Nick de Firmian is acclaimed as the world's leading expert on chess openings. He "taught" the supercomputer Deep Blue the opening moves it used to defeat World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. As this book goes to press, de Firmian reigns as the current United States Chess Champion—making him a three-time winner of the top American title. He has also represented the United States in seven Chess Olympiads and three World Chess Championship cycles. His previous written works include the 13th edition of Modern Chess Openings; San Francisco 1995, which detailed that year's Grandmaster Invitational; and various articles for Chess Life magazine. A graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in physics, de Firmian is a native Californian who now resides in Copenhagen, Denmark, with his wife and son.