He has recently, however, become convinced that mere rote learning of opening variations is a totally unproductive activity: players must understand the reasons behind the various moves of opening theory, so that they can begin to think for themselves as soon as new situations arise over the board. In this book he achieves the difficult task of reducing the complexity of opening theory to a number of basic principles, without over-simplifying the issues involved. By judicious exploitation of key games, Pachman has brilliantly succeeded in maintaining the delicate balance between instruction on the one hand, and information on the other. Pachman gives a number of important openings, concentrating mainly on the 'open' and 'half-open' games. For the enthusiastic chess player who is no longer a beginner but still some distance from the master stage, this volume offers a positive and practical road to progress in chess...."