An Attacking Repertoire for White with 1.d4: Ambitious Ideas and Powerful Weapons

I am known to be an aggressive player amongst my friends and a few chess senseis who've looked at my games, and so I was curious to see how the recommendations in this book matched up to what I had arrived at on my own in terms of deciding on a repertoire.I personally don't like the four pawns against the KID as I think white is overextended and I've been able to demonstrate that in many blitz games at my level. I'm generally happy to face the four pawns as black. I personally like the h3 Makagonoff lines against the KID. Now you may wonder what that has to do with an aggressive set up and you'd be right. That is about the only choice in my repertoire that is aimed AGAINST the aggressive player. Make the KID player uncomfortable, and squeeze out a win. The g4 pawn also is ready to help with an attack if black makes mistakes. So I'm happy with the lines I've arrived at as the most uncomfortable for black in the KID.Most of everything else in the book, I wholeheartedly approve. Especially the Nimzo chapter. I play 4. f3 (Kmoch) but I also likee the Saemisch (a3), they are similar in spirit. The example games and explanations in this book were pretty good. Combined with some coverage of the Kmoch on Chessable, I'm hoping to soon become an expert in the Kmoch. I've lost many games in it, so that's a good start! :DI don't play the exchange slav as white and don't like it very much but perhaps that comes from a place of ignorance. I need to take a closer look at the games in the book before making a judgment. I like Ne5 systems, which offer enough complexity in the middlegames to keep me happy.In any case, I liked what I saw in general, and if you're experienced enough to know what you like and what you don't, you can use the book to go through games in just the lines you think you'd enjoy. I like how he identifies "weapons" and uses gun icons as memory markers in the book. How effective that is, I'm not quite sure but it is fun.

Very solid repertoire. I am through the first 4 chapters as I convert to d4 and c4, at least against the Nf6 Lines. Lines are solid, easy to understand the ideas, and should be more than adequate for anyone up to 2300 or so. I am 2100 and have been primarily an e4 of 1. Nf3 player. Much harder to convert the longer you play, but necessary in order to understand piece play and pawn structures more thoroughly. Also it is fun to learn something new and try it out in upcoming games. The book ideas have made me feel comfortable making the transition...at least I think so, the next tournament might prove otherwise. : )

I’ll say up front that Mr Moskalenko is my favorite chess author. I owe my Black opening repertoire of the French against e4 and the Stonewall Dutch against d4 to his fantastic books on each. While I have already used the d4-c4 opening with white as completing the triptych of openings I use, this book has further sharpened my arsenal. Strategies in confronting the Kings Indian, Nimzo-Indian, Modern Benoni, Benko Gambit and the Grunfeld along with the various Queens Gambit variations make this a must have manual for the d4 player. The Flexible French has been my favorite chess book and this will stand along it as the White d4 companion.

Has interesting lines, but could be organized a little better. Not quite as good as Raymond Keene's book about a QP repertoire. Still it can add some spice to your chess.

Lives up to the high standard of his other opening books.

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In full disclosure I only made it through part of the book. What I did read was extremely poor. The author chose games he knows are bad games. He even annotates ? and ?? moves played by the opposing color. The bottomline is that he chose games where his repertoire wins, but it wins against bad play. There is no critical analysis or engine verification.