CHESSBOOK REVIEWS

Latest book reviews of 1 August 2020

Wilhelminalaan 33 

7261 BP RUURLO 

The Netherlands.
           John Elburg


 
                                                                                                           Chess DVD's    

An Attacking Repertoire with 1.d4 Vol.3
by  Nicholas Pert
2020
http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
Price Euro 29.90
Windows 7 or higher
Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, DirectX11, graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9, ChessBase 14/Fritz 16 or included Reader and internet access for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel i5 (Quadcore), 4 GB RAM, Windows 10, DirectX11, graphics card with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10-compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet access for program activation.
MacOSX  only available as download! Minimum: MacOS "Yosemite" 10.10

The well known  Grandmaster of attack, Nicholas Pert provides the user of his 3rd and final edition of his highly instructive made 1.d4 series a  complete and last coverage of the following d4 lines: Introduction Modern Defence and Pirc 1...d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 1...d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 1...d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.a4 1...d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 Qa5 1...g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.Bd3 Bb7 1...g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.Bd3 Nd7 1...g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6/a6 4.f4 Sidelines 1...g6 2.e4 Sidelines Dutch Defence 1...f5 2.Bg5 1...e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 a5/Qe8 1...e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 1...e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 d5 1...e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 f6 4.Bg2 Sidelines King's Indian and Grünfeld 3.h4 Miscellaneous 1...e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Bd2 1...e6/b6 1...c5 2.d5 1...g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Benoni and Sniper 1...Nc6/e5 1...c6/b5 and more! So there are also exercises! Simple to see if you are able to play now and than as our grandmaster .A fine example of explanation is: 07 Modern - sidelines [B15][GM Nicholas Pert] Here I cover all areas of the pirc/ modern complex where black plays with ...c6 and some other offbeat systems. 1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 [3...a6!? A potentially very cheeky move. At worst black will transpose into Tiger's Modern, but there are some independent options as well. 4.f4 Consistent. 4...b5 a) 4...d5!? This makes some sense - exd5 would be unharmonious with f4. 5.e5! Reaching a position pretty similar to 3...c6, but with the fairly useless inclusion of ... a6. (5.exd5) 5...h5 (5...Nh6 6.Be3 0-0 7.Nf3 f6 8.Qd2 Bg4 9.0-0-0²) 6.Be3 Nh6 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 e6 10.g3 Nc6 11.0-0-0±; b) 4...c5 5.dxc5 (5.d5?! b5=) 5...Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qa5 7.Ne2 Nc6 8.Be3± is a bad sniper since black can't play the thematic b7-b6.; 5.Nf3 Bb7 6.Bd3 will eventually turn into Tiger's Modern] 4.f4 Nc6 [4...c6 5.Nf3 Bg4 (5...b5) 6.Be3 d5 7.e5 Nh6 (7...Qb6 8.Rb1 Nh6 9.h3 Nf5 10.Bf2 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 e6 12.g4 Ne7 (12...Nxd4 13.Qd3 c5 14.b4! Nbc6 15.bxc5 Qxc5 16.Kd1! 0-0 17.Nb5 Nb4 18.Rxb4 Qxb4 19.Bxd4±) 13.Bd3±) 8.h3± Bxf3 9.Qxf3] 5.Be3 Not allowing Bg4. 5...Nf6 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 b5 9.e5² The knight on c6 makes an odd impression. 9...Ng4 10.Bg1 dxe5 11.dxe5 Qxd2+ 12.Rxd2 Bh6 13.g3 Bb7 [13...Ncxe5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Bg2! (15.fxe5?? Bb7-+) 15...Bg4 (15...Rb8 16.Ba7 Rb7 17.Bxb7 Bxb7 18.Rhd1+-) 16.Bxa8 Rxa8 17.h3± Bf3 18.Rhh2] 14.Bg2 White's position holds together. 14...Ncxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxg2 16.Nxg4 Bxh1 17.Nxh6+± Line.
All packed in around five hour highly instructive video play!
Conclusion: One of those supermade ChessBase DVD’s!

