Book Reviews

Play the Semi-Slav,

by David Vigorito,

Quality Chess, (http://www.qualitychessbooks.com), 277 large pages £16.99

The American IM David Vigorito (born 1970) has a reputation in his native land both for having an excellent grasp of opening theory and being able to put this across clearly. For the last few years he has been a popular lecturer at http://www.chesslecture.com, but it is only recently that he has started writing openings books. His first effort, Challenging the Nimzo Indian (Quality Chess) was a complete repertoire for White against the Nimzo, based on 4 Qc2, and was excellent. Now he has produced a detailed study of the popular Semi-Slav. This defence forms an important part of the author’s own repertoire, which is always a good omen for an opening book.

For many years now, the Semi-Slav has been in the repertoires of many of the World’s strongest players. This defence is something of a paradox. Black declines the Queen’s Gambit, refuses the opportunity to develop his queen’s bishop outside the pawn chain (=the Slav) and sets up a passive-looking pawn triangle. Yet this can lead to some of the sharpest and most deeply analyzed variations in the whole of chess theory! How can this be?

Let us examine the typical sequence 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3; here Black can prepare to develop his Bc8 with either 4…dxc4 or 4…a6 (but NOT 4…Bf5? because of 5 cxd5 cxd5 6 Qb3!); if instead Black plays 4…e6 we have the Semi-Slav.

Now we have a parting of the ways. It is important to realize that at this point Black is ready to take on c4 and then hang on to his acquisition with …b5, so White has to decide whether to allow this or not.

If White protects the c4 pawn with 5 e3, then both sides have a blocked-in bishop, but White has the more aggressive stance in the centre and has the simple plan of expansion with Bd3 and e4; against passive play by Black this will give White some advantage.

In the 1920s, the great Akiva Rubinstein demonstrated that Black can respond actively with 5…Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5, granting White a mobile central pawn majority in return for space and activity on the queenside and the chance to develop the passive Bc8 on the long diagonal a8-h1. The bishop will be great on b7 if, and only if, the c6 pawn can be safely advanced to c5 in the next few moves; if not, the bishop will remain bad and the c6-pawn will be left backward and exposed on a semi-open file; there are two consequences: a) the b5 pawn needs either protecting or advancing, to permit …c5 without losing the b-pawn, and b) control of the c5 square can be very important. Meanwhile White has the obvious plan of advancing in the centre with e4, when both sides must consider the consequences of further white advances in the form of e5 or d5.

Thus it can be seen that this “Meran” variation of Rubinstein’s is likely to lead to a complex and dynamic struggle in which both sides have their trumps. In recent years there has been an understandable growth of interest in declining the challenge of the Meran by playing the flexible 6 Qc2; after the usual 6…Bd6, White can follow up positionally or with the aggressive modern gambit 7 g4!?.

The main alternative to 5 e3 is to press on with natural development by playing 5 Bg5. At this point, if Black simple unpins with 5…Be7, we have reached an Orthodox Queen’s Gambit Declined in which Black has played …c6 somewhat prematurely. This is regarded as rather passive for Black, but it is probably better than its reputation. Alternatively Black can transpose to the Cambridge Springs defence with 5…Nbd7. Neither of the above is covered in the present book, which focuses on the two principal continuations:

a) 5…dxc4, grabbing the pawn and intending to hang on to it after 6 e4 b5, when play typically continues 7 e5 h6 with great complications. This is known as the Botvinnik variation; although Botvinnik was not the first to play it, it was his games in the early 1940s against Lilienthal, Mikenas and (especially) Denker that popularized this line.

b) 5…h6, probing the intentions of the bishop before taking any committal action in the centre. This is known as the Moscow Variation. Now White can play the relatively quiet 6 Bxf6, conceding the bishop pair in return for an advantage in development, or he can tempt Black into the murky waters of the Anti-Moscow Gambit with 6 Bh4 dxc4 7 e4 g5 8 Bg3 b5; Black wins a pawn in this line but has structural weaknesses, and possible long-term problems with king safety.

It is worth noting that once Black has played …e6, and especially when he has played …Nbd7, he will generally answer an exchange on d5 with …exd5, when a type of Orthodox Queen’s Gambit Exchange (a.k.a. Carlsbad) variation is reached, but one in which it is hard for White to prove any real advantage, because he has committed his knight so early to Nf3.

