Latest book reviews of 1 October 2007
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG.
Wilhelminalaan 33John Elburg
7261 BP RUURLO
The Netherlands.
CHESSBOOK REVIEWS
Latest book reviews of 1 October 2007
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG.Wilhelminalaan 33John Elburg
7261 BP RUURLO
The Netherlands.
Chess Gems by Igor Sukhin
2007
Mongoose Press
www.mongoosepress.com
335 pages
Price $24,95
ISBN 978-0978148255
Seldom a chess book on combinations has impressed me so much as this work from Igor Sukhin.
This brilliant man has created a work from over 1000 combinations from games played over the last two millennia where a major part of them are from forgotten players as the renowned master of Shatranj Abu Naim Al-Khadim who was a resident of central Asia in the ninth century,
this amateur played a combination that even a modern master would be proud about!
Even that a majority of the examples in this book are from the end of the twentieth century, I enjoyed the research from Sukhin on combinations between the ninth and fifteenth century,where Sukhin for example included some problems from Luis Ramires Lucena book,Love Resurrected and the Art of playing chess, published around 1497.
In that book Lucena analysed 11 openings – “The best that I have seen Rome and all over Italy,France and Spain” – and he includes 150 problems collected by him.
Sukhin writes: We are interested in his work mostly because he was the first to demonstrate a combination based on smothered mate,a combination which occurred subsequently in numerous guises in the games of players of various strengths.
Interesting are the words about Gioacchino Greco,born in Calabria and one of the strongest players in Europa.He was the author of some unplayable chess books between 1619 and 1625.
Sukhin writes: Greco’s works were in fact collections of games with comments on variations, where some of these games where not even played,Greco invented them in order to demonstrate some instructive combinations.
A other interesting reference is the work from the Syria is the chess player Philip Stamma who showed 100 positions in his book “Experiences in chess,consisting of rules on how to play well and how to obtain advantages with precise moves,which can be called the secrets of this game,Paris 1737.As you can see in this book Stamma demonstrated memorial ideas in de endgame as well.
Stamma’s work has been duly appreciated by later generations.The first Russian chess master Alexander Petroff wrote about Stamma’s book,”Similar positions seldom happen in real games nowadays,but they are tremendously useful as exercises.You can test your self on how to find your way out of even the most difficult positions,and to win your games in desperate situations.
Every chapter of this fourteen chapter book hold a readable introduction text and the reader is not overloaded with a mass of exercises which we usually see in these kind of combination works.
But first to the chapters of this book:1: According to the rules of Shatranj {ninth-fifteenth centuries},2: From Lucena to Greco {fifteenth – seventeenth centuries}
3:From Stamma to Philidor {Eighteeth century}4:From Napoleon to Staunton {the first half of the nineteenth century}5: Anderssen and Morphy,6: First unofficial world championship match (1861-1870},7: Zukertort and Chigorin {1871- 1880}8,Steinitz The first world champion,9:Lasker and Pillsbury {1891-1900,10: Matches of the second World Champion {1901-1920,11: Capablanca,Alekhine,Euwe {1921 – 1940},12: Botvinnink,Smyslov,Tal (1941- 1960},13: Petrosian,Spassky,Fischer {1961-1980}and The great opposition Karpov – Kasparov {1981- 2000}.
Included in these chapters are exercises from how would you play and instructive explained solutions.
Interesting enough the great Chigorin made it with the most combinations in this book followed by Alekhine,but also Steinitz and Tarrasch are worth mentioning.
Many positions in this book are fascinating as the game position between Lund and Nimzowitsch,Christiania 1921.White: Kd2, Be3,Nh4 and pawns: a3,b2,f2,g3 Black: Ke4 Rh5 pawns a4,b5,c4,d3,f3g4
Black to play and wins.This positions belongs to one of the unsolved chess mysteries from Edward Winter,please also see http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4074.
Included is a impressive bibliography,preface from Vladimir Kramnik,index of players and a introduction from the author.
