Boris Avrukh update

We are estimating that Grandmaster Repertoire 8 – The Grunfeld Defence by Boris Avrukh will be available at the 3rd of June. Those who are eager to take up the Grunfeld before then, are recommended to look out for Delchev’s book for Chess Stars, which should be available in 2-3 weeks. We expect to have Vassilios Kotronias beautiful middlegame book The Grandmaster Battle Manual ready for the 3rd as well.

As something new, we will try to get the excerpts to you a bit early, even though they will not have a reliable contents page at this early stage.

On top of this we have made an agreement with Boris that he will work on a GM Repertoire book on 1.d4 deviations. This means a repertoire for Black after 1.d4 not followed by c2-c4 – be it for Grunfeld/KID players, Nimzo or Queen’s Gambit players. We hope to be able to include this book in our production for the end of the year, or early 2012.

Now I am off to send off the contract.

47 thoughts on “Boris Avrukh update”

  1. Gilchrist is a Legend

    This GM8 Grünfeld will definitely be quite a project. How many pages approximately?

    Also anticipating GM Repertoire against anti-1. d4 systems. Those systems are as annoying as anti-Sicilians, and Avrukh has always written excellent books 🙂

  2. That is wonderful news! Avrukh’s complete manhandling of suspect openings was the best of his two volume series so I can’t wait to see him tear a new one into stuff like the Blackmar-Diemar.

  3. I am glad for this reaction. A part of this decision is obviously that we will not include this kind of stuff in the Tarrasch or KID books. We will have it all in one (hopefully) slender and excellent volume.

    The Grunfeld is being edited. It is early dates, but after 3 chapters, it is about 50 pages in raw manuscript form. The book has at least 47 chapters (I might want to split more as I go through the formatting process). A bold guess is 560 pages!?

  4. fantastic news !! But I still hope there will be some “tarrasch like” recomendations against 1.c4, 1.Nf3 and 1.g3 in the forthcoming tarrasch GM rep. !!

  5. This is fantastic news! I’m glad the Grunfeld isn’t getting delayed too badly, will give me plenty of time to study it from June – Sept in order to have it in my repertoire for Uni 2011-12 chess season. Surprised to see you recommending a book from another publisher! But if you’re recommending it then I’m definitely buying that as well!

    With regards to d4 deviations book I’m absolutely delighted about this as well. Not sure if you remember but I also emailed you about this a few months ago in support of it.

    Keep up the great work QC!

  6. Hi Boki. We will give our Tarrasch recommendations against other lines to Boris, and he will include it in his books. As they are in many cases also usable for Nimzo and Queen’s Gambit guys as well. It makes more sense to put all of this stuff together in one book.

    I don’t have a problem recognising that other people do good work out there. It is our goal to be better, not to pretend the other guys are not there…

  7. I hoped to be clear, but evidently I failed. We will do maybe 400 pages on the Tarrasch (from move 3 essentially) and Avrukh will do the lines compatible with this in a seperate book. If you were wanting a 650 page book for 19.99 :-), then yes, this is not going to happen. We have to make money to keep producing books, and with the actual Tarrasch part of the book growing and growing, it makes more sense to have ONE book to support our Nimzo, KID, Tarrasch, Grunfeld and QGD repertoires in lines with 1.d4 without 1.c4. All of these repertoires will be supported by Boris’ book; and it will hopefully not take too long to produce.

  8. 560 pages from avrukh are wonderful news. Thank you very much. Yoy make possible to recover the joy of waiting for a chess book, something I have lost within the years. Even I wonder if I could play something so difficult, at least for me, like the Tarrasch. Greetings from Madrid. Your books are highly praised around here.

  9. Thank you Victor. The page count is entirely random at the moment. I think it is something like this, but I have no clear picture of it at the moment.

