I feel bullied and pushed into publishing an updated publishing schedule. As you will see it is rather full and we are very busy. So for now I will leave it at that.
| Lars Schandorff | Playing 1.d4 – GM Guide – The Queen’s Gambit | May |
| Lars Schandorff | Playing 1.d4 – GM Guide – The Indian Defences | May |
| Artur Yusupov | Chess Evolution 2 | May/June |
| John Shaw | The King’s Gambit | May/June |
| Boris Avrukh | GM Repertoire X – Beating 1.d4 Sidelines | June/July |
| Jacob Aagaard | Attacking Manual 1 – German | June/July |
| Ftacnik | GM6a – Dealing with Anti–Sicilians | July |
| Ftacnik | GM6b – The Najdorf | July |
| John Shaw | Playing 1.e4 – GM Guide – Caro–Kann, 1…e5 & Minor Lines | July |
| John Shaw | Playing 1.e4 – GM Guide II – The Sicilian & The French | July |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Calculation (Hardcover) | May/June |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Positional Play (Hardcover) | June/July |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Strategic Play (Hardcover) | July/August |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Endgame Play (Hardcover) | September |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Thinking Inside the Box (Hardcover) | October |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Calculation | October |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Positional Play | October |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Strategic Play | October |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Endgame Play | October |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Preparation – Thinking Inside the Box | October |
| Jacob Aagaard | Attacking Manual 2 – German | September |
| Judit Polgar | Judit Polgar Teaches Chess 1 – How I Beat Fischer’s Record | September |
| Romanovsky | Soviet Middlegame Technique | October |
| Artur Yusupov | Chess Evolution 3 | November |
| Victor Mikhalevski | GM Repertoire – The Open Spanish | LATER |
| Tibor Karolyi | Mikhail Tal’s best games 1 | LATER |
| Jacob Aagaard | GM Repertoire x1 – 1.e4 – Sicilian | LATER |
| Marc Esserman | Mayhem in the Morra | LATER |
| Nikos (w/Jacob Aagaard) | Playing the French | LATER |
| Nick Pert | GM Repertoire X – Classical Slav | LATER |
Hello!
“Playing the French” (LATER) is from black perspective, right?
— s.
Kings Gambit seems like it keeps slipping away into the future….
Is this some new strategy to release the hardcovers first with respect to GM Preparation? As is the standard in “mainstream” publishing business plans?
@slavof
Yes, it is. Nikos is a big expert on the French and we are going to put a nice repertoire together based on different lines from the books coming later on by Emanuel Berg.
@Paul
Both yes and no. With this particular series the “real” publication will be in October (unless there are problems along the way). I am close to finishing the book on Calculation and I wanted to be able to send it to some people as well as finish the books in general one by one – and I came up with the idea of selling a limited amount of copies (50 was my thought) on our website early on. John and Andrew felt that some readers might feel that this was pushy and that others would be disappointed if we sold all 50. We also did not want to do this to the chess specialists, for whom we originally created the hardcover range.
So eventually we came up with just releasing it as hardcover. We will not and cannot run it through the major distribution net-works on accounts of costs. We would have to increase the price quite a lot to get the extra cost with creating hardcovers back and account for the risks. So, the books will be available through most standard chess shops as we finish them, but only publish for real, as a set in October.
I am hoping some shops will use the oppertunity to sell the five-book set in hardcover for the price of four, and then send them out as they are published. But although we are going to encourage this, I cannot promise it will happen.
I am still wondering what Schandorff’s recommendations are. And I remember GM1 being quite a large book and GM2 more than 600 pages, will Schandorff follow this pattern too? 😀
@Gilchrist is not a legend
Remember that Schandorff’s books a not from the repertoire series –
not so many details, no intention to prove important statements, like Jacob said in another post
I was wondering about the GM Guide opening books: do you also intend to cover openings from Black’s point of view later on? For example, the Slav GM Guide or Sicilian GM Guide, just to name a few.
@Jacob, will Avrukh’s book be usuable for Nimzo players in playing against d4 sidelines? Or is it just for Grunfeld and KID players?
@Gilchrist is a Legend
No. Both books will be between 200 and 300 pages. We will not do 616 page books again. Financially it is a disaster!
@James
NID, KID, GID and QG. Meant to be useful for all 1…Nf6 and 1…d5 players, though not always giving your favourite line maybe :-).
@Gilchrist is a Legend
You are a legend to me 🙂
I see no mention of Alterman’s Gambit Guide 3. Is it still out in April, if so any idea on a date? Thanks
@Nick
Sorry, in my mind it is already published! Yes, it is out the 13th of April, the same goes for Positional Chess Sacrifices. They are being printed as we speak and shipped to us next week.
Jacob,
This is quite a list of mouth-watering books!
I’m already saving up! If your new books are anything like your “Attacking Manuals 1+2” in terms of content and clarity, I will be greatly impressed…and thankful for the additional learning.
All the best!
Some of them already are. Thus far, there are 10 volumes out. 1 thru 5 are for White, 6 thru 10 are for Black.
1 and 2 cover 1.d4 for White, 3 thru 5 cover 1.c4 for White, 6 covers the Sicilian for Black, 7 covers the Caro-Kann for Black, 8 and 9 cover the Grunfeld for Black, and 10 covers the Tarrasch for Black. (See the list of books on the Openings page)
Of those upcoming, 1.d4 Sidelines is for Black, French will be for Black, Slav will be for Black, 1.e4 will be for White. (See the 2012 Catalog in the Upcoming Books area – time may vary – For example, the Books on the English Opening and the King’s Gambit book were advertised to come out around the same time – English books came out in 2009 and 2010, King’s Gambit is just coming out shortly from now).
Hope this helps.
@Patrick M
Sorry, but I think this doesn’t help but confuse:
The question referred to ‘GM Guide’, not ‘GM Repertoire’. We are speaking about different series: Repertoire is deeper and tries to fulfill top GM standards. GM Guide is the new format, shorter and more with the intention to give playable lines which don’t have to be on the edge of theory – of course the limits may be variable according to author and opening…At least that’s how I understood the difference
For more precise information – ask the qc guys…
Jacob,
You really think that you will publish a dozen new books in the next four months (end of July)? I’ll bet you 100 euros it doesn’t happen. Have you ever taken a critical look at your actual publication timelines and release dates? You alway have overly optimistic estimates of releases. I think you would be better served to use some realistic duration estimates based on past performance to come up with a realistic schedule. Do you track any of your tasks in project management software like MS Project? It might be useful to help balance your tasks and resources.
Oh, I see now, sorry about that. I originally just thought of those as the “Playing” series. Like Playing 1.d4 and Playing 1.e4. Didn’t even bother to look at “sub-titles”.
Is there any difference between the “GM Guide” and the older format opening books? It just sounds like a splitting of hairs differentiating between “Playing 1.d4 – GM Guide”, “Playing 1.e4 – GM Guide”, and books like “Play the Scandinavian”, “Play the Semi-Slav”, “The Berlin Wall”, “Tiger’s Modern”, etc (which I own all 4). While specifically “Play the Scandinavian” and “The Berlin Wall” can have important info for White, they both appear to be predominantly geared for Black in that Black can form an entire repertoire against the Ruy or 1.e4 as a whole with the Scandinavian using just those books, but as White, it only covers a small portion of what you have to know, like 2…Nf6 or 3…Qd6 against the Scandinavian or a whole array of other lines against the Ruy Lopez. The other 2 are specifically written for Black.
I guess the whole thing is confusing in some sense. If you compare apples to apples, like GM Repertoire 1.e4 vs Playing 1.e4, you can see a difference in depth, but if you compare apples to oranges, like GM Repertoire 7 – The Caro-Kann and Play the Scandinavian (A close cousin to the Caro-Kann, and again, I own both), is there really a difference in depth of coverage? Play the Scandinavian appears as though it could just as easily qualify as being “Grandmaster Repertoire: The Scandinavian”, as Bauer is a GM.
LOL, now I’m really confusing myself! 🙂
@Patrick M
Yes, thats what I wanted to say with: The limits may be variable, depending on author and opening. Maybe one could say, that the ‘Guide’ series is more easy to grasp for amateurs in lower playing classes, where the critical variations often are not reached and playing ‘according general ideas’ is easier. On the other hand, the ‘Repertoire’ series is for ambitious amateurs on a tournament level, where a lot of opening knowledge is obligatory and people are informed about the critical variations – and their actual development – and use them.
But the exception confirms the rule – for example Marins famous ‘lucid explanations’ are also valuable for intermediate players. So, as always, the writing skills and intentions of the concrete author is significant…
sorry, are significant of course
A question about GM Repertoire Classical Slav: Does it analyse 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3? I always had a problem with this move order when I played the Slav.
@MarcoVanStraaten
The GM Guides are not really different from what our opening books always were like. We just improved the cover look and made it sound a bit more like swing. We have to sell them to effort to produce the next one after all…
@Patrick M
The reason why the Bauer book was not a Repertoire book is that it was not a repertoire, but a complete coverage! The “Guide” format does give more freedom, but will in some cases, like the 1.e4 and 1.d4 books, be straight repertoires.
@werner
I can only apologise for the fact that our books are written by different people and not all by me :-).
@Gilchrist is a Legend
I would guess so, but I do not want to make promises on behalf of the author at this early point.
Fine would be also coverage of 1.c4 c6 2.?? without Panov (2.e4 d5) and 1.Cf3 d5 2.c4/g3.
I have understood that 1.d4 d5 2.not c4 is Avrukh next book.
Repertoire against 1.d4/d4/Cf3 in the spirit of Slav would be complete !!
@Jacob Aagaard
Thanks for the clarification, I always though that the GM Guides were more like a new line of books (just look GM Rep), rather than a continuation of the regular opening books; not that it matters that much to me, not a single QC book has ever disappointed me 🙂
@Gilchrist is a Legend
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 is no problem for a slav player. Just take the pawn with 3…dxc4
There is an excelent chapter on that variation in “Play the Slav” by James Vigus.
@FREDPHIL
There are two Avrukh books planned. First 1.d4 without 1.c4 and then all of these other options – including the Reti.
@MarcoVanStraaten
You don’t have them all them! Yes, it is a marketing revamp more than anything.
Jacob, I read new review on “The Kaufman Repertoire for Black and White” by Larry Kaufman. With great envy I looked at some lines which he recommends in 1.e4 e5 branch, and all this because Quality doesn’t have “GM Rep 1.e4 e5 without Ruy”! I do have Marin’s “Beating the Open Games 2nd edition” from 2008, but I think that this book should be polished more by adding more powerful lines for Black!
Besides, there is also out “The Open Games for Black” by Igor Lysyj and Roman Ovetchkin 🙂
But remember good!!! You should launch “GM Rep 1.e4 e5 without Ruy” in pair with Victor Mikhalevski’s “GM Repertoire – The Open Spanish”. You can’t say that you’re following ideals if you want to go cheaply by reprinting Marin’s book. Yes, the book is good, but I think that we need more, in new format and with empowered lines!
@Abramov Anjuhin
I have already said that we wanted to do a whole new version of Beating the Open Games in the Grandmaster Repertoire series, but that a few other things are in the way in the immediate future for Mihail. I hope 2013 will be good; until then there are the other books.
Sorry, we just cannot cover everything!
@Jacob Aagaard
Is the Slav book generally covering anything after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6? No specific lines, but I suppose since the Exchange Slav arrives after Move 3, etc. And what would you play against 3. Nc3? Noteboom, Semi-Slav, or how do you stay within the Slav complex?
Gilchrist, I can’t say what the author is going to decide on, but I have been playing just about any defense as Black that begins 1…d5 except the QGA or any of the crazy stuff like the Albin.
I have some Slav experience, and one of my games is from an article on here from January. Generally speaking, you have the following options against 3.Nc3 if you specifically want to avoid a direct transposition to the Semi-Slav Defense:
A) As mentioned prior in this thread, 3…dxc4 is one option. In some cases, you may end up transposing to main lines, but both sides have independent options that result in positions different from 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4
B) 3…Nf6 is an option, and this combined with 3…dxc4 are by far the two most popular options. If White plays 4.Nf3, you are right back in Main Line Slav lines. The only thing to keep in mind is that while 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 is fine for Black, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 is NOT! It’s about as bad as playing 4…Bf5 in the main line with 3.Nf3 and 4.Nc3, with problems with the d5 and b7 pawns once again. If White decides to play 4.e3 in response to 3…Nf6, Black has a couple of legitimate options:
B1) Play 4…e6, and go into a Semi-Slav, resulting in Meran or Anti-Meran positions. This does avoid the crazy stuff like the Botvinnik or Moscow Variations as e3 has been played, so it at least cuts out some Semi-Slav theory you’d have to know.
B2) Play 4…a6, and you are in the a6-Slav, but specifically the line with 5.e3, which cuts out a ton of a6-Slav theory. This is actually what is covered in “The Slav: Move by Move”
C) A third option is to play 3…e6, with intention to go into a Noteboom with 4…dxc4 against 4.Nf3. However, most players that play Nf3 and Nc3 on moves 3 and 4 do it with Nf3 played first to avoid lines like Option D, and so in all likelihood, you aren’t going to be looking at a Noteboom (after 4.Nf3 dxc4), but rather, one of the following:
C1) 4.e4 – Marshall Gambit
C2) 4.e3, going into Meran Lines once again after 4…Nf6
D) The last option that I am familiar with is the Winawer Countergambit, which is 3…e5. Don’t know much theory about it however, as when I did play 1.d4 as White, I always played either the Exchange or 3.Nf3 agaisnt the Slav, and as Black, I personally view it as dicey as best, but that’s just my opinion of it.
