Secrets of Opening Surprises brings you a wide variety of unusual opening ideas. They may seem outrageous at first sight, but have proven to be perfectly playable.

An SOS deviates very early from the regular lines in a mainstream opening, usually even before move six! That is why it is so easy to actually bring the variation on the board.

With an SOS you will baffle your opponent without having studied large quantities of stuffy theory.

a quick look at the SOS's in this issue

Contributing authors:
Mikhail Gurevich - Portisch’s Ingenious Idea
Jeroen Bosch - A Flank Attack in the Grünfeld
Oleg Romanishin - Catch-as-catch-Kan?
David Navara - The Paulsen Attack in the Petroff
Dorian Rogozenko - Let’s wait together in the Slav
Jeroen Bosch - Surprise in the Scotch
Mark Bluvshtein - Out of the French Book
Alexander Beliavsky - Volga Gambit with 4.Nd2
Oleg Chernikov - Provocation in the Rauzer: 6...g6
Ian Rogers - Caro-Kann Fantasy Variation
Jeroen Bosch - A Central Thrust in the Réti
Karel van der Weide - A French Nimzowitsch
Glenn Flear - Protecting the Gambit Pawn in the QGA
Jeroen Bosch - Evans Gambit: ‘Stoneware’ Defence
Adrian Mikhalchishin - A Sozin Opening Surprise
Mikhail Gurevich - English or Sicilian Reversed

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>> More Surprises!

What people say about SOS

Heinz Brunthaler in Rochade Europa:
'SOS is a sparkling star in the grey sky of theory.'

Carsten Hansen at ChessCafe:
'We are all trying to outsmart our opponents in the opening, and this can be achieved with very little effort using the numerous curveballs that are included. The variations can be exceedingly difficult if you are not prepared.'

Chess Today:
'No matter what you play, you will find something exciting here.'