Book excerpt: The Vienna Gambit is a sound but relatively forgotten opening. This book contains the most in-depth, comprehensive analysis of the opening to date, aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at the club player. To this end it contains over 600 diagrams intended to enable club players to follow the analysis without necessarily having a chessboard to hand. The book does not simply re-hash accepted theory on the Vienna Gambit, much of which was established before the age of modern computer engines and databases, but re-examines the opening from the bottom up. As a result, there is a wealth of exciting new analysis and the need for some variations to be re-evaluated; lines which established theory considers dubious are shown to be viable, and vice versa. This book will be useful to players of all abilities, from club player up to master level. At club level, after the introductory moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4, there is a good chance that Black is already out of book and floundering. The first three chapters cover inferior continuations from Black, namely accepting the gambit with 3...exf4, declining it passively with 3...d6, and other poor but plausible moves such as 3....Bb4 and 3....Nc6. At club level White will encounter these moves frequently and, with the refutations presented here, should achieve quick victories.The body of the book covers the main lines following 3...d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4. There are three chapters examining the Oxford Variation with 5.d3, three chapters on the Modern Variation after 5.Nf3 and three chapters on 5.Qf3, the Paulsen Attack. Unusually lines following 4.exd5, a rarely played deviation, are also examined over three chapters and shown to be viable for White. Each chapter concludes with an Illustrative game annotated by Senior International Master Mike Read.This book, therefore, offers White a choice of four avenues to follow, all viable, some suited to tactical players, others to those who prefer a more positional approach, and is essential to anyone wishing to play the Vienna Gambit.