So I wouldn’t say that 3.Nc3 should be a big worry for the Slav player. All it means is needing to know a little about another line, whether that be limited scope of the a6-slav, the Meran, or a wild gambit by Black.
Please consider doing e-publications (for examples with kindle amazon).
Try with one book and see how it goes.
The are many benefits for the user. You have always your book with you (with your tablet for example). Easier to search. Bookmark. Take notes etc
@Jacob, might you consider in future doing a book called for example “Attacking the English”, and it could have like 3 good systems to play against the English Opening, similar idea to Attacking the Spanish book, so maybe 1 solid, 1 moderate and 1 aggressive line. I would be very interested in buying such a book as there’s no books like this, and I see the English quite often in league games.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
The Classical Slav is 4…dxc4.
@Kostas Oreopoulos
Yes, unfortunately there are hardly any benefits for the authors or publishers when we are talking kindle.
@James
We did two books with three different lines, Beat the Kid and Attacking the Spanish. Both were really good books that GMs said was similar to how they prepared for practical play. Alas, the public disagreed. They want one repertoire, so one repertoire is what they shall get.
@Jacob Aagaard
Do you think there would be some value in writing a repertoire book against the English (so from Black’s point of view) covering a single repertoire?
Like James, It’s also one of the things I am missing in chess literature.
@MarcoVanStraaten
We will be giving several options in the Avrukh book when it comes (probably early next year). But it would not be in the format James is suggesting.
Ah, that’s good news, cant’ wait (guess I’ll have to though :))
Will a forthcoming book be considering 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 and the Exchange Slav? I know it has 2. c4 with 1. d4, but if it is not in the other repertoire books, then is it considered as a 1. d4 sideline, just exceptions that it has 2. c4? Would Avrukh cover it?
@Jacob Aagaard
@Jacob, I’m happy to hear that a repertoire vs the English is on the cards, however, I think the 3 systems vs the English would also be a high selling book. I didn’t know that the Beat the KID and Attacking the Spanish books were unsuccessful in terms of sales, I think a possible reason for this is there’s lots of literature on the KID and Spanish, this is definitely not the case for the English, for club players you’re either using Richard Palliser’s Symmetrical English from his Beating Unusual Openings book published in 2007 (fantastic book), or playing the KID, hoping to get a QGD with 1…e6 or some Grunfeld English. Also my idea for 1 solid, moderate and attacking line I think would be good because in some games I’m playing players +30 ECF higher than me and I would probably prefer to try play more solidly, whereas sometimes I’m playing players -30ECF, so it would be great if a book vs the English did have options for playing for a win or more solid depending on the situation. That said, I’d be happy like I said to see any book vs the English, because simply there is none.
@James
That was not the conclusions we made.
However, there will be several options against the English in the Avrukh book, but it is a good deal into the future. But the promotion of the book and the entire concept will be broader than just facing the English. It will be Minor Openings in general, so Birds, Larsen, Reti and so on as well.
@Jacob Aagaard
Or would the Exchange Slav and 3. Nc3 without 3. Nf3 Slav be considered in the Minor Openings GM Repertoire?
@Gilchrist is a Legend
I do not want to answer this type of detailed repertoire questions on the blog. I am very happy to listen to concerns and wishes, and they do have an effect on the final books, but I do not want to explain things like this all the time.
I had the intention to buy less chess books this year but with this great list of books I think it will be impossible.
I have only one question: what happened with ‘ the cutting edge’ serie? I thought there would be a book about the Najdorf with Bg5 and a book about the Nimzo Indian by Brunello.
@Raffie
This is a case of me jumping the gun too soon. Both authors got distracted by other things and did not want to complete the project after all.
I still want a book with 6.Bg5 in the Najdorf, but it will be a while before it happens.
What does Open Spanish GM Repertoire start at? Does it start at 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Nxe4? Or does it cover the Worrall and Delayed Exchange? I think I remember seeing about a second edition of Beating the Open Games, will that cover those lines instead?
@Gilchrist is a Legend
4.Ba4
Genius! This is a good point. Everyone has his own approach, right now mine is finding this little holes in the literature (easy points!) while if I can’t just play something really solid with a lot of play in the position. The problem with this repertoire is that it tends to work against me when facing GM opposition 🙂 they use the same solid line with equal play to outplay me! I soon understood that it made sense to use the fear of pure drawing lines to get them to play inferior lines! I’ve yet to see a repertoire book that handles just these kind of things! These factors never get discussed, perhaps this is very marketable if the message get across 🙂
back to the genius part of this all: the KID repertoire is a perfect example how this concept works: you have the clear cut lines with b4 where black can be OK but not more then OK after tactics whilst white can play for 100 moves in the g2-g4 mar del plata 🙂 works perfectly! You could play the Bg5 sharp line in the semi slav but play the Meran against strong players (karpov-Anand Nxb5=).
Jacob, please answer on:
How should average player (Elo 2000-2200) make a tough decision which opening to take between King’s Indian Defense and Grunfeld Defense? Which parameters should he bear in mind?
Please use also following guidlines:
a) forcing variations, a ton o theory till 30 moves deep, heavily analyzed
b) drawish lines, chaotic positions where engines swim best
c) a must-know opening theory
Is it true what Arne Noll said while reviewing your Tarrasch: “…I’ve never felt the slightest need to read an opening book on the Tarrasch Defence – often Black’s moves are so natural that there really seems no point. This is a huge difference with other openings, such as the King’s Indian or the Benoni Defence, where a lack of theoretical knowledge is likely to result in an endless bunch of duck-eggs.”
@Abramov Anjuhin
I simply cannot give an advice based on these parameters. I would go with where you feel the positions are most welcoming and natural.
Hi Quality Chess,
One of my favorite chess writers is Mihail Marin. I have been using his repertoire books in tournaments with good success. I was wondering if he ever plans on writing a repertoire book on playing against 1. d4.
@Kevin
Hi Kevin,
No such plans at the moment. However, we also admire Mihail’s work, so we plan to have him write books for us for the foreseeable future. Luckily Mihail appears willing.
So that explains how I beat an 1867 in the 2nd round of a tournament this past weekend in only 18 moves, only move 10 really taking me a lot of time (27 minutes for move 10).
I’ve got Black:
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.d4 c5 5.e3 (Already it’s clear that White doesn’t know what he’s doing when he plays BOTH e3 AND g3!) Nc6 6.Bg2 Nf6 7.Nc3 c4 8.Nge2 Bb4 9.O-O O-O 10.f3 (Something just really didn’t feel right at all about this position, and so I went into the tank for 27 minutes) Qe7 11.e4 dxe4 12.fxe4 Bg4 13.Bg5?? Nxd4 (Black wins a pawn with the typical Nxd4 trick, and it all goes downhill from here for White) 14.Rf4?? (This drops a piece) Nxe2+ 15.Nxe2 Qc5+ 16.Qd4 Qxg5 17.Qxc4 (And now Black gets another exchange, possibly at the cost of a pawn) Qc5+ 18.Qd4 (Instead White loses another whole piece, 18.Qxc5 Bxc5+ 19.Kf1 Be3 and it’s “only” an exchange.) Bxe2 0-1
A complete mauling having basically “studied” the introduction and first chapter of GM Rep 10, skimmed other parts of the book, and read the majority of “Meeting 1.d4”. 🙂
chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8047
Apparently the king’s gambit has been refuted by Rybka supercluster with 3 Be2 being the only drawing move for white. How this will impact the book of Shaw on this opening? If the Rybka team will share their results, the book could be easily refuted.
Regards
Cant it be the other way round 🙂
@kaimano
Hi kaimano,
I suspect that ChessBase article is a sneaky April Fools’ joke. The King’s Gambit is still alive. But is it possible that some previously popular lines of the King’s Gambit can be refuted? Very possible – in fact I think it’s already happened.
Well…I don’t think it’s an april fools because it was written on 2 of april…and king’s gambit appears one of the most “forcing” variation, so it’s possible for a supercomputer to analyze it in 4 months…personally I don’t believe that a variation can be refuted on move 2…but who knows? Anyway thanks for the prompt answers!
Most people who play this will not understand the strenght of the setup! It’s quite potent if black play the standard c5-c4 and lets white play Nge2-f4 followed by f3 and e4. Lputian once lost a game against this with black he tried with Bg4 and Qd7. I’ve found a solution though, but when reading this I somehow forgot. I do remember stealing a couple of ideas from the rubinstein nimzo indian.
I’ve seen Be2 been analysed by the Nabuurs brothers, but was under the impression the killer for this variation was 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Be2 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4 5.Nf3 g5 6.g4! as in Nabuurs-Freeke from chesslab
Jacob, do you plan to make a second edition of Avrukh’s GM Rep 1.d4 vol. 1 & 2? If yes, when? And how fast are these lines outdated, if this is even possible?
I suggest that you launch limited edition in Box Hardcover and signed by the author of GM Rep 1.c4 and GM Rep 1.d4 🙂
That would be horrifically pleasant 🙂
@Abramov Anjuhin
Jacob may not reply as speedily as usual because he is playing in the Danish Championship http://www.liveskak.dk/dm/2012/
Right now, he is a pawn up in a rook ending. An extra doubled h-pawn, but they all count.
Is Schandorff on target to meet the deadlines suggested for his books. I quite like’d his first efforts.
@ about training of chess strategy & positional play
In almost every training book on tactics a student is advised to re-read book several times in order to build steady building block in brain, so that in every game our mind uses these tactical “tablebases” in no time…
But isn’t the same case with strategy & positional play? Such advises give for example Müller in “The Chess Cafe Puzzle Book 2” and Hellsten in “Mastering Chess Strategy”.
I think that it’s better to work three times through strategy & positional play lessons in all Yussupow’s 9 books in the “Tigersprung” edition, than let us say to work trough 20 books only once!
Here is my list of books 🙂
I. THEORY:
a) strategy
1. Tarrasch: Die Moderne Schachpartie
2. Lasker: Manual of Chess yes
3. Nimzowitsch: My System yes
4. Nimzowitsch: Chess Praxis
5. Lipnitsky: Questions of Modern Chess Theory
6. Euwe & Kramer & Treppner: Das Mittelspiel 1
7. Suetin: Soviet Chess Strategy
8. Watson: Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy
b) Planning:
9. Karpov & Mazukewitsch: Stellungsbeurteilung und Plan
10. Jakovlev: Chess Blueprints
c) Positional play
11. Gelfer: Positional Chess Handbook
12. Bronznik & Terekhin: Techniken des Positionsspiels im Schach
13. Hansen: Improve Your Positional Chess
14. Timman: Power Chess with Pieces
15. Marin: Von den Legenden lernen
16. Sokolov: Winning Chess Middlegames
17. Baburin: Winning Pawn Structures
18. Uhlmann & Schmidt: Offene Linien
II. TRAINING
1. Dvoretsky: School of Chess Excellence 3
2. Dvoretsky & Jussupow: School of Future Champions 4
3. Hellsten: Mastering Chess Strategy
4. Müller: The Chess Cafe Puzzle Book 2 yes
5. Dunnington: Can You Be A Positional Chess Genius
6. selected lessons in: Jussupow: Tigersprung auf DWZ 1500-1800-2100 Band I-III
So Jacob, what do you think about my library and training method 🙂
@Jan Bunnik
“I’ve seen Be2 been analysed by the Nabuurs brothers, but was under the impression the killer for this variation was 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Be2 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4 5.Nf3 g5 6.g4! as in Nabuurs-Freeke from chesslab”
Jan,
In the game you quote I was struggling to make sense of White playing 6.g4 but I think a move is missing: White plays 6.d3 and Black replies 6…g4. Interesting line. I also think there are other lines which cause White trouble after 3.Be2 (details will folow in a book we will publish this year).
Can we please have more details on GM Judit Polgar’s upcoming book? Lots of puzzles? Annotated games from her youth? Both?
Thanks
@Jeffrey Hall
We will probably have an excerpt out in 6 weeks time. The volumes are instructional books with a starting point in her own career.
@kaimano
Matthew 7.15
cerca trova!
Crypticism intended!
Chessbase anounced that the “bust of KG” was an Arpil’s 1st joke as expected.
can anybody comment, Nikos?
I am at the side of quality and not quantity. Yes, instead of reading all those books it is better to WORK hard with some of them, with dedicated effort from cover to cover. It is difficult to do without the help of a trainer but it can be done.
Nice library by the way. It reminds me of mine! 🙂
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/products/1/151/playing_1.d4_-_the_indian_defences_by_lars_schandorff/ says June 2012 publication, is it planned for June now?
I am still optimistic that it will be the end of May. Colin manages the website and he always put in some margin. The book is being edited and a few changes added. I really do not see why it should get delayed.
@Jacob Aagaard
Very much anticipating this two-volume series; I plan to use the repertoire in tandem with Avrukh’s two-volume series. I see on http://www.skak-dm.dk/ that both you and the author of the books are playing in the Danish Championship in Helsingør. Surely Schandorff would know approximately when the books will be published? 😀
@Gilchrist is a Legend
Certainly not. Are you under the delusion that the author publishers the books? The publisher does.
Btw. I am playing Lars in 30 minutes time, however, I am White.
I’m still hoping for a GM on the Nimzo on the blog-entry “A vision for 2013” or “A vision for 2014”
@floh
I would love that book to exist too.
@Jacob Aagaard
Would have been interesting to see a Tarrasch if you played as Black.
So when can we expect an excerpt?:D
@Gilchrist is a Legend
I did, but draw after 8 moves. Sorry!
