The following lines serve as a mere introduction on how to play the English Opening. If you want some deeper analysis, I recommend The Dynamic English. See my review.
Over time I intend to gradually add computer analysis to these lines.
I recommend keeping a Memorization List to help you remember the lines. Because it takes a while for our brains to absorb new information, I recommend adding no more than one of the pages below per week to the Memorization List.
This web page is still under construction. There may be be errors in the pages list above. I am still working on fixing any errors that may exist.
Review of "
The Dynamic English
"
What I hope to get out of this book is to use it as a reference against specific lines that I see people play against me, and I hope that over time I can become enough of a specialist with this opening that I can get good games without having to deal with all the openings that can arise from either 1. e4 or 1. d4. For this reason, the book is well worth buying.
The problem with all the glowing reviews that people have bestowed on this book is that they believe the hype too much. This book claims to be a simple system that you can play against all variations without a lot of memorization. According to Silman, it is also suppose to introduce positional ideas to players who are unfamiliar with them. In reality, what you get is a rigid starting sequence followed by a mountain of detail. Detail can be really good for a reference work, but not as a system. There is really too much here for your typical club player to absorb. I went through just the first 6 to 7 moves of all the variations and found the amount of material to be overwhelming. Despite how overwhelming the first 6 to 7 moves are, there is no place in the book where you can glean a middle game plan from looking at just the first 6 or 7 moves. You have to go deeper.
I also had a hard time finding some variations. It took me a while to figure out that c6, e6 followed by d5 is a line in the book. Furthermore, g3 is not the kind of line that gives white a strong advantage against solid play, like playing c6, e6, and d5, to which the book recommends a gambit line, although I did just win my first game online with it.
The right way to use this book is to first get a general idea of how to start out and then study specific lines that people commonly play against you. Adopting a new opening repertoire is no trivial task, and it could take months or years to get really fluent in the opening.