Vigorito devotes most of the book to these four main lines: the Meran, the 6 Qc2 line, the Botvinnik and the Moscow/Anti-Moscow. But since this a repertoire book for Black, he also deals with (as far as I can tell) all White’s playable deviations, with special attention to the Slav Exchange variation, since he recommends heading for the Semi-Slav via the Slav route 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6, when if White exchanges on d5 at any point before Black plays …e6, Black will have to recapture with the c-pawn, producing the symmetrical, and therefore potentially drawish, Slav Exchange structure. Vigorito argues that Black should not fear this: “There are still 30 pieces left on the board, so there is still some fight ahead.”

The five-page introduction is particularly instructive and includes a discussion of the important issue of move orders. The analysis in the main chapters is copious and perhaps a bit intimidating, but there is a lot of very clear verbal guidance, including a useful “Conclusions” section, summarising the essence of each section and finally the chapter as a whole. There is a six-page index of variations and a list of the fifty complete games. There is a bibliography, including a useful indication of the cut-off point for the author’s research in the best known sources such as Chess Informant, New in Chess Yearbook and The Week In Chess.

You can find out more about the author and play through three of his own games with brief notes at http://tinyurl.com/35zcmr

Verdict: Another seriously good repertoire book from David Vigorito and Quality Chess. Highly recommended. *****

Play the Ruy Lopez

by Andrew Greet

Everyman Chess (http://www.everymanchess.com), 2006, 376 pages, £14.99

English IM Andrew Greet (FIDE 2425) provides a complete repertoire for White after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 based on the Ruy Lopez 3 Bb5. This is Greet’s first chess book, and he has clearly invested a huge amount of effort into making it a good one. In Part 1 (pp. 19-151) Greet provides very detailed analysis of all Black’s third-move alternatives. In Part 2 (pp 155-240) he examines Black’s options on move 4 after 3…a6 4 Ba4. Part 3 (241-372) focuses on Greet’s recommended system against Black’s most popular defensive option 3…a6 4 Ba4 Nf6, based on the move 5 Qe2. Not surprisingly he also suggests answering the Berlin 3…Nf6 in the same fashion, 4 Qe2. Against the Schliemann 3...f5, which still seems very popular at club level, Greet opts for 4 d3.

First of all, a short digression on nomenclature. 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 Qe2 is historically known as the Wormald Attack, named after RB Wormald (1834-76) who published some analysis of it in 1867; Wormald ran the chess column in the lllustrated London News from 1874 until his death When played on move 6, after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7, 6 Qe2 is known as the Worrall Attack, named after Thomas Herbert Worrall (1807-78); the Oxford Companion to Chess states that he was British Commissioner to Mexico and was later transferred to New York. The Companion also notes that Qe2 was also once known as the English Variation, and a database search shows that it was indeed used by a long line of English masters: Staunton, Blackburne, Bird, Thomas, and Yates. In more modern times, it was used extensively by Alekhine, Keres and Spassky, and the American GM Arthur Bisguier employed it successfully in the 1950s. Nigel Short has used it from time to time, notably in his match against Karpov in 1992. Short, who contributes a lengthy introduction to this book, remarks that he first saw Qe2 in the games of his fellow-member of Bolton Chess Club, Jeff Horner, who has used it to help him win a huge number of Opens in the North of England in the last forty years. As one of Horner’s regular victims, I can testify to his great skill with the Worrall. Today the most consistent high-level supporter of the Qe2 system is the Dutch-based Russian GM Sergey Tiviakov, who has played it in at least 60 games.

Factors in favour of 5 Qe2 include:

a) it rules out the Open defence 5 0-0 Nxe4;

b) it puts pressure on b5, lending more force to a2-a4;

c) it enables White to play Rfd1, supporting d4 and putting pressure on the d-file;

d) it enables White to connect his rooks more quickly;

e) in lines where Black adopts a Chigorin set-up with …Na5 and …c5, and White then blocks the centre with d5, White saves two tempi for switching his rooks to the kingside in support of the traditional attack with g4.

Here is an example of point e), quoted in one of Dvoretsky’s books:

Dubinin,P - Suetin,A RSFSR team championship, 1950

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Qe2 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.d5 Bd7 13.Kh2 c4 14.Rg1 Nb7 15.g4 Ne8 16.Nbd2 g6 17.Nf1 Ng7 18.Bh6 f6 19.Ne3 Kh8 20.Rg3 Rg8 21.Rag1 Nd8 22.Nf5 Bf8 23.Bxg7+ Bxg7 24.g5 Rf8 25.h4 gxf5 26.gxf6 Bxf6 27.exf5 Qc8 28.Ng5 Bxg5 29.Rxg5 Nf7 30.Rh5 Rg8 31.Rxh7+ Kxh7 32.Qh5+ Nh6 33.Rg6 Qf8 34.Rxh6+ Qxh6 35.f6+ e4 36.Bxe4+ 1-0

At club level it is still possible to win many games like this.