You’ll be interested to learn that amazon.ca has a copy of GM Shaw’s King’s Gambit book for close to $1500 CAD.
I suggest that you hold off on releasing it for a few more years and let the value climb. 🙂
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Kings-Gambit-John-Shaw/dp/1906552711/ref=sr_1_160?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333664938&sr=1-160
@Neil Sullivan
Maybe we should just charge $100 for it when we do. Clearly it is the most anticipated book ever.
Today I finally received my hardcover copy of Weteschnik’s “Chess Tactics from Scratch” 🙂
How nice, but Jacob why after long 16 days! For middle European country it shouldn’t take longer than 5 days. If you would have faster option I’d surely opt for it 🙂
Browsing through the book I came to interesting idea for Mr. Weteschnik, and of course you Jacob. You should also consider to write manual like “Chess Strategy from Scratch” and “Chess Endings from Scratch”. The main onus is to build a stepping stone for high class tuition. And why not? Since we’re all eagerly waiting for your Jacob “The Grandmaster Preparation” series, especially Positional Play & Strategic Play which shall range Elo 2200+++ players, we should chew good the roots of strategic play 🙂 The same goes for the endings.
I hope that you shall pass my idea to Mr. Weteschnik!
Last but not the least, I’m so happy and heavenly excited when I’m firmly holding my hardcover copy in hands knowing how I shall improve my tactics even better! I have a feeling that with my comments I do excel your work by giving you ideas and critics as well. Even when you have second thought about them, at least I supported you by buying your 44 books 🙂
I wish you happy Easter and a wealth of joy 🙂
Does anybody know if “Advanced Chess Tactics” is intentionally set up to have “trick questions”, or problems with no solution?
I have owned the book now for 2 months, but just started looking at it seriously last night, and I’m working on the Diagram Preview problems of Chapter 1. I did the first 3 last night, and I am of the belief that the third one has no solution. This would be the one that says “What fantastic attacking idea did White miss? (see page 30)”.
I am going thru all the problems before I read the chapter, as the fourth one appears to be from the same game, so I haven’t looked yet at page 30, but unless there is a flaw in my analysis below, after going thru this problem for 2 hours (contrary to the recommended 15 minutes), I’m convinced that all White has is a draw. Maybe somebody who has already read this chapter can tell me where my logic is flawed:
At initial glance, the “obvious” move is 1.Qxh5, but that is flawed logic as Black plays 1…Rxe4!! with the threat of 2…Rxe1+ and 3…Rf1+, winning. At the same time, Black’s key defensive pieces, the d4-Bishop and f7-Rook, covering h8 and h7 respectively, leave White with nothing as g7 is an escape square after any Queen sac on h8.
Look a little deeper, and you realize that 1…Rxe4 is a threat in and of itself. Therefore, whatever White does, it must be a “loud” move. Since there is no good way to defend the e4-Knight, and Queen trades have got to favor Black with the large pawn mass on the Queenside, and since 1.Nf6+ fails to 1…Bxf6, White must do something that immediately attacks, removes, or temporarily blocks either a key attacker (basically all of Black’s heavy pieces), a key defender (d4-Bishop and f7-Rook), or the King.
In Jacob’s “Practical Chess Defense” (I think it was this book), one method of finding moves is by process of elimination. If all other moves fail, this must be the right move. Since sacrificing the Queen on d4 fails, sacrificing the Knight on f6 fails to Bxf6, moving that same knight elsewhere fails to Rxe1+, and the Knight check on e7 is fruitless, that leaves only 1 possibility. 1.Nh8, hitting the f7-Rook.
So I looked at 1.Nh8 and have concluded that with correct play by both sides, it only leads to a draw:
A) Rook moves are fruitless. Staying on the 7th rank Black relinquishes his threats and White is free to attack. Staying on the file makes f7 weak, like 1…Rf5 2.Qxh5 and the threat on h7 causes moves like 2…Rxe4 or 2…Rf1+ 3.Kg2 to fail.
B) 1…Kxh8 also fails. 2.Qxh5+ Kg8 (2…Kg7 3.Qh6+ forces the same thing) 3.Qg6+ and now:
B1) 3…Rg7 4.Nf6+ +-
B2) 3…Bg7 4.Nf6+ +-
B3) 3…Kf8 4.Qh6+ and now
B3a) 4…Kg8 5.Rg1 +-
B3b) 4…Bg7 5.Qxd6+ Kg8 6.Qg6 Kf8 7.Rhe3 +-
C) 1…Bxh8! is the only move. 2.Qxh5 Bg7 and here, unlike line B, the Q is on h5 instead, which makes a difference. Seems like C1 would lose and C2 would draw:
C1) 3.Qh7+ Kf8 4.Rhe3 Rf1+ 5.Kg2 Rxe1 6.Qf5+ Kg8 7.Rxe1 and I think Black’s winning.
C2) 3.Qxf7+ Kxf7 4.Nxd6+ Kg6 5.Nxd8 (5.Nxb5?? Rxe1+ -+) seems pretty equal.
Anybody see any flaws here? If not, I need to write to FIDE to start having “40 moves in 40 hours” time controls so I can be a GM! 🙂
@Jacob Aagaard
ROFLMAO
@Jacob Aagaard
You should just stop production on the KG book right now since the Rybka guy just proved that it loses by force for White.
🙂
@Abramov Anjuhin
We shall have a shoot-out at the local post office.
@Patrick M
We at times have mistakes in our books. All we can do is blame the authors, especially those writing while on strong drugs and waiting for organ transplant :-).
@Jeffrey Hall
This was quite a funny one and a lot of guys here at the Danish Championship fell for it. I am always careful and sceptical about these things, not only at this time of year. What I knew was that there was no way that 3.Be2 would draw. It is officially refuted. So, I was very sceptical, but it did raise the point that chess is being killed slowly by computers – and this is no laughing matter.
Jacob, I caught your recent game in the Danish Championships against Rasmussen. To bad you lost. h5 seems to be good, can you confirm that if you had not played f4 and just played Rd6 followed by going back and forth waiting for Rb2 then playing c5 it would be a simple draw? I get the feeling you missed something and were playing for a win in that position 🙂 Ofcourse I could be wrong.
Thank you very much for your awnser
Jan
@Jan Bunnik
I am actually in a very poor shape here. …h5 was sort of a panic move for no reason in the world. I had just missed the g4-idea and strategically there were some issues.
I am not fully motivated and have not been forced to prepare for the games. I did not check my lines prior to this game even if it had just taken 10 minutes.
Probably I am having a bit of chess depression from being under general stress. I am not depressed as a person, actually I am quite chearful, but you cannot love chess equally at all times, and at the moment I love playing less than I used to do.
I will allow you to have a bad tournament 🙂 the reason i was so xurious is because the book mentions kf6-e7 to cover the bishop. I’ve had this once and quickly was a repetition. I am quite curious about the quick h5 it seems to be ok but not neccesary. Tarrasch is still equal 🙂 i have noticed online people are playing less Bg5 and more dxc5 been experiencing there is still a lot of room for creativity. For Instance andrei sokolov played dxc5 b3 Bb2 Rc1 followed by e3 and Ne2-f4 ideas. Those are not handled in the book:)
@Jan bunnik
Theoretically I am not worried, it is my play that is bad. Today I blundered a piece when I though I was still in my analysis. A fork on my knights…
@Jacob Aagaard
Still, it is not as bad as when I went to 2290s FIDE then had three to four horrible tournaments consecutively and dropped below 2240…
@Gilchrist
Now I make the point why you are waiting for Jacob’s “Grandmaster Series (Preparation)”. You wanted to wait a bit… going 2200+ ELO and than study Jacob’s books… to become IM or GM! It was amazing trick ;).
@John Shaw (or Jacob Aagaard)
I am going to buy and study your great book “Quality Chess Puzzles” – 700 examples sounds quite well. I would like to ask you if you are planning to publish some like the second part. I really like that book – especially the way it was written and nice idea of giving solutions on the next page. I really like to make tactical puzzles and want to ask what target it is addressed? I am courious is it to any specified range of players (1600-2000) or to everyone? What is the level of difficulties of this book? (I am 1800-1900 player and I would like to know if it is proper set of puzzles).
Approximately how many pages are the two Schandorff books?
@Gilchrist is a Legend
I know. Still, if I lose today I will go down to 2499 – which is a bit like my next book, which will cost 24.99 in paperback ;-).
@Gilchrist is a Legend
250-300 each.
@Tomasz Chessthinker
All chapters have an increasing level of difficulty. So, if you feel the exercises are getting too difficult in a chapter, just move on to the next chapter.
@ GM Preparation – Thinking Inside the Box
I hope that the following issues shall be resolved in mentioned book:
– how to construct most beneficial training plan on daily, weekly and monthly basis
– time and space allocation for opening, middlegame (tactics, attack, defence, calculation, strategy and positional play), endgame and general preparation (psychology, fitness)
– how to identify which opening suits best to chess player (without general nonsense stuff and psycho-lamenting about traits)
– selection of best books to cover all areas of training (like addendum at the end of Dvoretsky’s “Endspiel Universitat”)
Jacob, have you read this article which is very good for constructing training plan?
(http://chessok.com/?p=21207 and http://chessok.com/?p=21204)
@ Jacob and @ Gilchrist You guys are lucky! I never play any tournaments or have make time to play in them. It’s just books and internet for me 🙁 So be happy! be very happy 😛 Thanks to the Petroff and the Tarrasch my theoretical interest in chess again. Confident as ever without any practical founding. GM Magerramov however recently turned an assesment in GM10:
Move El-Marmalade Janbunnik
—- —————- —————-
1. d4 (0:02) d5 (0:02)
2. c4 (0:01) e6 (0:01)
3. Nc3 (0:01) c5 (0:01)
4. e3 (0:01) Nf6 (0:01)
5. Nf3 (0:01) a6 (0:00)
6. cxd5 (0:01) exd5 (0:01)
7. Be2 (0:00) Nc6 (0:05)
8. O-O (0:01) Bd6 (0:01)
9. dxc5 (0:01) Bxc5 (0:00)
10. b3 (0:01) O-O (0:02)
11. Bb2 (0:00) Ba7 (0:20)
12. Rc1 (0:03) Qd6 (0:03)
13. Qc2 (0:02) Bg4 (0:04)
14. Rfd1 (0:01) Rad8 (0:03)
15. Ng5 (0:01) d4 (1:18)
16. Bxg4 (0:17) Bb8 (0:01)
17. g3 (0:09) d3 (0:01)
18. Nce4 (1:05) Nxe4 (1:02)
19. Nxe4 (0:08) dxc2 (0:01)
20. Rxd6 (0:01) Bxd6 (0:04)
21. Nxd6 (0:01) Rxd6 (0:00)
22. Ba3 (0:01) Rd2 (0:21)
23. Bxf8 (0:05) f5 (0:02)
24. Bf3 (0:08) Ne5 (0:01)
25. Kg2 (0:01) Kxf8 (0:04)
26. Bxb7 (0:09) Nd3 (0:02)
{White resigns} 0-1
The computer finds an advantage for white after 17.Nf3 which basically means the main line from GM10 should be replaced with 12…Re8 15.Ng5! seems like a very strong move to me. d4 a la the main line looks logical but seems to be insufficient.
I’m rated about the same as you Tomasz and have worked with the book. I’ve studied 50-60 of the positions. If you want to reach 2000 this is a great workout. The puzzles require me to do a lot of looking before I start calculating. Often I don’t see the strongest ideas – i.e. I don’t solve many of the positions.
The winning line is usually something fascinating and ‘worth the price of admission’. With John Shaw’s help my chess has improved about 100 elo.
@Jan Bunnik
We shall check it.
So with Playing 1.d4 coming out very soon, do we get a pdf table of contents soon?
Playing 1.d4 indian defenses…
If the Delayed Poisoned Pawn is recommended, then I suppose 11. e5 with the transposition to the topical line in the Poisoned Pawn will be covered too?
In GM6b 2nd Edition, I mean.
@Michael
We always put it up when it is sent to the printer. Not before. But I can tell you the contents list without revealing anything. 1) Nimzo-Indian. 2) Grunfeld Indian Defence – and so on.
But I shall throw you a pound of flesh. Go to http://www.skak-dm.dk – then go to Live and find the PGN of the games. Avoid my scandalous play, but look at Schandorff’s games and you will be on your way.
Just a couple of questions about Johm Shaw repertoire with 1. e4:
– Will Everything be covered with just 2 books?;
– What the depth of the books? I mean same level of GM rep?
Thanks!
Can someone play the grunfeld and the kings indian against schandorff soon?
Great nimzo, benoni and dutch choices btw!
@Antonius
This is the Grandmaster GUIDE series. The style is different and the books do contain a bit less detail in the analysis. But the chess is not worse or based on less work from our side.
@Jacob Aagaard
What is the problem to tell that against the nimzo 4.e3 is choosen ,for example, when the variation is choosen by the writer. No more details. I suppose people will be happy with this .
2.Bg5 against the dutch (see PGN) KI ? Grunfeld ? 3.e4 in the QGA – Bye the way same variations against 1.d4 d5 2.c4 than in the previous book ?
@FREDPHIL
There are a number. The main one is that people keep coming with more and more questions; and although I love the activity here on the blog, I would rather work with the book than go into too many details.
If you find the criticism we have had for choice of lines in the past you would also be hesitant asking this.
We also enjoy the guessing to be honest.
Yes, the lines will be the same, just updated.
@Jacob Aagaard
I’m Ok with your explanations.
I didn’t know that people were so agressive with your choices.
I personnaly just want to know the choices without arguing . Perhaps I’m just too cool ?
