Quality Chess Blog

We have finally got a date confirmed from the printer. The Christmas catalogues are starting to get in and they need to be printed, but we managed to get slots for

• Play the Scandinavian (PDF excerpt)
• Grandmaster Repertoire 4 – The English volume 2 (PDF excerpt)
• Grandmaster Repertoire 5 – The English volume 3 (PDF excerpt)

Here is our general overview. As always I avoid being too specific, as I don’t want to disappoint anyone.

Christian Bauer	Play the Scandinavian	17 October
Mihail Marin	Grandmaster Repertoire 4 – The English Opening vol. 2	17 October
Mihail Marin	Grandmaster Repertoire 5 – The English Opening vol. 3	17 October
Tibor Karolyi	Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 1 – 1961-1985	Dec/Jan
Tibor Karolyi	Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 2 – 1986 – 2009	Dec/Jan
John Shaw	The King’s Gambit	Dec/Jan
Artur Yusupov	Boost your Chess 3	Dec/Jan
Vassilios Kotronias	The Grandmaster Battle Manual	Dec/Jan
Boris Avrukh	GM Repertoire 8 – The Grunfeld Defence	2011
Milos Pavlovic	The Cutting Edge 2 – The Najdorf Sicilian without 6.Bg5	2011
Aagaard, Shaw (editors)	Experts on the Anti-Sicilian	2011
Vladimir Popov	Chess Lessons	2011
Aagaard, Shaw (editors)	Grandmaster versus Amateur	2011
Boris Alterman	Alterman Gambit Guide – Black Gambits	2011
Artur Yusupov	Chess Evolution 1	2011
Suba	Positional Chess Sacrifices	2011
Milos Pavlovic	The Cutting Edge 3 – The Najdorf Sicilian with 6.Bg5	2011
Martin Weteschnik	Understanding Chess Tactics 2nd edition	2011
Sabino Brunello	Cutting Edge 4 – The Nimzo-Indian	2011
Vassilios Kotronias	Grandmaster Repertoire – The King’s Indian Defence 1	2011
Vassilios Kotronias	Grandmaster Repertoire – The King’s Indian Defence 2	2011
Romanovsky	Soviet Middlegame Technique	2011
David Vigorito	Play the Semi-Slav 2	2011
Tiger Hillarp Persson	Middlegame book – TITLE NOT CONFIRMED	2011
Artur Yusupov	Chess Evolution 2	2011
Jacob Aagaard	Thinking Inside the Box	2011/12
Jacob Aagaard	Train your Chess Intuition	2011/12

Earlier today we got a phonecall from Ray Edwards, head of the three-man committee deciding the Book of the Year by the English Chess Federation. We were pleased to be nominated, this year with two books. The short list of candidates looks like this:

1) Yasser Seirawan: Chess Duels

2) John Nunn: Understanding Chess Endgames

3) Kopec, Ftacnik & Browne: Champions of the New Millennium

4) Jacob Aagaard: Attacking Manual 1+2

It is very pleasing to have both the books we sent in (each publisher can only send two books) nominated. Whatever the final choice, this is a big moment for Quality Chess – and the authors as well, of course.

See the committee’s reasonings.

I am away from the office playing in the Politiken Cup (4/5 so far). But here is a current estimate of when the various books will be available, and the order I expect them to come out.

Christian Bauer	Play the Scandinavian	September
Mihail Marin	Grandmaster Repertoire 4 – The English Opening vol. 2	September
Mihail Marin	Grandmaster Repertoire 5 – The English Opening vol. 3	September
Tibor Karolyi	Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 1 – 1961-1985	September/October
Tibor Karolyi	Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 2 – 1986 – 2009	September/October
John Shaw	The King’s Gambit	September/October
Boris Avrukh	GM Repertoire 8 – The Grunfeld Defence	LATER
Milos Pavlovic	The Cutting Edge 2 – The Najdorf Sicilian without 6.Bg5	LATER
Mihail Marin	Common Grandmaster Mistakes – and how to avoid them	LATER
Artur Yusupov	Boost your Chess 3	LATER
Bauer, Aagaard (editors)	Experts on the Anti-Sicilian	Jan-11
Boris Alterman	Alterman Gambit Guide – Black Gambits	NEXT YEAR
Vassilios Kotronias	Middlegame book – TITLE NOT CONFIRMED	LATER
Various	Grandmaster versus Amateur	NEXT YEAR
Milos Pavlovic	The Cutting Edge 3 – The Najdorf Sicilian with 6.Bg5	LATER
Various	Grandmaster versus Amateur	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x1 – 1.e4 – Ruy Lopez	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x2 – 1.e4 – Sicilian	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x3 – 1.e4 – French/Caro-Kann	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x4 – 1.e4 other e5s	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Thinking Inside the Box	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Train your Chess Intuition	NEXT YEAR
Tiger Hillarp Persson	Middlegame book – TITLE NOT CONFIRMED	NEXT YEAR

