BATSFORD BOOKS ARCHIVE
Caro Kann Defence Advance Variation and Gambit System, by Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Podgaets, 284 pages, Batsford 2006, £15.99
and
Caro Kann Defence Panov Attack, by Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Podgaets, 276 pages, Batsford 2006, £15.99
More often than not, most top players these days put their trust in answering 1 e4 with 1 …c5 or 1..e5, but the Caro Kann remains an important option for Black. Since the 1920s it has featured in the repertoires of strong positional players such as Capablanca, Flohr, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Karpov and in 2006 it was seen in the games of several current super-GMs including Dreev, Ponomariov, Morozevich, Ivanchuk and Bareev. Owing to its reputation for solidity, the Caro has long been a favourite with club players of a certain style.
Up until fairly recent times, the theory of the Caro Kann was relatively stable and fairly limited. No longer; nearly all variations of the this opening have been put under the microscope in the last couple of decades, and certain lines have seen a huge growth spurt, none more so than the Advance Variation 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5, in which variations for White have been developed to suit all tastes, from the simple and sound approach of the Short System 3…Bf5 4 Nf3 e6 5 Be2 to the wild, almost Sicilian-like complications of 3…Bf5 4 Nc3 e6 5 g4!? Meanwhile, many strong players have continued to place their faith as White in the reliable Panov attack 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4, often leading to Isolated Queen’s Pawn positions that can also arise from other openings such as the Queen’s Gambit, the Nimzo-Indian and the c3 Sicilian. Opening theory guru GM Evgeny Sveshnikov is on record as stating that the Panov is in fact the best line against the Caro Kann, whilst the Advance variation should also suffice for some advantage.
Anatoly Karpov needs no introduction to chess players; he was a supremely dominant World Champion for a decade and remains a very strong player. At the start of his career as a GM he defended against 1 e4 with the Taimanov Sicilian or the Ruy Lopez, but in 1974 he surprised Spassky by adopting the Caro Kann in a Candidates match, and after that 1 e4 c6 gradually became his main defence; which he has adopted in nearly 300 games. One suspects that Karpov’s co-author has done most of the spade-work for these two books, but his credentials are also impressive. Podgaets (born 1947) is a strong IM who has been a member of Karpov’s team of helpers for many years now and is himself a considerable expert on the Caro Kann.
The books themselves comprise two hefty and dense tomes. Despite considerable improvements over some other recent Batsford opening books, design and typesetting have a slightly old-fashioned feel and are not as user-friendly as offerings from rival chess publishers. Nevertheless, the material seems good and when one looks carefully one finds a large amount of verbal explanation among the intimidatingly dense thickets of variations. The translation is a bit clunky in places, but the meaning is usually clear. Each chapter has its own variation index and these are thoughtfully referenced in the contents list. There is also a list of the complete annotated games; these date from 2004, which is probably the cut-off for the research, so readers will need to supplement the books with research in other printed sources or databases. Nevertheless, I think that these books are substantial contribution to the literature of the Caro Kann and most serious players of these systems with either colour will want to have them in their libraries.
Verdict: recommended. Rating: **** 10--Jan-2007
Advance and other Anti-French Variations by Lev Psakhis, 160 pages, Batsford/Chrysalis
[http://www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk/books].
This is the second volume by GM Psakhis in his up-dated study of his favourite French
defence. In the first four chapters, he deals with all White’s second-move
options, plus the Exchange Variation. The remainder of the book (four chapters)
is devoted to an extensive study of the critical Advance Variation 3.e5, which
in recent years has become a serious alternative for White to the main moves 3
Nc3 and 3 Nd2, numbering such strong GMs as Shirov, Grischuk, Timman, Rozentalis, Sax and (especially) Sveshnikov
among its supporters. The book is not an easy read, however, with all the
analysis inserted into just 19 annotated games and a dense, cluttered page
lay-out. There is an index of variations and a list of the main games, but no
bibliography and no indication of the cut-off point of the research.
Verdict: a major study by a world
expert on this opening, this book is a must for all fans of the French, and
players of the Advance French for White. ***
The Benko
Gambit revealed, by Neil McDonald, 223 pages, Batsford
£14.99
The Benko
Gambit is quite an attractive choice of defence against 1 d4. It is has a clear
underlying strategy and offers both active play and a very sound and resilient
pawn structure, at the cost of a central space advantage – and a wing pawn.
