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Reviewed by S. Evan Kreider, January 2007

This week, I have the pleasure of reviewing a whole new series of opening books published by Everyman Chess.  According to the publisher, this series is designed to “supply the reader with an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his or her opening repertoire.  Many of the carefully chosen weapons are innovative, visually shocking, incredibly tricky, or have been unfairly discarded: they are guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent off balance.”  Sounds good to me, Everyman!  But tell me, how exactly does it do this?

According to the preface, the term “dangerous weapon” applies to:

“1) Moves that create complex, original positions full of razor-sharp tactics and rich positional ideas where creative, attacking play is rewarded; moves which are new, rare or very fresh, leaving plenty of scope for research.”  In other words, non-theoretical moves that are still to be reckoned with and which emphasize complexity.

“2) Moves that are highly ambitious; ones which aim for total domination.”  In other words, moves that will give one the opportunity to completely blow one’s opponent off the board rather than securing some tiny theoretical advantage which may not lead to a win after all.

“3) Moves that have been previously ignored, discarded or discredited by theory, perhaps unfairly so or maybe for the wrong reasons.”  In other words, moves that may not be the best, but that can have a serious psychological impact on one’s opponent, or would requires them to remember some obscure refutation, and which ultimately give one the practical advantage.

“4) Moves that are visually shocking; moves which seem to contradict the laws of the game.”  In other words, moves that one’s opponent simply won’t be expecting!

Anyone familiar with Everyman’s Starting Out series knows that they use various icons in the margins to point out particularly important ideas.  Dangerous Weapons has its own set of icons.  A canon indicates a “dangerous weapon” (“This signifies a game, variation, sub-variation or position where the Dangerous Weapon has obviously produced the desired effect.”), a lightning bolt means “Beware!” (“Pointing out immediate danger for the player using the dangerous weapon.”), a pair of dice means “Roll the dice!” (“Signifying a variation or sub-variation which is perhaps more suited for games with short time-limits or for players who enjoy taking risks.”), and a book indicates a “tricky transposition” (“This indicates a transposition to a different opening variation.  Using different move orders to reach a desirable position or to trick your opponent into something with which he is unfamiliar is becoming a weapon of increasing value.”)

As all the above suggests, this is not just another “Winning With” series.  There are no promises of easy victories in which all the risk and danger is for one’s opponent.  Some of the lines discussed aren’t even considered all that sound.  Nevertheless, given the right temperament, playing style, opponent, or situation, these lines might be just what the doctor ordered.

Let’s move on to the particulars of each volume.  Dangerous Weapons: The Sicilian includes the following chapters:

1) A Swedish Specialty: The Ga-Pa (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 Nc3 Qb6!?)

2) Taking a Break from Refuting the Dragon (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 O-O 8.Qd2!?)

3) Vallejo’s Viable Lowenthal (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 a6!? 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6)

4) Danger in the Taimanov (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f4!?)

5) Silent but Violent (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Be2 Nf6 8.a3!?)

6) The Koblencs-Goletiani Kan (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 Bd6!?)

7) Take my Pawns! (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 Bb4 7.O-O!?)

8) Taking the Sting Out of the Open Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 d5!?)

9) Karklins against the Najdorf (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qf3!?)

10) Baklan and Epishin’s Sozin Antidote (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 e5!?)

11) The Prins Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3!?)

12) The O’Kelly Variation: Not Just a One Trick Pony (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6!?)

13) A Cure for Indecision? (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.f4!?)

14) Surprising the Sveshnikov (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nde2!?)

The text is jam-packed with analysis and explanation, and written in an engaging style.  The following excerpt comes from the introductory game that starts off chapter 4 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f4!?), written by John Emms (as I brilliantly deduced from the fact that the example game is J. Rudd – J. Emms, British Championship, Douglas 2005), and shows his engaging style:

7 f4!?

I was actually somewhat shocked when this move appeared on the board, and here I went into my think tank and didn’t appear for another twenty minutes.  I had totally overlooked this possibility in my preparation for the game, and was a bit annoyed with myself for doing so.  However, perhaps I was being a [bit?] harsh because 7.f4 had hardly been played before this game and is not mentioned at all by ECO or by Graham Burgess’ comprehensive work on the Taimanov.

At first sight it appears as if White is mixing his systems.  Somehow 7 f4 looks a bit loose: the e4-pawn, having been deprived of its normal f2-f3 protector, looks vulnerable, especially since Black can add to the pressure the f6-knight exerts with …Bb4 and …d7-d5.  Ironically though, it’s Black’s relatively early …Nf6 that has encouraged White to play f2-f4.  The point is that Black now has to watch out for e4-e5, forcing the f6-knight to move to an unfavorable square – in fact this is already a threat.

