and popular opening system that is suitable for all types of players and can lead to both positional and tactical middlegames. Many of the world¿s top players, including Kasparov and Kramnik, include the English in their openings weaponry. In this groundbreaking book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald revisits the basic principles behind the English and its many variations. Throughout this easy-to-read guide the reader is aided by a wealth of notes, tips and warnings from the author, while key strategies, ideas and tactics for both sides are clearly illustrated. This book is ideal for the improving player. *Written by an openings expert *All the important lines are covered *A back-to-basics look at one of the most important openings.

About the Author

English Grandmaster Neil McDonald is an experienced player on the international chess circuit, with a string of tournament successes. He is a respected chess coach, who has trained many of England's strongest junior players. McDonald is also a talented chess writer and has many outstanding works to his name. Earlier Everyman books include Concise Chess Endings and Concise Chess Openings.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Everyman Chess; 1st edition (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857443225
• ISBN-13: 978-1857443226
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good book for getting an overview about english opening, October 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Starting Out: the English (Starting Out - Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

I bought this book facing the fact there really wasn't a general book telling me about the english opening. This book gives fairly balanced guidelines for both white and black about different english systems, many other books on market concentrate on specific lines. Although I'm still reading it and playing games with board, I guarantee you won't waste your money if you get a copy. I'm a 1500 player so I can't really say about the lines and if they are a little bit out-dated (as some reviews tell you), but I think for me this is just a good book. I like the idea that you can learn a solid opening and yet the opponent is not always so happy to face 1.c4. The layout of the book is not the most pleasant to my eyes (single column), but as a bonus you got plenty of space to write your own thoughts. There are a lot of guidelines along the journey, telling sometimes very general and useful things. I like the annotations of the selected games, and it's nice to study those playing the moves with board. This book is somewhat bigger than in other Starting Out -series, so you'll find here a lot to study.
Nice book indeed.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really good if you want to learn about the English, September 26, 2005

By 

Elías Lombardo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starting Out: the English (Starting Out - Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

If you are looking for a new opening (as white), and are thinking about the English, then this is the perfect book for you. It covers the fundamentals of almost all main variations in a clear and concise way. Instead of a lot of lines, you will find strategic ideas and motives founded on the current position. This helps a lot, because even if you actually don't get the book's lines on the board, you can find what to do.

Moreover, the majority of the illustrative examples (illustrative indeed) are Grand Master's games (Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, etc.) with no stupid dumb blunders (but instructive positional ones). You can easily spend a lot of time reading this book.

Now, maybe this is a bad book if you are already familiar with the English opening and want to improve your game. In that case, you need an English Opening Repertoire Book (with specific variations, and a lot of lines and analysis!). This book only covers the `sharpest' lines in each variation.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay, September 20, 2009

By 

Chess reader (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starting Out: the English (Starting Out - Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

This book covers some lines of the English. That's all. Although other reviewers have claimed it to be a "comprehensive guide to the English" that isn't true. First, this book is very thin. Seeing all the transpositions in the English, which McDonald mentions without telling anything about them, it makes more sense to make a longer book dealing with positional ideas in all sections of the English. Speaking of positional ideas, this is where McDonald does a good job. In the first 3 chapters McDonald explains about the Symmetrical English, giving lines, well-annotated illustrative games (Andersson-Seirawan is particularly good), and well-written summaries of plans for white and black. After this, however, McDonald loses his interest. If the rest of the book had been like the first 3 chapters, it would be 100 pages longer and I would have given it 5 stars. However, after writing extensively on transpositions and almost every move white or black can play in the Symmetrical English, in the later sections McDonald gives critical lines as merely possible, and gives 1 measly illustrative game for each section of the Nimzo-English, even for some of the sharpest and most complicated lines. After seeing white demolish black readers with barely any of the annotations McDonald is most famed for, readers are left wondering if this line isn't simply a forced win. McDonald seems to imply that black has chances, without describing what they are. After mentioning some lines (1.c4 f5 and 1.c4 c6) he goes on to the next chapter assuming he has covered them without so much as a single illustrative game. Maybe I am being a bit harsh. McDonald has produced a fine book, but it is not in the league of his other works.