Quote:I DO NOT have the (2nd Edition) but it is worth getting hold of this or do you have any other suggested books ? Also, is the (2nd Edition) the same as the (New Edition - 1996) or was that the first edition - confused?
I have all three editions. The second one--1996--is good to have; the first one--1984--not so much.
I myself particularly like the second edition because of its coverage of 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Nf6, 4. e5, which isn't covered in the third edition. Of course, it's a bit out of date, but I like his ideas and presentation so much better than, say, Pshakis, that I use the Pshakis to annotate my Watson with the more current stuff.
There's lots of other ideas in #2 that aren't in #3. In fact, if you're reading through #3, Watson seems to assume you already have #2. He's always saying, "Or another perfectly good line is XXX, which I cover in the second edition." It's enormously satisfying to open up the second edition to see what the heck he's talking about.