When the Benko first came to prominence in the late
1960s, it achieved such excellent results that many Whites became afraid to
face it head on, often adopting “Anti-Benko” move
orders such as 1 c4 or 1.Nf3. The development of very strong computer
programmes in the last decade or so has led to the clear refutation of many
gambits and has thus tended to make players more materialistic. Thus the Benko has certainly declined in popularity since its
heyday, but the positional basis of the Benko makes
it a rather different proposition from most other gambits, and it remains
playable; indeed, despite the development of several dangerous white lines
against it, the Benko continues to score well for
Black at sub-elite level. McDonald has produced a very useful guide to the Benko, with lots of good illustrative material and the sort
of clear explanations that one has grown to expect from such an experienced
chess writer. On the minus side, the book uses the ugly single-column layout
with wide line-spacing that for some strange reason has characterised recent Batsford chess books. There is a lot of wasted space. There
is a useful bibliography, but no indication of the cut-off point for the
research and oddly no mention of the previous standard work on the Benko by Pedersen (1999).
Verdict: a very useful introduction to the Benko; recommended. ***(*)
The Bishop’s Opening Explained by
At elite level, after 1 e4 e5 it is
rare these days to see anything but the Ruy Lopez,
Scotch or Petroff. This is not because all other
openings have been proved bad; it’s more a case of their not setting Black
enough problems, or perhaps burning out too quickly, reaching a drawish position. At lower levels, these factors are far
less important and we still see the old openings and gambits. In this book Lane
presents information and inspirational games on two such systems, linked by the
common factor of White developing his king’s bishop on the “Italian diagonal”
with 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4. First he examines Black’s most challenging and independent
response 2...Nf6 3 d3 c6!?. Then he looks at the old Urusov and Boden-Kieseritzky gambits,
before moving on to the Closed Italian lines, various lines of the
Verdict: a useful set of opening ideas for
club players. ***
Budapest Fajarowicz by Lev Gutman, 287
pages, Batsford £15.99
Gutman (born 1945) is a former
Soviet GM now resident (and still active) in
The Fajarowicz
is a rare variation of a rare opening, the Budapest Defence. The ‘Faj’ goes 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e5 (already questionable – very few
high-rated professional players ever play this) 3 dxe5 Ne4 (even more
questionable – Black does not even try to regain the pawn – instead 3...Ng4 is
the main line). In most opening books the ‘Faj’
receives very little attention, yet Gutman here
devotes over 280 (!) dense,
double-column pages to presenting what by any standards is very thorough and
detailed coverage. I wonder what is the intended market for
this book. Professionals don’t play this opening (although Gutman himself has played it three times according to my
database). Amateurs with little time for study will find it difficult to make
head or tail of it, since there is no suggested repertoire, no road-map to
navigate through the dense labyrinth of columns. A much better format for the
material would have been a much slimmer Black repertoire book, with the rest of
the material available for purchase on CD in chessbase
format.
Verdict: a fantastic book, a
masterpiece of research, original analysis and assessment, but off-hand I can’t
think of anyone who would be interested in buying it. It’s a bit like a
professor of literature writing an exhaustive academic study of Jeffrey Archer.
Caro Kann
Defence Advance Variation and Gambit System, by Anatoly Karpov
and Mikhail Podgaets, 284 pages, Batsford
2006, £15.99
and
Caro Kann
Defence Panov Attack, by Anatoly Karpov
and Mikhail Podgaets, 276 pages, Batsford
2006, £15.99
More often
than not, most top players these days put their trust in answering 1 e4 with 1
…c5 or 1..e5, but the Caro Kann remains an important option for Black. Since the 1920s it has featured in the
repertoires of strong positional players such as Capablanca,
Flohr, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Karpov and in 2006
it was seen in the games of several current super-GMs including Dreev, Ponomariov, Morozevich, Ivanchuk and Bareev. Owing to its reputation for solidity, the Caro has long been a favourite with club players of a
certain style.
