Welcome the return of Phil Adams who has resumed reviewing new books for our website
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Rating of
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Series: Chess Evolution Publishers: Quality Chess I’ll start this
review of the September 2011 issue of Chess Evolution by quoting the blurb at
the Quality Chess website, where you can also download the contents list,
learn about the contributors and read a sample in pdf
on the principle of “try before you buy”. “A multinational team of Super-GMs analyse the most
important recent games, using their world-class skill and powerful computers.
This volume is essential to anyone interested in the most up-to-date and
highest quality opening theory. My first thought on
opening this book was that this was intended to be a rival for the
long-established Chess Informant, but I soon changed my mind. While Chess
Informant has been diversifying its content recently, the September 2011
issue of Chess Evolution (I think the plan is for it to be published six
times per year) has the simplest format imaginable: the bulk of the book
consists of 50 recent, high-level, games, annotated in great detail, in words
and variations, by active Grandmasters. It feels like an afterthought that
there is also an article on rook endings and a small puzzle section. I am hugely
impressed by the quality of the analysis on offer here, but then I
immediately began to wonder: what is the intended audience for this
publication? As an active amateur club player myself, I have always followed
top class chess with interest, mainly via the Internet these days, but I
neither need nor am interested in analysis of a single game offered in such
detail as in Chess Evolution. Some of the games analysed here cover eight
pages! Another aspect
which I think is likely to make Chess Evolution unattractive to amateur
players is the narrow range of opening lines, few of which are popular (in my
experience) at amateur level. I should also mention the price: close to £30
in the UK, which adds up to a substantial yearly outlay. The production
values of the book are up to the usual very high Quality Chess standards, but
the heavy paper means that I am unlikely to be packing a copy in my suitcase
when I fly to mainland Europe to take part in an international open. This
makes me wonder whether the authors and publishers have simply chosen the
wrong medium for their product and, to judge from the website http://www.chess-evolution.com,
others have had the same thought – apparently the material is becoming
available in electronic format, but so far only for the SmartChess
app. for Apple products. Verdict: a series of fantastic
quality but which, in this format, will probably – and sadly - find only a
limited readership, among very strong players. ****(*) 1.d4 –
Beat the Guerrillas! A Powerful Repertoire Against
Annoying Black Sidelines, by Valeri Bronznik New in Chess, 270 pages, softback. A full contents
list and an extract from the book can be downloaded from http://www.newinchess.com Valeri Bronznik is an IM from Ukraine who has been quietly
building an impressive reputation as an author of high-quality chess books. His
latest one for publishers New In Chess is a white repertoire for 1 d4 players
against a host of secondary but often dangerous lines. It is a revised and
updated version of a book published in German in 2010 called “1.d4 - Ratgeber gegen Unorthodoxe Verteidigungen”, which was well reviewed in the German
chess press. The material is
mostly presented via annotated games, which happens not to be my favourite
format – it can be hard to locate particular lines, and sometimes I find that
important variations have “disappeared down the gaps” between the variations
used in the games. I would much prefer a clear, detailed repertoire, followed
by some complete illustrative games. However, there is no shortage of good
advice throughout the book and the author guides the reader towards his
recommended lines by means of helpful introductions and conclusions to each
chapter. The impressive
amount of work that the author has put in is evident on practically every
page. He is not afraid to question the analysis of other authorities, such as
Khalifman and Avrukh, and
has made extensive (but discriminating) use of computer analysis. I also was
impressed with the honesty with which Bronznik
writes; he is not afraid to own up when he has not been able to find much
advantage for White, for instance (surprisingly) against the Schara-Hennig Gambit 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 cxd4 cxd4. A comparison could be made with the book “Squeezing the
Gambits” by Kiril Georgiev
published by Chess Stars in 2010 (incidentally missing from Bronznik’s bibliography). This is another good book,
proposing a white repertoire against the Benko, the Budapest, the
Albin and the Blumenfeld.
Bronznik also covers the Budapest and the Albin, but he also deals with far more of the sort of
secondary (and tertiary!) lines one often has to face in local league and
tournament games. There is an index
of players and a bibliography, but I think a detailed index of variations
would have been helpful. An important source missing from the list of sources
consulted is the website http://www.chesspublishing.com
– I fail to see how these days any author of an opening book can afford to
ignore the extensive and regularly updated material at this site. Finally I should
note that the production values of New in Chess books are high – good paper,
pleasant layout, generous use of diagrams. Verdict: This book will clearly be very useful to a wide range of
1 d4 players, but also anyone who plays any of the defences covered would do
well to familiarize themselves with the new threats presented here, otherwise
they run a serious risk of being “bronzniked”. ****(*) The Ragozin Complex – A Guide for White and Black by
Vladimir Barsky (translated by Steve Giddins) New in Chess http://www.newinchess.com 350 pages,
softback One of the most
prized items in my chess library is a somewhat battered blue hard-back book
that was published in Kiev in 1956. It’s in Russian. The title means Questions of Modern Chess Theory. The
author is Isaac Lipnitsky (1923-59). Lipnitsky was a very strong player; he never competed
internationally, but played three times in the immensely strong championship
of the USSR, his best achievement being a share of second place in 1950,
behind Keres. The first 200 pages of the book
deliver what the title of the book promises: a discussion of the theory of
the openings and the links between the opening and the middlegame.
