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Chessville
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Building an opening repertoire is a really difficult thing these days. The basic question of course is what factors make an opening alluring enough to take up? If you are following a certain player, it is likely you will play some of his or her openings. Just consider if the number of Najdorf players following Kasparov is greater than the number who followed Fischer ( I think we have to go on a percentage or per capita basis as the population has grown). Maybe chess literature shows games that catch our imaginations and we feel the opening is the secret to playing wonderful chess? To be honest, I think the basis is that we all want to win and we are attracted to the path that seems easiest. The question attains relevance when we are considering the purchase of chess books. Among books, DVDs and databases, the amount of material available is overwhelming and we have to find something that suits us. Not an easy task. The introduction to Play the English by Scottish IM Craig Pritchett touches on this subject as the outline of the book is explained. To summarize an opening as relevant as the English in one book requires a narrowly focused view. The customized repertoire in this book combines playing a "Sicilian" reversed and symmetrical lines based around playing Nf3 and d4 as White. Pritchett confers that this approach was taken in order to offer and explain ideas or motives, while limiting the total amount of hard "theory" the reader would have to take in. This was directly in line with the intended audience that Pritchett mentions in the introduction, namely, club and weekend players who have limited time to work out an opening repertoire. The material is laid out in six chapters with 30 main games, beginning with 18 annotated games in three chapters aimed at 1.c4 e5. This was the most intriguing section, because Pritchett explains in the introduction that he came to the English from being a 1.e4 player; how ironic that he would find himself the other way around as it were. OK, that's not really fair as a lot of 1.e4 players are also Sicilian players. Still, many leading GM's think the 1.c4 e5 is a good way for Black to approach the opening, aiming for a steady equality and keeping winning chances in hand. Pritchett takes a very direct approach to these lines by having White develop both knights and go from there. Very refreshing approach, as 1.c4 / 2. g3 has become something of a cult of its own in the past few years. The English 4-Knights line 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 is possibly the sharpest line given and the coverage is more than enough to give a player confidence in White's game. Another point of playing out both knights is that White can evade the reversed Closed Sicilian with 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 f5 and now 4.d4. This line resembles a reversed Grand Prix attack which might put some players off, but the author does a fine job of demonstrating White's objectives and how easy it is to get an advantage. Chapters 4 and 5 take on the symmetrical 1.c4 c5 lines. Again the approach of posting both knights to start with is used. This does limit the amount of material the reader will need to know, with positions and concepts being the impetus of the discussion. The line 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.a3 was just a happy diversion a few years ago, but now has become main line stuff. Stepping back, Black can play 3...d5 to avoid those lines and a d5 push pre-staged with e6, the Keres Parma line, is another common pattern. All of these are illustrated with excellent example games full of ideas and what resources either side is looking for. Chapter 5 takes a look at the Hedgehog, a beast with small size and large reputation. All of the material in these two chapters are well presented, which gave me more confidence in the lines. The final chapter is Pritchett's stab at odds and ends; the English Grunfeld 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 and the anti-Nimzo 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 are covered here. This material was a bit newer to me and I was delighted at the explanations that came with the games. I would say this is an excellent book for either a person new to the English or possibly someone coming back to it after a few years. The material has an easy feel to it, nothing so heavy as to drag down the spirit of the reader. Again, everything is presented in model game format which is excellent for describing the concepts involved with going from opening to middlegame. The standard excellent quality from Everyman is evident as the cover is very attractive, the spine is good and the pages are easy to read. Figurine algebraic is the notation used. The book has one shortcoming that a more experienced practitioner would disapprove. There is no bigger challenge in writing a book on the English than the sheer number of transpositions possible. After 1.c4 if Black plays 1...e6 or 1...c6, there just is not any way this is going to be an English, unless there is some secret agreement. This is only the tip of the iceberg: in the line 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3, the author doesn't mention what to do if Black plays ...Bg7 or ...c5. I understand that there are space limitations, but I would hope that some mention could be made for a new reader. Still overall, I found this book very useful and quite interesting to read.
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