Conclusion: A fascinating read!
Fighting the Anti- Sicilians by Richard Palliser
2007
Everyman Chess
http://www.everymanchess.com
254pages
Price $24,95
ISBN 978-1-85744-520-6
IM Richard Palliser provides the reader in his latest Everyman Chess book” fighting the anti-Sicilians “a complete repertoire line and more against all kind of anti Sicilian lines except the move 2.Nf3 which of course leads no a normal Sicilian defence.
I remember that Euwe had in his early openings a small eight page chapter with all kind of alternatives to the move 2.Nf3 so it is very interesting to see how Palliser has filled these 254 pages of this repertoire book.
Some lines as 2.Nc3 a6!? are really unique in chess and so far I am aware of these lines have never seen any serious paper publications before.
But first some words from Palliser on the move 2…a6: This option is especially useful for Najdorf players,although some Kan,Scheveningen and O’Kelly players may also wish to consider it.The former Russian Champion,Konstantin Landa,is its main exponenet, but it has also been employed by Ivanchuk,Lautier and Sasikiran.Black intends to meet both 3.g3 and 3.f4 with 3…b5,seizing some useful space and retaining full flexibility in the centre. Palliser handles now for different possibilities for white as 3.g3,3.f4,3.Nge2 and 3.Nf3.
Al together the 2..a6 line is good for eighteen pages of this book!
But there are also alternatives for black after 2.Nc3 as the closed Sicilian with 2..Nc6 and 2..e6 which are easy to learn but as Palliser explains there are a number of subtleties that the black player must be aware of.
For the curios fans of the Morra Gambit Palliser goes for the line with 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 a6! and the alternative line 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 e6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Bc4 b5!?All together good for around 22 pages of this book.
Palliser: An uncompromising choice in place of the much more established 6…Nc6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3 b5 10.Bb3 Ng6.My eye was first drawn to this early ..b5 when I saw Graham Burgess,a noted Morra expert, suggesting in NCO that it favoured black.
In are nowadays the wing lines with 2.b4 and 2.a3! plus 3.b4 are good for around 16 pages and that means that they are nearly just so important as the Morra line.
A very rare line comes from the Canadian Duncan Suttles who gave up chess for computer programming: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g4!? the so called Vinohrady variation,which even made it to one of those SOS articles:
3…e5 Palliser prefers here 3..e6,preparing..d5 after which g4 may later be revealed as a weakness.5.Bg2 Nge7 6.h4!? Ng6 7.h5 and we reach a 43 year old game,Suttles – Reshevsky,USA Championship 1965.
The author enjoys playing the pawns to e6 and d5 as we can see in the Grand Prix attack;1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 e6 or 1.e4 c5 2.f4 e6 and of course the above mentioned lines.
In big lines the book is build up after the following chapters:
1:The 2.c3 Sicilian,2: Move order issues after 2.Nc3,3:The closed Sicilian,4:The Grand Prix Attack,5:Other approaches after 2.Nc3,6:Kingside Fianchettos 2.d3 and 2.g3,7:The Queenside fianchetto 2.b3,8:Gambits and miscellaneous lines where I would like to mention the fashionable 2.Na3.
Pallister makes excellent use of latest lines as 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 cxd4 7.cxd4 e6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Nc3 Qa5 10.0-0 Nf6 11.Bf4 Rd8 12.Qb3 Qb4 13.g4 Bg6 14.Bb5
Maullin – Palliser,New York 2007 and publications from the ChessPublishing website.
Included is a one and a half page bibliography makes this move to move book very complete!
Conclusion: A exciting firework on the anti- Sicilians!
The modern Benoni by Zenon Franco
2007
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
111pages
Price € 23,95
ISBN 978-1-904600-77-0
GM Zenon Franco explains you in seven main chapters and 25 model games the secrets of the Modern Benoni which was one of the favourite lines from the legendary chess genius Mikhail Tal.
