English Defence

Rating:
Summary: Sound Analysis, Clearly Explained, Immediately Useful
Review: Grandmaster King follows the standard Cadogan Publisher's format very effectively: clear explanation of thematic ideas, key moves identified and model games employed to illustrate these ideas and moves. Each chapter is neatly summarized, games are annotated, and I think very useful to most intermediate players and ambitious beginners. I think that the coverage is comprehensive (when I compare it to MC0-14) for an opening generally regarded as solid and positional rather than dependent on specific move orders.

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing
Review: I just recently purchased this book and i really enjoy it. It's about time this somewhat obscure defence received more attention. Move order is 1.c4 b6, 2.d4 e6 with Black's 3rd move usually Bb7. The only drawback is if White opens 1.d4 King says it's very important to answer with e6. This of course gives White the option of 2.e4 which leads to the French defence. So you will have to brush up on the French a bit if you expect to employ this opening since 1.d4 seems more popular than 1.c4

Contrary to King's axiom that 1.d4 players would rather use 2.c4 than 2.e4, i have not found this to be the case. The book is very well written though and perhaps adding the French back into my repertoire was a good idea anyway. You won't be disappointed.