books and online databases I could find.

Whenever you try to prepare an opening for

White, the game is rigged in your opponent's favour if they play a mainline. Generally
speaking, when you look deep enough, chess is a draw. Black is fine if he chooses a
good opening. If the goal of a lifetime repertoire from White's point of view is to
analyze a position all the way to the end, disappointment awaits. At some point, you
will have to admit that Black can hold, and this happens more than once in the course.
My goal is to never allow Black to reach a position he can hold easily. There are places
where he can get to a worse but defensible endgame that a computer will not lose, but a
human might. It's always something of a cop-out to say 'A computer will be fine here
but you won't face a computer' and I only choose to exercise this option very deep down
some long lines where Black has to work very hard to get there in the first place. The
best way I can summarize this philosophy is that I believe this repertoire will not beat a
computer and will be mostly useless for correspondence players, but it may well beat a
very strong human who has spent a lot of time preparing with the computer but still has
to come to the board and play on his own. I think this is a much higher standard than
what you see from clowns who recommend bad lines; those repertoires will not work
aga3. Bg2
{ White can count on some advantage thanks to his better structure. } *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "2. Quickstarter Guide"]
[Black "Queen's Indian Sidelines #3"]
[Result "*"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
{ Not so long ago, the Queen's Indian Defence was a mainstay in elite-level chess, and it
would seem unfathomable to think that just 15 years later, it would be mostly gone. In
general, I think it is the defence against 1. d4 that suffered the greatest hit to its
reputation at the hands of computers in recent times. I wouldn't be so bold as to say I
have conclusively proved an advantage, but I think I can put Black under a lot of
pressure. }
4. g3
{ Now, the two main moves are 4...Bb7 and 4...Ba6 , with the latter being the better
one, but Black does have a couple of other extraneous tries. }
4... Bb4+
{ With this move, Black is aiming to play more of a Bogo-Indian, but it's a bit different
for two reasons. First off, White has committed to g2-g3 already, which diverges from
the setups I am recommending in the proper Bogo-Indian, but also Black is committed
to playing b7-b6, which I generally think is a worse way to develop the bishop than d7-
d6 followed by e6-e5. Additionally, in the normal Bogo-Indian, Black can consider
setups with d7-d5, when White generally is supposed to wait for b7-b6 before taking on
d5. Now, b7-b6 has already been played, which limits Black's options further. }
5. Bd2 c5
{ If Black wants to play a kind of Bogo setup with c7-c5, I think this is a better way of
doing it than in the Bogo proper, and it is a sensible move. But I still think White should
be better. }
6. Bg2 Bb7 7. d5
{ It took a move, but once more, I want to meet c7-c5 with d4-d5. } 7... exd5
8. Nh4 O-O 9. Nc3 Ne4 10. cxd5 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 d6 12. O-O
{ Black would be comfortably better in this structure if his b4-bishop were more or less
anywhere else, such as e7 or g7. But as is, its only prospect is to exchange for the knight
on c3 and strengthen White's pawn centre. }
12... b5 { Trying to make room for the bishop won't help matters. } 13. a3 Bxc3
{ Black should take on c3, but after } 14. bxc3
{ White just has a better version of the mainline and can even think about switching the
style up and hitting the queenside. }
*