  10. thank you jacob. when the keilhack book on the tarrasch was published, another german book on the tarrasch came out. this one treaded the tarrasch only as a part of the queen’s gambit declined. i was afraid the new tarrasch book graded down to ” just another grandmaster repertoire” book 😉

  11. Gilchrist is a Legend

    47 chapters and 560 pages should suffice for most of us who want to learn the Grünfeld 🙂

    I am particularly interested in Avrukh’s coverage of the Fianchetto Neo-Grünfeld line. It is so popular for both sides now, especially since the Carlsen-Giri game.

  12. One thing to wonder about is – did Avrukh made the g3-Grunfeld popular, or did he just ride the wave? I don’t know the answer; who does?

  13. Jacob,

    I wondered the same thing myself. I think he has instilled g3 in all d4-players’ brains. Even in my case, playing the King’s Indian, if you only include games played Over The Board (not correspondence), I am getting literally nothing but the Fianchetto Variation played against me, which is fine, because it’s one of the few lines I know and play well from BOTH sides (As White, I get there via 1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 O-O 5.d4, avoiding the Grunfeld.)

    LOL, thanks to Quality Chess, the Fianchetto Variation of every QP opening, and the Catalan, will soon take over as “The Main Line”!

  14. I think it was quite funny that, although 4.e3 against the Slav was the main move in the 2006 World Championship match, somehow some idiot was trying to stir up a mood against this being a main line. The same to some extend with these g3-systems. Now everybody plays it :-).

  15. Jacob,

    It’s all about Quality Chess! If you do a book called “Grandmaster Repertoire: The Tubingen Gambit” (the U is supposed to have that “um lout”, but I don’t know how to type German on a keyboard), everyone will start playing it.

    By the way, I have actually played this gambit a good 10 times or so back on 2007. It’s 1.Nc3 Nf6 2.g4, for those that don’t know it, and if Black goes main line, it will transpose to the Bronstein Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.g4) via 2…Nxg4 3.e4 d6 4.Be2 Nf6 5.d4.

    Therefore, for your 1.e4 books, figure out which lines of each opening are the ones you are best as facing with Black and recommend those lines.

    In other words, if you would do better playing the Black side of the French Tarrasch than you would the French Winawer, recommend 3.Nd2 in your book. That way, everyone will play it, and you can get some nice Black wins!

  16. Jacob, is there any news on when the Tarrasch book will be coming out as well? I’m also really looking forward to this one. There hasn’t been a Tarrasch book in donkeys years!

  17. Firstly, I consider that the QC books are the best way to improve.

    Secondly, I’m noticing that you already have a schedule for your next books; however, I want to suggest you to consider writing a book about endings. I trust that it will be excellent to have a new Quality Chess book regarding endings.

  18. With regards to endings, I don’t really think there is a project for us to do at the moment. I would recommend Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual and my own Excelling at Technical Chess as the starting point for endgame investigations.

    I do want to do a book on endings one day – and I have been working on rook endings continuously, but it will be years before anything will actually get published.

  19. Frankfurter Bub

    It took an awful long time to work through the Attacking Manual 2, but it was really worth it :). Now I work through the excercise part and see the same problem as in almost in other combination book: the answer to e.g. no. 3 is just below no. 2, so it is quite complicated to go through the long and interesting answers to 2 without glancing at 3 at the same time. The only author I know of how solved this problem elegantly is Brunthaler with his 365 x… combinations (in German). He spreads the answers out, so next to answer 2 is say 10 and so on.
    In John Shaw’s puzzle book I see the same problem with the solutions. Maybe you can take over Brunthaler’s way or find another smart way to make unintended glanzing over upcoming solutions more difficult?!
    I know almost everyone in this treat loves the Yussupov books, but I think the books are way too difficult for the intended audience. You cannot give answers going up to move 8 or 10 to players on their way to Elo 1500. We have in our club two adults on a 1100/1200 level who started working with Yussupov 1500, both came independently to the same conclusion. We talked over the German “Tigersprung to …” , but as far as I know except for translation the German and English Yussupov books are 1:1 copies.

