We study the problem of gravity surface waves for an ideal fluid model in the (2+1)-dimensional case. We apply a systematic procedure to derive the Boussinesq equations for a given relation between the orders of four expansion parameters, the amplitude parameter & alpha;, the long-wavelength parameter & beta;, the transverse wavelength parameter & gamma;, and the bottom variation parameter & delta;. Such an approach, known in (1+1)-dimensional theory, is extended for the first time for (2+1)-dimensional shallow water waves. Using this procedure, we derived the only possible (2+1)-dimensional extensions of the Korteweg-de Vries equation, the fifth-order KdV equation and the Gardner equation in three cases of the relationship between these parameters. All these equations are non-local. When the bottom is flat, the (2+1)-dimensional KdV equation can be transformed to the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation in a fixed reference frame and next to the classical KP equation in a moving frame. Thus, the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation gained a derivation from the fundamental laws of hydrodynamics. We have found soliton, cnoidal, and superposition solutions (essentially one-dimensional) to the (2+1)-dimensional Korteweg-de Vries equation and the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation.& COPY; 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.