This sharp defence is well explained by Franco with plans and tactical motifs for both sides of the board,included with instructive summary’s.
The eight chapters are divided to; Classical variation,Modern variation,Fianchetto variation,Mikenas,Taimanov and four pawns attack,Knaak & Kapengut variations, Systems with Bf4 and Bg5,Knight’s tour variation,transpositions and move orders.
Razor sharp are the four pawn lines as the game, Hikaru Nakamura – Nick de Firmian,San Francisco 2002,where the white player went for the Mikenas system,1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.e5 Franco writes: This is the variation carrying the name of the Lithuanian master Vladas Mikenas .Althrough it is not a very popular line in current practice, it is necessary to know it with a certain depth in order to be able to survive the onslaught.
It is interesting to compare this book from Franco with the one from Richard Palliser on the Modern Benoni,{Batsford 2005},for example Franco sees nothing in the move 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ Nbd7?! where Franco writes: allowing 9.e5 and e6,leads to extremely sharp and forcing play in which black is struggling to stay afloat.
But Palliser writes Another such line is 8…Nbd7!?,through that is more theoretical, and objectively much sounder, than 8…Bd7.
So there are some differences in opinions but in big lines Franco is much more up to date as for example in the following line,
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ Nfd7 9.a4 Qh4+ 10.g3 Qd8 11.Nf3 0-0 12.0-0 a6 13.Bd3 the main alternative to 13.Bc4 is well covered by Franco with around one page of text and some fine latest games as Krush – Goletiani,Chicago 2006.That game went by the way with 13..Nf6 14.Kg2 Bg4 15.h3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Nbd7 17.Bd2!? Re8 18.Rae1 Rc8 19.b3 Nb6? 20.e5 Nb6 21.fxe5 Nfxd5 and here Franco writes instructively : I don’t understand why white failed to play 22.Qxf7+! Kh8 23.Ne4! with the treat of 24.Nd6,and also leaving the black pieces without coordination after 24.a5,and besides b7 is attacked.
Included in this book is a bibliography,a chapter on transpositions,list of games and an excellent made index of variations which makes this book very complete!
Conclusion: There is a lot of value in this book!
The Queen's Gambit Declined by James Rizzitano
2007
Gambit Publications Ltd
http://www.gambitbooks.com
E-mail info@gambitbooks.com
127 pages
Price € 23,95
ISBN 978-1-904600-88-0
This second chess explained chess book from Gambit comes from James Rizzitano who learned us, how to beat 1.d4 in his refreshing written repertoire book on the Queen’s Gambit Accepted.
Now the master of 1.d4 steps in the foot steps of the famous chess master Carl Friedrich Andrejewitsj Jaenisch who thought that holding the centre with 2…e6 was simple the best move in the position.
It is impressive to see what James Rizzitano has managed to pack in these 127 pages with readable text,first there are 25 complete games where some as Veselin Topalov – Peter Heine Nielsen,Dortmund 2005 are good for nearly four pages of text or even better Jonathan Rowson – Ahmed Adly,Turin Olympiad 2006 makes nearly 5,5 pages of instructive explanations.
Covered are the following chapters in this book; Alatortsev variation {1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7,Tarrasch defence,Echange and Blackburne variations, Ragozin defence and Vienna variation, Semi-Tarrasch defence,Tartakower defence and at last the Classical defence.
Interesting to mention is the Blackburne Variation that arises after the moves;1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bf4 which is an invention of Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841–1924) who had the nick name "Black Death"
Rizzitano: The popularity of the Blackburne Variation has steadily increased during the past decade or so,as many players are attracted to the sharp,dynamic positions which typical arise from this variation.
Game eight in this book,Carlsen – Short,Hoogeveen 2004,features a Blckburne Variation with 8.cxd5 and after 8..Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 we have a typical IQP position.Short attempts to liquidate his d pawn with an early ..d4;Carlsen responds with e4 and counters black passed d4 pawn by creating a kingside pawn-roller.