Up until
fairly recent times, the theory of the Caro Kann was relatively stable and fairly limited. No longer;
nearly all variations of the this opening have been put under the microscope in
the last couple of decades, and certain lines have seen a huge growth spurt,
none more so than the Advance Variation 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5, in which
variations for White have been developed to suit all tastes, from the simple
and sound approach of the Short System 3…Bf5 4 Nf3 e6 5 Be2 to the wild, almost
Sicilian-like complications of 3…Bf5 4 Nc3 e6 5 g4!? Meanwhile, many strong
players have continued to place their faith as White in the reliable Panov attack 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4, often
leading to Isolated Queen’s Pawn positions that can also arise from other
openings such as the Queen’s Gambit, the Nimzo-Indian
and the c3 Sicilian. Opening theory guru GM Evgeny Sveshnikov is on record as stating that the Panov is in fact the best line against the Caro Kann, whilst the Advance
variation should also suffice for some advantage.
Anatoly Karpov needs no introduction to chess players; he was a
supremely dominant World Champion for a decade and remains a very strong
player. At the start of his career as a GM he defended against 1 e4 with the Taimanov Sicilian or the Ruy
Lopez, but in 1974 he surprised Spassky by adopting
the Caro Kann in a
Candidates match, and after that 1 e4 c6 gradually
became his main defence; which he has adopted in nearly 300 games. One suspects
that Karpov’s co-author has done most of the
spade-work for these two books, but his credentials are also impressive. Podgaets (born 1947) is a strong IM who has been a member
of Karpov’s team of helpers for many years now and is
himself a considerable expert on the Caro Kann.
The books
themselves comprise two hefty and dense tomes. Despite considerable
improvements over some other recent Batsford opening
books, design and typesetting have a slightly old-fashioned feel and are not as
user-friendly as offerings from rival chess publishers. Nevertheless, the
material seems good and when one looks carefully one finds a large amount of
verbal explanation among the intimidatingly dense
thickets of variations. The translation is a bit clunky in places, but the
meaning is usually clear. Each chapter has its own variation index and these
are thoughtfully referenced in the contents list. There is also a list of the
complete annotated games; these date from 2004, which is probably the cut-off
for the research, so readers will need to supplement the books with research in
other printed sources or databases. Nevertheless, I think that these books are
substantial contribution to the literature of the Caro
Kann and most serious players of these systems with
either colour will want to have them in their libraries.
Verdict: recommended. ****
Chess Tactics by Paul Littlewood, 143 pages, Batsford
£12.99
This is a re-issue of a book first
published in 1984. However, this type of material tends not to date very much –
it’s a systematic course in the various tactical devices – pins skewers etc. As
well as the illustrative material, there are numerous test positions in each
chapter to enable the reader to apply what has been learning. I do wonder
whether in the intervening years strong chess computers have managed to “bust”
any of the solutions given, but otherwise I can recommend this book a good
grounding in tactics. At £12.99 it is perhaps a little mover-priced for a
reprint.
Verdict: a good tactics primer. ***
Chess for Tigers by Simon Webb, 152
pages, Batsford 2005 £15.99
This is a revised edition of a
classic book from the late Simon Webb, packed full of good advice and
interesting examples of how to improve results, whether against stronger
players or weaker players. For Webb, it is not about playing the best or the
most beautiful moves; it’s all about winning. In the 25 years since its first
publication, I would say that Webb’s ideas have influenced most of the strong
English players, so much so that GM Matthew Sadler once described Chess for Tigers as “a superb
description of the English chess mentality”. Sadler had some reservations,
however. The most controversial aspect of Webb’s method is probably his advice
on how to get better results against stronger players. Webb advocated that the
weaker player should aim to “randomize” the position, since the stronger players generally wants to win without risk, using his
superior technique. Sadler’s advice was different; “the best way to maximize
your score against a stronger player for me is just to be tough; not to mix
things up wildly but simply to play a sensible opening and let your opponent
get impatient and irritated and worried that he will not win.” If you want to
read the rest of Sadler’s (mostly favourable) comments on Chess for Tigers, his
article is in New Chess Magazine 2000/5. Events have also overtaken some of
Webb’s advice. To avoid blunders, Webb advocated the Russian technique of
writing your move down first, then looking round the board to do a final
“blunder-check” before executing the move on the board; but FIDE have recently
changed the rules to outlaw this .practice. To be fair, the editors point this
out on page 6, but the result is that reader is essentially left without any
advice on how to avoid blunders! At £15.99 I feel the book is overpriced; the
original edition came in at 99 small (less than A5) pages. This new edition has
152 (larger) pages, but nothing like an extra 50 pages-worth of extra content.
