Puzzle 1000 pièces : Sadko - Ilya Repin

The g2-g4 (or ...g7-g5) pawn push is considered unconventional and often associated with backroom chess games or old-fashioned openings like the King’s Gambit.

Despite being one of the most weakening moves available, g2-g4 has been seen more frequently at the top level of chess.

While g2-g4 (or ...g7-g5) can lead to interesting fights, it also entails considerable risk and often results in messy, non-traditional positions with higher chances of mistakes.

It's crucial to remain objective and not get carried away by the excitement of launching an attack, as aggressive pawn pushes can quickly backfire.

The book aims to cover a wide range of chess openings involving g4 (...g5), regardless of whether the idea is strong, interesting, or unadvisable.

Over 50 games are analyzed, showcasing different scenarios where the g-pawn push is utilized, including attacking a short-castled king, challenging the stability of a knight on f3 (or ...Nf6), and seizing space on the kingside.

The examples illustrate a mix of these three reasons, with one prevailing in each case.

The authors, Pierre Laurent-Paoli & Christian Bauer, hope readers will enjoy exploring the lines presented in the book and implement them into their own play.  359 pages Hardcover

Do you play 1.d4, but feel discouraged by the seemingly limitless number of finely honed defensive systems available to Black? If you’re put off by the idea of having to learn massive amounts of theory just to reach a playable middlegame, then The Richter-Veresov Attack: Qd3 Variation might be just what you’re looking for.

Right away, you’ll be taking your opponents out of their preparation and into your comfort zone. While the Richter-Veresov has developed its own “book” over the years, Eric Fleischman shows you how to bypass a lot of that body of theory, too, with an early deployment of the queen to d3, an idea sometimes known as the Amazon Attack.

Covering a wide range of setups that Black could adopt in response (including French, Caro-Kann, Indian, Benoni, and Dutch formations), the author uses games by international players and examples from his own play to show how experience and a sense of the position count for more than memorized lines in The Richter-Veresov Attack: Qd3 Variation.  283 pages