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Reviews
A Sicilian Repertoire Book
Reviewed by
S. Evan Kreider
7/14/02
Meeting 1. e4, by IM Alexander Raetsky
(Everyman Chess, 2002).
Over the last two weeks, I’ve looked at two
introductory Sicilian books and two
advanced Sicilian books. This week,
I’ll round out this series of reviews by looking at a recent
Sicilian repertoire book: Meeting 1. e4.
This book is written by Alexander Raetsky, who according
to the publisher's blurb: "is a Russian International Master and an
experienced competitor on the tournament circuit. He's also a skilled
writer and has been a frequent contributor to the famous Russian magazine
64 and the internationally renowned publication New in Chess.
This is his first book for Everyman." And if this book is any
indication of IM Raetsky's talents, I hope that we'll be seeing many more.
This Everyman publication runs at 159 pages and lists for $19.95 US. It meets the typically high production standards I’ve
come to expect from Everyman: sturdy, slick pages and cover; clear, accurate
printing and diagrams (with only one slightly mis-formatted diagram that
I’ve seen so far), and a double-column layout for maximum content and
minimum blank space. Usually, Everyman opening books sport an attractive
cover design, but I’m sorry to report that this one is an exception: the
cover is a stark white with a powder-blue and grey chessboard design.
Yuck!!! They usually manage to do better than this; perhaps they just ran
out of good color combinations.
It comes with a moderately detailed table of contents and an index of games,
but no bibliography, nor an index of variations. As I’ve said before, I
don’t understand why Everyman doesn’t include an index of variations in
their books. Most of their previous opening books at least came with partial
indexes at the end of each chapter, but Everyman has apparently decided to
abandon this practice as well; neither this book nor the recent Starting
Out: The Sicilian come with any index of variation at all. Once again, I
ask Everyman to consider including an index of variations in their future
opening books. It’s especially essential that a repertoire book have one.
Otherwise, it can be very difficult for the reader to learn the opening.
As I’ve indicated, this is a repertoire book designed to detail an entire
response for Black against 1. e4 based on 1…c5 – the Sicilian. The first
half of the book is devoted to the Four Knights (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4
cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6) as a response to the Open Sicilian (which
amateurs can expect to meet in about half of their games as Black against 1.
e4 c5). The second half of the book deals with the most common
Anti-Sicilians. More specifically, the table of contents reads as follows:
White Plays with d2-d4 (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
e6):
1 - Four Knights: Main Line with 7. Nd6+
2 - Four Knights: Main Line with 7. Bf4
3 - Four Knights: Main Line with 7. a3
4 - Four Knights: 6. Nxc6
5 - Four Knights: 6. Be2 and 6 a3
6 - Four Knights: 6. Be3
7 - Four Knights: 6. g3
White Avoids d2-d4:
8 - Rossolimo Variation
9 - c3 Sicilian
10 - Closed Sicilian
11 - Morra Gambit
12 - Grand Prix Attack
13 - 2. g3
I think that the choice of the Four Knights is a particularly good one. As
Raetsky explains, it’s a solid yet active system, making it suitable for
players of a variety of styles. It is not as theoretically dense as many
other Open Sicilian lines, and so can be played more by way of understanding
than memorization, and there is plenty of room for original play. It is also
not as common as most other Open Sicilian systems, so it’s likely that Black
will be better prepared than White. Also, although rarer than most other
Open Sicilians, it’s still a sound system which is unlikely to be “busted”
anytime soon.
I also think that the Four Knights is a particularly good choice for a
“First Sicilian.” A lot of players like the idea of trying out the Sicilian
but are afraid of the dense theory involved. The Four Knights is much less
threatening in this regard, and yet still introduces Black to some of the
typical strategies and tactics of the Open Sicilian. After playing the Four
Knights for a while, I’d imagine that Black would feel much more confident
moving on to another Sicilian later (especially other ..e6 Sicilians such as
the Taimanov). Furthermore, those players will still find the Anti-Sicilian
repertoire provided in the second half of the book useful.
The reader should be aware, however, that the main lines of the Four Knights
involve Black playing with an isolated d-pawn. If such positions are not to
your taste, then you might not like the Four Knights. It is worth pointing
out, however, that the Four Knights isolated d-pawn structure is slightly
different than the usual one, as the d-pawn usually finds itself moving from
d5 to d4 more quickly than in some other openings (such as the Tarrasch).
