Readers from all over the world join in discussions on previous surveys. Titled players, correspondence players and club players shed their light on opening developments and search for the truth together. With contributions by Viktor Moskalenko, Bogdan Lalic, Pavel Skatchkov, Jose Vilela, Endre Vegh, Willy Hendriks and many others.
 
Sosonko's Corner
This time's Corner is about Ivanchuk's experimental early queen outings at the Foros tournament. Genna Sosonko shows the background of Chuky's daring exploits, looking at other openings and previous top encounters and proving that we should never think too dogmatically in chess - not even in the opening.
 
Book Reviews
Glenn Flear reviews the 'lightweight' Play 1 b4! by Yuri Lapshun and Nick Conticello, finding more meat in James Vigus's Play the Slav, which contains good research and high-quality but readable analysis. As an author of an earlier book on the 4…a6 Slav, Flear takes an in-depth look at The Chebanenko Slav According to Bologan and discovers that a lot has happened in this fast-growing opening in the past five years. Next, he takes the opportunity of Chess Informant's jubilee issue 100 to discuss the relevance of Informant's pioneer work today, and investigates whether a tome like Nick de Firmian's Modern Chess Openings is useful for professional players, or whether it's suitable for club players only.

31 Surveys
Sicilian Defence - Najdorf Variation 6.Bg5 - SI 6.3 - Van der Tak
Sicilian Defence - Najdorf Variation 7...Qb6 - SI 8.1 - Morgado
Sicilian Defence - Najdorf Variation 6.Bc4 - SI 13.6 - Golubev
Sicilian Defence - Najdorf Variation 6.Bc4 - SI 13.10 - Morgado
Sicilian Defence - Dragon Variation 9.Bc4 - SI 18.6 - Karolyi
Sicilian Defence - Morra Gambit 2.d4, Grand Prix 2.f4 - SI 49, SI 50 - Grivas
King’s Fianchetto - Gurgenidze Variation 4...d5, 5...h5 - KF 11.4 - Olthof
French Defence - Tarrasch Variation 3...c5 - FR 19.3 - Tzermiadianos
Caro-Kann Defence - Advance Variation 3...c5 - CK 4.1 - Lukacs/Hazai
Alekhine Defence - 4...Nb6 Line - AL 9.8 - Karolyi
Petroff Defence - Steinitz Variation 3.d4 - RG 2.1 - Vilela
Petroff Defence - Nimzowitsch Variation 5.Nc3 - RG 3.5 - Van Delft
Petroff Defence - Jaenisch Variation 3.Ne5 - RG 6.5 - Landa
Ruy Lopez - Jaenisch Variation 4.Nc3 - RL 6.6-6.1 - A. Kuzmin
Ruy Lopez - Anti-Marshall 8.d4 - RL 17.2 - Panczyk/Ilczuk
Ruy Lopez - Chigorin Variation 10...d5 - RL 23.1 - A. Kuzmin
Scotch Opening - Classical Variation 4...Bc5 - SO 5.5 - Tzermiadianos
Philidor Defence - Antoshin Variation 5...Be7 - KP 4.4 - Olthof
Various Openings - Budapest Gambit 3...Ng4 - VO 17.2 + 5 - Moskalenko
Various Openings - Budapest Gambit 3...Ng4, 3...Ne4 - VO 17.4 + 6 - Grivas
Slav Defence - Chameleon Variation 4...a6 5.Qc2 - SL 1.4 - Antic/Kizov
Catalan Opening - Open Variation 6...dc4 - CA 5.6 - Vladimirov
Nimzo-Indian Defence - Classical Variation 4...d5 - NI 23.8 - Ikonnikov
Queen’s Indian Defence - Classical Variation 4...Bb7 - QI 7.4 - Boersma
Queen’s Indian Defence - Nimzowitsch Variation 4...Ba6 - QI 16.11 - Finkel
Grünfeld Indian Defence - Exchange Variation 7.Bc4 - GI 5.1 - Fogarasi
King's Indian Defence - Classical Main Line 9.b4 - KI 4.11 - Finkel
King’s Indian Defence - Classical Main Line 7...Na6 - KI 15.7 - Lalic
King’s Indian Defence - Four Pawns Variation 7...b5 - KI 55.6 - Moskalenko
English Opening - Symmetrical Variation 4.g3 - EO 40.1 - Marin
English Opening - Symmetrical Variation 5...Bb4 - EO 44.8 - Anka