7…Bb4

My 20-minute deliberation hadn’t provided me with any real inspiration, and I eventually settled for Black’s most obvious reply – at least now 8 e5 can be met favorably by 8…Nd5.  This is all well and good, but my following move demonstrated that I was not reacting well to my opponent’s opening weapon.

8 Bd3 d5?!

I would have to admit that this move was the result of what I believe Jonathan Rowson termed in The Seven Deadly Chess Sins as ‘moralizing’.  Taken aback by 7 f4, I couldn’t help thinking that there must be a reason why nobody played this way, and I spent a long time trying to find a suitable ‘punishment’ to White’s ‘inaccurate’ move-order.  I became more and more frustrated as my calculations indicated that Black had no easy way to equality, never mind anything more.  Still, eventually I felt obliged to play 8…d5 because it seemed consistent and the way to exploit White’s weakening of e4, even if it didn’t fill me with any noticeable confidence.  I think if I hadn’t been so psychologically affected by 7 f4, I would have been in a better frame of mind to play the more resilient 7…d6.

9 e5

White already holds a clear advantage.  [Etc.]

The text is jam-packed with this kind of engaging prose, though the sections on the hard-core theory of each line tend more toward variations – but even then, there is still plenty of explanatory prose.

Let’s hop over to Dangerous Weapons: The Nimzo-Indian Defense and see what it has to offer.  Its table of contents includes (after the typical moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4):

1) A Dangerous d-pawn: 4.Qc2 O-O 5.Bg5 c5 6.d5!?

2) Seizing the Initiative with …b5!: 4.Qc2 O-O 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b5!?

3) Wanting it all (Part 1): 4.Qc2 O-O 5.e4!? d5

4) Wanting it all (Part 2): 4.Qc2 O-O 5.e4!? c5 and 5…d6

5) The Romanishin Gambit: 4.Qc4 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 c5!? 7.dxc5 d4

6) The Topalov Gambit: 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 c5!?

7) A Modern Twist: 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nge2 cxd4 7.exd4 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.a3!?

8) Another Vitolinsh Specialty: 4.e3 O-O 5.Ne2 b5!?

9) Baguio City Revisited: 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 c5 6.d5!?

10) An Idealistic Advance: 4.e3 Ne4!?

11) A Break from Kasparov: 4.Nf3 c5 5.d5!?

12) The Milov Gambit: 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.Nd2 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.d5!?

13) Going Dutch: 4.Nf3 Ne4!?

14) The Undershooting Bishop: 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.e3 b6!?

15) A souped-up Blumenfeld!: 4.f3 c5 5.d5 O-O 6.e4 b5!?

16) An Original Leningrad: 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bh4 c5 6.d5 d6 7.Nf3!?

17) A Radical Queen Adventure: 4.Qd3!?

As with the Sicilian book, this book is also filled with analysis and explanatory prose.  An example:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 O-O 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4!

It’s obvious that Black must take up the challenge.  After 6...Nfd7?! and then, say, 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 h6 9.a3 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 c5 11.Nf3 (or 11.Ne2) 11...Nc6 12.O-O, White has a dream position from the opening: a strong centre, the two bishops and good attacking chances on the kingside.

7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 c5!

It’s essential for Black to open up the position and exploit his development advantage, as timid play is brutally punished after 5 e4.  For example, 8...b6 9.Bd3 Ba6 10.Ne2 Nd7 11.O-O and the threat of f2-f3 is looming large.

Attacking the pawn chain from the front is always an option for Black, but here it doesn’t work: 8...f6? 9.f3! (now that …Qh4 is no longer on) 9…Ng5 (9...fxe5 10.fxe4 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qf6 12.Bg2 is winning for White) and now the simplest is 10.Bxg5 fxg5 11.Bd3 h6 12.Ne2 with a very nice position for White; now that Black no longer has an f-pawn there is nothing to challenge White’s spearhead on e5.

9.Bd3 Qa5!

Continuing the theme of disruption, which is crucial or else White simply completes development before making the most of his undoubted positional advantages.

I rate both these books very highly.  They are first class works by first class authors.  However, the potential buyer should be warned.  These are for serious players who aren’t afraid of some serious theory.  True, several of the lines are less theoretical relative to the more common main lines, but we’re still very much in main line opening hard-core theory.  Thus, I’d only recommend these books to advanced players – maybe master level or above – who play these openings regularly and are willing to put some serious work into learning a great number of tricky, double-edged variations.  The rest of us are probably better off with much more basic works.
 

Copyright 2007 S. Evan Kreider.  Used with permission.

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