Is there a problem (move order ?) to take Schandorff 1.d4 d5 2.c4 choices except for the slav and take for that Avrukh’s 3.Nf3/4.e3 ?
@FREDPHIL
No problems that I know of. The difference is 4.Nc3 vs. 4.e3, if you indeed mean the position I think you do.
I see, I was just asking cause I thought 13 books where needed to build am 1. e4 repertoire! 🙂
As I can see this new GM Guide is always a repertoire work nonetheless, I will look into that (waiting your work, of course).
Jacob, with all the help you masters give us amateurs, it’s time we give back with a little simple advice. I suffered a similar problem in the mid-2000s, and decided I was going to change my game completely for a brief period of time, just to get my mind out of a rut, think differently, and force myself to apply my own knowledge instead of going into 20 moves of book lines.
The answer? Play 1.b4!! I did it from 2007 thru 2008, scoring 3.5/4 in the US Open with it, and crushing a strong master in Reno in October 2008. And when 1.b4 loses, at least it loses in style. The only time I have suffered a “cute textbook mate” is when I suffered a case of Epaulette’s Mate against Ftacnik in South Carolina in the summer of 2008, and low and behold, it was a Sokolsky. Also played 1.c4 for a year after that. Now, back to my old roots of 1.e4, I’m playing a lot better with White than I have in the past.
You just need a temporary change in your game. Get your mind rolling, and you’ll be right back to crushing 2600 players with 1.e4!
Thanks for the link Jacob, good games, I am curious to see what line he picks against the Grunfeld, As I play the Grunfeld as black and need a good line as white against it. I see Lars played the Grunfeld as black in one of his games. I am hoping for the Russian variation against the Grunfeld, but who knows…the mystery continues…
Ok. So we have.
NID – Rubinstein
Dutch – 2. Bg5
Benoni – 6. e4
And the others?
KID – Saemisch? Schandorffs chosen Benoni can transpose to a Saemisch methinks?
GID – Could be Russian variation judging from the guesses and right answers from previous posters. http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/blog/?p=953#comments
Dutch 1.e6-2.f5 move order – 3. Nc3 Nf6 4.f3
What about the Benko! need a good line against that as well…
Declined or excepted, should be very intersting to find out. Lets keep those guesses rolling!
@Michael
It’s “Accepted”, not “Excepted”, and Accepting it is the only way to get an advantage. Accept it, and White’s better in just about any line. King walk. Fianchetto. Depends on your style of play.
Ah…Thanks for the English lesson…hope it is “Accepted!”
I like the king walk better than Fianchetto, but Im open for a new way to play…
He surely won’t go for the King walk because that was my guess and it wasn’t the right one.
Actually I think maybe it will not be the Russian against the Grunfeld, looking back at my guesses I got 3 right
4.e3 Nimzo
6.e4 Benoni
and either the Samisch King’s Indian or the Russian/Grunfeld
looking at other peoples guesses I think the KID line looks right, so then what about the Grunfeld?
Bf4 Variation
e3 variation
Bg5 lines
I wonder…
So could it be the Fianchetto “Accepted”
Here is a recent nice game
[Event “Aeroflot Open”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2012.02.10”]
[EventDate “2012.02.07”]
[Round “4”]
[Result “1-0”]
[White “Anton Korobov”]
[Black “Fabiano Caruana”]
[ECO “A58”]
[WhiteElo “?”]
[BlackElo “?”]
[PlyCount “101”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6
7. Nf3 d6 8. g3 Nbd7 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. Rb1 O-O 11. O-O Qa5
12. Qc2 Nb6 13. Rd1 Nfd7 14. Bd2 Nc4 15. Be1 Rfb8 16. Qc1 Nde5
17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. h3 Bc8 19. b3 c4 20. f4 Nd7 21. Qe3 cxb3
22. axb3 Qd8 23. Na4 Nf6 24. Bf2 Bf5 25. Rbc1 Rb4 26. g4 Bd7
27. Rc6 Rab8 28. Rd3 Bxc6 29. dxc6 Qc7 30. Be1 R4b5 31. Nc3
Ra5 32. g5 Nh5 33. Nd5 Rxd5 34. Bxd5 e6 35. Bf3 Rb5 36. Bc3 e5
37. fxe5 Bxe5 38. Bxe5 Rxe5 39. Qd2 Qa7+ 40. Kg2 Qe7 41. h4 d5
42. b4 Qd6 43. b5 Re6 44. Bxh5 gxh5 45. Rxd5 Rxe2+ 46. Qxe2
Qxd5+ 47. Kg3 Qd6+ 48. Kf3 Qd5+ 49. Kf4 Qd6+ 50. Ke4 Qe6+
51. Kd3 1-0
I really don’t think that it’s going to be the accepted fianchetto. Avrukh covered it so i’m pretty sure that for sure that’s not the right guess. Maybe i’m just wrong again.:D
But i think that the Saemisch should be a good guess and maybe 3.f3 against the Gruenfeld?
Yep, you are probably right, maybe it is declined (The Benko)…I guess 3.f3 against the Grunfeld would fit in with the rep. if the KID line is right and the Benoni line. Still Lars’ Played the Grunfeld himself in the Danish Champ. So he must respect the opening, so I will be very interested to see what he picks against it.
Nimzo-4.e3 or 4.f3
KID-Saemisch
Grunfeld-Russian or Exchange with Be3.
Dutch-Classical fianchetto
Benoni-Four pawns or 6.e4
Benko-Declined
This guess above had three right. If it is the SaemischKID, than at least it is not a Benko declined!
Nimzo – 4.e3
Grunfeld – Russian Variation (4.Nf3 and 5.Qb3)
King’s Indian – Petrosian (7.d5 in the Classical lines)
Benko – Accept, King walk line (i.e. Allowing Bxf1)
Benoni – Flick Knife Attack (a.k.a. Taimanov Variation, 8.Bb5+)
Dutch – Main lines involving the Fianchetto of the King’s Bishop
Garbage Defenses (i.e. English Defense, Budapest, etc) – Take your pick, White wins them all!
This one got two right. So maybe still the Benko Accepted – King Walk? Maybe Jacob got the “artificial castling”line confused from splinter22?
The above looks like Einsteins riddle.
http://www.manbottle.com/trivia/einstein_s_riddle
d4 repertoire Question: What colour car does Schandorff drive?
Your right I forgot that I already guessed Benko Declined, now I am curious, could it be the king talks a walk? Hmmmm….. or maybe Jacob thought my Benoni guess was just the 4 pawns and did not see 6.e4, then we are back to a possible Russian against the Grunfeld!
and it continues…
Cool riddle by the way…That’s a brain twister!
I like 2.Bg5 against the Dutch, feels very aggressive! Kaufman gives this line in his book so more material to study.
On another note anyone know of any books or sources (Besides Databases) That cover the follwing set-ups against the English Attack?
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. g4 h6 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. O-O-O b4
In Gm6 we play b4 before the knight to d7, but I am really liking the positions after playing the knight Nbd7 followed by …b4
Alot of good players are picking this move order
Anton Korobov
Negi
Ivan Cheparinov
here are two games that caught my attention
[Event “European Team Championship”]
[Site “Porto Carras GRE”]
[Date “2011.11.06”]
[EventDate “?”]
[Round “4.2”]
[Result “0-1”]
[White “Sergey Karjakin”]
[Black “Ivan Cheparinov”]
[ECO “B80”]
[WhiteElo “2763”]
[BlackElo “2650”]
[PlyCount “92”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6
7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O b4 11. Nce2 Qc7 12. h4
d5 13. Bh3 Nb6 14. b3 dxe4 15. g5 Nfd5 16. fxe4 Nxe3 17. Qxe3
hxg5 18. hxg5 g6 19. Kb1 Bg7 20. Rhf1 Qe5 21. Qf2 Ra7 22. Ng1
Rc7 23. Ngf3 Qc5 24. Qd2 Qc3 25. Bg4 Qxd2 26. Rxd2 Ke7
27. Rdf2 Nd7 28. Ne2 Bb7 29. Ne1 Ne5 30. Nd3 Ke8 31. Nxe5 Bxe5
32. Bf3 Rh4 33. Nc1 Bxe4 34. Re2 Bxf3 35. Rxe5 Be4 36. Rf2 Bf5
37. Ra5 Rc6 38. Rg2 Rh3 39. Re5 Rh1 40. Kb2 Rd6 41. Nd3 Bxd3
42. cxd3 Rxd3 43. Re4 a5 44. Re5 Rd5 45. Rxd5 exd5 46. Rd2 Rf1
0-1
[Event “28th Cappelle-la-Grande”]
[Site “Cappelle la Grande FRA”]
[Date “2012.03.06”]
[EventDate “2012.03.03”]
[Round “5”]
[Result “0-1”]
[White “Joseph Sanchez”]
[Black “Parimarjan Negi”]
[ECO “B80”]
[WhiteElo “2526”]
[BlackElo “2639”]
[PlyCount “74”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6
7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 b4 10. Nce2 h6 11. c4 bxc3 12. Nxc3
Bb7 13. Bc4 d5 14. exd5 Nb6 15. Bb3 Nfxd5 16. Nxd5 Bxd5
17. O-O-O Bxb3 18. Nxb3 Nd5 19. Kb1 Bb4 20. Qe2 O-O 21. Bd4
Be7 22. f4 a5 23. g5 hxg5 24. fxg5 Bxg5 25. Rhg1 Bf6 26. Qh5
Bxd4 27. Rxd4 f5 28. Qh6 Qf6 29. Rg6 Qe5 30. Rh4 Kf7 31. Qh5
Nf6 32. Qg5 Rg8 33. Rc4 a4 34. Nc5 Rad8 35. Qg1 Qe2 36. Rc1
Rd2 37. Nxa4 Qe4+ 0-1
By the way, really looking forward to the 2nd edition of GM6, the 6Bg5 chapters are going to be really good, The Blood Diamond is my favorite so far, but am very interested in the DPP also!
GM6 part 2, and Lars’ Indian defenses!!!
Thank you Quality Chess!!!
@Michael
The real question is of course if 11.Na4 is available? This is me just thinking out lound, not knowing the state of the theory.
Einstein’s puzzle: I think fewer than 2% of intelligent people could be bothered to try to solve such a pointless riddle :). Don’t get me wrong, I do think trying to guess Schandorff’s recommendations is a fun and interesting exercise 🙂
@csaba
One thing that is quite interesting is that there has been a guess on the blog that has made us aware that we needed to cover something a bit better in the book! So there is full value for us on this exercise.
John will start editing the language in the Indians book at the start of next week. I expect this to take less than 10 days. Andrew has already checked a lot of lines and Lars as well. Then it is typesetting and away we go.
For the Queen’s Gambit update, we have a lot of things ready, but it might take 1-2 weeks additionally. So, May might become the first week in June for the publication. But I doubt it could ever go beyond this.
Anybody guess which guess it was?
😉
Maybe something about the Benko?
11. Na4 is not as popular and 11…Ne5!? Seems to score very well…
Of course the rating differense is a lot but like I said the Na4 move not as popular,
Sangma, Rahul (2385)
Negi, Parimarjan (2631)
Event: 49th ch-IND NatA
Site: Aurangabad IND
Date: 10/15/2011
Round: 7
Score: 0-1
ECO: B90 English Attack Sicilian
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 b4 10. Na4 h6 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. b3 Bd7 13. Nb2 Qa5 14. a4 d5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Nc4 Qc7 17. f4 Nxg4 18. Bg2 Rc8 19. f5 Ngxe3 20. Nxe3 Nxe3 21. fxe6 fxe6 22. Qxe3 Be7 23. Qe4 O-O 24. Nxe6 Qc3 25. Nxf8 Bg5+ 26. Kb1 Bf6 27. Kc1 Qb2+ 28. Kd2 Rxc2+ 29. Qxc2 Bg5+ 30. Kd3 Bf5+ 31. Be4 Bxe4+ 32. Kxe4 Qxc2+ 33. Ke5 Kxf8 34. Rb1 Ke7 35. h4 Bxh4 0-1
Fier, Alexandre Santos (2586)
Berbatov, Kiprian (2454)
Event: MP Reykjavik Open
Site: Reykjavik ISL
Date: 03/14/2011
Round: 7.12
Score: 1-0
ECO: B90 Sicilian, Najdorf, Byrne (English) attack
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O b4 11. Na4 Ne5 12. Qxb4 Bd7 13. Bf4 g5 14. Bd2 Be7 15. h4 gxh4 16. Qb3 Rb8 17. Ba5 Rxb3 18. Bxd8 Rb4 19. Bxe7 Kxe7 20. Nc3 a5 21. a3 Rxd4 22. Rxd4 Nxf3 23. Rd1 Nxg4 24. Be2 Nge5 25. Bxf3 Nxf3 26. Rh3 Ng5 27. Rxh4 Bc6 28. b3 Bb7 29. Kb2 Rc8 30. Rd3 Rh8 31. b4 axb4 32. axb4 h5 33. Kb3 Ba8 34. b5 e5 35. Kb4 Ne6 36. Nd5+ Bxd5 37. Rxd5 Nf4 38. Rd1 Ng6 39. Rh2 h4 40. c4 h3 41. b6 Nf4 42. Kb5 Ne6 43. Rd3 Rc8 44. Rd5 Rh8 45. b7 Kd7 46. Kb6 Nc5 47. Ka7 Kc7 48. Rxc5+ dxc5 49. Rxh3 1-0
In the second game I think the move 13.Bf4 looks pretty good, I don’t like 13…g5, something feels off about it, feels like it opens the door to get busted on the king side.
