CHESSBOOK REVIEWS

Latest book reviews of 1 September 2020

Wilhelminalaan 33 

7261 BP RUURLO 

The Netherlands.
           John Elburg


 
                                                                                                           Chess Books 

An Idiot Proof Chess Opening Repertoire by Graham Burgess
2020
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
191 pages
Price $22.95
ISBN (10 digits):1-911465-42-2



The well known Gambit chess author and Fide master Graham Burgess, who holds an record for marathon blitz chess playing, provides the reader of this
book with a well thought time less, easy to lean, move to move repertoire book.
Both sides of the board get in this repertoire book an important turn, for example with Black Burgess goes for the Scandinavian with the tricky
queen move 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6!? Grandmaster Sergey Kasparov once describes this move as a multi-functional.
Because the queen prevents Bf4 and prepares queens side castling,please see: {Understanding the Scandinavian by Sergey Kasparov Gambit Publications 2015}.
Burgess has managed to create a repertoire that avoids excessive simplifications as well as overlay static or symmetrical structures where a single slip will lead to a instant loss.
A other interesting line for black is the Slav with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 c6 where black,
switches into a line of the Slav but having ruled out both the Exchange Variation and the Slow Slav,thanks to Burgess and his sneaky move order.
With white goes for the easiest move of all 1.c4,the good old English Opening,as Burgess explains:This is certainly the easiest of the 20 possible first moves to play with minimal knowledge.
You could almost open 1.c4 with a plan of developing  and than simple  play chess.
Between the lines I found variations as 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Bc5 4.e3 Nf6 5.b4 Be7 6.Nxe7 Qxe7 7.Bb2 0-0 8.Ne2 d5 9.Ng3! Bezemer – Timman Belgian Team Ch 2018/2019.
Grabbing the pawn with 9…dxc4 10.Bxc4 Qxb4 11.Qc1 Re8 12.Rb1 Qd6 13.0-0- gives white a nice compensation,as f4 is coming soon.
Fun is 1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.e4 e5 4.a3 a5 5.f4 exf4 6.d4 Qh4+ 7.Kd2 Qf2+ 8.Kd3 and white is solidly better thanks to his pawn centre.
Conclusion: Brilliant made repertoire book! 
Chess CD's


ChessBase Magazine issue 196 Extra
August  2020
ChessBase
 http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Euro 12,99
System requirements:
Minimum: Pentium III 1 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Windows Vista, XP (Service Pack 3), DirectX9 graphic card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 12/Fritz 13 or included Reader and internet connection for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel Core i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, DirectX10 graphic card (or compatible) with 512 MB RAM or better, 10


