BCM Reviews : November 1998

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Gambit Guide to the Bogo-Indian by Steffen Pedersen, Gambit Publications 1998, 160 pages, £16.99.

The Bogo-Indian (or Bogoljubow Defence, as it is occasionally called) arising after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Bb4+ is still something of a well-kept secret as far as the majority of players are concerned, as it is still perceived as the country cousin of the Queen's Indian (3 ... b6). It also has the reputation of being slightly dull. However, while it may not be what Ruud Gullit would exactly call 'sexy chess', it certainly gets plenty of sound positions and is used by a wide range of top players, from Korchnoi and Timman to Adams and Andersson. Steffen Pedersen's no-nonsense guide is a good introduction for the club player and serious student alike, with a good summary of pawn structures and typical plans for both sides at the start of each chapter. Variations are also given a certain character, so we also learn that 4 Nbd2 is 'ambitious', whilst the tricky line 4 Bd2 c5 is 'aggressive'.

Pedersen has gone a long way to attempting a complete repertoire coverage, as transpositions to the Nimzo-Indian after 4 Nc3 are covered, so that there is no need go and 'see another book'. This approach seems to have been followed throughout, but occasionally Pedersen does feel the need to draw his line in the sand, such as in the chapter on the Catalan Bogo (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 Bb4+): '4 Nc3 is a 4 g3 Nimzo-Indian and really outside the scope of this book'. Despite this slight limitation (which would be hard to conquer within the allotted number of pages anyway), Pedersen's explanation of ideas really is first class, and should prove very handy for those who want a solid defence where knowledge of the key ideas is much more important than line-by-line memory work.


 

Practical Middlegame Tips by Edmar Mednis, Cadogan 1998, 176 pages, £15.99.

In the third of his Practical Tips series for Cadogan, American GM Edmar Mednis is back on familiar territory. As usual, there's common sense advice to the competitively-minded player on a whole range of subjects that somehow slide through the gaps in many other works, yet are vitally important in practical play. For example, while many authors give reams of dashing sacrifices, there are few who will spend much time telling you how to sensibly deal with such sacrifices. Mednis gives a careful checklist and then examines the game where Chen Zhu, one of the rising generation of Chinese stars, was able to defend her king against GM llya Smirin with gutsy defence and good calculation.

Elsewhere, there are several aphorisms which are probably worth their weight in prize money: 'The rook is a major piece only in attacking. It is a clumsy defender' and in Solid is not safe 'It is players with White - especially the lower-rated player striving for a draw against a superior opponent - who often tend to have an unjustified feeling of security'. This formula - of illustrative games with generous dollops of homespun reason - works very well for Mednis, the consummate chess teacher. Long may he continue with it.


 

Modern Chess Opening Encyclopaedia: Closed Games, Wiener Verlag 1998, 468 pages, £24.50 (softback) or £28.50 (hardback).

The Russian MCO series is fast becoming a serious rival to the Yugoslavian Informator team that produce ECO. Various parts of the A and D ECO volumes are covered, including the Trompowsky (now with a section in its own right), Grünfeld, Modern Benoni, Old Indian and various Schmid-Benoni and Modern Defence hybrids, plus the ubiquitous 'Queen's Pawn Openings'. It's noticeable that one or two little 'anti-positional', c-pawn blocking lines simply seem to get away, such as the Veresov (1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bg5) and the infamous 'Barry Attack' (1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Nc3!? d5 4 Bf4). One suspects that Mark Hebden, who has many good East European customers for his off-beat lines, will doubtless be relieved. The editorial team consists of many of the Soviet chess school's finest theoreticians, such as Bagirov, Zaitsev and Mikhalchishin, whilst editor Kalinichenko claims to have portrayed the theoretical state of play as of July 1st, 1998. Whilst the assessment of many variations will no doubt vary slightly (or even a lot) with the passage of time there is no doubting this work's importance.


 

Lenin's Casino by Robert Dalglish, Minerva Press 1998, 512 pages, £12.99.

With the Russian economic crisis brewing of late, this chess-based novel by an author who has lived in Moscow since the early 90's is quite topical. A thriller, it somehow encompasses political and Mafia intrigue, the Communist Party's lost millions and a series of gruesome murders in present-day Russia, not to mention various shenanigans in the personal lives of the main characters.

Our protagonist is Nadia, a young woman who was a chess prodigy and potential superstar of the Soviet chess machine, who is now being pursued by her sinister former trainer Korolyov. The mystery takes some unravelling, and the plot swerves back and forth through the chaos of Russian society, from the now-fading Moscow central chess club (symbolic of the Soviet era) to the wild vodka-fuelled excesses of twenty-something Muscovites and the vices of a rampant free-market economy. Nadia's attempts to take up chess seriously once more are the backdrop to increasing violence as she and her friends become embroiled in the drama, which builds (slightly implausibly) to a rousing finale under the walls of the Kremlin as Yeltsin's forces attack the Russian parliament building.

Chess plays a key role throughout, from the code enclosed in the moves of a correspondence game, to surely the deadliest-ever game of blindfold chess as the heroine fights for her life against the Bond-style villain. One of Nadia's opponents is a young grandmaster Andrei Morozov (which sounds suspiciously like Alexander Morozevich to us) but in general the chess details are fully plausible, even down to his alibi of playing in the Bundesliga. Whilst the prose is more Jeffrey Archer than Nabokov, the plot is certainly racy enough to keep the pages turning.



 

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