But what do I know…Will have to look more at the resulting positions from this opening. But I do like the set-up in general.
@Michael
I actually looked at this at some point, reaching the same conclusion that you have.
Does that mean the Play 1. d4 book Volume 2 will be finished in May, before Volume 1 (Updated Queen’s Gambit)? Or will they be published simultaneously?
Yep…12. Qxb4 Bd7 13. Bf4 looks strong…What do you think is the best anwser for black?
So any guesses as to how Lars’ will handle the pirc and modern?, 150 attack like set-ups with f3, or taking all the center with d4,c4, and e4…
If it is the samisch king’s indian, the 150 attack with f3. might fit in nicley, then again some of us play 1.d4 to aviod these oppisite castleing crazy attacks, I have been playing 1.d4 c4 and e4, trying to get them to traspose to a KID Bayonet, AH…All the transpo’s make the guessing harder. Will wait to look at Samisch lines until Im sure this is the line chosen.
Plus I don’t like getting tricked into playing an Accelarated Dragon type position without the Marocy bind option, after 1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 The Sniper I think it’s called. Not that there is anything wrong with it I just don’t want to play open Sicilain position while playing a 1.d4 Rep.
Funny because when I did play 1.e4 the open Siclian was the most exciting, and nerve racking!
P.S. Been seeing the Tarrasch more in blitz…Thanks to Jacob and Niko I’m sure…need some help Lars’ !!!
In the Sniper I guess just 4.d5 closes it up but the c pawn is blocked by the knight, But then I guess it turns into a Benoni, so then Bb5+ is the move to make…
Yes let’s keep it closed!
Looking at Lars’ games on chessgames.com here is another guess for the Grunfeld line if it is not an exchange line or the Russian…
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4
Last game I could find in this database with Lars playing against the Grunfeld 2008
Look what I found…
Schandorff, Lars (2494)
Hagen, Andreas Skytte (2454)
Event: 50th TCh-DEN XtraCon 2011-12
Site: Denmark DEN
Date: 03/11/2012
Round: 9.1
Score: 1-0
ECO: E84 King’s Indian, Saemisch, Panno main line
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 a6 8. Qd2 Rb8 9. Rc1 e6 10. Nd1 Nd7 11. Nf2 Ne7 12. g3 c5 13. Bg2 Nc6 14. d5 exd5 15. cxd5 Ne7 16. b4 b6 17. O-O f5 18. Nd3 Kh8 19. Bh6 Bxh6 20. Qxh6 Ng8 21. Qd2 Qf6 22. Nef4 Ne5 23. Nxe5 Qxe5 24. Rfe1 Qf6 25. a4 fxe4 26. Rxe4 Bf5 27. Ree1 Rfe8 28. Bf1 Bd7 29. Bxa6 Ne7 30. Bb5 Bxb5 31. axb5 Nf5 32. Ne6 Nd4 33. Nxd4 cxd4 34. Re6 Rxe6 35. dxe6 Re8 36. Rd1 Rxe6 37. Qxd4 Qxd4+ 38. Rxd4 Kg7 39. Kf2 h5 40. f4 Kf7 41. Kf3 Rf6 42. h3 Ke6 43. g4 hxg4+ 44. hxg4 Rf8 45. Ke4 Kd7 46. f5 gxf5+ 47. gxf5 Re8+ 48. Kf4 Rg8 49. Rd1 Rc8 50. Re1 Rc4+ 51. Re4 Rc1 52. f6 d5 53. Re7+ Kd6 54. Rb7 Rf1+ 55. Ke3 Ke5 56. Rxb6 d4+ 57. Ke2 Rf4 58. Ra6 Kd5 59. Rc6 Ke4 60. b6 d3+ 61. Ke1 Ke3 62. Re6+ Kf3 63. b7 Rxb4 64. f7 d2+ 65. Kxd2 Rd4+ 66. Kc3 Rd8 67. Re8 1-0
@Michael
No idea and I am a bit too busy to work it out :-).
It would be cool if the Sniper were covered but I guess it’s too late to ask for it. I lost (with White) to some guy who played 1 d4 g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 e4 c5 4 d5 Qa5+ (or something like this). I sacrificed a pawn or two, got a nice position (because his queen was exposed) but still I would like some peaceful resolution to this sort of line, preferably with some advantage with white.
Concerning the two volumes Playing 1.e4 by John Shaw, is it possible to get some information about the lines covered. Was it already discussed previously?
I’m particularly interested to have a hint about the repertoire against the Sicilan (I’ve heard about the Open Sicilian with 6.Be2). But of course some info about the French (3.Nc3/Nd2/e5?), Caro-Kann and 1…e5 would be welcome, too.
LOL – Being one that plays just about any 1…d5 defense to 1.d4 except the QGA and garbage like the Albin, I am amongst that group that is causing the statistical spike in Tarrasch players! 🙂 (See message 58 above)
To go along with that, if you take players like myself, who read books from just about any publisher except Cardoza (uhm…Cardoza and Chess in the same sentence usually equates to one author I absolutely REFUSE to read), you may also start seeing a spike in the Triangle Defense (Everyman). How do you think Lars will help you there? Marshall Gambit? Go into the wild Noteboom with the massive center versus Black’s connected queenside passers?
Tarrasch won’t be your only problem. Players like me are out to get you d4-players from every angle possible! 😀
I see the Triangle more than the Tarrasch, very popular, I like th Marshall Gambit, the Noteboom even though recommended in both Playing the Queens Gambit and The Kaufman’s Rep. Just seems a difficult position or cramped play for white. I am sure White is fine, just what style of play do you like. the Marshall with Ne2 and Be2 both look like the type of positions I like!
Wish Lars would cover the Ne2 Marshall, but I doubt it…but then again you never know…
Know your busy Jacob, thanks for taking the time to look at the games above…
Good luck with your many projects!
So with the game I posted of Lars’ looks like the Saemisch may indeed be the line in his upcoming book.
So that would make it so far…
1.KID-Saemisch
2.Nimzo-4.e3
3.Benoni 6.e4 w/Ne2
4.Dutch 2.Bg5 ( I like the lines with Bg5 and h4)
could we be getting warmer?
Kosintseva, Nadezhda (2576)
Galliamova, Alisa (2487)
Event: 60th ch-RUS w
Site: Moscow RUS
Round: 6
Date: 11/21/2010
ECO: B81
Score: 0-1
This game reaches one of our main lines in GM6 through transpo from the Keres Attack Scheveningen…Looking at it again I do like this Cheeky(Author words I think)
pawn move 11. …a5 feels right to keep driving back white’s army.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4 h6 7. Be3 a6 8. f3 b5 9. Qd2 b4 10. Nce2 e5 11. Nb3 a5 12. c4 Be6 13. Ng3 a4 14. Nc1 Nc6 15. Nd3 Rb8 16. Rc1 h5 17. g5 h4 18. Nf5 g6 19. Nh6 Nh7 20. f4 Be7 21. Rg1 exf4 22. Bxf4 Nxg5 23. Bxg5 Bxg5 24. Rxg5 Rxh6 25. Rb5 Rh8 26. Nxb4 Ne5 27. Qe3 h3 28. Be2 Kf8 29. a3 Qh4+ 30. Qf2 Rc8 31. c5 Qxe4 32. c6 Kg7 33. c7 Bg4 34. Rc3 Rhe8 35. Kd2 Bxe2 36. Qxe2 Nc4+ 0-1
I personally wish to see King’s Gambit is inside John Shaw’s e4 GM Guide. Since this e4 GM Guide will be on positional lines (instead of aggressive lines in e4 GM Repertoire), I wish to see John could pick up some positional lines from King’s Gambit and insert it into e4 GM Guide.
I like playing positional games and endgames, so I am waiting for e4 GM Guide … ^-^
@Michael
Main line Noteboom I am afraid.
@Michael
No wrong guesses here. I have noticed other people have figured one more out for sure.
I wish Mr. Schandorff would go for IQP positions in the 4.e3 NID.
I checked my Mega DB:
In the past he went mostly for 4. Qc2 but in August 2011 he did choose the e3/Nge2 set-up against Gagliardi. Same during the danish tournament.
Does anybody know an up-to-date book, which deals about the IQP-4. e3 NID?
7. Bc4 Grünfeld?
@Waldorf
Sokolov’s new book on the Nimzo. It handles the whole Rubinstein complex, so you can choose what you like.
@Jacob Aagaard:
Good decision about the Main line Noteboom. 😀
So besides the Lines that were already figured out (e3 NID, e4/Ne2 Benoni, Bg5 Dutch and Saemisch KID) i think that against the Gruenfeld he is going for 3.f3, isn’t it Jacob? 😀
@Gilchrist is a Legend:
I already guessed this one as the first around here (together with Qc2 NID, Bayonet/Classical KID, Modern Main Line Benoni and King Walk in the Benko) and it was all wrong. 😀
@Joeri
thx, this book will be highly appreciated 🙂
not 3.f3.
@splinter22prime
Then maybe the Exchange Main Line with Be3 or is it the Russian Variation? 😀
@Jacob Aagaard I don’t mind at all about his choice of the main line Noteboom as I want to know both, I am sure when playing a much higher rated opp. playing into the Marshall Gambit could be very dangerous, so I will want to know the Noteboom too…And seeing as Kaufman aslo chose this line I think it is worth another look. Always like to have 2 lines, one more agressive and open and one more positional depending on your opp.
Okay so everyone is guessing what Schandorff will recommend in his two d4 repertiore books.
how about getting a discusson going on what Mr Shaw will recommend in his upcoming two e4 repertiore books. Here are my predictions, as well as what Mr Aagaard may do in his GM Rep series!
v Sicilian – Hopefully the Open and not any Anti-Sicilian lines.
Najdorf 6.f4 or 6.Bc4 (Jacob will do 6.Be3 I think)
Scheveningen – 6.f4 or 6.g4 (Jacob may do 6.Be3 or Keres attack)
Dragon – Yugoslav with 9.0-0-0 (Jacob could do Yugoslav with 9.Bc4)
Classical – Sozin (leaves Jabob to do Ritcher-Rauzer)
Taimanov – Lines with Bd3 and Be3 (Jacob could do Main Line with Be2 and Be3)
Kan – Lines with c4 (Jacob could do lines with 5.Nc3 and a later Bd3)
Sveshnikov – 9.Nd5 lines (Jacob may do 9.Bxf6 lines)
v Caro Kann – Panov Botvinnik or Advance? (Jacob will do 3.Nc3/Nd2 I think).
v French – I think he will go with the Advance (Jacob will probably do 3.Nc3) and the Tarrasch was covered really well by Tzermiadianos in “How to beat the French Defence”.
v 1…e5 – I reckon he will recommend the Scotch or Four Knights as a dual puropse move against the Petroff’s. (Jacob will do the Ruy Lopez I think).
v Pirc/Modern – Classical
v Alekhine’s – Exchange
v Scandinavian – Don’t know much about the different lines here apart fromm the Main Line and the Nf3 lines in Greet’s book.
This just gets the ball rolling hopefully will be out in July!
So then guys… what have our other guesses been? I think we have been mostly guessing about the Benko and Grunfeld, which by the way are the lines I am most curious at this point. So which one did we get right?
The Benko with the king walk?
Or the Grunfeld. Looking back at Lars’ Games on chessgames.com and 365chess.com I found Lar’s playing B85 and D80 the most. He had the most games in the Modern Exchange with Rb1, a game with Be3 I think and I saw and exchange game with Qa4+.
Then I saw his most recent games including two games in 2008 against the Grunfeld with the following line I posted above
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4
ECO-D80
I also noticed that Lars is playing the Grunfeld himself, so it is interesting to me, because I have the problem of what line to I pick against my beloved defense, right now finding the right line for me against the Grunfeld is important. One I hope Lars can help with.
The line above looks interesting and I have had many white players cause problems for me, I also like the Russian, and Kramnik’s Be3 variotion, but which one could it be.
Or maybe it was someones Benko guess that got the Bingo!
Very curios too about 1…g6 and 1…d6
I would like to take a guess as to what Shaw will recommend for his upcoming 1. e4 books.
I’m going to assume that they will be solid and for the most part plan based.
6. Be2 against the Najdorf (with 9. Kh1) and Scheveningen (with Kh1 and a4)
6. Be2 against the Taimanov
5. Nc3 against the Kan
9. g4 Yugoslav Attack against the Dragon
6. Bg5 with an eventual f3 against the Classical
9. Nd5 in the Sveshnikov would be awesome, so I’ll optimistic for this guess
6. a4 against the Kalashnikov
Maroczy Bind against the Accelerated Dragon
Against the French I wouldn’t be surprised if Shaw recommend the Tarrasch
3. Nc3 against the Caro-Kann? Personally I think a White repertoire covering the Short variation or 4. Nd2 would be awesome.
Exchange against Alekhine
3. Nc3 against the Scandinavian
Modern Line without f4 against the Pirc and Modern
Exchange or 5. d3 against the Spanish. Also, a head-on confrontation against the Berlin as well would be my optimistic guess here.
5. Nc3 in the Classical Petrov
Shaw should be recommending 2. f4 in his upcoming 1.e4 series … 😉 no reason to waste all that high level work on the KG that has still not seen the light of day….
In the early 90’s when Kramnik was playing the Samisch he also played The Grunfeld Exchange with Bb5+, another guess for the Grunfeld line.
