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BCM Chess Book Reviews : May 2001

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The Ultimate Colle by Gary Lane, Batsford, 160 pages, £14.99.

This new book from Batsford covers the standard Colle (starting 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Bd3, followed up by either 5 c3 or 5 b3), plus lines where White faces a Queen’s Indian, Benoni or King’s Indian type set-up. The Colle has a reputation for being sound but rather dull, but there is merit in its relative simplicity for the player who is too busy (or lazy) to expend time on opening study. The author quotes Cecil Purdy in the introduction: “a player who specialises in the Colle System needs to spend only about a tenth of the time studying the openings that he would otherwise have to.” This makes it a good club player’s opening, and author Gary Lane has pitched the work at this level. Game references are up to 2000. Not much has been written on the Colle in recent years and this is a welcome addition to Batford’s opening library.







 

4...Qh4 in the Scotch Game by Lev Gutman, Batsford, 272 pages, £17.99.

The author has been meticulous in cataloguing the development of this esoteric sideline (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Qh4), with analysis by famous names going back nearly 150 years. In fact, a remarkably large proportion of the text of the book is a pastiche of quotes about the variation, the people who have played or advocated it, and chess history in general; the author has thereby avoided writing much at all himself. There are liberal chunks lifted from such diverse sources as Hooper and Whyld’s Oxford Companion to Chess, the BCM and Botterill and Harding’s 1977 book on the Scotch. You will even find a potted version of how our venerable magazine came into being herein. The ‘cut and paste’ approach goes completely off the rails when at least three times the author manages to annotate a position using direct quotations allegedly taken from Daniel King’s book The English Defence. Just think about it – how on earth do you transpose from the English Defence to ...Qh4 against the Scotch? A large gremlin in the works here, it would seem.

Gutman has added a very large proportion of the recent games available on the databases (the numbers are small, despite the alleged popularity of the line). He has also included a substantial amount of his own analysis, in the hope of persuading the reader that Peter Wells (The Scotch Game, Batsford) was wrong to describe 4...Qh4 as “rushing full steam ahead towards the status of ‘unplayable’”. Personally, I would choose to believe Wells, despite the fact that he has played the line on occasion, but if you are interested in the historical aspects of opening theory, then this is a fascinating compilation.

Gutman wrote an excellent book on (all of) the Scotch (Gewinnen mit Schottisch, Kassel, 1992), which was praised highly by many people, including Garry Kasparov. In the promotional material on the back cover, Batsford appear to be claiming that this new book is a translation of the earlier work, and Kasparov’s praise is cited. This, I think, does not reflect too well on Batsford’s understanding of what they have actually printed.


 

Russian Silhouettes by Genna Sosonko, New In Chess, 206 pages, £13.99.

People who leave their country of birth and upbringing to live in another land often wrap their memories in a romantic glow of nostalgia far removed from the actual life they experienced. Rare is the person who can look back simultaneously with affection and objectivity.

One such is the Dutch Grandmaster Genna Sosonko who has lived in the Netherlands since 1972, but was brought up in difficult circumstances in St Petersburg. Over a number of years he has published a series of remarkable essays in New in Chess on famous chess personalities. These have now been collected together in one volume with a selection of good photographs. He covers world champions Tal and Botvinnik; chess trainers Zak, Koblenz and Furman (the latter a strong grandmaster in his own right); near greats Geller, Polugaevsky and Levenfish; Vitolins, who found life and chess trying, and ended his life in the River Gauja; and even Capablanca’s widow, the remarkable and redoubtable Olga Clark.

A feature of the book is how these personalities in their different ways coped, well or badly, with the political system in which they lived and how it affected the decisions they made. When considering, say, Botvinnik, one must bear in mind that his first mentor Krylenko disappeared in the 1930s’ Great Terror. It is not surprising that Botvinnik took great care to work within the system. Others, Levenfish for example, who did not fit in and possessed a sharp tongue, found a chess career much more difficult. Only Tal, a child of nature and a chess genius to boot, successfully went his own way, oblivious of the world in which he lived.