So why is 5/6 Qe2 less popular than 6 Re1? In his book The Ruy Lopez (1963), Leonard Barden wrote: “Some years ago, 6 Qe2 as an alternative to 6 Re1 seemed likely to become an equally popular move. Nowadays the Worrall Attack 6 Qe2 is rarely seen, partly because of the proven strength of 6 Re1, and partly because it is recognized the queen is exposed at e2 both to a pin by …Bg4 and to a concealed attack from the black rook along the e-file.” This still seems largely true today. Nevertheless, Greet makes a strong case on behalf of what he calls the Worrall System and I am certain that the reader is provided with enough analysis and careful explanation to be able to play it with confidence.

The structure of the book is not the traditional Everyman one based on complete annotated games; instead we get a detailed “tree” structure. There is an index of variations and a bibliography, in which Greet usefully indicates the cut-off point for the data-search in the standard electronic source TWIC (The Week In Chess). Greet also tells us which analysis engines he used and what he thinks are the strengths of each.

Throughout the book, Greet finds improvements over published analysis for both sides. I shudder at the thought of how much midnight oil was burnt over its writing, but I think Greet deserves great praise for this, his first book. Let us hope it is not his last!

Verdict: A hugely impressive piece of work and a strong recommendation to anyone who plays for or against the Ruy Lopez.

Rating: ***** 25-March-2007

Practical Chess Defence

by Jacob Aagaard

Quality Chess, (http://www.qualitychessbooks.com), 298 large pages £16.99

I was interested to see this book. There are far more chess books available on attack than on defence, presumably because the average buyer of chess books more often dreams of playing a brilliant attack than conducting a resolute defence. Attack sounds exciting; defence sounds tedious and boring. Checking my library, I find I have just three books solely dedicated to defence: an old one by Soltis, which I recall I read to the end and enjoyed; another by Polugaevsky and Damsky in translation, which I never finished; and a recent one by Marin which had some interesting material but disconcertingly kept throwing biblical references at me.

So, what have we here from the increasingly prolific Jacob Aagaard? Well, for a start, I think that this must be the first book on this topic to place itself firmly in the context of the computer age; Aagaard stresses that computer-aided analysis has not only revolutionised opening preparation but has even brought about changes in the way top players think and has refuted many attacks in attacking games, including many long-standing anthology pieces. Aagaard further considers that “Fritz” has brought about improvements in players’ defensive skills. These and related issues are discussed in his Introduction. Chapter 1 is entitled “The Defensive Thinking Frame” and contains explanation and illustration of the thinking methods and attitudes that the author considers the most useful in practice: “unforcing thinking”, “the method of elimination”, “prophylaxis”, “an eye for detail” and “winners don’t know how to quit”. Chapter 2 deals with more specific defensive techniques, both standard ones, such as simplification to a drawn ending or forcing perpetual check, and non-standard ones, such as “surprising tactics”. The rest (and the real meat of the book) consists of four graded sections of test positions for the reader to analyse, followed by the solutions, extensively annotated and discussed. There are 200 test positions in all, so the reader has a lot of material to work on. I am sure that any reader who diligently works through this material will learn a huge amount, but it is perhaps ambitious and talented young players who will benefit most, not just from the process, but from the huge amount of insights and “chess wisdom” that the book contains. The usual high production values associated with this publisher are also evident here – the book is a pleasure to handle and use.

Verdict: An excellent self-improvement manual. Good value for money Highly recommended.

Rating: ***** 5-March-2007

Starting Out: Queen’s Gambit Declined

by Neil McDonald

Everyman Chess (http://www.everymanchess.com), 2006, 191 pages £13.99

Here we have an addition to the “Starting out” series from reliable author Neil McDonald. After a useful introductory chapter, McDonald explains the Tartakower system, based on a black queenside fianchetto, Lasker’s defence, based on a simplifying …Ne4, the Classical (McDonald’s name for systems involving …Nbd7), the Cambridge Springs (based on a counter-attack with ..c6 and …Qa5), the important Exchange Variation (with which White can direct the play away from Black’s chosen system), and finally the system in which White plays Bf4 instead of Bg5.

