In this highly original book, Grandmaster Ipatov shares the chess philosophy that helped him become a top chess grandmaster. Contrary to the generally accepted norms that permeate the modern chess world, he argues that spending most of one's training time on studying opening theory and memorizing trending lines until move 30 is wrong. However, this is exactly how most beginners start learning chess nowadays. Some strong grandmasters also fall into this trap when they prioritize opening theory amongst other aspects of the game. This often leads to fundamental gaps in one's chess understanding which is really hard to fix, especially for young players. Ipatov's ideology lies in that one should work on enhancing his general chess understanding and take on a surprise-first approach when it comes to playing openings in order to avoid opponents' preparation in the mainstream theory and take them out of book in the early stage of the game. Most of the book is comprised of Alexander Ipatov's original analyses covering a variety of offbeat opening lines from both White and Black's perspective. His recent match against the 2018 US Chess Champion Sam Shankland, where Ipatov implemented a novelty on move two - something unheard of in the modern era with millions of games being played to date - serves as a good illustration that the philosophy deserves more attention and research than it currently has. This book serves to fill in this gap and welcome more debate on the subject.

About the Author
Alexander Ipatov is a Ukrainian-born Turkish chess grandmaster. He won the national championship twice (2014, 2015) and represented Turkish national team in 3 World Chess Olympiads (2012, 2014, 2016), 2 European Team Chess Championships (2013, 2015), 1 World Team Chess Championship (2013) and 2 World Cups (2013, 2015). Alexander is also the World U-20 Junior Chess Champion (2012) and the Silver Medalist (2013). Currently he resides in Saint Louis, Missouri, where he captains one of the strongest collegiate chess teams in the nation and pursues his second master's degree.

Reviews
Ipatov believes that all levels of players should work on their general chess education, while relying largely on offbeat and surprise opening weapons, as he himself has tended through his career. In the first of two volumes, Ipatov analyses in detail a variety of offbeat line, all from Black's perspective - making this work suitable for those who like an early surprise or who want to add new lines to their black repertoire. Chess Magazine - April 2019.
In general, I think you'll use this book to spice up your current repertoire with a couple of additional interesting lines and possibly provide you with a one -off weapon for a must win game. My rating for this book is somewhere between 4 and 5 stars, but Ipatov's generosity in sharing all this original analysis tips the balance to 5! Recommended! GM Matthew Sadler New In Chess Magazine 05/19.
Unique book by Thinkers Publishing, a company emerging with several novel ideas to challenge the Quality Chess Juggernaut. This book covers a lot of rare and unorthodox opening ideas for black in a wide variety of openings. There is something for everyone here but be warned, some of these ideas have a hazard warning next to them! With that being said, a lot of the ideas don't involve a lot of risk but the author always writes with a practical mindset so even if one would emerge with a theoretical disadvantage, the position will likely be rich enough to enable one to outplay the opponent. NM GOPAL MENON 050620



Book Information
ISBN 9789492510488
Author Alexander Ipatov
Format Paperback
Page Count 357
Imprint Thinkers Publishing
Publisher Thinkers Publishing