THE BISHOP’S OPENING EXPLAINED
Author: Gary Lane
160 pages
$21.95
Batsford (2004)

Reviewed by John Donaldson

THE BISHOP’S OPENING EXPLAINED by English IM Gary Lane is a completely different book from the author’s earlier work WINNING WITH THE BISHOP’S OPENING (1993) and covers much more than the title implies. Starting with the sequence 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Lane analyses pure lines of the Bishops’s opening (for example, the Urusoff Gambit 2...Nf6 3.d4), but also covers the Vienna (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Bc4, where he takes a detailed look at the incredible complications after 3...Nxe4), the Evans Gambit and Two Knight's Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 and 3...Nf6). Against the latter he likes 4.d3 (Closed Giuoco Piano) which he also proposes after 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 (as well as 3.d4). Even the King's Gambit Declined starting position 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d3 Bc5 5.f4 d6 6.Nf3, which can be reached from several move orders, gets an examination.

THE BISHOP’S OPENING EXPLAINED presents the theory of  most of the Open Games (1.e4 e5) through the use of 65 annotated model games. The level of the theoretical discussion is probably not what specialists in the respective openings that are covered might like, but it should be fine for players from 1600 up to 2400. Lane is a longtime practioner of 2.Bc4 and is well versed on the ins and outs of this opening. If you have an interest in a non-Ruy Lopez answer to 1.e4 e5, and don’t play the King's Gambit or Scotch, this is the book for you.

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