The video files start with:Anna Muzychuk who digs for the second time in the famous Taimanov Variation,And Adrian Mikhalchishin  goes for a  Catalan and in the Queen’s Indian,that runs with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.0-0 Be7 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 Nbd7 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Nc3 Qc7 11.Rad1 Rac8 12.e4.
The main file is good for over 36000 entries,where the closing date of this file ends with some fine internet games from wonder boy Magnus Carlsen.
The lucky bag files is filled with 33 heavy load games where the following one is a fine example of play: So,Wesley (2770) - Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2778) [B00]
Clutch-ch June rapid Lichess.org INT (1.12), 08.06.2020
[Krasenkow,Michal]
1.d4 Nc6 2.e4 e5 The so-called "Nimzowitsch defence" (not to mix up with the "Nimzo-Indian") is hardly a sound opening and a rare guest in tournament practice but in an online rapid game - why not? Alas, such an approach didn't quite work this time. 3.dxe5 Nxe5 4.Nf3 An "academical" move: White trades his undeveloped knight for Black's, which has already made two moves, and therefore gains time for development. [4.f4 is the main alternative.] 4...Qf6 [In case of 4...Nxf3+ 5.Qxf3 Qf6 White usually plays 6.Qg3 , rejecting the offer to exchange queens.(6.Nc3 leads to the game continuation) ] 5.Nc3 An aggressive continuation. White wants to gain development advantage, not caring about his pawn structure. [5.Nxe5 Qxe5 6.Bd3 is the main continuation, and then White tries to make use of the exposed position of Black's queen, e.g. 6...Bc5 (6...d5!?) 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Nd2 etc., keeping a small edge.;
Alternatively, White can continue his development by the humble 5.Be2 ] 5...Nxf3+ [5...Bb4 6.Bd2 Ne7 7.Nxe5 Qxe5 8.Bd3 d5 1-0 (83) Murzin,V (2465)-Bauer,C (2623) Europe-Echecs INT 2020 9.0-0?] 6.Qxf3 [6.gxf3!? is another option. White prepares long castling, and the open g-file will help him to launch an attack, e.g. 6...Bb4 7.Bd2 Ne7 8.Qe2 b6 (or 8...Ng6 9.0-0-0 c6 10.Kb1 Bd6 11.h4 Nf4 12.Qe3 Ne6 13.Ne2 Bc5 14.Qd3 Qe7 15.Ng3 d5 16.exd5 cxd5 17.Nf5, 1-0 (21) Morozov,D (2357)-Schrancz,I (2312) Lechenicher SchachServer 2013) 9.h4 Bb7 10.a3 Bc5 11.Bg5 Qc6 12.Qd2 a6 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 (Black's king is not safe on the queenside either) 14.Bh3 f6 15.Bf4 b5 16.h5 Kb8 17.Nd5± 1-0 (34) Tari,A (2581)-Djurhuus,R (2421) Norway 2017] However, even after the queen exchange White keeps the better prospects due to his development advantage. 6...Qxf3 [6...Bb4 7.Bd2 Qxf3 (7...d6 8.0-0-0 Be6 9.Qe2 a6 10.Kb1 Qd8 11.f4 Nf6 12.f5 Bd7 13.g4± 1-0 (23) Pranav,V (2318)-Karthik,V (2515) New Delhi 2019) 8.gxf3 Ne7 9.0-0-0 a6 10.Rg1 0-0 11.f4 f5 12.Bc4+ Kh8 13.e5 b5 14.Bb3 Bb7 15.Nd5± 1-0 (35) Khanin,S (2514)-Sivuk,V (2552) Cheliabinsk 2019] 7.gxf3? c6 [7...Bb4 8.Bd2 - see above] 8.Rg1 [8.Bf4!?] 8...Ne7 9.Be3 d5?! An unsuccessful attempt to break through. Otherwise White keeps strong pressure along the d-file, e.g. [9...d6 10.0-0-0 Ng6 11.Bd3 b6 12.f4 Bb7 13.f5 Ne5 14.Be2 0-0-0 15.f4 Nd7 16.Bc4± 1/2 (57) Braeuning,R (2290)-Reinhardt,B (2255) Germany 1998] 10.exd5 Nf5 [10...cxd5? 11.Nb5;
10...Nxd5 11.Nxd5 cxd5 12.0-0-0 Be6 13.Bb5+ Ke7 14.Bc5+ Kf6 15.Bd4+ Ke7 16.Bxg7 Bxg7 17.Rxg7 Rag8 18.Rg3! , and White should win.] 11.0-0-0 [11.Bf4!? was quite good here, keeping this bishop alive.] 11...Be7?! Black doesn't take the opportunity given by his opponent but after [11...Nxe3 12.fxe3 Bc5 13.Rxg7 (13.Kd2!?; 13.Re1!?) 13...Bf5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Rg2 Bxe3+ 16.Kb1 he has no sufficient compensation for the pawn.] 12.Bf4 Bd7 [12...Bh4 was relatively better. After the text move Black can't avoid huge material losses.] 13.Bh3 0-0-0 [13...g6 14.Rge1 Kd8 15.dxc6 bxc6 , and now, say, 16.Na4 . Black can't move ( 16...Ke8 17.Nc5+- ); meanwhile, White prepares to double rooks along the d-file.] 14.dxc6 bxc6 [14...Be6 is equally hopeless, of course.] 15.Rxd7 1-0.
Conclusion: This is must have material!