I really like the way McDonald shows how these lines have evolved to their present state; the fifty annotated games contain many classical games, as well as games from as recently as 2006. I was also impressed with the items that McDonald has chosen to explain and highlight – he clarifies what most other books take completely for granted or deal with very cursorily; this is probably the result not only of McDonald’s great experience as a chess author but also of his work as a coach. As I read this book, I found that Mcdonald often seemed to anticipate a query that was beginning to form in my mind!

Verdict: A very good introduction to a major opening; even strong players new to this opening should find this book useful. Good value for money. Recommended.

Rating: ***** 5-March-2007

The Philidor Files

by Christian Bauer

Everyman Chess (http://www.everymanchess.com), 2006, 304 pages, £14.99

The ancient Philidor Defence 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6) has been undergoing a quiet revival in the last couple of decades. The main theoretical objection has always been that (compared to 2…Nc6) strongpointing e5 with 2…d6 hems in the dark-squared bishop. I have always found this reasoning to be less than convincing, since in Black’s main (and ultra-respectable) defence to the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6) the bishop is also confined. I am sure that professional grandmasters, pragmatists as they are, would have ignored the above theoretical objection in their hundreds had there not also been some practical problems with the Philidor, which for most of its history have seemed insurmountable.

The old mainline of the Philidor (reached after e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0) has always seemed playable and strategically sound for Black (there are even theoreticians such as Palatnik (in The Tarrasch Formula) who regard the Black position as strategically more promising, regarding the Nc3 as misplaced) - the main problem has always been: how to reach it!

The original Hanham move order of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 is fraught with dangers and even the most accurate continuation 4.Bc4 c6 5.0-0 Be7 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Ng5! Bxg5 8.Qh5 leaves White with two bishops and Black with dark square weaknesses.

Then Nimzowitsch proposed the improved move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4 Nc3 Nbd7 but eventually it became clear that White can avoid being forced into Hanham channels by 4 dxe5 Nxe4 5 Qd5! which seems to give an edge for White in all lines.

For many years this seemed the end of the story, but recently some strong grandmasters have been using one of two different Pirc-type move orders to try to reach the desired variation.

a) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 when after 4 Nf3 Black reaches the desired line by 4…Nbd7, whilst he does not fear 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 - this seems quite playable for Black as long as you know what you are doing.

b) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7!? When the most critical line to prevent Black from reaching his goal is 4.f4!? e5 (anyway) when

i) 5 Nf3 can be answered by 5…exd4! 6 Qxd4 (6 Nxd4 g6!?) 6...c6!? and Black intends a sharp gambit with ...d5 and ...Bc5.

so in The Chess Advantage in Black and White Kaufman recommends:

ii) 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nxe5 (once again inviting a queenless middlegame but one which is a bit more unbalanced than a) above) 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Nf3 and he claims White is better after 8...Bd6 9.Bg5 c6 10.0-0-0 Kc7 11.Be2 Nfd7 (11...Nfg4? 12 Rxd6! Kxd6 13 Rd1+) 12.Nd4. Even this is not so clear after 12...Bb4 or 12... a6 13.Nf5 Bf8.

But in a correspondence game I could make no impression with the white pieces against the novelty 8...Nfd7.

Adams,P - Grimsey,P MCCU teams, 09.2004

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.f4 e5 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nxe5 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Nf3 Nfd7 TN 9.Bf4 Bd6 10.Bg3 c6 11.0-0-0 Ke7 12.Be2 f6 13.Nd4 g6 14.Rhf1 Rf8 15.Kb1 Nb6 16.b3 Be6 17.a4 a5 18.Na2 Nbd7 19.Nxe6 Kxe6 20.Bg4+ Ke7 21.Bxd7 Kxd7 22.Bxe5 fxe5 23.Nc1 Ke6 24.Nd3 Be7 25.c3 b6 26.Kc2 Rad8 27.g3 h6 28.h4 Ra8 29.Kd2 Rad8 30.Ke2 Rf6 31.Rxf6+ Bxf6 32.Nb2 Rxd1 33.Kxd1 Bd8 34.Ke2 b5 35.c4 b4 36.c5 Be7 37.Nc4 Bd8 38.Kf3 h5 39.Ke2 Draw agreed.

OK, this is not a great deal of fun for Black, but it is some evidence that the move order 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 is probably viable for Black.

Thus Whites have been having to turn their attention to how to prove an edge in the main-line Philidor-Hanham position.

During the dark years when the Hanham seemed either unplayable or unattainable, some inventive grandmasters turned their attention to a completely different approach to the centre. Antoshin played 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Be7 whilst Larsen promoted 4…g6. The latter line can lead to sharp and interesting games with opposite-sides castling, but one has the feeling that White should be better - Black is short of space and the g6-pawn makes it easier for White to open lines against the enemy king.