The approach is startlingly modern and “concrete”, anti-dogmatic. The final 220 or so
pages of the book apply the ideas developed in the first half to the study of
one particular opening complex: the Ragozin system,
which can arise from various move orders but is essentially a hybrid of the Nimzo-Indian and the Queen’s Gambit, often arising, for
instance, after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Bb4. Black is prepared to
accept the blocking of his c-pawn (5 Qa4+ forces 5…Nc6) and usually intends
to free his position with …e5 instead of …c5. Lipnitsky’s book was
remarkably influential; references to it can be found, for instance, in the
writings of Fischer, Botvinnik, Shereshevsky
and Dvoretsky. Fischer is said to have studied
Russian just so that he could read it, and early in his career he played
several games with the Ragozin, although it has to
be admitted that it was not his most successful black opening. My own knowledge of
Russian is limited to what one might call “chess-Russian”, developed by
trying, with the aid of a dictionary, to understand the pages of Russian
chess magazines in the 1960s. Therefore I was delighted when in 2008 the
publishers “Quality Chess” issued an English translation of Lipnitsky’s legendary book. This was great – as far as it
went… The publishers decided to issue only the first part of it, omitting the
second section on the Ragozin and replacing it with
some of Lipnitsky’s annotated games. Still, this is
a good book and I am pleased to be able to appreciate Lipnitsky’s
ideas more deeply through the fluent translation by John Sugden. Now, in 2011, my
happiness is (almost) complete: the publishers New in Chess have issued a 350
page book by Lipnitsky-fan International Master
Vladimir Barsky, offering an extensive study of the
Ragozin and presenting the state of its theory in
2011, but based on Lipnitsky’s approach and
division of the material. The author also makes extensive use of relevant
quotations from Lipnitsky’s book, including a
translation of his important section on “How to study a concrete opening”. Viacheslav Ragozin himself (1908-1962) appears in the book far less
than Lipnitsky, although six of his seminal games
receive extensive annotation. Some readers might be
disappointed by the fact that this is not really a repertoire book; instead
it is based on the “complete annotated games” approach. It contains 65
annotated games, grouped into seven chapters. There is an index of players, a
list of games, an index of variations and a bibliography. Two slightly sad
notes: the only photograph presented of Lipnitsky
is a blurred one from 1939. And the photo purporting to be of Ragozin (page 9) is in fact one of Boleslavsky.
I hope this can be corrected in any subsequent edition of this interesting
book. Verdict: One can learn a great deal from this book,
both from Lipnitsky’s insights and the more
up-to-date theory provided by its 21st century author, IM Barsky, for whom this book was clearly a labour of love.
