Curiosity made the book contagious. A mapmaker loved the clarity of its diagrams. A widow who’d once watched her husband play studied the Sorokaev variations and found, in the symmetry of pieces, a kind of solace. The local librarian, an amateur historian, noticed references to towns that didn’t match any modern atlas. She found one pencil note that read “Kovalenko, Lviv ’49” and, following that thread, discovered an archival program listing a refugee tournament where displaced players tested new ideas to keep minds sharp in camps.

If Volume A is positional and Volume C is classical, Volume B is the realm of asymmetry and immediate imbalance. White plays 1.e4, and Black says, "I will not play 1...e5." This leads to the most volatile positions in chess.

However, it is a reference manual, not a textbook. It is best used in conjunction with modern database software to check the latest wrinkles. For the serious tournament player, having this volume (whether on the shelf or as a searchable PDF on a tablet) is a mark of professionalism.