Antoshin’s line has proved more resilient. Black allows White a space advantage but develops his kingside very quickly, meaning that he is soon ready for action in the centre (…d5) and failing that he has a flexible and dynamic pawn chain on the queenside.

There are now three good books on the Philidor, as far as I am aware. The first was Tony Kosten’s Winning with the Philidor (1992) which provided a very useful synthesis of developments up to that point and was enriched with many new insights and much original analysis. This book is still worth consulting, as is Kosten’s 1997 supplement Trends in the Philidor. In 2005 the young German IM Christian Seel published Geheimwaffe Philidor devoted entirely to the Antoshin; this is in German but is a typically excellent production from Chessgate and I recommend it to anyone interested in the Antoshin.

Finally we have The Philidor files from the strong French GM Christian Bauer, a hefty tome that ambitiously covers the whole Philidor spectrum (Hanham, Larsen, Antoshin) as well as the various move orders that modern players are employing (for both sides) to try to reach (or avoid) certain lines.

The first thing I always check when evaluating an openings book is: does the author actually play the stuff he is peddling? The reader can be reassured in this case: in my database I found over fifty games featuring Bauer on the black side of Philidor or Philidor-type positions, ample evidence that it will be worth listening to what he has to say.

So let’s see how he has organised his material:

The book starts with a short introduction (pp 5-9) which includes a brief mention of move-order issues and some material on the typical pawn structures that can arise. This section left me feeling slightly unsatisfied – I felt that readers would have benefited from lengthier discussion and explanation of these issues.

Chapter 1 (pp 10-43) is entitled Early Deviations and touches upon 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 Bc4 (in my view a practical choice – White can head for slow Spanish positions, as in Kasparov-Giorgadze 1979) and a range of rare options for Black after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6, of which the most important is the section (pp 16-22) which explains the problems that Black faces with the original Hanham move-order 3 d4 Nd7. The ancient 3 d4 f5 is also examined here and found wanting, although I suspect that the last word on this has not yet been spoken.

Chapter 2 (pp 44-82) deals with white deviations after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 (of which 4 Qxd4 is the most important) and then examines Larsen’s 4 Nxd4 g6, which Bauer sums up as follows: “offers Black dynamic counterplay, but is quite difficult to handle and probably fundamentally suspicious”.

Pages 83-131 deal with the Antoshin, which has been receiving some high-level support in recent years from the likes of. Nisipeanu, Bacrot and Fridman. Most attention is devoted to the critical plan of 6 Bf4, followed by Qd2 and 0-0-0. Anyone wishing to play this for White might find the theory re-assuring, but preparation has now become a nightmare, since Black has four playable options, all sharp and challenging, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Be7 6 Bf4 0-0 7 Qd2: a) 7…d5, b) 7…a6, c) 7...c6 and d) 7…Nc6.

Pages 132-197 make up a long series of chapters dealing with the move order 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 (looking en passant at 1 e4 d6 2 d4 e5, which also appears playable for Black). Ten pages deal with the interesting 3 f3 (also covered in Beim’s excellent Chess Recipes from the Grandmaster’s Kitchen). Bauer also covers 3 Bd3 e5 4 c3 d5! Pages 166-174 deal with the critical semi-ending line 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5 4 dxe5 dxe5 5 Qxd8+ Kxd8, which Bauer concludes is OK for Black, as long as he answers 6 Bc4 with 6…Ke8, rather than 6…Be6, which was being touted as best a few years ago. I was fascinated by chapter 9, which covers a possibility that I wasn’t previously aware of: 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 Nbd7 4 g4!?

We have to reach page 207(!) before Bauer begins his treatment of his favoured Philidor-Hanham set-up, reached by his preferred move order 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 Nbd7 4 Nf3 e5. Chapter 10 looks at alternatives to the most popular move 5 Bc4, including Shirov’s controversial 5 g4!? Chapter 11 examines White’s attempts to blow Black away quickly after 5 Bc4 Be7, namely 6 Bxf7+, 6 dxe5 dxe5 7 Bxf7+ and 6 Ng5 0-0 7 Bxf7+; this last is the most threatening according to Bauer, who considers it unclear. The remaining three chapters deal with different treatments by Black and White of the mainline 6 0-0 0-0.

