Modern Chess Opening Theory,

This work is very interesting in several ways. "Modern Chess Opening Theory" is just that [and mine is a non-algebraic paperback by-the-way]. But, as Chess has gone thru so many phases of development and explanation, an attempt to effectively present its opening theory -- would seem to have to be too thin and abstact OR too long and detailed to be useful for many living players of Chess. This book succeeds in presenting effective dynamic opening theory in moderate detail in a moderate sized manual. This is likely due to ongoing reliance on Chess Elements of Pawns-Force-Space-Time to sufficiently streamline the necessarily very detailed anaysis. This reader and player also appreciates the respect shown for all the various main styles of Chess -- despite the author coming from an earlier Hypermodern = Soviet = Russian background. The earlier Hypermodern style is indeed effective and due respect -- and a favorite of this reader and player. Yet, other main styles are due respect [and usage]. All of this is demonstrated in this work in rational detail -- that necessarily goes into whole-game detail as the phases cannot be separated -- opening-middlegame-ending. Via the analysis of the work under review -- quite Pawns-Force-Space-Time based -- it has been found that many older and newer styles and lines of play are still valid or newly valid. Therefore, there is plenty of room for personal style -- and one may end-up choosing Chess resources at least partly based-on personal preference. For all-out up-to-date total opening-middlegame-ending detail one may nowadays have to explore massive computer resources online and offline. For folks below, say chess-rating 2000, this may slow-down game-playing progress, however. One big lesson I have learned from this deep work is -- that something like a Semi-Hypermodern approach to Chess is good [for me] -- respecting most styles and lines of play while choosing my own main style -- say Semi-Hypermodern. So, by way of my example, if one can deal with non-algebraic notation -- the half-forgotten world of Semi-Hypermodern Chess can be explored via "Modern Chess Opening" works such as MCO 10 by Evans and Korn, MCO 11 by just Korn [as a direct cross-check on MCO 10] and "Chess Openings -- Theory and Practice" by Horowitz [as a very well written indirect cross-check of MCO 10]. This type of cross-checking can then go beyond adverse clashing of old-versus-new and style-versus-style and even edition-versus-edition -- given that there is much room for exploration of personal Chess style -- as shown by "Modern Chess Opening Theory" +++