I’m not exactly sure what the theorists would say about this, but it seems
to me that this would make the positions more dynamic. It also seems to me
that it would be easier to trade off the d-pawn after a timely d4-d3, thus
ridding oneself of the isolani before the endgame comes about (in which it’s
likely to be a serious disadvantage).
Raetsky presents the repertoire by means of annotated illustrative games
containing explicit discussions of the key ideas, themes, strategies,
tactics, and plans behind the various lines (rather than just bare move
lists and evaluation symbols seen in solely theoretical works). These
explanations are geared towards the typical amateur player: I’d say that any
player possessing a solid fundamental knowledge of strategy could understand
and appreciate Raetsky’s instruction.
Furthermore, this work also appears to contain decent theoretical coverage. After briefly
comparing it to NCO, it appears that Raetsky not only covers
most theoretically important lines, but also certain lines which have
practical importance for the amateur player. One particularly good example
of this is the chapter devoted to the 7. Nd6+ lines. Though Grandmasters
may pass this move over, recognizing that it leads to no advantage for
White, this “tempting check” (as Raetsky puts it) is likely to occur in
amateur games, and Black needs to know how to handle it. Another good
example is the short chapter at the end of the book on 1. e4 c5 2. g3.
Again, not a main attraction at GM events, but also not entirely unlikely in
amateur games, and I appreciate the fact that Raetsky takes the time to
prepare Black to face it.
Of course, the lack of an index of variations seriously interferes with the
theoretical value of the book insofar as its application to learning the
opening. It will be difficult for a player to use this book as the only
theoretical volume for their repertoire, simply because it will be very difficult to
track down the lines they need when learning the opening, playing
correspondence chess, or performing post-game analysis. Once again, I
strongly encourage Everyman to start including an index of variations in
their opening books.
As previously stated, one of the strengths of this book is that it provides
a repertoire against the Anti-Sicilians. This makes the book valuable even
if Black decides to pursue another Open Sicilian repertoire. However, the
reader should know that some of the lines Raetsky chooses are selected on
the basis that they are compatible with a Four Knights repertoire, and so
might not fit as nicely with a repertoire based on another Open Sicilian.
For example, against the Rossolimo 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5, Raetsky
recommends 3…e6. This is a good choice for the Four Knights player, or even
the Taimanov or Kan player, but might not suit the taste of a Dragon or
Najdorf player. Against the Closed Sicilian, Raetsky recommends 1. e4 c5 2.
Nc3 e6 3. g3 d5. Against the “Delayed Grand Prix Attack” (as I like to call
it), Raetsky recommends 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 d5. Again, these
are consistent with a Four Knights repertoire, but not so much with some
other Open Sicilian reps.
Raetsky’s recommended lines against the other Anti-Sicilians are fairly
common main lines, suitable to most players, though in some cases, I wonder
if other suggestions might not better suit his
not-so-theoretical-and-can-be-played-more-by-understanding-than-memorization
Four Knights. For example, against 1. e4 c5 2. c3 he recommends 2…Nf6, when
the less theoretical 2…d5 might be better. He might also have considered
recommending the comfortable Declined variation of the Morra Gambit involving
3…d5. I do think that his recommendation of the standard 1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5
is the best line for Black, but he might have suggested 1. e4 c5 2. f4 e6 as
more consistent with the …e6 Four Knights rep. However, all of this is
really just a matter of taste, and I do appreciate the fact that his choices
are more “universal” and therefore maximize the usefulness of the
Anti-Sicilian half of this book to Sicilian players of all sorts.
I find it a bit odd that Raetsky proposes the move order 2…Nc6 and
5…e6 instead of the other way as around (which is more common and how it’s listed in MCO and
NCO). They
transpose, of course, but 2…e6 has the psychological benefit of being less
common at the amateur level than 2…Nc6, and so might throw White off earlier
in the game.
Despite that nit-pick (and my gripe with the lack of an index of variations)
I like this book very much. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking
for a repertoire book, a Four Knights book, and / or an Anti-Sicilian book.
Copyright 2002 S. Evan Kreider. Used with
permission.
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