It is all down to the design of the book; for instance, in the first edition,
Chapter 2 took up 10 pages; in the new edition it takes up twelve-and-a-bit
pages, although the content seems almost identical. In fact although this
edition is advertised as “revised and updated”, I could actually find little
difference between this and the 2nd edition.
Verdict: a welcome re-issue of a
still-useful manual on how to improve your results using the “human” side of
chess. Recommended, with reservations. ****
Chess: the
art of logical thinking from the first move to the last, by Neil McDonald, 256
pages, Batsford, £14.99.
As a thirteen-year old who had just
learned the moves at secondary school, I was probably quite lucky that the
first chess book that I ever read, on loan from my local library, was a good
one: Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving Chernev. It
consisted entirely of annotated classic games, with an explanation after every
single move. Naturally there was a great deal of repetition, and the precepts
of classical chess soon sank in. Armed with little else but this and a tactics
book, I soon became the strongest player in my school (which to judge from my
early game-scores, wasn’t saying much). Experienced chess author GM McDonald
has adopted the same formula in his latest book, a collection of 30 modern
classics, with every move explained. The games are grouped into six sections
according to the opening strategy used. They are indexed by player and opening.
Whether this will acquire the same status as Chernev’s
classic remains to be seen, but McDonald has certainly made a good stab at it.
Verdict: a fine collection of
annotated games, ideal for the player who wants to improve. Recommended.
***
The Controversial Saemisch
King’s Indian by Chris Ward, 224 pages, Batsford,
£16.99
Chris Ward is a popular and inspiring
writer – his two books on The Sicilian Dragon are among my favourite opening
books. Here he is writing about another one of his own pet systems – the Saemisch variation against the King’s Indian, 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4
g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3. Between the
1940s and the 1990s, the Samisch was probably White’s
most feared line against the KID, and was played by all the post-war
world-champions except Fischer. Then two things happened to change; first, it
was discovered that after 5...0-0 6 Be3, Black could obtain satisfactory play
with the surprising pawn sacrifice 6...c5! ; secondly,
White starting getting great positions against the KID with 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 e5
7 0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 b4 Nh5 10 Re1! The net result was a steep decline in the
popularity of the Saemisch; nevertheless, certain
players kept the faith and continued to score well with it, including Dreev, Sadler, Rowson and Ward
himself. Ward divides the material into
ten chapters, based on 34 complete games, including nine of his own. Ward has
played the Saemisch since he was a junior, so the
reader can be assured that the author is basing his judgements on a huge amount
of personal experience – this is clearly desirable, but not always the case, by
any means. Ward’s books tend to be inspirational and idiosyncratic, rather than
scientific and objective. This book is no exception! I loved it –others might
be irritated by Ward’s relentlessly chatty style. I was pleased to see that, unlike
many other recent Batsfords, this book has the
indispensable research tools that all openings books should have as standard
these days: a bibliography with an indication of the cut-off point for the
research, an index
of players and a tree of the variations. But please, Batsford,
design your chess books better and stop using single-column layout – it’s ugly
and wastes space.
Verdict: a readable primer on a white opening
system that has a great past and, if Ward is to be believed, a great future.
****
Dynamics of
Chess Strategy by Vlastimil Jansa,
219 pages, Batsford, £16.99
Jansa (born 1942), an
experienced professional grandmaster and trainer, presents the reader a
collection of essays on various important openings, such as the Ruy Lopez, Gruenfeld, and the Sveshnikov and Scheveningen
variations of the Sicilian,. The chapters vary in length and depth, but in each
case Jansa offers deep insights, clear explanations
and good examples. There are also questions at key points; the positions can
then be used as training exercises. The translation reads oddly in places, but
the meaning is generally clear.
