Are you: confused by the Caro-Kann? Scared of the Sicilian? Rattled by the Ruy Lopez? In this comprehensive book for players of all ages, Grandmaster Kallai provides a straightforward, easy-to-user guide to surviving the maze of chess openings, covering all the popular modern openings starting with 1 e4. Rather than present a mass of bewildering variations, as is common in most opening books, the author concentrates on developing a solid understanding of the ideas of each opening, so that readers can start each game with confidence. He arms the aspiring player with the fundamental grounding essential for achieving sound and promising positions from the opening, with an emphasis on formulating good plans for the middlegame. The companion volume to this book, More Basic Chess Openings, covers all of the major alternatives to 1 e4, and is also available from Cadogan. Hungarian Grandmaster Gabor Kallai has won numerous tournaments and is the author of several other opening books.