ChessBase Magazine issue 196
Juli- August  2020
ChessBase
 http://www.chessbase.com
E-Mail info@chessbase.com
ISSN 1432-8992
Euro 19.95
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


The main file on this latest ChessBase Magazine covers a small 667 entries, where a small 35 of these games are more than excellent analysed!
A fine example of this all is: Giri,Anish (2764) - Caruana,Fabiano (2835) [A80]
Carlsen Inv Prelim chess24.com INT (7.3), 30.04.2020
[Giri, Anish]
1.d4 f5 The Dutch is a rare guest in top tournament with classical time control, but just a day before Fabiano got outplayed with it by MVL, so I wasn't too shocked to see this.
 2.Nc3 A side-line I have some experience with. Levon essayed it against me once in a blitz game too and with Erwin l'Ami (the famous stonewall expert!) being my trainer, it was really hard to avoid some unpleasant conversations about the topic of Dutch sidelines anyway. 2...Nf6 3.Bg5 d5 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Ne2 Actually so far we are following both Rychagov-L'Ami and Aronian-Giri. Here we both went for the more natural c5, but Fabi probably wanted to keep more tension. After we get c4 c6 though, White clearly has a good version of the stonewall, having traded the dark squared bishops and with the bishop being on d3 and not on g2. 9...Nd7 10.c4 c6 11.Rc1 a5 12.a3 Nd6 13.Qc2 Nf6 14.Ne5 I get all the squares and all the fun, but Black is still rock solid. 14...Bd7 15.cxd5 exd5 16.b4 Rfc8 17.Qc5 I liked this move. Still, Black is just very solid. 17...axb4 18.axb4 Be8 19.Ra1 Qd8 20.Ng3 g6 21.f3 I didn't like making this move, but on the other hand the softening of the e3-pawn is rather imaginary, as are the threats of e3-e4. 21...b6 I was happy to see this weakening, but it also has a point, if Black is ever to get the c5 push in.
 22.Qc3 Qe7 23.Rfe1 Maybe a more useful move could have been played, but this forces some action, as I now threaten î?¦xa8 and î?¨xc6. 23...Rxa1 24.Rxa1 Nf7 25.Bf1 Making sure the queen is keeping in touch with the e3-pawn. [25.Kf2 is a cool suggestion by the engine, but not to my taste.] 25...Nxe5 26.dxe5 Nd7 27.f4 Nf8 I didn't mind having this position, which is clearly for two results, but of course Black may escape if he trades down a lot of material after getting some c5 and d4 breaks. There is, however, always some hope for White, with the kingside weakened by 1...f5.
 28.Ne2 c5 29.bxc5 bxc5 30.Nd4 [30.Qb3 Bc6 31.Nc3 looked natural and was strong too, but I suddenly liked the idea of transferring my knight to f3.] 30...Rb8 31.Nf3 Ne6 32.Ra6!? Applying some pressure along the 6th rank. Starting with h4! introducing ideas of î?¨g5 and h5 was even more clever. [32.h4!?] 32...c4 This allows a strong reply [32...Rb1 is not an issue, as I've got- 33.Qd3!;
32...Bf7 seems the most solid, but after 33.h4 with idea Ng5, White still puts pressure.] 33.Qd2! [33.Nd4 was also possible, but the move in the game is more subtle.] 33...Nc5? This blunders a pawn. I was so happy to see this move and win a pawn that in the next few moves in the mutual time trouble I played it too simply.
 34.Qxd5+ [34.Ra8! would be even more. I saw this motive, but 35.e6! was too tempting.] 34...Bf7 35.e6! This was the point. The geometry works for White. 35...Nxe6 I think this move somewhat confused me, I was mostly trying to make sure that my a6-rook can never be captured.
 36.Bxc4 I had calculated that this works for me and gives me a pleasant 4 vs 3, but I missed an even stronger alternative here. [36.Qe5! would eventually win the pawn too, but not allow Black to simplify as much.] 36...Ng5! I underestimated this strong simplifying move, now Black is likely to hold a 4 vs 3 with only the major pieces. Still, somehow in online blitz such small practical advantages have a much higher success rate than in classical games.