  20. Franck Steenbekkers

    Will there soon an pdf about the GI book
    What is te recommendation of Avruck versus the GI exchange with Bc4 and so on

  21. Jacob Aagaard

    Yes to Grunfeld excerpt. No to going through the repertoire in this way :-).

    We don’t claim that the Yusupov books are for up to 1500, 1800 and 2100. We actually always thought this was entirely wrong by Artur in his evaluation, and shows that he was 1500 not as a youngster, but as a toddler :-).

    About the Brunthaler solutions. The problem is that some people – I am one of them – will remember the solutions and the position number together. This is a recognised issue with exercises books, and here is the solution to it:

    For the Yusupov book – solve all 12 exercises or use the hand method (holding your hand over the page, obscruring all, and then only parts of the solution.

    QC Puzzle book. There are 3-6 exercises on the page. You should solve all before moving on. Unlike other books, you don’t have 20-30 solutions within sight.

    AM – use the hand method.

  22. @Patrick
    Interesting to learn about the existence of the Tübingen Gambit. I happen to live in the beautiful town it’s named after, but have never heard of this opening before. Anyway I don’t intend to play it…

  23. @Mattovsky,

    I actually had some really good results with this line. It’s from page 347 (I think – if not, it’s Game Number 90) of the book “Knight On The Left: 1.Nc3”, which is the English (and updated) version of a book written a couple of years prior in I believe German. The author is Harald Keilhack. The updated book came I think in mid-2005. The main reason I don’t play it is I’m not particularly fond of lines similar to that of light-square defenses to King Pawn openings, like 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 answered by either 2…dxe4 3.Nxe4 Bf5, 2…c6, or 2…e6. I had fun vs 1…Nf6.

    @Jacob

    Call me unpatriotic as well, as I’ll never play the American Gambit (1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nd2). My wife is a Latin teacher, which Latin is very close to Italian, and Sicily is right by Italy, does that count then if I play the Sicilian (not so sure how to coordinate “Scheveningen” into it)? I also speak English, which I play as White, that count? Doubt I’ll ever be able to associate “King’s Indian” with any type of American Patriotism. So I guess this makes me a “Chess Traitor” as well!

    Highly unfortunate for those that live in Lavita! Or does Quality Chess think it’s sound enough to warrant a GM Repertoire book on the Latvian Gambit? 🙂

  24. Jacob Aagaard

    Aagaard – N.N.
    Playchess 4 April 2011

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. e5 Qe7 7. O-O Ng4 8.
    Nxc3 Qc5 9. Bxf7+ Kxf7 10. Ng5+ Kg8 11. Qb3+ 1-0

    Does that satisfy?

  25. Alexei Lugovoi

    Long time ago we, the Russian Chess Power, came to the conclusion that in chess improvement only a serious and intensive training course counts!

    Now-days you have plenty of misleading titles about improvement (even here you can find a cuckoo’s eggs: a “Chess Tips for the Improving Player” and “Verbessern Sie Ihr Schach” – except positional exercises, are coming to my mind).

    So I propose that you launch new series of training books called GRANDMASTER PREPARATION in following fields:

    a) GRANDMASTER PREPARATION: Tactical play
    B) GRANDMASTER PREPARATION: Positional & strategic play
    c) GRANDMASTER PREPARATION: Endgame play
    d) GRANDMASTER PREPARATION: Calculation
    e) GRANDMASTER PREPARATION: Attack and Defense

    Each of named books should have:

    1. intro motifs and classical examples
    2. at least 500 exercises
    3. clear-cut solutions
    4. rating chart

    Such books would be a definite companion to Jussupow’s training books, and a real training diamond!!!

