In this new edition, I have sought to bring the book fully up to date in a number of respects. Firstly, I attended to any typos that had found their way into the first edition. Next, I employed a new automated procedure (developed in 1997) to check all the moves for legality and accuracy of notation, and then ran a computer-check over all the analysis. This threw up a number of points, which led to a good deal of new analysis, and in some cases made it necessary to replace games and positions entirely. For the most part though, the analysis stood up to scrutiny, and remains unchanged, but may now be considered computer-approved.
The next task was to bring the content up to date by addressing developments in the fields of computer chess and online chess. In particular, there is a completely new section in the chapter on Computer Chess, discussing the abilities of the latest generation of chess-playing computer engines. Finally, it was necessary to update any topical content, such as the state of play (or non-play) in the world championship.
Graham Burgess
Bristol, England 2000