Each chapter ends with a useful summary and conclusions. Note that the book uses a ‘tree’ structure, rather than the usual Everyman ‘complete annotated games’ layout. There are some complete games however, and so an index of the players would have been useful. There is an index of variations but the lack of a bibliography is a minus point. It is not clear whether Bauer has looked at other sources such the Opening for White according to Anand series or The Carpathian Warrior, although it seems that he did refer to Winning with the Philidor and The Lion.. These days an indication of the cut-off point for the research in the standard sources (NiC Yearbook, Informator, TWIC) should be standard for any opening book. Without that, it is even more than usually necessary for the keen reader to do his own research using databases.

Verdict: It is not everyday that a 2600-rated GM writes an opening book, so although the topic is a comparatively rare opening, we should pay attention. If you can read German and are just interested in the Antoshin, then Seel’s book would be my top pick, but otherwise I think that Bauer’s book is now the best source of reliable information on the Philidor.

Rating: **** 5-March-2007

The Ruy Lopez: A Guide for Black

by Sverre Johnsen and Leif Johannessen

GAMBIT Publications Ltd. (http://www.gambitbooks.com), 207 large pages £16.99

As with his previous book on the London system, the Norwegian Sverre Johnsen (FIDE 2172) has teamed up with a grandmaster, this time to produce a comprehensive repertoire book for Black against the Ruy Lopez, 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5, universally acknowledged to be White’s strongest opening after 1 e4 e5. His partner this time is the Norwegian Leif Erlend Johannessen, who is not a full-time chess professional but has the GM title and a respectable rating of 2537. Johnsen writes in his preface: “I am the main author in the traditional sense and again my GM co-author has been the primary analyst. However, not only has Leif written quite a lot of the prose, but he has also had his own ideas from the start about what the final product should be like.”

When reviewing an opening book, the first thing I generally do is to check in the database to see whether the author actually plays the opening he is peddling. This is usually a good indicator of how much attention the work deserves. In this case it doesn’t work though. We are told that Johannessen was far from being an expert in playing the black side of the Lopez, but was planning to take it up! Furthermore he has tried to turn this negative into a positive, writing in his own Preface: “In order to use my lack of experience with the Ruy Lopez in a constructive way, I would like to share with the readers how I prepared the opening while writing the book. The process was quite similar to what I would have done if I were to prepare the Closed Ruy Lopez only for myself.” I notice that he has been practising what he preached – in the database there are now some games of his on the black side of the Spanish. Johannessen’s preface actually covers 15 pages and, if not quite “worth the price of the book alone”, as they say, it is certainly a very useful essay on how to choose and prepare an opening for serious use, in twelve steps.

The introduction then discusses the reasons why one should play Black against the Spanish, and why the authors chose the Zaitsev, rather than some other variation. There follows a useful discussion of Closed Ruy Lopez strategy and a move- by-move discussion of the options and ideas for both sides up to move 9, followed by an explanation of Black’s two main knight-regroupings in the Closed Spanish, the Chigorin and the Breyer, which can be important background themes in the Zaitsev..

Then – BANG! We are in at the deep end of the Zaitsev itself: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Bb7 10 d4 Re8 11 Nbd2 Bf8. All of Black’s last three moves are common and natural ones in the Closed Spanish, but it seems to have been the Russian GM Igor Zaitsev (born 1938) who first had the idea that, by playing these moves now, Black could put pressure on White’s e4-pawn and so impede White’s usual “Spanish Knight’s Tour” of Nb1-d2-g3. This is quite awkward for White, who is unable to develop smoothly and finds his options reduced.

Following its introduction into practice in 1975, the Zaitsev took off rapidly and soon received the great boost of being adopted as one of Anatoly Karpov’s main weapons (there are 29 of his games in my database), even in his matches with Kasparov. This all sounds a bit too good to be true – and it is. First, White has the option of repeating the position, starting with 11 Ng5, forcing 11…Rf8, after which White has apparently nothing better than retreating the knight to f3, and so on. Thus if Black wants to play for a win he has to have some other variation in reserve; the authors therefore provide material on the apparently sound but as yet insufficiently explored option 11 Ng5 Rf8 12 Nf3 Qd7. Secondly, the arms race that is modern chess has led to deep research, which has unearthed some methods by which White can still fight for an advantage. First, he can close the centre with d5, gaining space and displacing the black knight; this resolution of the central tension enables Black to regroup and then hit back with …c6, when the struggle tends to revolve round control of the d5-square. Alternatively White can defend his e4-pawn by withdrawing his bishop from its active “Italian” diagonal and play Bc2, in some cases freeing the knight to continue on its journey, or enabling White to play b3, in order to play d5 and then c4, as in some lines of the Breyer. Finally White can try to solve his development problems by mobilising his hemmed-in queen’s rook on its original file by playing a4 – and in fact this is what has become the main theoretical battleground of the Zaitsev.