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "2. Quickstarter Guide"]
[Black "Queen's Indian Sidelines #4"]
[Result "*"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
{ Not so long ago, the Queen's Indian Defence was a mainstay in elite-level chess, and it
would seem unfathomable to think that just 15 years later, it would be mostly gone. In
general, I think it is the defence against 1. d4 that suffered the greatest hit to its
reputation at the hands of computers in recent times. I wouldn't be so bold as to say I
have conclusively proved an advantage, but I think I can put Black under a lot of
pressure. }
4. g3
{ Now, the two main moves are 4...Bb7 and 4...Ba6 , with the latter being the better
one, but Black does have a couple of other extraneous tries. }
4... Bb4+
{ With this move, Black is aiming to play more of a Bogo-Indian, but it's a bit different
for two reasons. First off, White has committed to g2-g3 already, which diverges from
the setups I am recommending in the proper Bogo-Indian, but also Black is committed
to playing b7-b6, which I generally think is a worse way to develop the bishop than d7-
d6 followed by e6-e5. Additionally, in the normal Bogo-Indian, Black can consider
setups with d7-d5, when White generally is supposed to wait for b7-b6 before taking on
d5. Now, b7-b6 has already been played, which limits Black's options further. }
5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Bb7 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O
{ White is pleasantly better here. Black does not have a great way to challenge Whites
centre since he has not put his pieces in a great place to get the d7-d6 followed by e6-e5
plan through, and d7-d5 tends to leave him with a bad structure. }
8... d6
{ This is Black's most common choice by far. Now, I like a rather subtle idea. }
9. Qf4
{ White is ready for Nb1-c3 next without allowing Nf6-e4 to come in response, and he
should be able to get the e2-e4 advance in to claim a nice advantage. 9.Nc3 White
generally wants to play this move to fight for the e2-e4 and d4-d5 advances, gaining
more space, but in general, Black is very happy to meet it with Nf6-e4 to force some
pieces off. After 9...Ne4 White may well be a little better, but I find the text much more
convincing. }
9... Nh5 10. Qe3 { Black's knight on h5 is badly misplaced. After } 10... Nf6
11. Nc3 { White is ready to push through with e2-e4 soon. } *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "2. Quickstarter Guide"]
[Black "Queen's Indian 4... Bb7 #1"]
[Result "*"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
{ Not so long ago, the Queen's Indian Defence was a mainstay in elite-level chess, and it
would seem unfathomable to think that just 15 years later, it would be mostly gone. In
general, I think it is the defence against 1. d4 that suffered the greatest hit to its
reputation at the hands of computers in recent times. I wouldn't be so bold as to say I
have conclusively proved an advantage, but I think I can put Black under a lot of
pressure. }
4. g3
{ Now, the two main moves are 4...Bb7 and 4...Ba6 , with the latter being the better
one, but Black does have a couple of other extraneous tries. }
4... Bb7
{ For a long time, this move was almost as popular as the more direct 4...Ba6 , but
nowadays, it is a rare guest in top-level play. }
5. Bg2 Bb4+
{ Black can give a check at more or less any moment. Thankfully, this repertoire is
simple enough that it is always met with Bc1-d2. }
6. Bd2
{ Now, Black's only extraneous option is ...Bb4-e7 any other move would transpose to
one of the 4...Bb4+ lines. }
6... Be7
{ This was the move order I chose once upon a time against Le Quang Liem. This way,
White is not in time to play the Qd1-b1 idea as he is already committed to playing Bf1-
g2, but I still think he is comfortably better. }
7. Nc3 c6 8. Bf4
{ White delays castling. We will see why this is important shortly. 8.O-O d5 This I
find less convincing. Black is free to take back with the c-pawn on d5 whenever it is
needed, and he looks pretty solid to me, though it has to be said that even here, the
computer gives White some edge. }
8... d5 9. cxd5
{ Normally, White is not thrilled to make this move if Black can take back with the c-
pawn. But here, it proves to be impossible. }
9... cxd5 10. Nb5
{ The threat of Nb5-c7+ forces Black to ruin his coordination. } 10... Na6 11.
Rc1 O-O 12. a3
{ Black's queenside coordination will be his undoing. He cannot kick the b5-knight
away because the knight on a6 is in the way, he cannot move the knight out of the way
because of Nb5-c7, trapping the rook, and the cannot move the rook away since a7 will
hang. In short, nothing moves. }
*
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "2. Quickstarter Guide"]
[Black "Queen's Indian 4... Bb7 #2"]
[Result "*"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
{ Not so long ago, the Queen's Indian Defence was a mainstay in elite-level chess, and it
would seem unfathomable to think that just 15 years later, it would be mostly gone. In
general, I think it is the defence against 1. d4 that suffered the greatest hit to its
reputation at the hands of computers in recent times. I wouldn't be so bold as to say I
have conclusively proved an advantage, but I think I can put Black under a lot of
pressure. }
4. g3
{ Now, the two main moves are 4...Bb7 and 4...Ba6 , with the latter being the better
one, but Black does have a couple of other extraneous tries. }
4... Bb7
{ For a long time, this move was almost as popular as the more direct 4...Ba6 , but
nowadays, it is a rare guest in top-level play. }
5. Bg2 g6
{ This kooky move has been seen from time to time, but it's hard for me to imagine
Black can lose this much time to fianchetto both of his bishops while White is taking the
whole centre. }
6. Nc3 { White is ready for d4-d5 next. } 6... Ne4
{ This is generally how Black responds to Nb1-c3 in the Queen' Indian, but White can
happily ignore him. }
7. d5 { Anyway. } 7... Nxc3 8. Qd4 f6 9. Qxc3 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Rd1
{ White's extra space and more active pieces gives him a serious advantage. } *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "2. Quickstarter Guide"]
[Black "Queen's Indian 4... Bb7 #3"]
[Result "*"]