Today we are sending QUALITY CHESS PUZZLE BOOK to the printer. It will be 352 pages and we are very happy with it. We are also essentially done with BOOST YOUR CHESS 2 and we are also getting there with GM6 – THE SICILIAN DEFENCE (which will be a big book). Not long after comes PLAY THE SCANDINAVIAN and Marin’s final two books on the English.

Lubomir Ftacnik	Grandmaster Repertoire 6 – The Sicilian Defence	JULY
John Shaw	Quality Chess Puzzle Book	JULY
Christian Bauer	Play the Scandinavian	AUGUST
Artur Yusupov	Boost your Chess 2	AUGUST
Mihail Marin	Grandmaster Repertoire 4 – The English Opening vol. 2	August/september
Mihail Marin	Grandmaster Repertoire 5 – The English Opening vol. 3	August/september
Tibor Karolyi	Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 1 – 1961-1985	September
Tibor Karolyi	Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 2 – 1986 – 2009	September
John Shaw	The King’s Gambit	september/october
Boris Avrukh	GM Repertoire 8 – The Grunfeld Defence	LATER
Milos Pavlovic	The Cutting Edge 2 – The Najdorf Sicilian without 6.Bg5	LATER
Tiger Hillarp Persson	Middlegame book – TITLE NOT CONFIRMED	LATER
Mihail Marin	Common Grandmaster Mistakes – and how to avoid them	LATER
Artur Yusupov	Boost your Chess 3	LATER
Vassilios Kotronias	Middlegame book – TITLE NOT CONFIRMED	LATER
Milos Pavlovic	The Cutting Edge 3 – The Najdorf Sicilian with 6.Bg5	LATER
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x1 – 1.e4 – Ruy Lopez	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x2 – 1.e4 – Sicilian	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x3 – 1.e4 – French/Caro-Kann	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Grandmaster Repertoire x4 – 1.e4 other e5s	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Thinking Inside the Box	NEXT YEAR
Jacob Aagaard	Train your Chess Intuition	NEXT YEAR

Ponomariov – Wang Yue

Kings Tournament, 21.06.2010

One of Boris Avrukh’s novelties was in play in the Kings Tournament in Romania a few days ago. The opening was a big success, and only at move 37 did White let the win slip.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 0–0 7.0–0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Nbd7 11.Rd1 e5 12.d5 e4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nb6 15.Rb1

15.Bb3 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Rxd5 Qb6 18.Qd3 Rfe8 19.Rb1 Rad8 20.Bd2 Rxd5 21.Qxd5 Rd8 22.Qa5 Qxa5 23.Bxa5 b6 24.Be1?! (24.Bb4 was a better chance. The idea is: 24…Rc8 25.b3 Rc2 26.Rd1! Bf6 27.Rd2 with a winning ending.) 24…Rc8 25.a4 (25.b3) 25…Rc2 26.b4 Bc3 27.Bxc3 Rxc3 28.b5 Rc4 29.Ra1 f5 30.Kf1 Kf7 31.Ke1 Ke6 32.Kd2 h5 33.Kd3 1/2–1/2 Gelfand-Wang Yue, Astrakhan 2010.

15…Re8 16.Qc2!N

Avrukh’s novelty.

16…cxd5 17.Bb5 Re6!?

This was not in GM1, but it seems that Ponomariov has had his own look at it, as he plays all Rybka’s moves. 17…Rf8 and 17…Re7 were Avrukh’s moves in his annotations.

18.Qb3 Qh4 19.Bd2 d4 20.Bf1! Rd8 21.g3 Qe7 22.Bg2²

White is better here. He has the two bishops and Black has little to show for it.

22…Qe8 23.exd4 Bxd4 24.Bc3

Getting rid of the strong bishop on d4. Bg2 is better than Nb6.

I also like Rybka’s suggestion: 24.Bg5 Rd7 25.Bf3, which gives White a pleasant long term pressure. I doubt many players will head this way on purpose with Black.

24…Bxc3 25.Rxd8 Qxd8 26.Qxc3 Qe7

Maybe Black can organise his pieces better here.

