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Magazine Chess Book Reviews : May 2007

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Beating the Open Games
by Mihail Marin, Quality Chess, 288 pages, £15.99.

This volume is the first of two, providing a complete repertoire for Black after 1 e4 e5. The second volume will cover the main lines of the Lopez, with other 1 e4 e5 openings covered here. The main recommendations are 2...Bc5 against the King’s Gambit, 4...Nf6 against the Scotch, 3...Bc5 against the Giuoco Piano, etc. Curiously, the Exchange Lopez is also covered in this volume, presumably because of space constraints in volume 2. Each chapter has a number of pages of textual discussion, followed by the actual concrete theory, which is set out in MCO/NCO form, with a tabular arrangement, plus footnotes. Unlike MCO/NCO, however, the footnotes include prose comments, as well as variations.
    Overall, the impression is of a thorough and most interesting work. Marin himself plays 1...e5 as Black, which gives one greater confidence in the repertoire offered. In addition, the book concentrates on the openings themselves, rather than being padded out with complete games, as is so often the case with opening books nowadays. Despite this, the book comprises close to 300 pages, which just underlines the thoroughness with which the ground is covered.
    There are a few lapses in evidence. Most notably, despite the back cover claiming that the Bishop’s Opening is among those covered, the sequence 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 is in fact omitted entirely. However, this is less serious than might at first appear, since against 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3, Marin recommends 2...Nc6. As a result, if the Black player answers 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 with 2...Nc6, he will in 99% of cases transpose into either the Vienna, King’s Gambit Declined or Giuoco Piano, all of which are covered in the book. There are also a few production glitches and typos, but they are untypical of generally good production values.
    Overall, I would strongly recommend this book to any actual or potential 1 e4 e5 player. The second volume is rumoured to be based around several lines of the Chigorin Defence to the Lopez, and I for one am looking forward to seeing it. Review by Steve Giddins.

My Daily Exercise: 365 Tactical Tests to Improve Your Chess
by Heinz Brunthaler, New in Chess, 167 pages, £11.50.

This entertaining book contains 365 positions with a tactical shot, one for each day of the year, illustrating a range of combinational motifs, and tending to get progressively harder. The solutions are at the back, arranged so that you don’t accidentally see the solution to the next puzzle and spoil your following day’s enjoyment. NT.










 

Challenging the Nimzo-Indian
by David Vigorito, Quality Chess, 325 pages, £15.99.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the 4 Qc2 Nimzo-Indian. It is illustrated by a large number of contemporary games from virtuosi of this opening such as Kasparov, Kramnik and Leko. As with all Quality Chess books, the layout and presentation is clear and logical with frequent diagrams and fairly deep annotations. Vigorito seems to have invented names for a host of sub-variations which had hitherto been nameless, based on their current leading practitioner. NT.

The ABC of the Modern Slav
by Andrew Martin, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £18.99.

This four-hour DVD provides a repertoire for Black with the Chebanenko Slav (i.e. with an early ...a6), organised around 21 complete games. Martin is fluent as ever on camera, and the DVD should impart confidence to inexperienced players who want to learn this reliable defence. As opening theory, however, it seems patchy, and is not essential watching for those who already have Flear’s book on the ...a6 Slav. After 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 a6 Martin treats the critical 5 c5 with due respect, giving both the main line 5...Nbd7 and Ivan Sokolov’s 5...Bg4!? Against 5 e3, instead of 5...b5 6 c5 which has done well for White lately, he persuasively recommends 5...Bf5!?, based on the promising gambit 6 cxd5 cxd5 7 Qb3 b5 8 a4 b4 (Tregubov-Vallejo Pons, France 2004). Instead 6 Qb3 Ra7! is superficially awkward, but is the rook on a7 really worse placed than the queen on b3? 5 Bg5 is met by the theoretically sound pawn-grab 5...dxc4, whilst unusual fifth moves and the Exchange Variation with cxd5 are also dealt with well. However, against 5 a4 Martin offers 5...e6 6 Bg5 a5 7 e3 Be7 without considering the plan 8 Rc1! 0-0 9 Bd3 Na6 10 0-0 Nb4 11 Bb1 that gave White the edge in Gelfand-Malakhov, Sochi 2005. Another instance of a successful white line that Martin ignores is 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 a6 5 Qc2: despite the inevitable time constraint of a DVD, this should not have slipped through the net. Review by James Vigus.







