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Ward commences with a look at 'opening principles' in which he reiterates much from the earlier two works to ensure that readers have fully grasped them, irrespective of whether they have read the two previous works. Then follows a brief look at all the major openings, during which Ward is very readable and does a good job of clearly explaining the ideas behind each move. Certainly after studying over 120 pages on various openings, readers will understand many of the main features of opening play, such as the importance of central control. Nevertheless, very few lines are taken even up to move 10, and there is only one complete game to illustrate the benefits of following the rules of correct opening play.

Ward is fairly good at explaining the ideas behind each opening. However, for example, with just four pages devoted to the King's Indian, readers would still be throwing themselves in at the deep end should they play the opening based upon this small amount of knowledge. Ward aims to show readers all the openings, as which ones they choose to play is very much a personal choice. Surely, however, it would have been better to concentrate solely on the more classical openings, as without some practical experience in each line it is very hard for a young player to know if they prefer blocked positions or positions with an IQP. Certainly the chapter on 1 e4 e5 openings is the best. Had Ward only also featured 1 d4 d5 then, whilst readers would have certain gaps in their opening repertoire, they would be able to grasp all the main opening principles from practical play with these lines, and only then later look at broadening their opening repertoire. Sadler's work offers some practical help on building a repertoire, and it is a pity that Ward cannot do likewise and suggest which openings go well together. Readers will understand what they should aim for from this work, but the vast amount of different openings is more likely to swamp and confuse rather than to help. For young players / beginners in general this work is no challenge at all to the classic and heavily recommended Chess Openings for Juniors.

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