Every chess player loves to win early in the opening. However you should never lose sight of the most important objective of your opening play: the proper development of your pawns and pieces. That is why this book is more than just an enjoyable collection of traps and tricks. Prolific Russian chess author Nikolai Kalinichenko has collected 700 brilliant miniatures, topical games from a wide variety of players, from World Champions to amateurs. They are selected for their instructional value, and not merely to highlight blunders or accidents. In his notes Kalinichenko always explains the ideas and plans behind the opening and how play could have been improved. The games are arranged by opening, so the book can be used as a manual. Playing through these exciting games is not just highly enjoyable but will also teach you how to recognize opportunities to ambush your opponent in the first 20 moves. And, reversely, how to avoid such pitfalls in the opening. With the ideas presented in this well-organized book, the adventurous player will certainly win more games, and more rapidly! "Enjoyable, while also making the reader much more aware of where typical early pitfalls can suddenly spring from." ― CHESS Magazine (UK) "There was a specific and a general use that I got from reading this book. The specific use was the particular openings that I play which are covered in this book. You quickly see where pieces should or shouldn't go in the openings you play. The general use was from the games in the openings that I don't plan myself. In those games it was easy to see how violating an opening principle could quickly lead to disaster. I believe that any player who either likes looking at chess games for fun, or who is serious about improving, would be well served by this book." -- Chris Wainscott ― On the Road to Chess Master "Traps, tripwires, fun, schadenfreude: these are things I associate this book with. It contains 753 miniatures, most of them with less than 20 moves. It is, above all, a very cheerful book. For a book of this size the price is very friendly." -- Johan Hut ― Noordhollands Dagblad "I have used this book as a teaching resource for a couple of months now and found it to be especially useful when working with junior players who know opening principles, but have a rudimentary knowledge of specific standard openings and certainly not an established repertoire. You can use the book to practice tactics ('What was the winning move here?') while learning about various openings (typical piece-placements and plans) and general principles too, because Nikolay Kalinichenko's perspicacious annotations emphasize sound play." -- Paul Kane "Over 00 miniatures to enjoy and sharpen your skill. Provides class players with ideas to use in their own openings." -- Miguel Ararat ― Florida Chess "A smashing collection of 700 brilliant played miniatures, all pleasantly divided in various openings lines. This book holds instructive openings explanations and helps you as no other to develop the ability to punish errors in the opening." ― Elburg Chess Reviews "Quite a lot of fine examples, also by strong players." -- Jeroen Bosch, International Master ― Schaakmagazine "A useful compendium of what not to do in the opening." -- Florian Jacobs Nikolai Kalinichenko is a Russian Correspondence Chess Grandmaster and one of the most widely read chess authors in the world.