|
|
|
Home • Shop
• Chess Books • Software
• Magazine • Chess
Sets & Boards • Computers •
Reviews • Ornate
Sets • Equipment
|
|
|
Contact • Links
• Map • Calendar
• Britbase • Bound
Volumes • Bridge •
Go • Backgammon
• Poker • Other
Games
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
BCM Chess Book Reviews : August 2008Return to the BCM Review Index
| Search for other BCM reviews by keyword
| More about BCM...
|
|||||||
In recent years, Nigel Davies has become a prolific openings author, covering everything from the Réti to the Colle, via the Schliemann and Sicilian Wing Gambit. This latest offering sees return to his roots, with a Black repertoire based on 1...g6. Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, Davies was almost exclusively a Modern defence player, and although he later branched out into more classical systems, I have always felt that he is at his most impressive in the sophisticated positional labyrinths of the hypermodern systems. He is thus the ideal author for the present volume, and has produced a highly interesting and well-written guide to the opening. A number of “real” hypermodern systems are covered, such as 4...e6 against the Austrian, and 1 d4 d6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 a6. Many of Davies’s own games are cited, and indeed one of the main sources listed at the front of the book is “my formerly secret notebooks”. In the days when computerised analysis sees most mainstream openings swamped in 25-30 moves of theory, there is a great deal to be said for getting the opponent thinking from very early on – and Davies says it very well. Highly recommended. Review by Steve Giddins.
The latest in the Dangerous Weapons series sees four leading English players/writers delve into the Benoni and Benkö complex. Both openings are nowadays highly out of fashion at top grandmaster level, but at lower levels they remain excellent ways to play for the full point as Black. Of these, four involve the Benkö, one the Czech Benoni, and the remainder the Modern Benoni. Interestingly, nothing is offered against the dreaded e4-f4-Bb5 system, suggesting that the authors believe the Modern Benoni is best played only after White has committed his knight to f3. All in all, a good-looking source of ideas and a must-buy for practitioners of both colours. Review by Steve Giddins.
A familiar format from the Hungarian publisher, with 1,000 positions set out six to a page, with solutions at the back. The combinations are collected under separate chapter headings (such as “back rank”, “diagonal” and “deflection”) and include a lot of historical positions as well as modern material. JS.
The FIDE Grand Prix in Baku, the MTel Masters in Sofia, plus the European individual and Russian team championships, are the featured events on this disk. New European champion Sergei Tiviakov has annotated in depth two of his wins, including his instructive last round victory over Sutovsky. In addition, the European runner-up Sergei Movsesian explains two of his games from Plovdiv. JS.
The lurid title gives a clue to the writing style (which is brash) but when it gets down to content, this book about the Colle-Zukertort (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Bd3 c5 5 b3) is of some value. In fact, it covers virtually all variations of the Colle and other systems after 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 where Black tries to transpose into the Queen’s Indian, Benoni or Grünfeld and suggests Slav/QGD transposition ideas (involving c2-c4) where appropriate. The author has evidently done a thorough job of sifting the sources and collating material, and added his own interesting ideas in many positions. Rudel’s chessplaying pedigree is not divulged anywhere (causing this cynical reviewer to be slightly suspicious) but it looks like a worthwhile and interesting effort. JS.
In this seventh Power Play DVD, Daniel King discusses what to do about poorly placed pieces. The Power Play series is designed for improvers, up to a rating of about 1700 and also provides ready-made lessons and exercises for a trainer. System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows XP, Windows Vista, DVD drive, mouse, soundcard. JS.
