Surprise variations: the benefit of playing your own systems
How to Out-Prepare Your Opponent by Jeroen Bosch is on the shortlist for the English Chess Federation Book of the Year 2022. The content below is from Chapter 7 of the book. It is interesting to see how Jeroen objectively shows the pros and cons of playing your own systems. Enjoy his insights and maybe you can even use his analysis of this interesting sideline of the Old Indian to out-prepare your opponent! ***** I’ve been the author/editor of 14 volumes called Secrets of Opening Surprises (New In Chess, 2003-2012), and so it would seem strange not to add a chapter on surprise variations or lines that quickly leave the main theoretical path. However, this chapter and the next one (about main lines) are – to paraphrase William James – separate on the surface, but connected if you think about it more deeply. Avoiding the beaten track automatically means that you have some basic knowledge about where the main roads lie. Indeed, whether you opt for a main line or a sideline is ideally a conscious175