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Magazine Chess Book Reviews : April 2008

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Play the Semi-Slav
by David Vigorito, Quality Chess, 280 pages, £16.99.

   The complex and theory-laden Semi-Slav is perhaps the most popular of all openings at top level. Vigorito’s fine repertoire work is packed with up-to-date references and analysis built into 50 annotated games. Happily he also supplies enough explanatory prose to guide readers through this labyrinth, so the book incidentally serves as a friendly introduction to the critical battles in tournaments like Corus Wijk aan Zee! Vigorito’s preferred move-order is 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6, bypassing the Catalan. After 5 Bg5 he offers the Moscow Variation, 5...h6, as well as the bewildering Botvinnik Variation, 5...dxc4. Until recently the Moscow might have seemed a relatively sedate alternative for Black, but since this book went to press the mayhem has spread to lines like 5...h6 6 Bh4 dxc4 7 e4 g5 8 Bg3 b5 9 Be2 Bb7 10 0–0 Nbd7 11 Ne5 Bg7 12 Nxf7!?! – Topalov’s novelty against Kramnik, as sensationally diagrammed on the front page of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper in Germany a few weeks ago. Devotees of this repertoire thus need to update constantly. The Meran with 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5 is thoroughly covered, as is the topical Latvian Variation, 6 Qc2 Bd6 7 g4, with two sensible moves, 7...h6 and 7...Bb4, considered in reply. Finally we reach quieter waters with the Exchange Slav, against which Vigorito gives a ...Bf5 antidote and counsels patience; and the Slow Slav, 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3 Bf5, quite rightly denying White the luxury of 4...e6 5 Bd3!? intending Nbd2 and b3. It’s hard to imagine a more rewarding – or demanding – repertoire. Review by James Vigus.

Chess Explained: The French by Viacheslav Eingorn and Valentin Bogdanov, Gambit, 127 pages, £12.99.
Chess Explained: The Nimzo-Indian by Reinaldo Vera, Gambit, 111 pages, £12.99.

Two more titles from Gambit’s new series of opening books which concentrate on imparting the general principles of openings via the annotation of complete games. Both volumes benefit from Gambit’s superior production values, with plenty of textual explanations and good layout. Eingorn is the best known of the authors, as a successful grandmaster and coach/team captain, but the other two also have impressive coaching CVs. JS.

Dangerous Weapons: 1 e4 e5
by John Emms, Glenn Flear and Andrew Greet, Everyman, 335 pages, £15.99.

    An attractive volume in the typical Everyman style, with the three English authors giving the reader some interesting options for stirring up sharp play (for both colours) after 1 e4 e5. John Emms writes chapters on Two, Three and Four Knights’ Defences (including the Max Lange Attack), plus the Bishop’s Opening line 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 d3 Bc5 4 Nc3 0–0 and the ‘Vienna Poisoned Pawn’ (2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 Qg4 Nd4). Glenn Flear looks at the Giuoco Piano, some Lopez lines (including Bird’s Defence), the Göring Gambit and the King’s Gambit with 3 Bc4. Andrew Greet contributes three chapters on the Centre Game. JS.

222 Opening Traps after 1 e4
by Karsten Müller and Rainer Knaak, Olms, 162 pages, £14.99.

Openings traps are a guilty pleasure. We all know we should try to play proper positional chess but sometimes the urge to find a short-cut to success is just irresistible. Hence the attraction of a book of this sort, with no fewer than 222 sneaky opening traps to drool over (why 222, and not those familiar numbers 101 and 64?). Even if you have too much integrity as a player to play for traps yourself, you can simply enjoy the Schadenfreude of seeing other players embarrassing themselves by falling for them. A diabolical delight. JS.

English Defence
by Ilia Odessky, Chess University, 270 pages hardcover, £19.99.

“The author, not relying on his own store of words, constantly hides behind the classics, citing them right and left.” Sounds like it could be a harsh review of this book, but, amazingly, it is actually an excerpt from the blurb of this debut book (on 1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6) by Russian IM and journalist Ilia Odessky. In many ways it is an entertaining read but, before contemplating another one, he or the publisher should really try to find a decent translator and blurb writer. One passage had us rolling in the aisles at Magazine. Of Daniel King’s 1999 book of the same name, Odessky (or at least his translator) says: “It lacks illustrative material. What’s the point of showing known games and analyses? There is no critical examination, and even when the theory suggests clear toadstools, King is too lazy to trample them down.” What on earth...? Answers on a postcard, please.
    It is probably just his constant tendency to quirkiness but Odessky sounds almost anti-English elsewhere in the text and doesn’t endear himself to English readers by quite unreasonably depriving the opening of its name and renaming it ‘A40’ after its Informator code. These are just a couple of examples of the strange stuff to be found in this book (and there is a lot more where this came from) but, for all that, if you stick to the variations, you may find still some interesting and challenging analysis. For all his opinionated and distracting commentary, he gives the impression that he has put a lot of effort into examining the opening. Buy it for that reason, or maybe just to laugh at some of the weirder passages – but do buy it. It’s my nomination for the 2008 Bonkers Chess Book of the Year award. JS.

