Parimarjan Negi: Grandmaster Repertoire

1.e4 vs the French, Caro-Kann and Philidor

Riding on the heels of India’s magnificent performance at the Chess Olympiad, where he spearheaded India to a path-breaking and historic bronze medal for the first-time event, Parimarjan Negi on Friday unveiled his first book offering – Grandmaster Repertoire – 1.e4.

The book, which is Negi’s work on openings with 1.e4, was launched in India by Mr. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the Honourable Union Minister for Civil Aviation. The launch took place at the Airports Authority of India Officer’s Institute and the book is currently available online.

Negi, who became India’s youngest grandmaster in 2006 – he was then the world’s second youngest Grandmaster – won the Asian Championships in 2012 and has been a member of the Indian team at the 2014 Olympiad. Now, Negi has made the momentous decision to step away from the life of a professional chess player and pursue his higher education in the USA at Stanford University.

The Union Minister, while lauding the young Grandmaster also said, that it was great to see Indian players not only winning laurels but also contribute to the literature of the game, which India gave to the world.

Parimarjan said, “I will now combine academics with chess. I will continue to play for India whenever selected and in a few select events while studying for my degree at Stanford.” He added, “It is a great opportunity to go to Stanford. I am lucky to have got in and will also get to play chess alongside.”

After deciding to step back a little, Negi proceeded to put his works and analysis into a path-breaking book. Building on a foundation of tried-and-tested main lines, Negi, the author, shares a wealth of his innovative analysis to chart a course towards an advantage for White. Volume One covers the French, Caro-Kann and Philidor. He proposes to add four more volumes in the series.

It is interesting fact that the two great series of books on a White Repertoire are based on the games, and notes of Indian players. GM Alexander Khalifman famously wrote a huge series of books on Opening According to Anand which ran to 14 volumes. That finished two years ago. Now we have Negi with this latest book.

Anish Giri, a world-class Dutch Grandmaster, sending his message from the Netherlands, with his tongue firmly in his cheek, said:

“I know Parimarjan well enough to know what he is capable of when it comes to chess analysis. He was foolish enough to be totally honest in his book, not hiding anything from the readers, and now a bunch of new creative ideas in 1.e4 is out there in the open. The day after the book was on sale I won a nice game at Olympiad with white against a French Defense in a topical variation, following one of his recommendations. No, it was not a coincidence! And yes, I am a quick reader."

Publisher, Jacob Aagaard, in a message said:

“It is with great delight that we have this summer published Parimarjan Negi’s book 1.e4 vs the French, Caro-Kann & Philidor. In Quality Chess we have done our upmost to set the standards in chess literature over the last decade, especially in books concerning the beginning of the game. Negi’s book has a title that makes perfect sense to chess players, but might sound very technical to those less familiar with chess lingo. But let us assure you all that this book is as entertaining, thoughtful, creative and progressive as a book on the chess opening can possibly be. The book talks perfectly to amateurs and is very easy to follow. But it is also high in quality. This is shown by how the Dutch no 1. Anish Giri, used a new idea in the book to win a game against Brazil in the Chess Olympiad in Tromso a few days after the book was out.”

He added, “In short, we are deeply honoured and proud to be working with Parimarjan on this project and have made his book our headline publication of 2014. We eagerly await the coming volumes, as will much of the chess World.” Ever since its inception in 2008, the Grandmaster Repertoire series has produced some of the world’s best opening books, and they have followed that up with an elite repertoire with 1.e4.

Video: Parimarjan unveils his first chess book

• Read a PDF extract from the book
• You can buy the book for $26.85 at Amazon
• 2009 ChessBase report: Portrait of a young super-talent