It is no secret that we in Quality Chess are a bunch of nerds, obsessively trying to take our books to a higher level. It is thus with great pride we noticed this morning that Mihail Marin was voted Opening book of the year on the site occupied by people like us, Chesspublishing.com. The link is here: http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1257965955/115
I voted for Marin ( Avrukhs book came out 2008, so it could not be considered) !
And it is really the best opening book of the year 2009 !!
I’m curious, would implementing Schandorff’s Slav/Semi-Slav lines work with the Avrukh repertoire or do they interfere with each other causing transpositional problems?
If I remember correctly, both recommend 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6, and now instead of Avrukh’s 4. e3, you can just play 4. Nc3 and you’re in Schandorff’s choice. As long as the above moves are true, I don’t see any problems.
My main concern was that I’d have to play a QGD (for best chances to advantage)in the Bg5 Semi-Slav lines if Black goes for something like Nbd7 or Be7 instead of h6. In that case, the Catalan would be redundant and I’d be move-ordered. Does White have something else, or is it a transposition?
I would not fear playing against those passive lines in the QGD personally (ok, I mainly go 1.e4, but still). They are not the argument for playing the Catalan.
I recently got your books (attacking manual) and i like them a lot. Basically i like the selection of new material. I hate books that resuse examples. again and again the same.
Nice work.
(the grandmaster repertoire books are really great, and a great starting point)
Thank you. Yes, I try to avoid repeating known games, though of course many games are annotated many places these days, so it is not always possible.
Marin always does a great job. I also love Schandorff’s book but unfortunately because lines against the Slav/Semi-slav are so topical, those are already outdated.
A book that wasn’t featured in the top 3 (probably because it came out towards the end of the year) but is a great read is Shipov’s Hedgehog volume. It is one of those books, like Odessky’s 1. b3 book and Marin’s Spanish work, that is worth reading even if you have no intention of actually playing the opening in question.
Barksky’s Scotch book is also great but came out in December which is a huge impediment to winning awards for Book of the Year. Avrukh 1 had this very same problem.
Will Schandorff make a similar volume about the King’s Indian and such or is this already covered by the books you have already written on the subjects, such as your Nimzo, KID and Grünfeld for White books?
Hi CCB – We are constantly trying to talk him into doing it, if we will have any success, only time will tell…