The players follow established theory for many moves until Short varies with a new idea.He commitis an inaccuracy several moves later and Carlsen is able to win a pawn and force a highly favourable endgame.Carlsen’s technique is more than to the task and he finishes off the game in a very stylish manner.{good for around 4.5 pages of text}
There is more than enough text in this book to develop a good understanding of the Queens’s Gambit,even that Rizzitano does not work with summary’s as some other author do in these Chess Explained books but prefers to cover it all into the introductions.
All together it is a very complete learning book with a interesting bibliography and a good index to find your way throw this easy to learn openings book.
Conclusion: A very complete learning book on the Queen’s Gambit Declined!
Chess Informant issue 99
2007
Beograd
http://www.sahovski.com
340 pages
Price GBP 20.50
This latest issue of the Informator is good for 413 annotated games and 500 games fragments and that is quite a difference with the first issue of the Informator back in 1966 with only 64 pages!
The most important theoretical novelty of the preceding Volume goes to the game Morozevich – Grischuk,Moscow 2006,Informator 98/156.
Sa Velickovic has written to this game a fine openings covering section code B80 with the openings moves from the above mentioned game:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.Qd2 b4 9.Na4 Nbd7 10.c4 bxc3 11.Nxc3 Bb7.
Again there is in this issue a fine selection of latest tournaments as Wijk aan Zee,Moscow,Morelia/Linares,Monaco and so on!
{All played between the first of January and the last of April of this year}
All games in the Informator are pleasantly arranged by openings and in languages less chess book using figurine algebra tic notation.
The story is that the great Bobby Fischer was so impressed with the release of the first chess Informator that he gave it to his chess teacher John Collins.
Nowadays the Chess Informator belong to the most important chess releases in the world but a good chess player must focus on his own lines and following blindly the advises of the Informator can be dangerous.
As every issue of the Informator the list of contributors is outstanding and not any other chess magazine or book can come close to it.
Indeed there is always the discussion of the Informator is a book or a magazine seen that there is no IBAN numbers but for me it is a book and dear reader it belongs to the best that money can buy.
The best of Chess Informant goes this time to Yasser Seirawan who won at the age of 19 the world Junior Chess Championship but he never became the second Bobby Fischer.
Included in these Informators besides the register,tournament standings and crosstables there are special sections with combinations,endgames and studies.
Conclusion: These Informators are indispensable!
Chess Informant 99 on CDChess Magazine's
2007
Beograd
http://www.sahovski.com
Price £ 20.50
Chess Informant 95 printed boek + CD is only £ 27.50
It is a matter of taste if you want to read the Informator in your favourite chair or play throw the games with your computer with the free included Chess Informant Expert Lite program or Chess Informant Reader 2.1.
I have several database programs on my computer as ChessBase and Chess Assistant but if you want to play throw the Informator games and have fast access to Chess Encyclopaedias
as 4th Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings Section D,than there is no need for the above mentioned database programs.
It is even possible to important your own PGN files in these readers!
Going throw the Informator 99 I found a lot of sharp stuff as the two games with the Poisoned Pawn Variation all under section B97, Motylev – Anand,Wijk aan Zee 2007 and the game fragment Anand _ Van Wely,Wijk aan Zee 2007 all under section B97.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Ne4 Qxa2 14.Rd1 Qd5 15.Qe3 Qxe5 16.Be2 Bc5 17.Bg3 Bxd4 18.Rxd4 Qa5+ 19.Rd2 0-0 20.Bd6 Rd8 & 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Ne4 Qxa2 14.Rd1 Qd5 15.Qe3 Qxe5 16.Be2 Bc5 17.Bg3 Bxd4 18.Rxd4 Qa5+ 19.Rd2 0-0 20.Bd6 Nc6N
A other interesting line is 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Na3 d5!? Willemze - Weidemann,Deutschland 2007,section B33 game 87.
