Starting Out: 1.d4 and 1.e4
Two Books in One Volume
by Neil McDonald, John Cox

Publisher: Everyman Chess, 2017
Edition: Paperback medium
ISBN: 9781781943946
Pages: 444
Language: English

Building and maintaining a chess opening repertoire can be a demanding task – for a start there are an enormous number of different lines to choose from. There’s a strong temptation amongst aspiring players to opt solely for tricky lines in order to snare unsuspecting opponents, but this approach has only short term value. As you progress and your opponents become stronger, very often these lines don’t stand up to close scrutiny and suddenly you are back to square one with no suitable opening weapons.

In these two books, brought together now for the first time in one volume, John Cox and Neil McDonald solve the perennial problems by providing the reader with strong and trusty repertoires with white pieces based on the popular opening moves of 1.d4 and 1.e4. The recommended lines given here have stood the test of time and are regularly employed by Grandmasters. These books have plenty of notes, tips and warnings throughout to help the reader to absorb ideas.

John Cox is an International Master and former British Junior Champion. His initial works: Starting Out: Alekhine’s Defence and Dealing with D4 Deviations, have already established him as a writer with impressive credentials.

English Grandmaster Neil McDonald is an experienced and successful player on the international chess circuit. McDonald is also a talented chess writer and has many outstanding works to his name. Earlier books include Concise Chess Openings and Starting Out: The Dutch Defence.