The theoretical chapters consist of:

1. The Zaitsev Main Line 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Bb7 10 d4 Re8 11 Nbd2 Bf8 12 a4 h6 13 Bc2 exd4 14 cxd4 Nb4 15 Bb1 c5 16 d5 16 Nd7 17 Ra3 f5 18 Nh2 Nf6.

2. The 17…c4 Zaitsev – this is an important alternative to 17…f5.

3. Other Zaitsev Lines

4. Imperfection - examines the …Qd7 variation mentioned above

5. Regrouping system - .the …Qd7 idea implemented as early as move 9.

6. Rare 8^th and 9^th moves. This is an important chapter, dealing with 9 d4 Bg4 10 Be3 and 10 d5, which are played quite often and still have some bite; other rare 10^th moves; the slow but sound system with 9 d3; other 9^th moves such as 9 a4, which the authors consider to “one of White’s most underestimated tries”; rare 8^th moves such as 8 a4, which the authors recommend answering with 8…b4, with a probable transposition to the Anti-Marshall.

7. 5^th and 6^th Move Alternatives – these include important options such as the Worrall Attack with 5/6 Qe2, the Centre Attack 5/6 d4, 5 d3 and 5 Nc3.

8. The Exchange Variation 4 Bxc6, against which the main recommendation is the classical response 5…f6, with Keres’s 5…Ne7 as a second string.

9. Delayed Exchange Variations: 5 Bxc6 and 6 Bxc6.

Although, as we have seen, the Zaitsev is positionally very well motivated, the main lines in Chapters 1 and 2 tend to lead to wild positions which are in fact untypical of the Closed Spanish as a whole and which are quite risky to play without deep, very concrete preparation, and even then you can find yourself being out-prepared. Karpov scored quite badly with these lines, and when Adams used the line in Chapter 2 as a surprise weapon in 2005 against Anand he ran straight into a line that Anand had prepared years before; that he could have drawn according to Stohl and PH Nielsen was, I am sure, of little comfort to Mickey. Of course, the lines in the first two chapters are also risky for White, but it is generally White who to gets to choose whether to engage in them or go instead for some calmer option earlier, which nevertheless promises a typical Ruy Lopez edge.

To me, the sharp Zaitsev main line (Chapters 1 and 2) seems unsuitable for players of the Karpov/Adams positional style. Admittedly, players of a different style, such as Kazimdzhanov and Beliavsky, have done quite well with it. Nevertheless, I think some variation of the Chigorin (9…Na5 10 Bc2 c5) complex might be a more prudent choice for many of the keen amateur players who buy this type of book (see John Nunn’s advice in Secrets of Practical Chess, 2^nd edition, p.69).

So, the choice of the Zaitsev as the heart of the repertoire can be seen as controversial, but can in no way be regarded as a criticism of the book itself. For comparison, one could hardly criticise a book about Fischer for not being about Tal! The book is well written, and there is a great deal of verbal explanation to help the reader understand what is going on. Many sources have been consulted, but the authors have treated these critically and have often made their own re-assessments. They have also suggested many improvements on published analysis. The lines covered in Chapters 6-9 should be extremely useful to anyone who plays the Closed Spanish as Black, and the line covered in Chapter 5 could be a useful new option for many Closed Spanish players.

There is a copious bibliography, (including the influential Opening for White according to Anand, on which J&J quote a significant improvement on page 94), but I could find no indication of the cut-off date for the research in the standard sources such as NiC Yearbook, Informator and TWIC. In my opinion this should be standard for any opening book these days. There are 35 complete illustrative games, but strangely no list of the players.

As always with Gambit books, the production values are very high and the book is a pleasure to use.

By the way, you can download a sample of the book from - http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/ruylopez.html.

Verdict: A very good opening book. Readers will learn a lot about the Closed Lopez, and therefore about chess, even if they never play the Zaitsev! Highly recommended.

Rating: ***** 5-March-2007

Dangerous Weapons: the Nimzo-Indian

by John Emms, Chris Ward and Richard Palliser

Everyman Chess (http://www.everymanchess.com), 2006, 272 pages £14.99

and

Dangerous Weapons: the Sicilian

by John Emms and Richard Palliser

Everyman Chess (http://www.everymanchess.com), 2006, 304 pages £14.99

These are the first two titles in a new series from Everyman, a bit reminiscent of the SOS series from the New in Chess stable, but generally less “off-beat”. I found both books interesting and useful. The Nimzo title has 17 chapters, featuring nine “weapons” for White and seven for Black. The Sicilian has 14 chapters, with eight white tries and six black.