Verdict: Very instructive material,
highly recommended for advanced players****
The English Attack by Nick de Firmian & John Fedorowicz, Batsford, 256 pages, £15.99
Two American GMs tackle the topical
English Attack, basically a set-up for White involving Be3, f3, Qd2 and 0-0-0
that can be used against several Sicilian variations: the Scheveningen,
the Taimanov and above all the ever-popular Najdorf. Chess-players’ access to information via databases
and the Internet is now such that expectations of what constitutes a good
opening book have really changed a lot in the last few years; not long ago, we
would probably have thought this book was marvellous. I am sure that it is
still possible to learn a great deal from it, but it left me feeling
dissatisfied on several counts: the single-column layout that Batsford have been using recently produces off-putting
blocks of dense text, alternating with wasted space; coverage of some of the
lines that I happen to know well seems unsatisfactory; there are too many
purely data-base references with evaluations but little explanation or
indication of where improvements might be sought; there are some transpositions
that have not been picked up; the last few chapters seem skimped and rushed;
there is no index of complete games, no bibliography and no indication of the
cut-off point for the research. It is unfortunate that this title comes out at
the same time as a rival offering on the same topic from Gambit chess books.
Inevitably, comparisons will be made and the Batsford
offering comes off second best on all counts: content, design, layout,
user-friendliness.
Verdict: there is undoubtedly much of value
in it, but by today’s high standards, this book falls short. **
French
Defence 3 Nc3 Bb4 by Lev Psakhis, 256 pages, Batsford, £15.99
This is the third volume of Psakhis’s detailed study of the French, and deals with the Winawer 3 Nc3 Bb4. It has the same virtues and failings as
the previous volumes in the series: Psakhis’s
comments are clear, useful and likely to be very trustworthy; yet all the
analysis is embedded in a small number of complete games, which produces a
dense and off-putting text.
There is a list of variations and of
complete games, but no bibliography and no indication of a cut-off point in the
research.
Verdict: An essential addition to the
bookshelf of any Winawer player, which will also
prove very useful for players of the white side. ***(*)
French Defence: Steinitz,
Classical, and other systems, by Lev Pskahis, 222
pages, Batsford 223 pages,
This is the long-awaited final
instalment of Psakhis’s four-volume series on the
ever-popular French defence. I always find it re-assuring when an author writes
about an opening that he plays himself; that is certainly the case here – GM Psakhis is still active as a player, and against 1 e4 he
nearly always plays the French. Basically the book gives us “what it says on
the cover” – examination and GM assessment of all the variations of the French
arising from 3
Nc3 Nf6 (plus the important Rubinstein line 3...dxe4, and rare 3rd
moves). The extensive material is
embedded in 18 illustrative games; I don’t find this format very user-friendly.
There is an index of variations, and a list of games,
but no bibliography or indication of the cut-off point for the research – these
should be standard in today’s opening books. The book has not been as well
researched as some of Psakhis’s earlier work. I
happen to know a bit about the MacCutcheon variation , having played it a lot in postal games,
including the BCCA championship and a quite strong BCCA thematic My
impression is that, in its use of such sources, the 2001 Everyman book by
Jacobs was actually much better.
Verdict: a useful addition to the literature on the French defence. Recommended, with some reservations. ***
The Gruenfeld Defence Revealed by Michael Khodarkovsky,
175 pages, Batsford/Chrysalis
[http://www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk/books] £14.99.
I am not familiar with the author,
who is apparently a Russian émigré now working in the
Verdict: a new-look introduction
to the Gruenfeld – if you are interested in this
taking up this opening but are put off my traditional opening books, this could
be for you. **
The
Hippopotamus Rises, by Andrew Martin, 140 pages, Batsford
2005, £14.99
The publisher’s blurb explains the
contents and rationale of this book: “In these days of huge databases and long
forcing lines, the Hippopotamus chess opening stands out, offering everyone the
chance to play chess in an original and interesting way. Black plays his pawns
up to the third rank (lying low in the water like the hippopotamus himself),
perhaps fianchettoes both Bishops and bides his time,
waiting for the right moment to strike.
International Master Andrew Martin traces the history of this fascinating line,
examines all the critical move-orders, gives recommendations, and shows how
this opening is used with success at all levels, from club players to
Grandmasters. But perhaps the best thing about the Hippopotamus is that, for
once, there is no fixed theory: you can tailor the opening to suit yourself.”
The Hippopotamus refers to a black
defensive set-up generally based on a double fianchetto,
pawns at d6 and e6, and knights developed to d7 and e7. It is a close relative
of the Pirc/Modern complex and is imbued with the
same “hypermodern” philosophy of accepting a space disadvantage yet creating a
position with a lot of reactive potential, with the capacity to counter-attack
if White over-reaches.
