The well-known grandmaster and theoretician Evgeny Sveshnikov has used the Closed Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5) more than 150 times in tournament play with a score of more than 70%. Many theoretically important games have been excluded by the author from 'official' chess databases, and here they are exclusively published for the first time. Volume 1 (Basic Course) contains the following main chapters: Historical overview of the Closed Variation; Plans for White and Black on the basis of thoroughly annotated games; A lesson on the blockade; 70 test positions: what would you play?