An cool king walk in the Benko…
[Event “Gibraltar”]
[Site “Caleta ENG”]
[Date “2010.01.31”]
[EventDate “2010.01.26”]
[Round “6”]
[Result “1-0”]
[White “Samuel Shankland”]
[Black “Terence P D Chapman”]
[ECO “A59”]
[WhiteElo “2491”]
[BlackElo “2221”]
[PlyCount “75”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6
7. e4 Bxf1 8. Kxf1 d6 9. Nge2 Bg7 10. h3 O-O 11. Kg1 Nbd7
12. Kh2 Qa5 13. Qc2 Nb6 14. Rd1 Rfb8 15. Rb1 Nc4 16. a4 Qb4
17. b3 Na3 18. Bxa3 Qxa3 19. f3 Nd7 20. Nb5 Qb4 21. Nc1 Rc8
22. Nd3 Qa5 23. Na3 Nb6 24. Nc4 Nxc4 25. Qxc4 Qa6 26. Rdc1
Qxc4 27. Rxc4 Rcb8 28. b4 Rxa4 29. bxc5 Rxb1 30. Rxa4 Rb3
31. Ra8+ Bf8 32. c6 Rxd3 33. c7 Rc3 34. c8=Q Rxc8 35. Rxc8 f5
36. exf5 gxf5 37. Kg3 Kf7 38. Kf4 1-0
Not the most relevant question, but if you have a knight pinned to the king on c3 and you play Ng1-e2, do people prefer Nge2 or Ne2? Personally I always found Ne2 confusing. I think QC books usually write ge2 though, thanks.
Is the Suba book now shipping? Any idea when it will be available at the London Chess Centre?
My guesses would be very different:
Sicilian:
Najdorf – 6.Bc4
Scheveningen – 6.g4
Dragon – 9.O-O-O
Classical – 6.Bg5
Sveshnikov – Main Line with Bxf6
Kalashnikov – 6.c4
Accelerated Dragon – Maroczy Bind
Taimanov – Maroczy Bind (5.Nb5 and c4)
Kan – 5.Nc3/6.Bd3
1…e5:
Ruy Lopez – Exchange Variation – Brief coverage of 3…Not a6
Petroff – 3.Nxe5 and 5.Nc3
Philidor – vs 1…e5, exchange variation if 3…Nf6, Main line 4.Nxd4 if 3…exd4, if via Pirc move order, Trade Queens vs 3…e5, 4.f4 vs 3…Nbd7
French:
– Advance with 6.a3
Caro-Kann:
– Advance with 4.Be3
Garbage Defenses:
Classical vs Alekhine
3.Nf3 vs Scandinavian
150 Attack vs Pirc/Modern (i.e. Be3, Qd2, Castle Long, etc)
2.d4 w/o playing c4 vs Owen’s Defense
2.Nf3 vs Nimzovich Defense
@Paul
Should be there Wednesday.
Hi QC team,
In “The Alterman Gambit Guide vol.1” page 304, one of my student ask me what to do after :
1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 cxd4 5. exd4 Qb6 6. Qc1 Nc6 7. c3 Nd5 8.
Bg3 f5 9. Nbd2 f4 10. Bh4 h6 11. Qc2!! his proposal (11. c4 Nde7 is the line given in the book) and black position is very unconfortable. And I completely agree … what do you think about ? Can Boris improve this line ? Because I really like what the variation he gives in this book.
Thanks ……….
@Michel Barbaut
Hi Michel,
I agree with your assessment of that line – it looks very nasty for Black. I am not Boris, but I would suggest trying a similar idea, except castling first. Specifically, instead of 8…f5 try 8…Be7. For example, 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Bd3 f5. It looks interesting and aggressive.
And regarding the guesses about my “Playing 1.e4” books, I can offer a few thoughts:
The ideas above about the Sicilian lines are predictions rather than guesses, as that section is not finalized yet. Definitely an Open Sicilian though.
Against 1…e5 it will not be the Exchange Spanish, as I don’t think that is promising enough. The Spanish with 4.Ba4 sounds like it belongs in a GM Repertoire book. So what does that leave? Using our King’s Gambit analysis in two books? A brilliant thought by’decredico’, but no. There is another opening against 1…e5 which is promising and on which we have many new ideas. I feel patriotic.
That was rather helpful of me, so I shall be more annoying and vague about the Caro-Kann and French: we meet them with the same 2nd and 3rd moves.
Scotch, and advance French and Caro Kann if I infer correctly 3/3 on the guess front there! 🙂
2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 🙂
@John Shaw
Thanks for your suggestion ! Concerning “Playing 1.e4” I like you feel patriotic, but then why not 1.e4,e5 2.d4!? , this way no more Latvian & Elephant gambit, and not so good option for Philidor and Petrov players ? and always your main line vs 1…e5.
@Michel Barbaut
This happens very rarely to us (luckily), but this looks like a flat out refutation of our line. I shall spank the editor immediately!
@Michel Barbaut
Obviously there is 3…Bb4+ to take into consideration. I think Black is ok there, but we can maybe add this as a small line just to give people this option anyway. What do you think John?
Why avoid the Philidor or Petroff? Black has problems to solve! 😛 I don’t obviously speak about the Latvian and Elephant Gambits because….you can guess!
Jacob is right, 3…Bb4+ seems quite nice for Black. With the Knight already at f6 there could be ideas for White after …Bb4+ (check for example the “legendary” Dzindzichasvili lines on this, given in books and DVDs) but here it seems like there is nothing.
I ma pretty sure he will choose the advance, personally I hope he does pick 3.Nd2!
If the advance is choosen, I hope he will explain how White has to play. I have understood the advance only from Black point of view…
Jacob, if you are referring to 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Nf3 (?! in my opinion) Bb4+, this can be found in section B of the first chapter in the Chess-Stars book, The Petroff: An Expert Repertoire for Black.
If you are going to play 2.d4, to me, you have to follow up with 3.c3 (assuming Black takes). At that point, Black has easy equality if you ask me. There’s a player in North Carolina that plays the Goring Gambit religiously, and Black easily Decline with 3…d5 (as mentioned by Marin) or take, and a little simple defense and White has no advantage.
The other option, if Black doesn’t decline that is, is the Danish Gambit, but I’ve always found the following to be best play by both sides, in my humble opinion, but the resulting position should be easy equality for Black: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 (4.Nxc3 is the Goring Gambit) cxb2 5.Bxb2 d5 6.Bxd5 Nf6 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qxd8 Bb4+ 9.Qd2 Bxd2+ 10.Nxd2
@Michel Barbaut
Being an e4-player, and one that has 1…e5 as my secondary defense (to 1…c6) against 1.e4, I can tell you that there are better solutions if you want to avoid the main lines of the Petroff.
I think one decent line for White if he wants a more tactical, attacking type game, play 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 (instead of 5.d4). Theoretically, I don’t think White gets much of an advantage, but “equality” and “simple equality” (like that Danish line I mentioned) aren’t the same thing. Black has many problems to figure out in this line.
The second choice would be to play 3.Nc3. There’s a recent book from New in Chess on the Four Knights, and a book coming out shortly by Everyman Chess on the Four Knights, which claims it will also cover lines where Black rejects the Four Knights and plays either the Three Knights (2…Nc6 and 3…g6) and Anti-Petroff Lines (2…Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4), the latter being the one that matters more to you. The Four Knights has a reputation of being dry and dull, but in reality, there are many lines for White that are very agressive, and even some lines for Black that are tricky. For example, after 4.Bb5, the Spanish Four Knights, Black can play symmetrically, for a very positional game, or 4…Nd4, for a wild tactical mess. If White wants something messy, the Belgrade Gambit, 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5, which is a lot trickier and harder to deal with than the Danish Gambit. Again, probably not any more than Equal theoretically, but from a practical standpoint, better than the Danish or Goring.
As for the Philidor, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 is under a cloud for Black. It’s not hard stuff to learn. The Larsen (3…exd4 and 4…g6) and Antoshin (3…exd4 and 4…Be7) aren’t difficult to learn. 3…Nf6 can be answered by 4.exd5 Nxe4 5.Qd5! is excellent for White.
What you have to worry about more is the improved way to get to the Hanham Variation, which doesn’t even come from 1…e5. It’s 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 and here either 3…e5, intending 4.Nf3 Nbd7 or 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8, or else 3…Nbd7, intending 4.Nf3 e5, but this move order gives White options at tricky lines like 4.f4 or even 4.g4, or he can allow the Hanham Proper with 4.Nf3.
So in reality, the Philidor is truly unavoidable if Black goes thru the Pirc move order. You can avoid the Hanham proper, but not the whole Philidor.
@Nick
I played the French for 10 years myself, and the fairly new ideas that cropped up in the a3-lines of the advance is one reason I personally gave up the French. Having since then mostly studied it from the White side, I can say that I agree with Sveshnikov. 3.Nd2 is an error. 3.Nc3 is probably best, but 3.e5 also gives White many trump cards. 3.Nd2 c5 gives Black easy equality in my opinion. 4.exd5 exd5 (Not 4…Qxd5) 5.Ngf3 Nf6 (Not the old 5…Nc6) is scoring really well for Black. Backing up, if White does 5.Bb5+, the 5…Bd7 response gives Black an equal game. Backing up even further, if White does 4.Ngf3, then Black should head straight for the closed Tarrasch at that point with 4…Nf6, and if White transposes directly, then with Ngf3 already played, White’s committed to the Korchnoi Gambit (7.Ngf3 in the Closed Tarrasch instead of the significantly better move, 7.Ne2), and again, Black has full equality.
Therefore, I agree with Sveshnikov’s assessment. 3.Nd2 is an error. Not a blunder. It’s not losing. But it gives Black instant equality, and that alone makes it an error.
I second that. It would be nice to see a repertoire book explaining the Advance French and Caro from the White side. It seems that the Advance is the critical line against the Caro these days.
There is a 2-book repertoire by Sveshnikov on the Advance French for White. Totals about 300 pages. By Ohms. The books are actually pretty good. I own them both.
I am also quite curious about the Play 1.e4 Repertoire.
Scotch is quite sensibel, another try would be a d3-approach against the Ruy Lopez (quite popular these days and played a lot by the top guns , aka Naiditsch won a beautiful game against Ivan Sokolov.
Main line sicilian is a nice choice, but as the “real main lines” will be covered by Jacobs ground breaking repertoir books, the choice will be interesting. I would not like some g3 approach or say 6.h3 against the Najdorf.
Personaly I found the approach in the new Everyman book quite interesting, positional lines with 6.Be2 against the Scheveningen/Najdorf and so on, but I donot trust the author, so maybe QC can do better?
Other proposals:
– against the Taimanov also &.Be2 and Be3,
– against the Dragon 9.g4 -Attack ( a chance from the always recommended 9.0-0-0 and 9.Bc4,
– against the classical you have to play the Rauzer, but maybe with an f4 approach .
– Against the Sveschnikow th very popular and postional 9. Nd5 and then 11.c4 (if it is not Jacobs line)
Karo-Kann is the critical Variation advanced Variation Short System, but maybe some 4.Nd2 line ? or the Panov?
Advanced French i did not like to much ( of cours e not all can be perfect ), but is the Tarrasch not more positional and easier to play ? Maybe the universal line?
Anyway , looking forwart to all new QC books
Eagerly waiting for Avrukhs book 1. d4 sidellines 😀
@boki & others
I think Mr.Shaw was pretty clear in his statement about 1.e4 e5; he is being patriotic, so the Scotch it is!
“Main line sicilian is a nice choice, but as the “real main lines” will be covered by Jacobs ground breaking repertoir books, the choice will be interesting. I would not like some g3 approach or say 6.h3 against the Najdorf.”
What, Jacobs is doing e4 repertoire books too?
@ Andre
Check out the catalogue.
Grandmaster Repertiore 1.e4 He Sicilian Defence!
Happy Birthday Lars!!!
What about The Benko half accepted?
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. e3 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. e4
Grunfeld
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3
or
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2
Nice play at the Danish Champ.
Happy Birthday Lars!!!, nice preformance at the Danish Champs
Benko guess
Benko Half Accepted
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. e3 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. e4
Thanks for your post, Nick. Maybe I should have added a smiley to my last post. Of course I know about Jacob’s upcoming e4 books. I was making fun of the fact that there is also a rather well known chess author named “Jacobs”. So if somebody forgets an apostrophe, as happened above, he could be suddenly understood as talking about a completely different author.
Is GM6b 2nd Edition going to have the same line (8…h5) against 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3? How about the Sozin lines?
just pre-ordred Playing 1.d4 – The Indian Defences, very much looking forward to it.
GM6b I am interested in the English lines with e6…and the Blood Diamond updates!
Of course learning the DDP is just as exciting!
@Gilchrist is a Legend
Again we are getting too detailed. I would rather focus on getting the book ready :-).
I am also interested in that too, since we all want to read the two volumes. 😀
Hi QC,
I had informed QC publication about few blank pages in my purchase – Build up your basics- The Fundamentals. You had sent me a replacement but again this replacement copy had different set of blank pages. I then contacted you again, and have not heard back from you/or from QC.
Please help me.
Regards,
@Sunil
Hi Sunil,
After a quick check round the office, we remember your first contact and sending you a replacement, but not the second problem. Sounds like bizarrely bad luck. If you email me we will get back to you. We always reply to customers’ emails, so if anyone thinks they are being ignored, please re-send the email, as it will be likely we never received the email we appear to be ignoring.
Hi Quality Chess,
I am interested in the GM repertoire Sicilian books coming out this year by GM Ftacnik. Will the lines he covers be just an update to the lines he recommended in his previous GM Repertoire Siclian book or are the recommended lines going to be different…such as recommending an e5 Najdorf instead of the e6 Scheveningen structure?
Since we’re on the topic of GM repertoire books – has anyone put in some thought about writing a book based around the Nimzo-Indian?
