Building and maintaining a chess opening repertoire can be a demanding
task - for a start there are an enormous number of different lines to
chooses from. There's a strong temptation amongst aspiring players to
opt solely for tricky lines in order to snare unsuspecting opponents,
but this approach has only short term value. As you progress and your
opponents become stronger, very often these line don't stand up to close
scrutiny and suddenly you are back to square one with no suitable
opening weapons. In these two books, brought together now for the first
time in one volume, John Cox and Neil McDonald solve the perennial
problems by providing the reader with strong and trusty repertoires with
white pieces based on the popular opening moves of 1d4 and 1e4. The
recommended lines given here have stood the test of time and are
regularly employed by Grandmasters. These books are written in Everyman
Chess's distinctive Starting Out style, with plenty of notes, tips and
warnings throughout to help the reader to absorb ideas.