And what do you think from the move order 1.e4 Nc6 2.Nc3 Nd4!? Ehlvest – Bonin,New York 2006, where white even got slightly worse after
the moves:3.Nf3 c5 5.Bc4 e6 6.d3 a6 7.Be3 b5 8.Bb3 Bb7 9.a4 c4! Game fragment game 51 section B00.
In my Chess Informant Expert version 5.1 from 2004 there is a Clipboard,Tree,engines,merge games and it is even possible to edit games and this all and more in a program that is developed to read Informator files!
Conclusion: If you like playing go for the CD version!
ChessBase magazine issue #119 on DVD!
World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik
2007
August
ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Price Euro 19,95 per issue
Annual subscription costs Euro 99,70
ChessBase Magazine issue 118 {this magazine covers all the excellent annotations to the games!} comes with a fine coverage of some very important tournaments as the Candidates matches in Elista but also Foros (Ukraine),Dortmund,Dutch Championship etc.
To run this DVD just click on start and the great endgame expert Karsten Müller who has by the way an excellent endgame column on this DVD,leads you pleasantly throw the highlights of this excellent made chess magazine.
For the multimedia freaks there are again some fine files as the bright Carlsen explains his win over Aronian, and Boris Gelfand is happy to share you his secrets with his game against the great Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
Included are twelve openings surveys on this DVD and well: Rainer Knaak A51{A repertoire line against the Fajarowicz Gambit} 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.a3, Mihail Marin }The early advance of the e-pawn in the Pric defence} B08, Laszlo Hazai and Peter Lukacs Real chaos {in the advanced Caro-Kann} 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5 7.h4 h5 8.Nf4 Bh7 9.Nxh5 cxd4 B12, Jozsef Horvath B29 Nimzowitsch variation,part 2 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5, Victor Moskalenko MacCutcheon a legendary pin C12 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Qg4, Igor Stohl Another rare line in the Winawer C18 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 g6,Dorian Rogozenko,The most popular variation against the Chebanenko D15,Efstratios Grivas,An easy repertoire ainst the Tarrasch 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 h6 11.Bf4, Evgeny Postny,Ragozin Defence: The modern treatment D38 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 0-0 7.e3 c5,
Dorian Rogozenko,Cambridge Springs for black,part 2 D52 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2,Michal Krasenkow,A simple reaction to 5.Bd2 Grünfeld defence D85 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Nb6 and at last Laszo Hazai and Peter Lukacs,Probaly better than it’s reputation King’s Indian E91 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Bg4 7.Be3 Nfd7 8.Rc1 a6.
Other columns are:Daniel King: Move by Move,Oliver Reeh: Tactics,Peter Wells: Strategy,Valery Beim: Chess Classic’s where the author from Recipes from the grandmaster’s kitchen handles a few known and unknown positions from the great chess legend Mihail Tal,Knaak Openings trap,Karsten Müller: Endgames where you can accesss six endgame videos!
Telechess,the correspondence file with over 7000 games! {where a small 35 of these games cover excellent annotations!}
Included is a booklet from 22 pages.
Conclusion: A must for every serious chess player!
ChessBase Magazine extra issue 119
September 2007
Interview with Fabiano Caruano
ChessBase
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Euro 12.99
This time ChessBase Magazine extra comes with a unbelievable amount of 29220 games all played between 1/6 2007 and 31/8 2007 from the match between the former number three of the world Jan Timman and the young chess talent Jana Jackova.
Again I was surprised to find nine Latvian games where black managed to win 6 times with it!