An Aggressive Opening Repertoire for the Club Player
by Nikolai Kalinichenko, Chess University, 230 pages hardcover, £17.99.

The repertoire suggested is based on 1 e4 for White, with the Vienna Game against 1...e5 and 2 f4 against 1...c5, 3 e5 against both French and Caro-Kann, and the Austrian Attack versus 1...d6/1...g6. For Black, the major recommendations are the Dragon Sicilian against 1 e4 and the Leningrad Dutch against 1 d4. The translation seems reasonable and the book looks competently written and well presented. JS.

A Positional Opening Repertoire for the Club Player
by Nikolai Kalinichenko, Chess University, 240 pages hardcover, £17.99.

This companion to the above volume has a white repertoire of 1 e4 based around the Scotch Four Knights (against 1...e5), 2 c3 against 1...c5, 3 Nd2 (Tarrasch French) against 1...e6 2 d4 d5, 3 e5 and 4 Nf3 against the Caro-Kann, and the Pirc/Modern is countered with 3 f3. For Black, the main ingredients of Kalinichenko’s recipe are the Sozin/Rauzer Sicilian against 1 e4 and the King’s Indian Defence against 1 d4. JS.

Carpathian Warrior, Book 2
by Bogdan Lalic and Vladimir Okhotnik, Valerija Padyaka, 367 pages, £19.99.

This book deals with various offbeat lines of the Modern Defence. Book one was reviewed in the March 2006 Magazine and the new volume considers the line 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 Nc3 d6 4 g4!? and 1 d4 g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 Nc3 c5 4 d5 Bxc3+ 5 bxc3 f5, which Okhotnik terms the Chaos Counter Attack’.There is also coverage of the ‘Accelerated Chaos Counter Attack’ (1 d4 c5 2 d5 f5), known more familiarly this side of the Carpathians as the 'Clarendon Court'. After the textual content of the introduction, the book consists entirely of variations and Informator symbols. Well, not quite entirely: at various places in the book there are photographic reproductions of abstract colour paintings (which your philistine of an editor, unschooled in art criticism, can only describe as resembling an explosion in a paint factory). Here’s a quotation from the intro: “Relaxing and moving with the river of analysis is like listening to the music of an exotic Indian raga.” Really? JS.

New In Chess Yearbook 86
Ed. Genna Sosonko, 248 pages, New in Chess, £17.50.

All the usual features, with contributions by Efstratios Grivas, Bogdan Lalic and many others. Genna Sosonko gives a lecture on the origins of the ‘gambit’ while Glenn Flear reviews new books. JS.

Magazine Bound Volume 2007
Publ. British Chess Magazine, 676 pages hardcover, £33.95.

The 12 issues of last year’s magazine come wrapped in the usual elegant red cloth cover, with a comprehensive index. Reports on all the top events, articles – but you know already. JS. (note: graphic shown is not the front cover, which is plain maroon)

The Field 1905
Ed. Leopold Hoffer, Moravian Chess, 473 pages hardcover, £24.99.

Leopold Hoffer (1842-1913) is a highly readable source for Victorian and Edwardian era chess so this facsimile reprint of another year’s worth of his columns from the UK country gentlemen’s newspaper is very welcome. JS.

Huddersfield College Chess Magazine, Vol. 1-4 (Oct 1872-Sept 1876), Ed. John Watkinson, Moravian Chess, 289 pages hardcover, £26.99.
Huddersfield College Chess Magazine, Vol. 5-6 (Oct 1876-Sept 1877), Ed. John Watkinson, Moravian Chess, 289 pages hardcover, £26.99.

In 1872 future Magazine editor John Watkinson started a chess column in a publication called The Huddersfield College Magazine. So successful was he as a columnist that before long he was the editor of the entire magazine. And in less than ten years, his magazine was renamed British Chess Magazine. Fascinating glimpses of chess in the 1870s. Note that all the non-chess material has been filleted out so leaving something very similar to our own earliest issues. JS.

The Chess Player’s Chronicle 1889-1891 (Vol. 11)
Moravian Chess, 416 pages hardcover, £29.99.

The latest reprint in this series is another handsome tome replete with international and national news and articles. Most top-ranking chess players of the day are contributors in one way or another. It is pleasing to report that reproduction of Moravian Chess titles is much improved these days. JS.

Just in: Chessbase Opening Encyclopaedia 2008, ChessBase DVD-ROM, £69.99. (Upgrade from 2007 Disk: £37.99 – please return 2007 disk)

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