Chess Explained: The Queen's Indian

A Gambit Reissue: A new approach to understanding the chess openings

"I especially enjoyed The Queen's Indian by Peter Wells, who has a marvelous writing style. There are gems of wisdom in his notes, which can be detailed but not overly technical." - Cecil Rosner, Winnipeg Free Press

Chess Explained is a new series of books about chess openings. They are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over-the-board experience with an opening. You will gain an understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.

• 25 recent and highly instructive games discussed in detail
• Chapter introductions and conclusions emphasize the key points
• Full indexes of games and variations
• Extensive verbal explanations of plans and manoeuvres

The Queen's Indian is an important and popular opening at all levels of play. Black's flexible stance allows him to choose between a range of solid and dynamic structures. In turn, White can play flexibly, opposing Black's fianchetto, or can try to force the pace in the centre and start a hand-to-hand fight. It is an opening rich in nuances, and many of the modern main lines involve moves that look extravagant, but are backed up by a deep underlying logic.

Peter Wells is a grandmaster from England who regularly competes in international tournaments and team events. He was runner-up in the British Championship in 1991, 1999 and 2004, and qualified for the knockout stages of FIDE's world championship in 1997. Wells is a much-acclaimed writer, noted for his work on both opening play and middlegame strategy. He has a wealth of experience as a trainer, including acting as a second for British super-GMs Luke McShane and Michael Adams.

"GM Wells surely has the best credentials to put such a concept into practice: not only his active praxis, but also his experience as trainer and author" - Gerd Treppner, Rochade

"aimed at the aspiring player who lacks a coach and needs a guide to explain what is important in the opening, what the reliable variations are and what typical middlegame plans crop up time and time again. Wells does all this and more in a book that is a pleasure to read" - IM John Donaldson, USA Team Captain

"Rather than focus on variation after variation in a database style or the old opening manual style of Modern Chess Openings, [Gambit] have focused instead on explaining the ideas behind the opening and have done so in a manner that will appeal to the novice or intermediate player rather than an expert or a master. While other publishers have also done this, ... the key difference for Gambit is the length to which their author, in this case Peter Wells, explains the kinds of middlegames that each variation tends to create and the depth and clarity of the annotation of the explanatory game." - Bill Whited, ChessCountry