Whole books exist on single openings; a single chapter cannot replace that depth. What follows is a set of concrete, practical recommendations for White at the intermediate level, built from Rozman's own ten-plus years of coaching experience — not the objectively "best" openings by engine evaluation, and not necessarily what will suit your personal style. You might try one of these and watch it fail spectacularly for you, simply because it doesn't fit your temperament, and that's fine: the real goal is to see what studying an opening in depth looks like, whether or not you end up keeping his exact picks. Treat them as a starting framework: study them, test them in real games, and feel free to replace any of them once you find something that fits you better.
Chapter 9 laid out the underlying philosophy: choose one first move, learn the plans it leads to in real depth, and prefer positions that are sound but slightly off the most-studied path, since that gives your opponent less to draw on from memory. Everything below follows that same logic — nothing here is the theoretical main line at grandmaster level, and that is deliberate.
For 1.d4, the London System remains the practical recommendation already introduced in the last chapter. White develops a pawn triangle (d4–e3–c3), drops the dark-squared bishop onto f4 or g3 before it gets boxed in, brings both knights toward the center, places the light-squared bishop on d3, and castles kingside:
Fun fact: from January 2020 to January 2023, the London System was played over 20 million times in online games — a sign of just how reliably it reaches a familiar structure.
Why recommend it at all? Because it is, frankly, the laziest option for White that is still genuinely effective — it needs far less study time than most openings because you can wheel it out against almost anything Black does. Rozman likens getting better at it to a chef's career: a beginner cook sticks to the basic recipe, and only once that's second nature does he start adding fancier ingredients. As you log more London games, you'll start picking up your own extra "spices" — small variations in move order and piece placement tuned to whatever slightly-off move Black just played.
Black has very few ways to actively stop the London. Playing 1...e5 hangs a pawn for nothing (the Englund Gambit), and grabbing space with an early 1...c5 is met the same way whether it comes right away or a little later — White simply reinforces the center with c3 instead of capturing. The more effective, more common version of that ...c5 idea comes once White's bishop has already committed to f4: Black opens the queen's diagonal toward the undefended b2 pawn and pressures d4, and White answers c3 again so any capture on d4 can be recaptured. The board below plays out that main line in full, alongside both ways Black tries to disrupt it.
The lesson generalizes: even the London, the hardest White opening for Black to disrupt, still needs a prepared response at nearly every branch. Whichever opening you choose, study the critical replies move by move, then play, review your losses, and repeat.
For 1.e4, the recommendation is 2.Nc3 after 1...e5 — the Vienna System — instead of the far more common 2.Nf3, which is the move order that leads into an Italian Opening or a Spanish Opening (the Ruy López). e4 openings offer more variety of positions than the London and, with good preparation, real chances to be winning within the first ten moves; the tradeoff is that Black has six or seven independent replies to prepare for. The Vienna is worth learning specifically because it stays easy to understand move after move while still carrying real traps for an unprepared opponent — you do not need to memorize dozens of only-computer-approved moves to play it well.
Fun fact: as of November 2022, across roughly 450 of his own games with the Vienna, Rozman reports a win rate of about 70 percent — well above the roughly 50 percent baseline White scores overall. He trusts the opening enough to play it against some of the strongest grandmasters in the world, which is exactly why he pushes it on his readers too.
Against Black's natural 2...Nf6, White can strike immediately with 3.f4 — the Vienna Gambit. If Black grabs the pawn, 4.e5 kicks the knight back to its starting square, and White develops with tempo. A second Vienna trick punishes a Black player who mirrors White's moves too literally instead (2...Nc6, 4...Bc5): 5.Qg4 attacks the g7 pawn and threatens to trap Black's rook after capturing it, only four moves in. The board below shows both.
The Vienna System only works as a plan against 1...e5. If Black answers 1.e4 with anything else — most importantly the Sicilian, 1...c5 — none of these Vienna ideas apply.