The material is based on 39 complete
illustrative games; I would call these games “commented” rather than
“annotated”, since the treatment is far from thorough; to be fair though,
thorough coverage is not the author’s intention – his main aim seems to be to
convey the basic ideas and give the flavour of this opening system; in this
respect the author largely succeeds, through his usual accessible, chatty
style.
It is interesting to see such strong
players as Spassky, Larsen and Hort
playing the black side of such an apparently bizarre system. One of the
practitioners of the Hippo that Martin fails to mention is GM Tiger Hillarp Persson, whose recent
book “Tiger’s Modern” contains much interesting material on his experiences
with the Hippo and related systems. If Martin’s book whets your appetite for
more information on this subject, then acquiring Hillarp
Persson’s book is the logical next step.
As with some other recent Batsford chess books, the design and typesetting lack
polish and there is much wasted space. There is an index of games but the index
of variations is all-but useless.
Verdict: at club level, the Hippo
is an option for solving the repertoire problems of players who are averse to,
or have little time for, detailed study. Martin’s book provides useful
illumination of this previously obscure system. ***
How to choose a chess move, by Andrew
Soltis, Batsford, 240
pages, £15.99
Amid the deluge of openings books, it
is a pleasant change to come across an import new book about what is really
fundamental in chess: “the ability to
spot good moves, to evaluate them quickly and accurately and to choose the best
of them to play on the board.” From his
wide knowledge of the game and its literature, Soltis
has assembled a large collection of positions that reflect different aspects of
the chess thinking process. I found the book absolutely fascinating. It is not
for beginners, but I consider that experienced players of a wide range of
strengths will enjoy this book and benefit from it. There is an index of players
but no bibliography. The print size and spacing are quite large and it seems to
me that there is a lot of wasted space, so at £15.99 the book seems overpriced.
Verdict: an interesting and
instructive survey of the various theories and the practice of selecting a
move. Highly recommended. ****
Ideas Behind Modern Chess Openings: Black, by
Another daft title for what is
essentially an attempt to provide a complete repertoire book for club players
with Black, based on the Chigorin Defence against the
Queen’s Gambit (1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6) and against 1 e4 the Centre Counter with 1 e4
d5 2 exd5 !xd5 3 Nc3 Qd6. The author also suggests lines against rarer, but
still respectable, white openings, such the English, as well as unorthodox
stuff such as 1 b4 and 1 f4. Both the Chigorin and
the Centre Counter with ...Qd6 are generally regarded as second-rate defences.
However, I can understand Lane’s choice of the Chigorin,
since it is active and at least it “gets the bits out”. I am less sold on
Centre Counter with ...Qd6, since it goes against the principles of
development, is still at an “experimental” stage in its development as a chess
opening, and looks distinctly accident-prone. The treatment is unsystematic,
being based on complete annotated games, and it is not easy to look up the
precise line you want – the index of main lines is most curious, since it
doesn’t use the usual “tree“ structure. Despite my
misgivings, I have to say that there is a lot of good chess in this book, and I
find Lane’s game-notes instructive and to the point.
Verdict: a rather dodgy black repertoire book – if you
are interested in these openings, however, you will find the games instructive.
**
The Modern Benoni Revealed by Richard Palliser,
208 pages, Batsford £14.99
In production and layout, Batsford chess books continue to lag behind the
market-leaders, and for what they are they tend to be a bit over-priced, but
this should not blind one to the fact that Batsford
are still capable of producing some good chess books. This is one of them. In
what, given any normal typography, would have been a relatively slim volume, Palliser provides you with all the important information
that you need to be able immediately to start playing the Benoni
(at least in training games). His choice of material is excellent, and his
explanations are, as far as I can tell, spot-on. The Benoni
has always been a bit suspect in high-level chess, but remains one of Black’s
best choices for an unbalanced game. I would expect an ambitious and
intelligent “improver” (as they seem to be called nowadays) to get decent
results with the Benoni having carefully played
through the material in this book. Even experienced Benoni
players will surely learn something from Palliser’s
treatment of the latest theory and his discussion of move-orders. By the way, Palliser has been know to play the Benoni
himself; when it comes to chess openings, that’s
usually a good sign that you can place some trust in what the author is writing
about.
