The fight is won or lost far away from witness, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”
Muhammad Ali

With 1...g7-g6! we agree to enter a lightless place, where only cockroaches, earthworms and Modern Defence players dare enter. The Modern Defence is a job from which I have clocked in and out of for five decades, with my first day on the job in 1969. I have no plans to retire either. The experience of five decades has given me some inside information on the lines which I plan to share with you in this book.

Old is New and Past is Present

Our opposition frantically studies the latest theoretical trends to remain relevant. My question is: how many of them study the past? Evolution implies an improvement over the old. Anything but that and it is considered devolution. This does not apply to chess open-ings. What is old is not necessarily bad, but merely forgotten, and therefore to our advan-tage if we studied the lines, while it’s highly unlikely our opponents do the same.

Our repetitive openings these days turn us into the factory assembly line worker who feels as much a machine as the machines he or she works with. In this book, I do everything possible to avoid this fate. How? By advocating out of fashion Modern Defence lines which were in fashion in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. There is absolutely nothing unsound or wrong in playing the Old School way. It is just simply out of fashion.

The great benefit we receive from playing the Old School Modern is that our theory-loving opponents will most likely not be up on the old theory and ideas which were popu-lar five decades ago. So in this book we plan to weaponize the old to ambush the current. Those who play the Modern with a ...c7-c6-based repertoire (rather than the currently more popular ...a7-a6 versions) lead a lonely life, since it’s unlikely anyone you know plays it.

The Modern Defence is an opening that will appeal to player of an experimental nature. Black allows White to establish an apparently impressive position in the centre. The plan is to use this structure as a target – it will be restrained, undermined and eventually destroyed. When this plan works it can succeed beautifully but, naturally, if Black’s play is inaccurate there is a danger of being overwhelmed. For this reason a thorough understanding of the intricacies of this opening is essential.

Opening Repertoire: The Modern Defence examines all aspects of this highly complex opening and provides the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on how to play the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans. The suggested lines for Black are based around the very latest games and analsysis.

• A complete repetoire for Black in the Modern Defence.
• A question and answer approach provides an excellent study method.