Countering The Queen's Gambit

A compact (but complete) black repertoire for club players against 1.d4

The queen's gambit is easily the most talked about chess opening since the immensely popular Netflix television series of the same name became a hit. Beth Harmon's on-screen adventures inspired thousands to learn the game of kings, but offered no information about this popular chess opening. This book fills that void.

German grandmaster Michael Prusikin presents a solid but dynamic repertoire of openings for black against the queen's gambit. He wants you to understand rather than memorize what's important. His main focus is to explain the relevant pawn structures and half-game ideas behind the lines he recommends.

Prusikin treats each and every variation of the queen's gambit in a way that is very accessible to club players, but at the same time surprisingly effective and concise: Catalan, tartakower, Carlsbad, Londinense, colle, veresov and all the others. As an added bonus, the senior FIDE coach also provides answers to openings such as Bird, Réti and Nimzo-Larsen. It may seem unlikely and yet it is true: in less than 200 pages, Countering the Queen's Gambit has black covered on all first moves except 1.e4!

To test your newly acquired knowledge of the tactical motifs and strategic ideas of the Checkers Game, you are invited to solve 36 exercises in carefully selected key positions from real games.