The Nimzo book deals with:

4.Qc2
1 A Dangerous d-pawn: 4.Qc2 0-0 5.Bg5 c5 6.d5!?
2 Seizing the Initiative with ...b5!: 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qc3 b5!?
3 Wanting it all (Part 1): 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4!? d5
4 Wanting it all (Part 2): 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4!? c5 and 5...d6
5 The Romanishin Gambit: 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 c5!? 7.dxc5 d4
6 The Topalov Gambit: 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 c5!?

4.e3
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 0-0 5.Ne2 b5!?
9 Baguio City Revisited: 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.d5!?
10 An Idealistic Advance: 4.e3 Ne4!?

4.Nf3
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!?

Saemisch/4 f3
14 The Undershooting Bishop: 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.e3 b6!?
15 A souped-up Blumenfeld!: 4.f3 c5 5.d5 0-0 6.e4 b5!?

Others
16 An Original Leningrad: 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bh4 c5 6.d5 d6 7.Nf3!?
17 A Radical Queen Adventure: 4.Qd3!?

The Sicilian book covers:

1 A Swedish Specialty: The Gaw-Paw (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Qb6!?)
2 Taking a Break from Refuting the Dragon (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 0-0 8.Qd2!?)
3 Vallejo's Viable Lowenthal (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 e5 5.Nb5 a6!? 6.Nd6 Bd6 7.Qd6 Qf6)
4 Danger in the Taimanov (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f4!?)
5 Silent but Violent (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 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 cd4 4.Nd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 Bd6!?)
7 Take my Pawns! (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 Bb4 7.0-0!?)
8 Taking the Sting out of the Open Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 d5!?)
9 Karklins against the Najdorf (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qf3!?)
10 Baklan and Epishin's Sozin Antidote (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 e5!?)
11 The Prins Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 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 cd4 4.Nd4 a6 5.f4!?)
14 Surprising the Sveshnikov (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nde2!?)

I thought the treatment was pretty objective in all cases, so that, for instance, the material on 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 0-0 5 e4!? Will be very useful to anyone playing this for either side. As the main seams of these popular openings become worked out more and more deeply, it is possible that some of these “dangerous weapons” will increase in importance at master level; meanwhile, most of them look very playable at lower levels of the game. Typesetting and layout of these books are similar to in the “Starting Out” series from the same publisher and both series also have in common that there are plenty of verbal explanations and tips throughout the text. Future titles in the series include one on the French by John Watson.

Verdict: A promising start to this new series. Recommended

Rating: **** 10--Jan-2007

Starting Out: 1 d4! – a reliable repertoire for the improving player

by John Cox

Everyman Chess (http://www.everymanchess.com), 2006, 238 pages £13.99

English IM John Cox has adopted an approach that at first sight seems surprising for a book in the “Starting Out” series: no nursery slopes here – Cox takes us straight out on to the main pistes of the modern interpretation of 1 d4 from the white point of view:

King's Indian (Classical Bayonet 9.b4 with10.Re1)
Grunfeld (Exchange Variation with 8.Rb1)
Nimzo-Indian (4.Qc2)
Modern Benoni (Modern Main Line: Nf3, Bd3 and h3)
Benko Gambit (Accepted with 7.g3 and 8.Bg2)
Queen's Gambit Declined (Exchange Variation with Nge2)
Queen's Gambit Accepted (3.Nf3, 7.Bb3)
Semi-Slav (5.Bg5)
Slav (6.Ne5)
Dutch (main lines with g3)

Readers who are normally reluctant to construct their repertoire from main-lines should read Cox’s introduction, where he sets out his case convincingly (as you would expect – Cox is a lawyer in his other life).

The author also deals with a variety of minor lines in his eleven chapters. In each chapter the material is conveyed through an explanatory section followed by illustrative annotated games.(36 in all). As with all the books in the expanding “Starting Out” series, so there is a wealth of explanation and highlighted tips and warnings to help the reader. The author certainly provides enough material and guidance here for the reader to start playing these lines, but the serious “improver” is advised to supplement it with more specialized books, databases and internet sources. There is a bibliography, an index of variations and a list of the complete annotated games.

Verdict: A reliable repertoire based on main lines. A strong recommendation.

Rating: **** 10--Jan-2007

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