Are the GM6 2nd Edition covers going to be different from 1st Edition? Since Volume 1 are all lines on the Anti-Sicilians and then Volume 2 are the Open Sicilians, the board on the cover will be different?
@Kevin S
@Gilchrist is a Legend
Some lines will be replaced (the two that sort of cracked especially) and some lines will be new just as an extra now we are splitting the books.
I have honestly not thought too much about the covers yet. I should do so soon…
GM6 2nd Edition says July, hopefully the cover will be designed at the same time as the book is printed 🙂
Benko Guess… Benko Gambit: Accepted. Dlugy Variation (A57) 5.f3
Hello Jacob, Can you clarify if “Playing 1.d4 – GM Guide – The Queen’s Gambit” is an update to “Play the Queen’s Gambit”? Or does it contain different lines? The description “offers White an easy to remember aggressive repertoire” has me wondering. I apololgize in advance if you answered this question. Good Chess! Keith
@Michael
Yep!
Jacob, when a sample of Playing 1.d4 (The Indian defences or The Queen’s Gambit) will be able to download and also since the book is the book is to be finished why do you not tell us something more about it
@Jacob Aagaard
Nice!
So we have…
1.KID-Saemisch
2.Nimzo-4.e3
3.Benoni 6.e4 w/Ne2
4.Dutch 2.Bg5
5.Benko Gambit: Accepted. Dlugy Variation 5.f3
Looking at Patrick’s guess,
Grunfeld… Russian Variation?
Does anyone know what Schandorf will offer against the semi-slav?
@Michael
6/6. The one missing is the old Indian where he goes a quick d5 and a Samisch set-up. And then Chapter 8 with all kinds of sidelines.
hello
i think it would be interesting to know how Mr. Scharndorff deals with some transpo tricks like d4 d6 c4 f5 or d4 e6 c4 f5 both heading for the dutch without going into the Lg5 stuff
@edgar allan poe
In that case I would have to refer you to the book. All I can say is that he is dealing with it.
When can we expect to see the excerpt?
May arrives…potentially 5 QC books this month.
In terms of people eager to see d4 repertoires, I see Gambit have posted on their website that of Watson’s forthcoming book……
@splinter22prime
3 weeks at most
@Paul
It will probably be 2 and then lots in the first few weeks of June. Calculation (HB) and Chess Evolution 2 should be ready, but we need final confirmation from the printer.
Excellent on the calculation book. You mentioned a while back you were hoping chess shops would offer a deal for your(Jacob’s) series along the lines of “Order 4, Get the 5th free”. Is this something that will be available from QC, even if the chess shops don’t go down this route?
Also on your (Jacob’s) series, is there any overlap/similiarty with the Everyman series you did 10 or so years ago? (Does not seem like 10 years since I first read Excelling at Chess….).
So with the Schandorff books having the excerpt released within three weeks, first week of June is the estimated publication date?
@Jacob Aagaard
Great news!!! Great Rep…Thanks for playing the guessing game with all of us it was a lot of fun to try and figure out the lines with the guessing, Lars’games and looking through databases at Botvinnik’s games and the f3 e4 pawn structures. I like how this rep is structured, with the same pawn structure in many lines, making it easier to remember, while still playing main lines. Very much looking forward to the release, have already put in my order!
Old indian line sounds great to me…I have already started to experiment with these new lines in blitz, and using databases, and am enjoying them, although I may need to wait for the book to really understand many of the positions.
I am really curious too about GM6, but that is a little bit down the road. And I know you have very many projects going right now. I do have one question. I saw in one of your post here on this blog that of all your new GM Prep books you would push the book on Positional Play, or something to that effect. I am interested in getting this book when it comes out, and wondering will this be the book in which you talk about thinking and plaining in chess, like a more in depth version of the 3 question method you gave me a while back when deciding what move to make OTB?
Is the book to advanced for someone who has not finished Yus. 9 series books? Or can it be read at the same time?
I wish you well on your many exciting projects and thank you for putting out such high quality chess books!
Thanks!
@Paul
We will probably do an offer when all of the books are out – for the paperback versions. Producing the hardbacks are more expensive and the €5 difference only just covers the costs. So we cannot make a deal where we send out one at a time.
We will probably only be offering this deal in the European Union because of recent hikes in postage prices. Sending out a 5th free book is more expensive in printing than anything, if it has to go outside the union. We have not yet decided if we want it to include the hardbacks in such an offer, but it will only come when we have published everything anyway.
@Paul
The calculation book leans heavily towards Excelling at Chess Calculation. They complement each other and I STRONGLY recommend reading Excelling at Chess Calculation (again?) before going through CALCULATION. The endgame book will also lean on Excelling at Technical Chess, but this is where the need to looking back ends.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
First of second. Basically we are very close to the end, but a few other things are taking some of our attention as well (for example finishing this Calculation book so it can go to the printer Friday).
@Michael
The best training program is the one that is built on JOY and EXCITEMENT. So asking if you can read books on different levels at the same time is a falacy. Of course you can.
The level of the books in the Grandmaster Preparation series is such that they can all be used seperately. I will write a short blog about this now instead of hiding it here at the bottom of a long tread!
Thanks! Your right, I would have bought and read them anyway. I look foward to your blog about the series, very exciting!
when the GM Preparation – Calculation will be available???? in what day of may?
Hi,
Are Schandorff’s books still planned for May and do you offer a repertoire outline? I’d like to compare them with The Kaufman Repertoire for Black and White. I’m guessing his are more ambitious but I really like some of Kaufman’s lines too like Bf4 vs the Benoni.
Also, how are the goals of Schandorff’s book different from Avrukh’s? It seems like it’s not an update but rather a different approach.
Nevermind, I understand how the goals are different now.
@Alex
We will have excerpts on the site in a few weeks and then you can see the repertoire. He does coincide a lot with Kaufman by accident, but I think Lars is doing a better job of it.
Hi all,
I´am looking forward for the repertoirebooks by John Shaw in july!! There we have:
1. The scotch against 1….e5
2. Open Sicilian ( Be2-systems?) against 1….c5
3. 3.Nd2 against Caro
4. 3.Nd2 against French.
So far so good. But what about Pirc/Modern, Alekhine and Skandinavian?
greetings
wolfsblut
I bet 1. d4 d6 2. e4 nf6 3. f3 a white transpotrick!
Now black will have to go into a samisch KID or an old indian with e5?
1. … e6 I don’t know yet. Probably just c4 I guess. The classical dutch and stonewall dutch aren’t that problematic.
@wolfsblut
Probably we will not finish it till July/August with the usual 3-4 weeks of production. We have a lot of stuff ready, but also a lot of ground to cover still.
Hi,
Was wondering if there is any plans to write a black repetoire on e4-e5 Nf3-Nc6 Bc4-Nf6, pretty much all books recommends Bc5 instead of Nf6 allowing the annoying italian game, where there is a specifik drawing line (as the authers know), i am well aware that black can avoid it by accepting a slightly worse position, aswell as it is hard to win for black. It just seems to me that the Nf6 variation is completely ignored, despite (to the best of my knowledge) it should still be ok against Ng5.
Maybe returning the rook to the back rank in the second game is better, any thoughts?
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O b4 11. Na4 Ne5 12. Qxb4 Bd7 13. Bf4 g5 14. Bd2 Be7 15. h4 gxh4 16. Qb3 Rb8 17. Ba5 Rxb3 18. Bxd8 Rb8 19.Bxe7 Kxe7 20.Nc3 a5
And if 14. Bg3 h5 15.Nb3 hxg4 16.fxg4 Rb8 17.Qd4 Nexg4 (line given in the Scheveningen Move by Move)
@Tommy
We just did Alterman Gambit Guide – Black Gambits 2, which includes the Traxler. But I don’t think that is what you are looking for :-).
@jacob
No it wasn´t what i was looking for :o). I would just think that there should be a market for you guys if the work is serious, which i know it would be. Everyone write repertoires with 3. Bc5 against the italian game. Selling points for you would be adding to black repertoire meaning that if a black 3. Nf6 is answered with d3, then perhaps suggesting something else than 4. Bc5 (transposing to a lots of books) or for someone who wants to answer e4 with e5. for instance 4. Be7 aswell as a repertoire against the 4. Ng5 variation and maybe even more than one answer that is sound.
@Tommy
The issue is that we cannot cover everything.
wish to know when “grandmaster preparation calculation” will be available in amazon.com (usa)….
regards from mexico
Hope this is the right forum to ask..
Is there a chance Quality Chess will reprint/publish Marin’s wonderful GM3 Repetoire in hardback again anytime soon ? This book goes for being one of the very best out there, and I can hardly imagine you wouldn’t be able to sell them 😉
@Alexander
Alexander,
I can promise Grandmaster Repertoire 3 will be printed in hardback very soon. It will be available in a few weeks.
Woah! YOU ROCK!
I want to place my order in advance 😀 Is that possible ?
@Alexander
We have even decided not to charge extra for this book being in hardcover, because we know a lot of people will be buying it for the second time. We have an obligation to feed our employees (bread and water) and pay the authors, but probably not to rid off people who support us…
@5xa
Not charging extra is very cool as long as you’re not canibalizing yourselves.
I wish for Quality Chess to prosper and set the standard among other chess book publishers higher.. so, bread and water.. sure – but if we can get better books over time for a few pounds extra I would gladly pay anyway 🙂
@Alexander
This time around this seemed like the way to go.
Should we expect GM3 hardcover to become available ultimo July or how much time is left until it hits the shipping ? 🙂
Also – looking forward to the next GM11. Wow, exciting somehow, although I’m a bit concerned about “sideline”-books in general. They tend to focus very much on a few rare variations, but maybe I will be positively surpriced. I imagine it must be very hard to make a “generic approach” book about whatever sideline in question ?? After all, on top of being rare – usually.. what are the chances the sideline-guy will stay inside theory ? :/
@Alexander
Monday!
Actually, they are quite common in most people’s games. I face the London more often than I care to talk about.
One of the reasons I am annoyed when playing the Sicilian is that I only get the Open Sicilian around 15% of the time, despite my rating range (2250-2300).
Regards to 1. d4, if I try to play the Grünfeld, I only achieve playing an actual Grünfeld probably around 20-30% of games, instead I get Torre, London, and Trompowsky, so Avrukh’s GM11 will be extremely useful since most of my games are sidelines :). I surely hope that these sideline games do not occur too frequently past 2350 levels, because it is also very annoying. 😀
Hmmm….kinda odd. For me it’s almost the opposite.
When I do play the Sicilian, I get 2.Nf3 at least 70% of the time, and it’s hard to not play the Open against what I play, namely 2…e6 or 2…a6. I’ll play the Kan, Taimanov, Scheveningen, or O’Kelly – I leave the Najdorf and Dragon for others to deal with.
As for my defending 1.d4, with the Tarrasch, Slav, Czech Benoni, and Stonewall/Classical Dutch, it’s actually rare that I don’t get one of the main lines. There’s a local in the area that plays the London, but other than that, about the most “offbeat” line that I see regularly is when I play the Dutch, I get many games where White doesn’t Fianchetto the Bishop, like either an early e3, or 1.d4, 2.c4, 3.Nc3, 4.Nf3. The odd part is, I would think I’d be more suseptible to offbeat lines as 1…d5 and other opens that don’t involve …g6 allow for more offbeat lines, like the Colle. The Colle is garbage against KID/Grunfeld structures.
Wow – I dropped a bomb with my comment on the 1. d4 sidelines book did I ?
Basically, no wait.. first of all..
@ Aagaard: super! I’m looking forward to monday then 🙂
..okay now.. ahem.
Look. I’m not trying to insult anyone or any statistics here. All I’m saying (or infact asking) is that it must be hard to cover ALL sidelines with ALL their respective subvariations. Wrap it up nicely and present some kind of “red thread” (a pattern isn’t easy to establish when all these openings mostly have only 1. d4.. in common ?).
Having said all this – I’m STILL looking forward to get my hands on this book, but that’s kinda obvious since I bother to even write on this blog isn’t it ? 😀
Have a brilliant weekend when you all get there!
I see the new book cover for GM11, which flag is that? 🙂 How many pages would it approximate to be? Also maybe have a forum contest like the Queen’s Gambit book to see who guesses correctly which lines are covered in this book.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
If you are well prepared, actually it is a gift. Or so I have been told! This is the purpose with these books (GM11 and GM6A). To give the readers a way to deal with these rubbish systems.
@Alexander
Nice to know that Avrukh has come close to doing the impossible again :-).
@Gilchrist is a Legend
No idea about page numbers yet to be honest. But everything is covered from the QGD, Nimzo/QID and the KID/Grunfeld perspective. There are some overlaps at times, but in general it is two books in one, for the price of one. Obviously some people will complain that not everything is of use to them; which can also be said about dictionaries, phonebooks and politicians…
@Aagaard
I honestly love how you classify these sidelines as “rubbish systems”. Personally I’ve always had the problem OTB that I lost respect (and the game) whenever someone would present me with something “semi-home-brewed” because they simply never bothered to study what all the sound chess players are doing at a higher level.
If a book can help me chop these people’s heads off instead of frowning, then it’s worth gold to me 🙂 BTW – Marin’s three books on the English Opening had that effect. I’m so well into these systems now that I never feel any discomfort playing, even if my opponent sidesteps like crazy.
@Alexander
Yes, this is the thinking. I used to do poorly against various lines, then studied them and they became cash-cows. This is the idea of Avrukh’s book as well.