    PRESENT SIMILAR TITLES BY YOUR COMPETITION are:
    – Hellsten: Mastering Chess Strategy,
    – Bronznik & Terekhin: Techniken des Positionsspiels im Schach (this one you SHOULD TRANSLATE in English!!!),
    – Müller The Chess Cafe Puzzle Book 1
    – Müller The Chess Cafe Puzzle Book 2
    – Müller The Chess Cafe Puzzle Book 3

    Give it a try 🙂

  26. Alexei’s Grandmaster Preparation idea is excellent imo, I’d certainly be interested in purchasing any such books if they were made. Then again that’s probably not saying much considering I have all the Quality Chess books bar 2.

  27. Jacob Aagaard

    What? There are two of our books you don’t have? What is wrong with them. Is it winning with 1.h4 that did not attract you?

  28. Jacob Aagaard :What? There are two of our books you don’t have? What is wrong with them. Is it winning with 1.h4 that did not attract you?

    This leads me to wonder. If 2 masters of equal strength were put to the test. One had to study every Everyman Book ever published, and the other had to study every Quality Chess book ever published, who would finish first? Everyman because of the depth of Quality Chess, or Quality Chess because of the quantity of Everyman books?

    That said, I’m nowhere near ownership of all Quality Chess books. Doubt I will ever catch up, even though my list is pretty long (though a couple of them, for the most part, sit on the shelf these days. Below is what I have, with asterisks beside the dust collectors, and (H) for hardback, (P) for paperback:

    (P)GM Repertoire 1 *
    (H)GM Repertoire 2
    (P)GM Repertoire 3
    (H)GM Repertoire 3
    (H)GM Repertoire 4
    (H)GM Repertoire 5
    (H)GM Repertoire 6
    (H)Play the Scandinavian
    (P)The Berlin Wall *
    (P)Beating the Open Games
    (P)Play the Semi-Slav *
    (P)Tiger’s Modern *
    (P)Practical Chess Defense

    With The Cutting Edge 2 and Experts On the Anti-Sicilian being added once the latter hits the US (by ordering 2 at a time, I get free shipping as 2 hardbacks total over $75).

    A few of these only get limited use, like Beating the Open Games is pretty much just the King’s Gambit chapter, which I get after 1.f4 e5 2.e4, Play the Scandinavian is mostly just correspondence chess, and GM Repertoire 2 only the King’s Indian, Benoni, and Reluctant Benoni really apply.

    Even so, I’d say Quality Chess has gotten quite a bit of money from me!

  29. @Jacob – Chess for kids and The Cutting Edge 2. The first because I don’t yet have a need for it, and the latter because when posting I hadn’t yet received it through the post :s.

  30. I really like QC’s translation of Questions of Modern Chess Theory , is it possible for you to bring out some other translations of classic Russian chess books which are not available in English.. One that springs to mind is “Strategy of Safety” by Petrosian, The 2 Volumes on Petrosian compiled by Shekthman still go for huge amounts on Amazon or ebay.

  31. Jacob Aagaard

    Hi James, send me an e-mail and I will supply you with Kids&Parents for free, to complete your collection :-).

    The hardbacks are likely to be in the US Thursday (earliest though) next week. Shops in Europe will have the books Tuesday/Wednesday.

    We did a Suetin book and we will publish a combined version of two Romanovsky books as one, but I fear that will not be to 2012, because the Russians are taking their time. We also have a look at some other Russian classics, but this is not an easy thing to get done.

  32. I would like to confirm that Petrosians “Strategy of Safety” is simply excellent, I got a russian copy some years ago and looked at this book last year after a +2600 player recommended it to me.
    I think it would be great to have this book in english

  33. Didn’t Marin said about it in “Learn from the Legends” that the analysis in this book is not at a high quality?

  34. “Straetegija nadezhnosti “, it was published in the so called “black series”, most of the games are commented by Petrosjan himself.

    I found the analysis very instructive, obviously he had no Rybka while analysing 🙂

  35. Actually, Petrosian’s “Safety Strategy” has been translated into English, as “Petrosian’s Legacy” (Editions Erebouni, 1990).

    I found a copy a couple of years back through an Armenian specialty seller for about $15 US.

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