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BCM Chess Book Reviews : September 2006Return to the BCM Review Index
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A sequel to the popular Chess Openings for Black, Explained, this
book offers a complete 1 e4 repertoire, mainly but not exclusively for
players with little previous knowledge. The repertoire includes the Scotch
Gambit/Two Knights, a Grand Prix system with Nc3, f4, Nf3
and Bb5 against the Sicilian, 3 Nc3 against the French,
and other such open and aggressive schemes. Generous spacing and copious
diagrams make the volume easy on the eye, if not so easy on the pocket.
I suspect that the White bias, partly inevitable in a concise repertoire
work, sometimes goes a bit far, and important candidate moves for Black
are omitted. One example: after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4
4 Bc4 Nf6 5 e5 Ne4!? the recommendation is 6 Qe2
Nc5 7 c3. First, the reader is not informed that both 6 Qe2
and 7 c3 are fairly unusual. Also, the only Black response given is 7...dxc3,
whereas 7...d3 is probably more advisable, e.g. 8 Qe3 Be7
(Kuzmin’s 8...Ne6 is solid too) 9 b4 Ne6 10 b5 Bc5
11 Qe4?! Ne7 12 Bxd3 d5 13 Qh4 a6, with a slight
edge for Black (Mah-Vigus, Witley 2001). However, such omissions are outweighed
by the many new ideas that combine to make this a potent and practical
set of openings. Several of the authors’ novelties have recently
appeared in the games of Perelshteyn, a newly-ratified young grandmaster
of whom we will surely be hearing more. Review by James Vigus.
Valeri Beim considers the accurate calculation of tactics as the most
important of all chess abilities. He therefore explores the various factors
involved in differing situations, demonstrating that Kotov’s famous
work Think Like a Grandmaster is now out of date. An excellent
introduction to a critical chess skill, including 100 exercises for the
reader to practise what he has learnt. Review by Ray Edwards.
This is a collection of 60 annotated games played by the great man, with a chronological review of his tournament career during the given period. The annotations are quite extensive in places, though the book perhaps has a lighter touch than the Stohl books on Kasparov published by Gambit. A number of typos were noted, particularly with names, but the English is good, perhaps as a result of having an English-speaking co-writer (whom we are told is a long-time chess coach in Singapore). The book covers the ground well and offers good value for money.
This book collects together various brief writings about the 19th century
American chess star culled from contemporary sources, with 50 annotated
games and some career statistics and crosstables. The notes are a mixture
of contemporary and modern (by the author). The content is reasonable
enough, though the book is rather cheaply produced and presented. JS.
The cover shows Karpov as the sole author, but the title page credits
both writers. It is not clear who has written what and, whilst there are
many Karpov game references, it is difficult to identify the former world
champion’s input. No matter, as this is a splendid introduction to
the complexities of the advance variation 3 e5 of the Caro, written in
a personal style, and translated by Jimmy Adams. The gambit variation
3 f3 is also covered and there are 15 illustrative games at the end. White
players will find many lines suitable for shaking up Black’s peaceful
existence but, as may be expected from the authors, the defence just holds.
Review by Ray Edwards.
Not many chess books are written about the all-important business of
defending a chess game, presumably because publishers fear that the whole
subject is a turn-off for players who prefer to learn about attack. Aagaard
manages to present it in a lively and entertaining way in this book which
more than lives up to its title. It is quite difficult to encapsulate
this book in a short review but the overall impression is very positive.
JS.
The English grandmaster sets out a 1 e4 repertoire for White, specifically
for elementary players, based on Sicilian main lines, the Caro-Kann Panov-Botvinnik
variation, the French Tarrasch and the Scotch Game. In general, McDonald
recommends the main lines to theory-dodging sidelines that in the long
run would only serve to limit a player’s scope for improvement, so
it is very sensible stuff. There is an irresistible quote from Bogdan
Lalic: “when Kasparov plays 1 d4 as White, he doesn’t always
win versus the Slav; whereas when he plays 1 e4, he usually manages to
build up a big attack against the Sicilian Defence. Therefore 1 e4 is
the best move. QED.” JS.
This second edition of Khalifman’s original work is devoted to lines
of the Classical King’s Indian Defence where, after 1 Nf3
Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 d4 0-0 6 Be2
e5 7 0–0, Black plays 7...exd4, 7...Na6, or 7...Nc6.
It has been necessary to divide the material into two books. Volume 1a
(which is yet to be published) will deal with some rare lines of the KID
and the Anti-Grünfeld. JS.
The affable Greek grandmaster offers a 1 d4 White repertoire against
the Grünfeld, the King’s Indian, the Modern Benoni, the Benkö
Gambit and the Modern Defence (not the Pirc because Grivas recommends
2 c4 after 1...g6). Against the Grünfeld he goes for 4 Nf3
and 5 Bg5; against the Benkö a system based on 4 Nf3;
against Modern Benoni, the system with e4, Nf3, h3 and Bd3;
and against the King’s Indian, the Makagonov line (5 Nf3 0–0
6 h3). Each chapter starts with an overview, an examination of typical
endgames positions, and then the recommended lines and variations in considerable
detail. Grivas makes it clear he favours move-by-move theory rather than
broad-brush learning of opening ideas, which he feels leads to muddled
thinking. It is a thoughtful and useful work which will benefit players
at all levels up to a rating of 2300. JS.
This second collection of 240 selected problems taken from South African
games sets out to entertain and instruct the solver with problems of varying
degrees of difficulty. We take the view that you can never have enough
puzzle books, so long as they don’t just consist of rehash. These
examples are all fresh and enjoyable. JS.
This disk contains a French repertoire for Black against all possible
lines by White, via linked video/ChessBase presentation (ChessBase’s
Chess Media System). The video material runs to almost seven hours. Ziegler
has a pleasant speaking voice and presents his material calmly and clearly.
JS.
Another repertoire video disk, presented by Andrew Martin. In fact it
is more of a broad-brush overview of the defence than a repertoire, going
through the various different lines of the Caro. There is more than four
hours of material on the disk, presented in the English IM’s typically
brisk and engaging style. JS.
More video instruction (should we call it ‘info-tainment’?)
, running to nearly four hours, on the Queen’s Indian Defence. Jacob
Aagaard enjoys a few vodka cocktails whilst treating viewers to what he
calls a ‘holiday-style’ video (nearly four hours long) on what
he ironically styles ‘the Queen’s Indian: the Hard Way... for
gangsters, for swindlers, for people who basically don’t want to
learn a lot of theory’. After his jokey intro, he gets down to some
solid theory. JS.
This video disk is devoted to rook endgames, with renowned endgame expert
Dr Karsten Müller in the lecturer’s seat. His delivery is in
contrast to some of the other more laid-back speakers, and he rattles
through variations in his fluent but staccato English. A couple of times
the reviewer felt the need to ‘pause’ the lecture and catch
his breath. Of course you could argue that he has a lot of material to
get through in a mere five hours. This is impressive stuff, and a good
way to get across some rather dry material. JS.
Note: from this issue on, ChessBase Magazine comes only in DVD-ROM
format, not CD-ROM. The disk includes 4,000 games, of which 3,836 are
from the Turin Olympiad, and also more than 7,000 correspondence games.
The disk also has 3½ hours of video chess training in the Chess
Media Format (audio and video with synchronised board), plus all the usual
regular features. JS.