A nice example is: Degoirat,Julien (2163) - Have,Didier (1932) [C40]
Corsica-ch Bastia (2.1), 03.06.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Bc4 fxe4 4.Nxe5 Qg5 5.d4 Qxg2 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Bf7+ Kd8 8.Qg5+ Qxg5 9.Bxg5+ Be7 10.Bb3 Bxg5 11.Nf7+ Ke7 12.Nxh8 Nf6 13.Nf7 Bc1 14.Nd2 Bxb2 15.Rd1 d5 16.Ne5 Bxd4 17.f4 Bc3 18.Ke2 Nc6 19.Bxd5 Nxd5 20.Nxe4 Nxf4+ 21.Ke3 Bxe5 22.Ng5 Bf5 23.Nf3 g5 24.h4 h6 25.hxg5 hxg5 26.Nxg5 Ne6 27.Nxe6 Kxe6 28.Rh6+ Bf6 29.Kf4 Bxc2 30.Rd2 Ba4 31.Re2+ Kf7 32.Rh7+ Kg6 33.Rd7 Rf8 34.Re6 Nd8 0-1
Tony Kosten wrote in his book The Latvian Gambit Lives; about 8.Qg5+? The alternative although are either insipid or losing but I guess that white did not have that book on his shelf otherwise he would not have exchanged so quick his mighty queen.
Included on this CD is a interesting interview with Fabiano Caruano who just made with his 14th year of age his first GM norm!
Conclusion: Overloaded with interesting games!
1...d6 Universal by Nigel Davies
Fritztrainer opening
On DVD!
2007
ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price € 26,99
System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM,Windows XP or Windows Vista, Windows Media Player 9.0, DVD drive
The Pirc expert Grandmaster Nigel Davies provides the owner of this Fritztrainer opening DVD a complete defence based on the all round move 1..d6.
But first a brief view of the lines that are covered in this 5 hour running video DVD: 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng5 f5 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Nh3 c6, 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.Nf3 e4 4.Nfd2 f5 5.e3 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.b4 Bh6,1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng1 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nxe4 Qh4,1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.g3 Nc6,1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 e5 4.d5 Nd7 5.Nc3 a5 6.Bd3 Bg7 7.Nge2 Ne7, 1.d4 d6 2.c4 g6 3.e4 e5 4.d5 a5 5.Nc3 Nd7 6.Bd3 Nc5 7.Bc2 Be7, 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.e3 Nd7 4.Nc3 g6 5.Bd3 Bg7 6.Nge2 Nh6,1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.e3 c5 6.d5 Nf6 7.Be2 0-0 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Na6 10.0-0 Nc7, 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.d5 Na5 7.0-0 a6 8.Nfd2 b5, 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.e3 c5 6.dxc5 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ne5 Be6, 1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.g3 Bxf3 6.exf3 e6 7.d5 Ne7, 1.c4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.dxc5 Qa5+ 7.Nc3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3, 1.d4 d6 2.g3 e5 3.dxe5 dxe5 4.Qxd8+ Kxd8 5.Nc3 Bf5 6.Bg5+ f6 etc,
Davies learns you in this DVD to play 1..d6 against all kind offirst moves as for example against the Bird opening where you simple play on 1.f4 d6, and strange enough this move is not even mentioned in Angus Dunnington Winning unorthodox openings or the Bird’s Opening from Timothy Taylor!
But the aim of this DVD are 1.d4 d6 related Indian lines,a pleasant side of this set-up is the possibility of an early f5.
As we can see in the game Cramling - Davies, Katrineholm Katrineholm, 1995.
1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng5 f5 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Nh3 c6 7.g3 Nf6 8.Bg2 d5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Bg5 Nc6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.e3 Be6 13.Nf4 Bf7 14.Qb3 0-0 15.Nfxd5 Kh8 16.Qb5 a6 17.Qc5 Nxd4 18.exd4 Rc8 19.Qb4 Bxd5 20.Nxd5 Qxd5 21.0-0 Rfd8 22.Rac1 Bxd4 23.Rfd1 Rxc1 24.Rxc1 a5 25.Qd2 Qxa2 26.Rc7 Qb3 27.Re7 Qb6 28.Qf4 Bc5 29.Qc7 Bxf2+ 30.Kf1 Rd1+ 0-1
After Davies 4...f5 is the most solide move!
