E4 Wins! is a confident and promising book title that consistently reflects the content of the work. White begins the game with 1. e4 and plays determinedly for an opening advantage. With 1. e4, White not only chooses the most popular opening move but also creates the best prospects for maintaining the initiative and for a game rich in combinations. There is a wealth of theory on almost all the paths Black takes thereafter. Like a very good travel guide, E4 Wins! leads the reader through the terrain, always careful to guide them to the best places while avoiding mass tourism.

The advantages are manifold: the reader is provided with a carefully selected and researched complete repertoire, written from White's point of view and also useful for Black. The variations included promise full-fledged play and mostly an opening advantage. They lie outside the fashionable trends, thus avoiding the flood of theory and promising a surprise effect. The repertoire breaks with conventional taboos and does not shy away from the "iron rules" of chess. If, for example, there is a good reason for leading the queen into battle early, then this is exactly what the authors recommend.

A special note goes to the total of 78 games in the book. These have been very carefully selected. The decisive factor for the selection was not so much the year in which they were played but the profit that the reader can draw from them. If, for example, a striking blunder in an older game led to a loss, this will be particularly instructive for the reader. Those who know "historical" mistakes can avoid similar mistakes in their own games. The work therefore contains particularly instructive games from all epochs.

Jerzy Konikowski is a FIDE Master and known as the author of a large number of excellent opening books. Bekemann is a National Correspondence Chess Champion (bronze), PR manager of the German Correspondence Chess Federation, and author of various gambit books.