CHESS EXPLAINED: THE QUEEN'S INDIAN
Author: Peter Wells
Gambit Publications, LTD. (2006)
127 pages
$18.95

Reviewed by Jeremy Silman

No doubt partly due to the success of Everyman's STARTING OUT series, Gambit has decided to reach out to that same audience with their new CHESS EXPLAINED series. In their own words:

"Chess Explained is a new series of books about chess openings. They are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over the-board experience with an opening. You will gain an understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games."

The first book in this series, CHESS EXPLAINED: THE CLASSICAL SICILIAN by Grandmaster Yermolinsky, was excellent (CLICK TO SEE DONALDSON'S REVIEW OF YERMOLINSKY'S BOOK). And why shouldn't it be? Yermo is a very strong player with enormous experience in that complex of Sicilian lines. Fortunately, the same can be said about CHESS EXPLAINED: THE QUEEN'S INDIAN. Peter Wells (one of my favorite theoretical writers) is also a very strong player, he knows the QID inside and out, and he has an excellent knack of making ideas accessible to players of all strengths.

CHESS EXPLAINED: THE QUEEN'S INDIAN brings this opening to life with plenty of games and analysis, plus a very liberal (as in enormous) use of explanatory prose. Everything is up to date, lucid, and easy to absorb.

In the classical QID (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7) we see all the ideas for both sides, all the key lines, and ultimately why 4...Ba6 has taken the limelight away from 4...Bb7.

The main line with 4...Ba6 is given the same deep, explanatory coverage as 4...Bb7. Peter tells us why 5.b3 is White's most trusted reply, but he also let's us know the status of all of White's fifth move alternatives.

Having taken care of the "pure" QID positions (with 4...Bb7 and 4...Ba6), we find ourselves coming face to face with the popular 4.a3 (Petrosian's line). The amazing quality of Wells' work never falters, and his final chapters on the Nimzo/QID hybrid (4.Nc3 Bb4) and 4.e3 hold up just as well.

Though it's only 127 pages, this is the best book on the QID that I've ever seen. Everyone will find the prodigious amounts of instructive prose to be extremely useful, while Peter Wells' coverage of all major lines is light but to the point.

Highly recommend for players from 1300 to 2300.

Click to buy (or get more information about) CHESS EXPLAINED: THE CLASSICAL SICILIAN (by Yermolinsky) - $18.95

Click to buy (or get more information about) CHESS EXPLAINED: THE QUEEN'S INDIAN

Other books on the Queen's Indian:

QUEEN'S INDIAN DEFENCE (by Lalic) - $11.50

STARTING OUT: THE QUEEN'S INDIAN (by Emms) - $17.95

QUEEN'S INDIAN DEFENCE (by Aagaard) - $19.95

QUEEN'S INDIAN: KASPAROV SYSTEM (by M Gurevich) - $10.00