Verdict: an excellent primer on
the Modern Benoni. Highly
recommended. ****
Najdorf: Life and Games, by Tomas
Lissowski, Adrian Mikhalchisin
and Miguel Najdorf, 256 pages, Batsford
2005, £14.99
Every serious chess-player has heard
of the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian, but how
many know anything about the man himself? Well, with the publication of this
book no-one has any excuse for ignorance. The authors have put together a fine,
if perhaps not definitive, study of this colourful character and great chess talent.
The book contains a foreword by Najdorf’s daughter Liliana, a short biography by the Polish chess historian Tomasz Lissowski and 131
annotated games, some with notes from contemporary sources including Najdorf himself, others commented by the Ukranian GM Adrian Mikhalchisin.
There are bonuses in a section on some of Najdorf’s
endgames and another consisting of a quiz based on some of Najdorf’s
best combinations. The annotated games are indexed by opening and opponent. I
enjoyed the book immensely and felt that I had learned a lot. Unlike many other
recent Batsford book, a double-column layout is used
and there is little wasted space. I found one surprising lapse in the notes
(presumably by Mikhalchisin) to game 45, Najdorf-Ivkov, Bled 1950, where the Ilyin-Zhenevsky
system of the Dutch is referred to as “an old line which Mikhail Botvinnik played with a great deal of success at the start
of his career.” This is just plain wrong: Botvinnik
did play the Dutch on and off throughout his long career, but he specialised in
the Stonewall form with d7-d5, not the Ilyin-Zhenevsky
with ...d7-d6.
Verdict: an overdue chess
biography and annotated game collection of one the strongest players and most
colourful characters of the mid- twentieth century chess scene. Good stories
and fine games. Better value than many other Batsford
chess books at £14.99 for 256 pages. Highly recommended.
****
Play 1 d4!
By Richard Palliser, Batsford/Chrysalis
[http://www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk/books] 288 pages, £15.99
English IM Palliser
provides a very detailed and well-thought-out repertoire for White based on 1
d4. His approach provides thorough and well-researched coverage, with over 40
illustrative games. A player could adopt his suggested lines en bloc or mix and
match them with other systems; either way, as far as I can see, the reader can
rely on these lines, which seem to combine solidity with aggression. Batsford’s production does the author (and the reader) few
favours however – the book looks and feels dense, cluttered and user-unfriendly.
Verdict: a fine effort from the
young English IM, which deserves the serious attention of anyone who plays
1.d4. ****
Judit Polgar:
The Princess of Chess by Tibor
Karolyi, 288 pages, Batsford
£15.99
Judit Polgar
is the strongest woman chess player the world has seen. She and her sisters are
products of an interesting, and possibly important, educational experiment. Judit has an aggressive style of play that has produced
many excellent games that will surely stand the test of time. This book
contains 89 of her games, from all stages of her career so far, annotated by
Hungarian IM Karolyi, who, as one of the Polgar’s former trainers, has inside knowledge and is able
to offer many insights. The text reads well and I really enjoyed this book. The
games are indexed by opponent and opening.
Verdict: a fine collection of Judit Polgar’s best games up to
2003. Highly recommended. (****)
Rethinking the chess pieces by Andrew
Soltis, 223 pages, Batsford
£14.99
It has become a commonplace to state
that Soltis’s prolific output can be divided into two
categories: potboilers and masterpieces This thoughful work is certainly not a potboiler,
but it will need time, and the judgement of stronger players than me, before we
caqn say whether it’s a masterpiece. With numerous
examples, Soltis discusses the dilemmas and finer
points involved in disrupting the material balance in chess. My first
impression is that this is at least a very interesting book, and one that I
shall want to tgake on holiday with me next summer
for a more detailed examination.
Verdict: an original and thought-provoking
book, which should repay careful study.