I am going to stick my neck out and say that it’s Rubbish to call all of those systems Rubbish! The Colle is Rubbish. The London is Rubbish. The Torre is Rubbish. However, the Trompowski, which has given me tons of issue, isn’t, and one that I have played off and on, the Veresov, has given me very good results as long as I don’t overuse it.
On the topic of repertoires, does anyone know of a good reason why all the current spate of repertoire books are based on d4. Wouldn’t that give the chief editors of one of my favorite publishing company an idea about a book based on an e4 repertoire for the contrarians out here?
^ The Sicilian endgame is favorable to black.
@Patrick
The system itself is not “rubbish”, but choosing to play it because one doesn’t bother to invest time in chess (pointing out that these “rubbish” systems are most often applied in order to avoid “heavy” theory and/or to get quickly out of the book), THAT is rubbish.
You would be surpriced how often this holds true.. IF you happened to buy a book on the Trompowski, then fine.. play it and by all means enjoy it, in the sense that you put some effort into learning what the idea is, instead of applying it simply because you don’t know better.
I used to face Trompowski half a dozen times with Black, where White was played by a significantly stronger player. After a reasonable amount of losses, I managed to understand how to react with Black, and it became less beneficial (even though my opponent was much stronger, say in the vicinity of 400-500 stronger rating-wise). So, yes – I guess the point is, that IF Black knows the “correct” answer, then these so-called “rubbish-systems” will end up staying rubbish. The proof ? Just check the statistics on the number of top GM’s who actually dare to use these openings against each other, there IS a reason 😉
@Aagaard
Again – I can identify myself a lot with the purpose of the GM Rep. books, I guess that’s why I keep ordering them 😉
@Jacob Aagaard
To be honest I have also used the Trompowsky, albeit only in one of my games almost ten years ago, where I managed to play a kingside attack with my pawns on d4, e4, f4, g4, h4 against a 2250 :), but I find the most annoying to be particularly to play against the Torre, Colle, London, Stonewall, Colle-Zukertort. Those first three I have had more in my games than any main line 1. d4 opening, regarless of if I play Slav, Grünfeld, or King’s Indian.
Decredio far be it from me to neglect the chance for a classic reference “Before the endgame the gods have placed the middlegame!”.
I fall back upon this not-as-well-known but nonetheless equally poignant missive from the same gentleman:
“Mistrust is the most necessary characteristic of the Chess player.”
Apply as needed with regard to all chess publishing fashion and whimsy (and dates of releases). 😉
@Patrick
Veresov is not very good, but people might not play well when facing it!?
@John Johnson
We are quite far on the 1.e4 books.
@decredico
Not as common as is believed…
Decredio I am afraid you may border on cynicism! I once labored through a good portion of a book that tried to persuade me the Veresov was a Ruy Lopez on the right side of the board, I don’t think it is very good either.
The VerySoft opening is always fun to play against. I encourage all players to give it a go! 🙂
There was a time when I disliked playing against all these 1. d4 side lines but now I am happy to see them. I think the Pseudo-Tromp with the b2 pawn sac may be the one I still have some trickery to solve, but the others all seem to give Black pathways to equality (or better) without too much pain.
@Aagaard
Nice picture with the trophy. Is Claire Scott on vacation ? I tried to inquire about my outstanding (already paid) order, but haven’t heard a clue so far 😛
Thanks for all the great books! I have enjoyed many of your books and I am purchasing Esserman’s soon, but I swear I will buy two copies of the King’s Gambit if you get it out by September 1, 2012!
lots of people want to see the Questing Beast!
The publishing schedule could use a little update if you guys have some spare time. Thanks in advance.
@Aagaard
Just being curious here..
Marin’s three books on the English are close to the best chess literature I’ve ever read. His superb skill in explaining exactly why a certain move is played is no less than phenomenal to me, and without realizing it during the process it made me want to continue with the books until I was through the whole thing.
Some authors tend to forget that these books are read by players of all strengths, so applying phrases like “it’s obvious that Black is better.” (<– notice the period, no explanation or anything!) just ISN'T good enough. Let that be a fair warning to anyone who's longing for success as a chess author. They should put themselves in the readers shoes, and that's precisely what Marin excells at entirely!
So – will Marin return on Quality Chess ? I'm longing to see what he could come up with. Again, his ability to outline plans (giving guidelines for moves and ideas.. e.g. weak pawns or some play along a rank or file or likewise) for either side after evaluating a line is really very appreciated.
I'm currently reading through another book from QC, and by embarking on this new project right after having read Marin is.. well, a bit of a disappointment. No doubt the author knows a LOT about the opening/lines/trends/variations, but it drowns more in TONS of examples rather than summing up what all these lines infact have in common (like.. "Black's goal is now to undermine White's center" or something like that). To the author (being a strong chess player), these things are often "obvious" – however, in my humble opinion it's a bit arrogant to assume that everyone else knows that. If you've ever attended university and read a book where the math is listed without the "in-between-calculation", you will know how I feel.. "confused", "annoyed", "demotivated" and yes.. about to throw the book over right shoulder.
I know this is a fine balance – if you leave out all the details, you'll end up with "An opening guide to.." with lots of arrows and diagrams explaining the overall idea but leaving out the means to carry it out in practice. On the other hand, the opposite is no better.. a book which describes a HUGE number of lines "if this, then that, if something else.. then that" etc. etc. Impossible for normal human mind to remember. So a blend of the two is obviously the golden path when it comes to handing down knowledge.
I miss Marin on the publishing schedule, a lot more than anything else.. Will superman return ?
@Alexander
hear! hear!
@Alexander
Hi Alexander,
I tend to think a lot the same way as you do about chess books and Marin is my favourite chess writer. Obviously you are aware of his other books; Learn from the Legends and the two books for Gambit (I assisted a bit with ideas for the attacking book, but mainly you can see a difference between the two books he did for them with one being before and one being after Legends). If not, this is a good place to go.
I personally worked a lot with Mihail and helped him develop his writing style, as well as came with 1000s of suggestions for the 1.c4 books. I am happy that you love the books; we worked hard on them.
Other people want different things from books and we have authors who are almost anti-Marin in their way of thinking and writing, and readers who say these books are perfect. What can I say? Try my books, they are closer to Marin than anyone else, but go for the Attacking Manuals or Positional Play, do not go for books based on Calculation, like Practical Chess Defence. It is a great book (says I), but it is also very advanced and presupposes a high level of prior knowledge.
Sometimes people may be blind to how well off they infact are in chess, and that’s where “nice books” in Marin style comes in. It can even be a matter of believing in it yourself.
Example: you assess a chess position and have 3-5 good candidate moves, and though you’re perfectly capable of calculating every line for each of these moves, you still don’t really trust that you did it well enough (or as I read in Kasparov litterature at some point: “the chances of making a mistake in chess is so much greater than making the right choice”). You sit back with the feeling that “you may have missed something” even though you have not! My method here would be to try it out on a strong chess analysis engine or ask a very strong player if I missed the point in what I concluded.
Refering to above example, it’s the same feeling I get from Marin’s book. It cements and clarifies my own thoughts about the position because it actually SAYS something about it. Instead of a bloody “black is obviously better” or maybe just -/+ without any comments at all.
Don’t get me wrong. If you KNOW what you’re looking for (meaning, you know the overall plan and typical standard maneuvres), it’s alright with just an “informator” annotation.
BUT – if you bought a book (which typically is an attempt to learn something new), then you often don’t know what to look for, and thus an informator-annotation falls to the ground.
I’ll definitely consider your books, but my question in the first place was: can we expect Marin to return to the stage ?
@Alexander
Yes, I think we can. First of all, he is helping Judit with her books. The first one is out and it is wonderful. The following will be great as well, I think.
One thing I like about the Polgar book is how easy it is to read without a chess board ie the number of diagrams is perfect (for a 2000ish player like myself). Of course, other books could have this feature…..and I just didn’t notice.
@Paul
We aim for this in all our books, but with some books it is just not possible.
@Aagaard
Can we push you again for a new “vision for 2013” like the one that started this post ? (I have a table like thing in mind to show roughly which titles are expected to come when etc.).
@Aagaard
Erh – forget it.. I just found it elsewhere :-/
(apologies)
I want to second Paul’s appreciation for the layout of the Polgar book (and Quality Chess books in general), which too often goes unnoticed. It is a real pleasure to read every page. I play along on a board but the frequent diagrams mean that it’s easy to reset the pieces after following a variation and I don’t need a second analysis board while the current position is set up on my main one. The layout of the variations is also exceptional, with lots of paragraphs, whitespace, and additional diagrams when necessary. I am actively drawn into reading through every variation and find them interesting, as opposed to so many books which spew out a big undifferentiated paragraph of variations and subvariations just ending with “and White is better” or some such (I’m looking at you, John Nunn). I attribute some of this to the influence of Mihail Marin, whose variations are consistently extremely readable and instructive.
Do you think the Kings Gambit will be published by 3013?
Perhaps the title should be Pushing The Kings Gambit Continuously into the Future!
I thoroughly enjoy the informative and instructive books Quality Chess publishes but at 71
I must have an expiration date.Need the Kings Gambit soon!
@dfan
Thank you for the compliment. When I took over in 2007 I worked hard with the layout and with GM1 in 2008 I reached something very close to our current format. I personally think it is near perfect, but so are a few other layouts from the competitors. Only they are different as well :-).
@Arthur Nugent
Almost 90% is in the ready to typeset folder. We are very close. April for sure, barely misses the big March publication (14th or 21st).
I like the QC layout too. Quite readable.
A content thing I noticed a couple of times though, without being able to provide a specific example, is the following:
A small amount of material is sacked, say a pawn or an exchange or a piece for 2-3 pawns … but no specific explanation is offered as to why the sac is the best solution and what the player gets as compensation.
These situations might be blatantly obvious for a titled player, but at least some hint in the right direction would be very helpful for a lowly 2100 player like me. I’m not asking for detailed analysis trees, mind you. A little explanation a la “black has no time to take the exchange”, “white’s development advantage more than compensates …” or even 3 moves later “black had no time to collect material in the last couple of moves …” would suffice.
This problem happens rarely in QC books, but maybe you can still improve here. 😉
@Andre
I think this is to some extend a writer issue. Some of our authors like to explain things like this carefully; I try to be one of them. Others are not interested. In the end it is their books, we are only here to make sure that their kind of book is done in the best possible way, not to decide their style.
Will there be a 2nd Ed. of “Mayhem in the Morra”? There were a lot of typos, would be nice to see a corrected/updated edition in the future.
Trompowsky coming soon¿Great
@Jacob Aagaard
Berg’s GM Rep book is shown as Vol. 2 on your webpage. I assume it’s a mistake ? Can we see a picture of Vol. 1 by chance ? 😀
No
@Alexander
From Jacob’s extra brief reply you might correctly guess that he is having computer trouble.
Re the two Berg French books. We had planned to publish the Winawer book second (hence the cover image on our website) but that changed, because the author finished his work on the Winawer first. So, Winawer book first, rest of French repertoire second. Of course, we will change the cover before we print. But changing the cover so it is correct on our website is not top of our list of priorities.
@John Shaw
As long as it’s just computer trouble there’s no need to be alarmed. Thanks you for providing a more indepth answer 🙂 I hope you guys fix or buy Jacob a new computer soon!
@Alexander
All ok now. Still fixing an image on the website is not a high priority; we aim for perfection in the books, not on the website.
I am eagerly looking forward to seeing whether GM Repertoire: 1.e4 can surpass the quality of the Khalifman series Opening for White According to Anand.
I sympathise with John’s plight in completing the Kings Gambit project. To cover such an opening these days from White’s point of view must be a daunting task to say the least, unless its a labor of love like Thomas Johansson’s exhaustive: The Fascinating King’s Gambit, which makes me question whether another King’s Gambit book is neccessary at this time. Nevertheless i’m sure tha KG diehard’s will snap this up as soon as its released.
I am also looking forward to John’s Playing 1.e4 series. Any chance on getting an overview on the recommendation against 1…e5, I’m hoping it’s not the Scotch Game. 🙂
Regards,
Toppy
Hi QC team,
I’m reading GM repertoire 13 about the Open Spanish, and I remember asking what about the Riga variation. Jacobs answers someting like “Isn’t it refuted ?” but Milan gives only the old main line from Capablanca-Euwe, New-York 1915 … so it’s not refuted (there are improvements for both sides in this line) a more updated line should have been appreciated. Of course the Riga is not the subject of this book, I’ve found ecellent till now, but may be Black could use this variation to surprised a specific opponent ? Chance to see anything about it in a forthcoming newsletter ?
And do you plan to write a book for the attacking players ? Ok, Alterman’s books are good but may be a repertoire not based on gambit but with agressive lines ? Your GM repertoires with 1.e4 may be ? IT has been a long time we didn’t hear too much about them.
Keep the good job going on ! 😉
Hello friends, maybe you have already discussed this topic. First of all, I have to say that I really enjoy some of the Grandmaster Repertoire book, especially those written by M.Marin; he is a great chess writer. On the other hand, even with such a great books, I think there is a gap in chess literature in order to study middlegames and even endgames resulting of some openings. Maybe, you can publish such book, with some or many representative very well annotated entire games explaining the resulting positions of a thematic opening. Something similar what is done in Encyclopedia of Middlegames by ChessOk (Convekta), but with much better (balanced) and accurate analysis. Do you have plans about that?
Hi,
I am a big fan of the Yusupov training books! I just wanted to point out a small error in the latest one, chess evolution mastery 3. In exercise F-17 (in the final test) it’s black to move not white, so there should be a black triangle instead of a white one in the diagram. You might want to make that correction if you reprint the book.
Cheers!