Highly recommended to players wishing to develop a feel for the Ragozin complex. For many players this will provide a
good answer to the question of what to aim for when White avoids the Nimzo-Indian by playing 3.Nf3. ****(*) Grandmaster Repertoire 8 and 9 - The Grünfeld Defence Volumes 1 and 2 Quality Chess (http://www.qualitychess.co.uk), £24.99 per softback volume, also available in hardback. The Grünfeld defence is a strange opening in many ways. I know strong players who would not consider playing it as Black, but hate facing it as White, so much so that they will try to bypass it with 1 Nf3 or 1 c4. In general, it is fair to say that in the last quarter of a century the so-called “hypermodern defences” which concede space at an early stage of the game (King’s Indian, Pirc/Modern, Alekhine…) have declined in popularity and “respectability” at top grandmaster level; yet somehow the Grünfeld has not only retained its good reputation but has recently even seen a surge in popularity at top level. Since its introduction in 1922, the Grünfeld has had high-level supporters in practically every generation. It seems to inspire great devotion in its adepts (Svidler for example) and we can even see the strange phenomenon of whole national “schools” of players and analysts: in the 70 and 80s the Czechoslovakian school (Hort, Jansa, Smejkal, Ftacnik...); later the Hungarians (Adorjan, Leko...); lately we have the powerful Israeli school, including our author himself, GM Boris Avrukh. This is Avrukh’s second venture in compiling a detailed repertoire. In 2008 Quality Chess published two books, comprising a repertoire for White based on the Catalan. These were very well reviewed and have proved useful even for titled players. Avrukh’s choice of the Grünfeld as the basis for a black repertoire against 1 d4 is hardly a surprise – he has played it many times (although he also plays the King’s Indian and the Slav) and it is perhaps worth bearing in mind that the Catalan can be viewed as a type of Grünfeld with the white pieces! Over the years there have been many good books on the Grünfeld and even this year the rival publishers Chess Stars beat Quality Chess to the punch with a very interesting repertoire book by GMs Delchev and Agrest. Although there are some overlaps in the repertoire choices, serious Grünfeld players will undoubtedly want both the Avrukh books and the Delchev/Agrest book. All the books offer judicious repertoire choices, very comprehensive coverage, plenty of explanatory text and large amounts of original analysis. Avrukh helpfully covers White’s possible deviations after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6, whereas Delchev & Agrest go further in suggesting some lines against “earlier” Anti- Grünfelds such as the Barry Attack and attempts to “move-order” Black by starting with 1.c4. Many of the variations of this opening lead to semi-open positions which require little more than a combination of basic understanding, good tactical ability and inevitably some memorisation. But another feature of the Grünfeld is that it can lead to a wide variety of different pawn structures, which means that it can place great demands on lower-rated players. Thus for club players wishing to gain an understanding of this opening before embarking upon any deep investigation of the theory, Rowson’s “Understanding the Grünfeld” and Aagaard’s “Starting Out: the Grünfeld” are likely to be the most useful. The detailed theory has moved on, inevitably, but my impression is that most of the basic ideas of this opening have remained stable for a long time. Incidentally, as a former keen postal chessplayer, I was pleased and impressed with the number of correspondence/email/server games that Avrukh refers to. Correspondence players, often using powerful computer programs, are capable of making significant contributions to the development of theory, and it is good that an author such as Avrukh recognizes this. A final word about the production values of these books; I was sent a hardback copy of one volume and a softback copy of the other. Both are excellent, but I later treated myself to a hardback copy of the second volume! The paper is good, the layout is generous without being wasteful of space, and all in all the books are a pleasure to use. I have deliberately avoided discussing detailed variations of the Avrukh repertoire. For anyone wishing to find out more before buying, full contents lists and extracts of both Avrukh volumes can be viewed at or downloaded from the publisher’s website: http://www.qualitychess.co.uk Verdict: These two books represent the “state-of-the-art” in opening repertoire manuals. Any strong or ambitious player intending to play the Grünfeld in open events would be unwise to try to manage without these Avrukh books, and for correspondence players they are surely a must. ***** Experts on the Anti-Sicilian, edited by Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw. Quality Chess £19.99 The Sicilian defence is probably still the most popular defence against 1 e4 at all levels, but anyone who regularly plays the Sicilian as Black knows that for much of the time one does not get to play one’s favourite Sicilian line; instead, White often “gets his retaliation in first” by choosing what we used to call “irregular” lines but which have now become so important that these days we call them “Anti-Sicilians”. The editors of this book estimate that these lines are played in “roughly a third of all games that start 1 e4 c5” and I suspect that below master level this figure is much bigger. Many of these lines have become so popular in the last few decades that they have developed an extensive body of theory of their own; for instance, a book on 2 c3 against the Sicilian was recently published; it was over 500 pages long, yet readers have been quick to write in to Internet forums pointing out various omissions! So, although the Open Sicilian remains the main battleground, the various “Anti-Sicilian” lines now have to form a serious part of the preparation of any Sicilian player, and this is the premise for this latest book from Quality Chess. First, it should be stated that, like all books from Quality Chess, this is a pleasure to handle and use: the production values are excellent: pleasing design, good paper, ample diagrams..The only minus point I can think of in this recepect is that the book will weigh rather heavy in your