The Ruy Lopez Explained, by
In the past
Verdict: a useful introduction to a major opening for
the club player, featuring a well-conceived repertoire suitable for its
intended readership. This should be another winner from
The Scotch Game Explained by
Lane surveys a range of playable
lines for White in the Scotch. The material is conveyed via 46 complete
annotated games. The reader is offered options against Black’s two main
defences. After 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6, there is a choice
between the complex Mieses variation 5 Nxc6 bxc6 6
e5, which usually leads to an intense struggle between White’s better structure
and Black’s lead in development, and the steadier Scotch Four Knights 5 Nc3 Bb4
6 Nxc6 bxc6 7 Bd3. Against 4...Bc5, Lane offers three choices: first he surveys the
modern line 5 Nxc6 Qf6 6 Qd2, which once again features White’s better
structure versus Black’s piece activity. Secondly he looks at the older line 5 Be3 Qf6 6 c3 Nge7,
recommending 7 Bc4, an obvious move but one that became popular only in the
early 1990s.. (Incidentally there is a typo in the header of the 4...Bc5 5 Be3
chapter.) Finally he looks at 5 Nb3 Bb6
6 Nc3; I must admit that I have always regarded this last line as slightly illogical, since Nb3 decentralises the knight
whilst Bc5-b6 makes the bishop safer with little loss of scope! However, Lane makes a case for it, showing
that it is hard for Black to neutralise White’s space advantage with ...d5 and
White is often able to castle queenside and launch a kingside attack. Lane also
covers all other reasonable Black 4th moves, including less respectable lines which
nevertheless seem to be quite popular at club level, such as 4..Qh4 and
4...Nxd4. My database indicates that the author has not played the Scotch very
much himself as White, but on the other hand he has usually answered 1 e4 with
1...e5 throughout his career, so is qualified to write about most of the open
games. There are indexes of complete games and of variations, hut no bibliography
or indication of the cut-off point for Lane’s research. Strangely, neither the
chapters nor the games are numbered. I find the book slightly overpriced at
£14.99 – there are more diagrams than necessary and quite a lot of wasted
space.
Verdict:
The Sicilian Bb5 Revealed by Neil
McDonald, 211 pages, Batsford 2005 £15.99
The Sicilian with 3 Bb5 seems to be
becoming increasingly popular at all levels of the game, partly as a reaction
against the huge expansion of theory in the Open Sicilian, and partly because
of its intrinsic merits as a sound and solid system that nevertheless offers
White a chance to fight for advantage. Sveshnikov is
on record as stating that after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 (absolutely Black’s best
defence according to him), 3 Bb5 is actually the strongest move! (Although
after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6, Sveshnikov advocates 3 d4).
Experienced author and coach Neil McDonald does his
usual competent job in explaining the ideas. His examples are well chosen and
his explanations are clear and to the point. There also seems to quite a lot of
original analysis and re-assessments. He even provides some test positions and
solutions. If you wish to play these lines with White, you will need to
supplement this book with material on how to play against 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6;
McDonald acknowledges this and suggests the reader consider 3 b3 or 3 c3. I was
surprised to find that there is no bibliography and no indication of the
cut-off point for the author’s research in the two standard sources: Chess Informator and New in Chess Yearbook; this should be
standard in all opening books. Although there have been some improvements
recently, I still dislike the format and layout and layout of most Batsford books. There is too much wasted space. As a player
who still likes to pack books in my suitcase when I go to tournaments, I
appreciate smaller books!
Verdict: a useful introduction to
a rightly popular opening system. Recommended. ****
Test your chess with Daniel King, 240
pages, Batsford, £14.99
King uses the ever-popular “How good
is your chess?” format to present twenty extensively annotated games all played
in the last few years. It is far more difficult than you would think to write
up games in this way, but King is a fine writer who has been supplying such
articles for the magazine Chess for some years. Indeed, some of the
games in this volume first appeared in Chess. Unfortunately there is no
index of players or openings; an index of themes would also have been very
useful. The single column format means, as usual, an unattractive layout with a
lot of wasted space.
Verdict: a useful collection of “How good is
your chess” tests. Recommended. ***
Winning the
won game,
by Dr Danny Kopek and Lubomir Ftacnik,
208 pages, Batsford £13.99
This book collects together for the
first time the games that have been awarded the Paul M Albert Jr. brilliancy prizes at the annual USA chess championships
for men and women, including games by top American playuers
such as Seirawan, Browne, Gulko,
Christiansen and Benjamin. The annotations provide a balance of variations and
verbal comments. There are 64 games in all. The division of labour between the
authors, and American IM and a Slovakian GM, is not clear. There is an index of
players but unfortunately no index of openings.
Verdict: an instructive collection
of annotated games (mostly by strong players) many of which are likely to be
new to the reader. ***