I have an aversion to chess books without any moves (as I do to chess books without any words), but Russian Silhouettes is an enthralling read and is strongly recommended as an insight into a society which produced more great players than any other, but which has now already receded into history. It is Sosonko’s achievement to bring this remarkable and often secret world to vivid life. Review by Ray Edwards.


 

Sicilian Kalashnikov by Jan Pinski and Jacob Aagaard, Everyman, 176 pages, £14.99.

The Kalashnikov is an opening for those who take no prisoners and who consider draws as an unfortunate necessity when your mating attack has fallen apart and you need to force a perpetual rather than go into an ending a couple of pieces and several pawns down. It is wildly popular at all levels, and yet has been rather short of books for aspiring enthusiasts. This book supersedes Neil MacDonald’s 1995 Batsford work, Winning with the Kalashnikov, by virtue of its contents: it is absolutely bursting with games more recent than 1995. Not only that, but it is a pleasure to read: scattered through it are comments which are guaranteed to bring a smile to your lips. Main lines are covered thoroughly, unusual White moves are considered carefully, and in a chapter which every player-in-the-street will appreciate, various move-order tricks by White are dealt with. Review by Helen Milligan.





 

Opening for Black according to Karpov by Alexander Khalifman, Chess Stars, 191 pages, £14.99.

This is a repertoire book, specifically designed to save young players from the hassle of trying to choose openings for themselves... there is the gentlest of hints at the start that the time thus saved could be usefully spent on studying endgames! The openings in question are those that Karpov eventually chose for the majority of his games as Black: the Caro-Kann, Nimzo-Indian, Queen’s Indian, and lines against the Catalan and English.

Obviously this is a lot of material to pack into a slim volume, and the coverage is introductory, rather than exhaustive. Still, the book would make an excellent starting point for young players who prefer subtle strategic ideas to hacking. It would also be of great interest to readers for whom Karpov remains a hero: it illustrates his ability to choose lines that frustrate opponents. The book is written in the uniquely Russian style that is reminiscent of the English of a hundred years ago: formal, weighty, serious-minded, and carefully explanatory. Review by Helen Milligan.





 

Nimzo-Larsen Attack by Byron Jacobs and Jonathan Tait, Everyman, 192 pages, £14.99.

Looking for a second way to start the game without getting bogged down in masses of theoretical material? Then 1 b3, or 1 Nf3 and 2 b3 may suit you very well. The authors are honest enough to state in their introduction that “White has no advantage in the Nimzo-Larsen”, but that it provides strategically rich positions where the player who brings more to the game will generally have the better chances” – as the two players whose names grace the opening repeatedly demonstrated. The authors give 69 well annotated games which fully illustrate the strategic themes involved. The book is laid out in Everyman’s attractive modern format. Review by Ray Edwards.







 

The Chigorin Defence by Martin Breutigam, ChessBase CD-ROM, £18.50.

The Chigorin Defence (1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6) has not seen much action at the highest level, but has recently been used to some effect by Alexander Morozevich, who is not afraid to try offbeat lines in his games with the high and mighty. There has not been much material published on the opening in recent years and Chigorin aficionados will be keen to see this latest work. The CD-ROM contains seven texts and 93 sample games to tempt the reader into giving it a try.

There are 4,300 games in the reference database, 54 training questions to test the knowledge acquired and a tree of variations. Generally the text is workmanlike and well-linked, with a few typos and examples of clumsy English not detracting from the overall impression of a thorough job. For those with a computer (with at least a Pentium processor and Windows 95), this is a stimulating and time-saving way to learn a new opening; there is no need to own ChessBase software as the CD-ROM comes with all the software that is required to use the data provided.




 

All reviews by John Saunders except where otherwise indicated.
 

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