suitcase! Each chapter starts with a Variation Index and ends with a useful Conclusion. Perhaps owing to space constraints, there is unfortunately no complete Index of Variations at the end of the book. There is no bibliography either; in all opening books it should be standard these days to indicate the cut-off point of the research in periodicals such as Chess Informant, New in Chess Yearbook and TWIC. A list of contents (and an extract) can be downloaded from http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/docs/10/pdf. so I will not repeat that here. The book uses the successful formula of “Experts vs. the Sicilian” from 2004. A collection of titled players were each invited to write on one topic. Thus we have Avrukh, for example, showing that Black can answer the Grand Prix Attack with 3…e6, and Aagaard providing a complete repertoire for Black against 2 c3 with 2…Nf6. In all, the book consist of 25 chapters discussing 15 different forms of Anti-Sicilian. The general slant of the book is towards Black, but there is valuable information for prospective Whites as well, particularly by Christian Bauer on various lines after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 c3, and by Matthieu Cornette on the insidious 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Bb5 The only major omissions that spring to mind are the Morra Gambit (which can anyway be answered by 3…Nf6, or else one could consult the recent black repertoire book by Ftacnik “The Sicilian defence”, also from Quality Chess) and the line 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 c3 Nf6 4 Be2, promoted by IM Michael Basman in the 1970s, and notable for its use by Svidler to beat Kasparov at Tilburg 1997. This line scores a respectable 54% for White from over 5,000 games in Megabase so should not be underestimated.. This is not the only book on the Anti-Sicilians. As long ago as 1994 Joe Gallagher produced “Beating the Anti-Sicilians” – this was a good book (based on complete anotated games, so it remains instructive) , but inevitably it is showing its age in some lines. More recently there have been “Anti-Sicilians: A Guide for Black” by Rogozenko (2003) and “Fighting the Anti-Sicilians” (2007) by Palliser. Players who already have Rogozenko or Palliser can be happy that they are pretty well equipped, but this latest book from Quality Chess should come strongly into consideration in view of its distinguished multiple authorship (on the principle that two heads are better than one) and the detail and objectivity of its coverage, particularly of fashionable and fast-evolving lines such as 1 e4 c5 Nc3 Nc6 3 Bb5. Verdict: Another first-class prodcut from Quality Chess. Serious players who play or face the Sicilian will find a great deal of useful information here, well organised and well explained. Rating: ***** Reviewed: 29-04-2011 |
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Series: The Cutting Edge The Open Sicilian 1 and Sicilian Najdorf 6. Be3 By Milos Pavlovic Quality Chess £17.50 each These are the first two titles in a new series from Quality Chess which aims to “identify the most important theoretical battlegrounds and then analyse as deeply as possible in search of improvements”. Their author, Milos Pavlovic (born 1964) is a grandmaster (since 1993) and theoretician from Serbia. Each chapter starts with a Variation Index and ends with a Conclusion. There is a complete Index of Variations at the end of the book. There is also a bibliography but unfortunately this not quite as helpful as it could have been, since there is no indication of the cut-off point in the research of periodicals such as Chess Informant or New in Chess Yearbook. As with all recent books from Quality Chess, the production values of the books are excellent: pleasing design, ample diagrams, good paper, and a binding which (with a bit of help) opens flat. A sample PDF and list of contents can be downloaded from http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/docs/10/pdf. The choice of the Open Sicilian as the subject of the first two books in the series is logical; the Sicilian is probably the most popular opening at practically all levels of chess, and the Open Sicilian (i.e. after 1 e4 c5 White follows up with 2 Nf3 and 3 d4) is the main area of conflict. The first books deals with the trendiest variations in what are probably the five most popular forms of the Open Sicilian (apart from the Najdorf): the Sveshnikov (a.k.a. the Lasker or Pelikan), the Richter-Rauser, the Dragon, the Taimanov and the Kan. The second volume takes on the even more daunting task of examining the variation that has been probably THE most disputed territory for the past quarter of a century: 6 Be3, the so-called English attack, against the Najdorf ( e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6), which someone once described as the Rolls Royce of chess openings, and which has been used by many of the world’s top players since it rose to popularity in the 1950s: Kasparov, Fischer, Anand, Topalov, Gelfand, Polugaevsky, Polgar – the list could go on and on. I am not qualified to give a true assessment of the quality of the analysis in these books, but dipping in at random I find plenty of helpful verbal explanation and lots of original analysis. It is clear that Pavlovic has invested immense effort in making the books as comprehensive, up-to-date and helpful as possible. Of course, in one sense Pavlovic has taken on an impossible task. For all his efforts, and those of the team at Quality Chess, to produce an opening book which is up-to-date, the theory of sharp and popular variations such as these does not stand still; every opening book is inevitably out of date before it hits the book shops, and all serious players are aware these days that they need to supplement such books with the latest games available on the Internet at such websites as The Week In Chess (TWIC).. Nevertheless, one has to start somewhere, and these books not only provide a useful benchmark (summarising existing theory) but have the added value of providing a degree of “future-proofing” in the form of the author’s added original analysis. Verdict: These books can be given the highest recommendation to serious over-the-board and correspondence players who want to have the best available information on the chosen variations in a well organised and well-packaged form. Rating: ***** Reviewed 29-04-2011 |