I started playing chess in 2016, and have been playing 1.e4 exclusively until recently. This is the first book I’ve come across that provided an abundance of fresh, relevant, dangerous ideas across my entire repertoire. Ntirlis created a beast that is yet to be stopped. Reimagining 1.e4 is perhaps the most useful opening book I’ve been through, and many players, including top Grandmasters such as Giri and Nakamura, have used (and stolen!) ideas from Ntirlis’ e4 arsenal. Giri has written the foreword to the book. In it, he mentions how he heard about an idea in the Sveshnikov from Ntirlis, and ended up using it in his Chessable course. There are no opening books the elite players quote. Except for this one.
The book came about in a very unconventional way. Ntirlis, prompted by his boss at the time to explore the company’s social media presence, started using Twitter as a testing ground. He began posting novel opening ideas. His posts gained so much traction that players began contacting him to find solutions to specific problems they had in their own repertoires. His tweets gained legendary status, got quoted by streamers, his novelties began appearing in tournament play at all levels, and an idea for Reimagining 1.e4 was born.
As Ntirlis says, he, unlike many other coaches, believes that memorizing lines is beneficial, so the book is very heavy. It’s definitely not intended for beginners, but for ambitious players who wish to build an e4 repertoire that will present black with problems in yet uncharted waters, challenging the premises of many main lines in many main line openings, such as the Najdorf, Marshall, or the Berlin. For main line, commonly occurring openings, he provides a ton of depth, and a sea of variations. Learning all of that is challenging, but he does an excellent job at explaining the ideas behind the moves, and the general concepts one can follow even when out of book. For less common openings, such as the Scandi or the Pirc, he gives a bit more concise instructions, fewer variations, and more general guidelines on how to play against them – easily applicable weapons.
I don’t want to present the lines he recommends. You will do that on your own. But I will say that he provides interesting ideas against each defense at black’s disposal. As a Caro-Kann player, I can say that his ideas seem terrifying.
Reimagining 1.e4, as is the case with all Quality Chess books, follows the same layout. That layout is what makes their books, especially those heavy on variations, much easier to follow than your average chess book. You will need a chess board and a notebook to go through the book nevertheless. I ended up using up three notebooks going through it. In many ways, Reimagining 1.e4 is a very heavy read intended for advanced players, but it’s also an encyclopedia of great opening ideas, and any e4 player will benefit from it without reading it cover to cover. Even if you referenced it during your prep for a specific opponent regularly, in time you would enrich your repertoire greatly. A must-read book for e4 players!