The Sicilian Defense (1...c5) is the second most common reply to 1.e4 and one of the most theoretically dense openings in chess — not recommended as a deep study project for beginners or intermediates, though your opponents will play it anyway regardless of that advice, often simply because they've seen Magnus Carlsen play it and want to copy him. The practical recommendation against it is 2.c3, the Alapin Variation, preparing d4 next move to claim the full center:
The appeal of the Alapin is practical rather than theoretical: it steers the game away from the sharpest, most heavily analyzed main lines of the Sicilian, cutting out something like 90 percent of the study time an opponent may have specifically invested in Sicilian theory. Note that the Vienna System and the Alapin cannot both apply in the same game — Black chooses either 1...e5 or 1...c5, never both — so you simply reach for whichever plan the position calls for.
This is one coach's opinion, not chess law. Rozman doesn't recommend deep-diving the Sicilian as Black material for beginners and intermediates, but plenty of other coaches teach it as a first defense and nothing else — coaching philosophies genuinely differ, and your opponents will keep playing the Sicilian regardless of what any single book recommends.
Black does not have to answer 1.e4 with 1...e5 or the Sicilian. Two other common defenses, the French (1...e6) and the Caro-Kann (1...c6), were introduced back in Chapter Three as building-block openings. Against both, the recommendation is the same idea: when Black challenges the center with ...d5, push the e-pawn forward instead of capturing.
Restricting Black's space this way makes development awkward and, at the intermediate level, tends to provoke rash attempts to break the blockade — exactly the kind of mistake a solid, well-developed White position can punish. Black does have resources to fight back against both advance variations, so study the critical replies rather than assuming the space advantage wins by itself.
With 1.e4, be ready for every major Black defense — the symmetrical 1...e5, the Sicilian, the French, the Caro-Kann, the Scandinavian, and the Modern — and expect to invest real study time building that repertoire. The Vienna System and the Alapin Variation are the recommended weapons against Black's two most common tries (1...e5 and the Sicilian) because they lead to predictable, easy-to-understand positions and score well in the database numbers Rozman cites: a 70 percent personal win rate with the Vienna, 64 percent after the Vienna Gambit line, and roughly 90 percent of a typical Sicilian player's preparation sidestepped by the Alapin. With 1.d4, the London System offers a near-identical setup game after game, saving hours of study compared to sharper alternatives — and like a chef's repertoire, it's meant to grow more refined the longer you cook with it. None of this is gospel — these are one coach's recommendations built on ten-plus years of teaching, and if your own White openings are already winning you games, there is no need to change them.
A pawn triangle on d4, e3, and c3, the dark-squared bishop developed to f4 (or retreated to g3) before it gets blocked in, both knights developed toward the center, the light-squared bishop on d3, and the king castled kingside.
It simply loses a pawn: White captures on e5 and develops naturally. With correct play the gambit just leaves Black down material, although White should still know the specific traps Black can spring from it.
It opens the queen's diagonal toward b2 and pressures the White center, threatening to dislodge the d4 pawn. White meets it with c3, reinforcing the center so that any capture on d4 can be recaptured.
3.f4 offers a pawn to open lines and seize the initiative; after 3...exf4 4.e5 kicks the Black knight back to g8, leaving White far ahead in development. White can then win the f4 pawn back with d4, attacking it with the dark-squared bishop.
Only against 1...e5. The Vienna's plans (2.Nc3 and the follow-up ideas) are built specifically around that structure; they do not apply if Black answers 1.e4 with, for example, the Sicilian.
It prepares 3.d4, giving White two central pawns and directly challenging Black's c5 pawn, while steering the game away from the heavily analyzed main lines of the Sicilian that an opponent may have specifically prepared.
Pushing to e5 gains space and restricts Black's position, making development harder for Black and often provoking mistakes as Black tries to break the resulting blockade.
Not necessarily. These are one coach's practical recommendations based on his own experience, not the single correct choice — if your current openings are winning you games and suit your style, there is no need to change them.
A cook starts with the basic recipe and only adds fancier ingredients once the basics are automatic. In the same way, once the core London structure is second nature, you start layering in small refinements against specific Black tries instead of changing your whole plan.
2...d6 is played about half as often as 2...Nc6; together the two make up roughly 53 percent of games reaching that position, so preparing White's plan against both covers the large majority of what you'll actually face.
No. That's Rozman's own opinion; other coaches teach the Sicilian to their students as a primary defense. Coaching philosophies genuinely differ, and opponents will keep playing the Sicilian either way, which is why White still needs a plan against it.