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BCM Chess Book Reviews : March 2006Return to the BCM Review Index
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This is a book full of hope and cheer for anyone who has ever suffered as Black against those who begin with 1 d4 but refuse to follow with 2 c4. In his eloquent introduction, Cox confesses to being one of the many players who have a bad record against these systems, and notes some psychological reasons why we find ourselves repeatedly caught out. These include lack of preparation, lack of respect for ‘non-critical’ lines, and being unaware of transpositions, shortcomings to which most of us can plead guilty. Cox then concisely presents a set of practical recommendations for Black against each ‘deviation’: the Trompowsky, Pseudo-Trompowsky (1 d4 d5 2 Bg5), Torre Attack, Hebden Torre (1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 c3), London System, Colle, Veresov, Blackmar Diemer Gambit, Anti-Benoni lines (e.g. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c5 4 e3), and odds and ends. The book is designed for those whose main defences to d4 are the Nimzo-Indian or 1 d4 d5 – it does not cover King’s Indian set-ups, and gives 2…e6 against the Trompowsky. The emphasis throughout is on spoiling White’s fun, not grabbing gambit pawns or contesting the sharpest lines, and maintaining a solid but still dynamic game. The repertoire recommendations are therefore mutually consistent, and unlikely to go quickly out of date. This is sure to be a popular book: so all you d4-deviants beware! Review by James Vigus
Ukrainian grandmaster and chess journalist Mikhail Golubev, who guested
as BCM editor in July 2005, presents a King’s Indian repertoire for
Black based on his own 25 years of playing the opening. The book is built
around 56 complete games, all played by Golubev himself, with the theory
of each line fleshed out in the detailed game annotations. The author’s
enthusiasm for the opening is clear and infectious, but does not stray
into Gufeldesque hyperbole, so this looks like an excellent book, very
thorough and with the customary outstanding Gambit production quality.
At the highest level, the King’s Indian Defence has fallen on rather
hard times recently, but Golubev makes it look perfectly respectable from
a theoretical viewpoint. Of course, as another KID practitioner and author,
Joe Gallagher, has written, “For another view of the King’s
Indian, you should speak to Mr Korchnoi!”. Review by Steve Giddins.
| OUT OF PRINT |
Subtitled ‘Book 1: Secrets of a Master New Opening Theory 2005’.
Despite that infelicitous sub-title, the English of this Ukrainian published
work is generally good, if scanty (the format is rather more Informator-style).
The book covers the Pirc and Modern Defence, and lines where Black plays
1...d6 and 2...Nf6 but not ...g6 (e.g. the Philidor transposition
1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5). Readers will be familiar with
the first-named author but not the second: he is a middle-aged Ukrainian
IM and chess coach who has worked with some big-named players. It is well
laid out and includes plenty of interesting opening material to sift through.
Eddie Dearing’s latest openings book presents a Nimzo repertoire for Black. Lines recommended include 4 Qc2 d5 5 cxd5 Qxd5 and 4 e3 b6 with the follow-ups 5 Bd3 Bb7 6 Nf3 0–0 7 0–0 d5, and 5 Ne2 c5. This looks like a thorough and up-to-date effort which offers a reliable repertoire for the Black player, one that combines soundness and enterprise in equal measure.
A modern collection of Lasker’s best games is long overdue, and
the present volume presents 100 of them, annotated in reasonable detail
by the American grandmaster. Inevitably, almost all of the games are well-known,
but Soltis provides a contemporary perspective, without going into the
extensive, silicon-enhanced analytical detail of a Kasparov. The publisher’s
blurb claims that “Soltis reveals for the first time the winning
formula behind Lasker’s phenomenal achievements”. This, of course,
is a claim which has to be treated with a degree of scepticism, if only
because Lasker had no formula, of course – except that of playing
good moves. However, it is true that Soltis makes a considerable effort
to get to the bottom of how Lasker won some of his more incredible games,
such as Lasker-Schiffers, Nuremberg 1896. There, he won an ending two
pawns down without Black making a simple, one-move blunder. Soltis does
a good job of explaining the critical moments, and the psychological traps
into which Schiffers falls. All in all, an interesting new look at one
of the all-time greats. Review by Steve Giddins.
This massive tome encapsulates chess, mentions other ‘indoor and
outdoor amusements’ in the sub-title – but in fact it is 99%
chess. There is extremely comprehensive coverage of British chess. Amongst
the plethora of scores there is a game played by the (soon to be) editor
of BCM, RF Green, which does not give a good impression of his abilities
as a player. A wonderful reference source.
Safe is not the first adjective which springs to mind when one thinks
of the Sicilian, but the Taimanov (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4
Nxd4 Nc6) is one of the more solid variations. Delchev,
a Bulgarian grandmaster, is himself a Taimanov player, and this book is
based on his repertoire. It includes references up to 2005 and should
prove valuable to anybody who plays, or would like to play, the Taimanov.
White’s move three alternatives are also covered, including 3 c3
but, rather oddly, move two alternatives (2 Nc3, etc) are not.
This disk contains 1,450 annotated games (and 1,588 part games) from
the period between October 2004 and September 2005. Files are in PGN,
ChessBase, Chess Assistant formats as well as Informator’s
own format. The disk comes with all the necessary software to access the
databases, plus all the other features included in the paper copy of Informator.
