Chess Explained the English Opening

CHESS EXPLAINED: THE ENGLISH OPENING
Author: Zenon Franco
Gambit Publishing
112 pages
$18.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

The fourth book in Gambit Publishing's Chess Explained series, THE ENGLISH OPENING by GM Zenon Franco, is a one-volume overview of 1.c4 using 25 model games to present the material. The examples are topical, ranging from 2003 to 2006. There is plenty of prose explanation including lengthy chapter introductions and summaries.

The 25 games are presented in three parts: the Symmetrical (1.c4 c5), the Reversed Sicilian (1.c4 e5) and the Nimzo-English (1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6). Inside of these groupings, lines covered include the Hedgehog, Double Fianchetto and Rubinstein systems after 1.c4 c5; the reversed Sicilian with ...d5 and ...Bb4 and the Mikenas Attack (1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 and 3.Nf3 Bb4). Each of these lines is covered at length and quite well, but it is important to note there is nothing on many other English variations including the Closed Sicilian Reversed or 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 -- the most symmetrical of the symmetrical English lines. GM Franco had 112 pages to deal with his subject and he chose what he felt were the most relevant lines.

This selection means this book has very little overlap with another Gambit offering, THE DYNAMIC ENGLISH by Tony Kosten, published in 1999, which advocated a Botvinnik pawn triangle setup with c4, d3 and e4 in conjunction with a kingside fianchetto and Knights on c3 and e2.

CHESS EXPLAINED: THE ENGLISH OPENING is aimed at a higher rated audience than Neil McDonald's STARTING OUT: THE ENGLISH (Everyman Publishing 2003). The latter is aimed principally at players below 2000 while the former is best suited to players from 2000 to 2300, even stronger players might find certain parts of Franco's book insightful.

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