Covered on this DVD are 26 lectures where the interested buyer can learn more than only the first openings moves.
Nigel Davies is a an excellent teacher and he offers the buyer of this DVD a complete live time repertoire line against all kind of white lines where he or she does not have to learn to memorize latest Informator lines but can do with a good understanding of Indian related strategies.
For example after 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.g3 black must play 5...Bxf3 and 6....e6!
Included is a master file from 129 entries where I found nine games of Davies himself.
Conclusion: Buy it for the life time repertoire line!
Vladimir Kramnik
My Path to the top
World Championship Chess
On DVD!
2007
ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price € 39,99
System requirements: Windows Vista or XP {SP2},sound card
Vladimir Kramnik describes in a very honest way on this DVD his life and career from youth player to world champion in chess.
Interesting are his words about his youth not a natural born fighter but he did stand his man in the city of Tuapse which lays on the north east coast of the Black Sea.
As we can see on this DVD Kranmik has a all round style of play and enjoys aggressive and dynamic chess.
His first chess book where Kramnik his father could lay hands on came from Anatoly Karpov and these games as Kramnik explains on this DVD had a very important in pack on his development of a chess player so it is very understandable that Karpov became his first big chess hero.
It remanins what Bent Larsen once wrote in his Larsen selected games of chess; I even found a chess book at home,nobody knew how it had got into house.Probaly the former owner had forgotten it.This book had a certain influence on the development of my play.
It is always interesting to mention the importance of a first chess book to a interested chess player.
Kramniks enjoys going throw this DVD and has a lot of enjoyable memories as his game fragment against John Nunn who was outplayed after the smashing move 20.g4,that time Kramnik a 16 year old boy with out any official title but with the strength of a Bobby Fischer,beated one after the other in Manilla and made a astounding result from 8.5 out 9 at the Chess Olympiad of 1992.
Suddenly he belonged to the top ten best chess players of the world!
Honest are Kramnik words about his first top ten tournament in Linares 1994 where he faced and won from Kasparov!
In the 1990 Brain games World championship match he faced Garry Kasparov again and it is very interesting to hear from Kramnik why the best player of all time did collapse!
After Kramnik it was a mistake from Kasparov to give up the Grünfeld Defence even that he lost with it in the second match game,it was to exhausting for Kasparov to switch over to a other defence.
But the blow was hard for Kasparov it was his first serious competitive game that Kasparov has lost since January 1999.
Kasparov went astray in a difficult opposite coloured bishop endgame and this win showed that he was capable of beating the champion!
Kramniks enjoys talking and this DVD offers the reader an fascinating inside view of Vladimir Kramnik and his contemporaries
Besides the eight interview files there are 21 lectures and these heavy loaded files are good for more than six hour highly instructive chess enjoyment!
Conclusion: Certainly the best chess DVD that money van buy!
British Chess Magazine No.9
Volume 127
September 2007 h
Price: £3.70
The cover of this BCM issue shows us Jacob Aagaard holding the British Championship trophy so our congraulations,but we would also like to congratulate Ketevan Arakhamia Grant who has won the women’s championship for the fourth time!
BCM editor John Saunders reports on the 94th British Championship and Under 21 champion Stephen Gordon annotates five of his most interesting games.
Steve Giddins looks back at the Canadian chess summer with two smashing tournaments in Ottawa and Montreal in which Nigel Short did took part.
Other contributions are Biel,Speelman on the endgame and chess questions answered by the great Gary Lane.
This time he digs in the good old Colle-Zukertort line: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.Bb2 cxd4!?
Lane includes a two page game from one of the great Colle experts of this moment Artur Yusopov against Baadur Jobava of the Turin Olympiad 2006.
But please don’t forget to read the regular contributions from for example Jon Beasley on endgame studies!
I am always surprised how John Beasley manages to dig up such amassing endgame studies!
Conclusion: High quality chess magazine!