This book fills a gaping chasm in chess literature. For years, those who wish to take on the black side of the Ruy Lopez have had to muddle their way through against the variety of alternative openings at White's disposal. This book gives a choice of systems for Black, to counter anything White might try in order to avoid the Ruy Lopez - the Scotch, King's Gambit, Italian Game, Four Knights, etc. Grandmaster Emms is ideally qualified to deal with this subject, having faced them as Black, but also having played many of them as White before graduating to the Ruy Lopez.

"... the thing I like the most about this book is the effort put in by Emms. The number of points where he offers original analysis, or where he disagrees with previously accepted analyses, convince me that he put a lot of thought into this work." - Sam Collins, CHESS TODAY

"Fills a definite gap in the market ...a fine treatment of a well-chosen topic, which will be very useful to players of all standards who wish to answer 1 e4 with 1...e5." - Phil Adams, 3Cs web site

"With this work Emms keeps up his reputation as a diligent author, and certainly by following his recommendations readers should be happy when their opponents avoid the Ruy Lopez" - Richard Palliser, HULL CHESS CLUB MAGAZINE

"Fills an important niche in the market"- John Pugh, CHESS POST

Download a pdf file with a sample from the book.

Gambit books by John Emms: The Most Amazing Chess Moves of All Time, Play the Open Games as Black, The Survival Guide to Rook Endings, The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book.