 37.Qd3! the right square, keeping both e3 and b1 squares in check. 37...Nxf3+ 38.gxf3 Re8 39.Kg2 e3 pawn is taboo, but in general this position should be holdable with good defence. 39...Qc5 40.Bxf7+ Kxf7 41.e4 Re7 42.e5 I briefly thought that Fabiano is playing this very wrong and I will just checkmate him with my major pieces, but I soon noticed that his king can find safety on h6 and my hopes of winning this position started to seem less realistic. 42...Rb7 43.Ra2 Kg7 44.Qd8 Rb1 45.Qf6+ Kh6 There is nothing I can do about his king on h6 and there are some counter checks incoming too, so objectively the best attempt would be to offer a queen trade on f2 and try the rook endgame. I was still hoping to deliver some lucky mate and it actually worked out. 46.Kh3 [46.Qh4+ Kg7 47.Qf2 the rook endgame really has to be a draw, but it not being your usual 4 vs 4 perhaps it was worth a shot.] 46...Qe3 47.Qg5+ Kg7 48.Qf6+ Kh6 49.Qh4+ Kg7 50.Qe7+ Kh6 51.Qh4+ Kg7 52.Rf2! I am sure Fabiano was already counting on the perpetual, as I dropped to seconds, but the 10 second increment was enough to spot that I can still protect both my f3- and f4-pawns and give him back the move. Now pretty much any rook move would hold, for example î?¦g1 looks very good, when I'd have to just take the draw, but Fabi made a shocking mistake instead. 52...Qc5?? This lets go of the f3-pawn and protecting e7-square is quite irrelevant, as I have got the other check from f6 as well.
 53.Qf6+ Kh6 54.Rg2! î?¥c5 was really horrible, as I also had î?¦d2-d7 ideas, but this one just wins by force quite trivially. 54...Rb8 Protecting against î?¦xg6+ hxg6 î?¥h8#, but now another mating pattern comes in. [54...Rb7 55.Rg5 Qe7 is the only way to prolong the suffering but after 56.Rxf5 Qxf6 57.Rxf6 two pawns down the rook endgame is dead lost.] 55.Rg5! Threatening î?¦h5+ î?¤xh5 î?¥g5# which is quite sweet. Black resigned. 1-0
Other highlights are:
Top GMs annotate
Adhiban, Duda, Edouard, Giri, Firouzja
The great Bobby Fischer
ChessBase authors show their personal favourite game of the 11th World Champion
Dubov's Tarrasch Defence
Robert Ris on the modern way 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5
A King's Indian Sicilian
Spyros Kapnisis explores the Kalashnikov with 6.c4 g6!?
Rediscovered Kasparov games (Part II)
German national coach Dorian Rogozenco presents impressive fragments (Video)
Fast and fascinating!
Karsten Müller presents endgames from top rapid events
From a fresh idea in the opening to a sparkling tactic finish
Can you find all the right ideas in Yu vs So!? Interactive video with Simon Williams
French - the next level
Tanmay Srinath deals with the highly tactical 10.Qd3!? in the Winawer
Two bishops vs. rook and knight
A dynamic material constellation to guarantee extra tension. Strategy by Mihail Marin
In vogue against the King's Indian
Igor Stohl investigates the modern 5.h3 0-0 6.Be3
How I countered the champ's novelty
Anish Giri analyses his victory over Magnus Carlsen
“Test against the best”
Adhiban Baskaran shows why he lost against Wesley So despite a successful opening
Royal duel in the open h-file
Show good nerves and put your king out of danger! Interactive video with Oliver Reeh
And not to forget the following theory files:
Romain Edouard: English 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Bb4
Petra Papp: Symmetrical English with 6...Qb6 (Part II)
Spyridon Kapnisis: Sicilian Kalashnikov 6.c4 g6!?
Alexander Seyb: Sicilian Moscow Variation 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Be2
Alexey Kuzmin: Open Sicilian with 5...Bd7!?
Tanmay Srinath: French Winawer 6…Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7
Evgeny Postny: Semi Slav with 5...Bb4+ 6.Nc3
Robert Ris: Tarrasch Defence: 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5
Igor Stohl: King's Indian 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3
Lars Schandorff: Catalan with 5...a6 and 6...Nc6
Viktor Moskalenko: Nimzo Indian 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7
This and more comes with a eye catching booklet in two languages!
Conclusion: This is must have material!