 

Openings for White According to Anand, Volume 9
by Alexander Khalifman, Chess Stars, 274 pages, £15.99.

    The latest volume in the Anand series covers various Sicilian variations stemming from 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 including the Löwenthal, Kalashnikov, Four Knights, Taimanov and Paulsen as well as sidelines such as the those involving an early Qb6 by Black. Very detailed and comprehensive. NT.









 

The Chess Player’s Chronicle Vol. 10 (Jul 1886 - Mar 1889)
Moravian Chess, 416 pages hardcover, £29.99.

This is the latest reprint from a nineteenth century chess and chess-related periodicals. Includes coverage of the 1888 Bradford International tournament competed in by Blackburne, Burn, Gunsberg, Mason, von Bardeleben and Max Weiss amongst others. JS.









 

The Scotch Game C45
by Alexander Beliavsky and Srdan Cvetkovic, Sahovski Informator CD-ROM, £19.99.

This disk consists of a database of 1,402 unannotated games (up to 2006), 625 annotated games taken from Informator (with Kasparov amongst the annotators), 200 opening monographs, 180 test questions (which only really work correctly when accessed via the supplied Informator software – if you load them using ChessBase or Fritz, it shows you all the moves of the game). Each of the above is available in ChessBase (CBH), PGN and Chess Assistant formats, plus Informator’s own reader format. This is a reference source, pure and simple, like the old printed opening monographs that Informator used to publish. JS.







 

New In Chess Yearbook 82
New in Chess, 248 pages, £17.50.

The latest edition of the opening theory manual includes the following amongst its 31 Surveys: Sicilian Najdorf 7...Qb6 (by Olthof); Sicilian Velimirovic Attack 6 Bc4 e6 7 Be3 (Van der Tak); Sicilian Löwenthal Variation 4...e5 (Palliser), etc. JS.









 

ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia 2007, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £69.99.
(Upgrade from Encyclopaedia 2006 – £37.99 – please return disk).

The latest encyclopaedia has a 2.7 million game database, with more than 77,000 annotated, but the main features of the disk are the 4,200 opening surveys, the opening tree and the 285 special theory databases culled from ChessBase Magazine. This is a relatively economic option to buying the Mega Database 2007 disk for those who prefer opening theory and annotations to sheer bulk of games. JS.







 

A World Champion’s Guide to the Petroff
by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £21.50.

The former FIDE champion does much to refute the notion that the Petroff is boring on this excellent disk. He examines the most popular lines and provides a large number of interesting ideas. Video running time: 3.3 hours. System requirements: Pentium 300 Mhz, 64 MB RAM, Windows from 98 SE to Vista, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive. JS.







 

Chess Endgames 4 - Strategical Endgames
by Karsten Müller, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £21.50.

Amongst topics dealt with on this disk: rook and minor piece vs rook (and minor piece), rook vs two minor pieces, double rook endings, queen and knight vs queen and bishop, the bishop pair, rook and bishop vs rook and knight. A fun way to study endgames. Complete video running time: approx. 6 hours. System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows versions from 98 SE to Vista, Windows Media Player 9.0 or later, DVD drive. JS.







 

Duels of the Mind: The Twelve Best Games of Chess
(DVD-Video, PAL 4:3 video, 4 disks), Impala Productions, £24.99.

This British TV series, written and presented by Ray Keene, was transmitted by Thames Television in the late 1980s (and therefore was probably not seen outside the London area). The four disks run for about five hours in total and feature 12 classic games from Anderssen-Kieseritsky 1851 to Karpov-Kasparov 1985. Presentation is slick, and Keene pitches his analysis of this familiar selection of games at a target audience of social players, adding potted biographies, pictures, photographs and tantalising glimpses of archive film. It includes Fischer being interviewed in the immediate aftermath of the 1972 Reykjavik match. Worth watching for the archive film alone. NT.







 

The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants
by David B Pritchard, [Published by] John Beasley, 382 pages hardcover, £15.99.

This large book covers the rules of hundreds, if not thousands, of variants on classical western-style chess by the foremost expert on the topic, the late David Pritchard. Games are organised according to the type of board used, the object of the game, its geographical origins etc. Some moderately well-known variants (e.g. Kriegspiel) sit alongside some very obscure ones. The book is very well-presented. NT.







 

Key to reviewers: JS = John Saunders, NT = Neville Twitchell

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