27.Rd1 h5 28.b3!±

Good domination of the knight. 28.Bxb7 Na4 29.Qc8+ Kg7 30.b3 Nc5 31.Bf3 h4! was probably what Ponomariov was not certain about. I think White is better, but in practice it looks hard to handle.

28.h4 Na4! disturbs the coordination.

28…h4 29.g4 Rd6 30.Rxd6 Qxd6 31.Bxb7 Nd7

White is a pawn up, but the conversion was not effortlessly conducted.

32.Qc8+ Kg7 33.Qd8 Qe6 34.Kg2 Ne5 35.Qd4!?

Not bad, but 35.Qxh4 Qb6 36.Be4 Qd4 37.f3 won.

35…Qf6 36.b4!?

36.Qxa7 Nd3 37.Qe3 Nf4+ 38.Kg1 and the compensation for the pawns should be insufficient.

36…g5 37.a4??

White needs to take the pawn! 37.Qxa7 Nd3 38.Qe3 Nxb4 39.a4 Nc2 40.Qd2 Nd4 41.Qb2 was one winning line.

37…Ng6! 38.Qxf6+!

Also 38.Qxa7 Nf4+ 39.Kh2 Qc3 40.Qe3 Qc7! would give Black enough counterplay.

38…Kxf6 39.b5 Nf4+ 40.Kf3!

The best chance is activity. 40.Kh2 Ke5 41.a5 Kd6 would also make the draw it seems.

40…Ke5 41.a5 Kd6 42.Ke4 Nxh3 43.Kf5 Nxf2 44.Bf3 Kc7 45.Kxg5 h3

Black makes the draw by a tempo.

46.Kf6 h2 47.g5 h1Q 48.Bxh1 Nxh1 49.Kxf7 Ng3 50.g6 Nh5 51.Ke7 Ng7 52.Kf6 Nh5+ 53.Kg5 Ng7 54.Kf6 Nh5+ 55.Kf7 Kd7 56.Kf8 Kc7 57.Kg8 Nf4 58.g7 Ne6 59.Kf7 Nxg7 60.Kxg7 Kd6 61.Kf6 Kc5 62.b6 axb6 63.axb6 Kxb6 ½–½

A few months ago a guy wrote to me asking if we were going to include 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.f4 Qc7 8.Qf3 h6 9.Bh4 g5!? in GM6. We had no intention to do so, but a last moment change of hearts has meant that we do indeed include this topical line. Berg, Dominguez, Navara and Ivanchuk has all been happy to try it out (not all have been allowed), but it is mainly Bogner that has shown the way in practice. However, if the ‘inventor’ of this line sees this post, he is very welcome to e-mail me again, as I can’t find his last e-mail!

When we reprinted GM1 earlier this year, we changed one line, as we did not want to have a bad line in the book. Obviously many more changes could be made, but this is the one we thought was necessary. The update is on page 335-336, and will be on the same pages in the first print.

B2) 8…Ne4

Editors’ note: We have updated this section for the 2nd reprint after careful analysis.

9.g3

9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.d5 was the recommendation in the first print, but this idea suffered a big blow in a number of games and Boris noted it down as the one recommendation from this book that should certainly not be followed. 12…Bd6! 13.g3 c5! The computers like White, but in practice it turns out that the h2-pawn is a huge target and White has difficulties opening up the position for his pieces. The following game is but one example: 14.Qa4 Qe7 15.Bb5 0–0–0! 16.Bd2 Nf6 17.Qxa7 Bb8 18.Qa3 Rxd5 19.Rfc1 Ng4 20.Ba5 Nxh2 21.Rd1 Qe6 22.Rac1 Nf3† 23.Kf1 Rh1† 24.Ke2 Nd4† 25.exd4 Qg4† 26.Kd2 Rxd1† 27.Rxd1 Rxd4† 0–1, Hillarp Persson – Malakhov, Denmark 2009.

9…Nd6!?

This was Shirov’s idea. It is hard to see any other reason to play 8…Ne4. After 9…Be7 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Nxe4 (12.f3!?²) 12…dxe4 13.d5 small edge. White has a good version of Boris’s original idea, Schlosser – Marusenko, Pardubice 2009.

10.c5!?N

10.b3 was played in Inarkiev – Shirov, Poikovsky 2008. Black won a beautiful game.

10…Nf5 11.Ng2

11.Nxg6?!  looks dangerous, but White could also try 11.Nxf5 Bxf5 12.f3 with complicated play.

11…Be7!

11…e5?! was recommended by Maxim Notkin in Chess Today, but it is refuted by 12.g4! Nh4 13.f4! and White will end up with a superior structure on both flanks: 13…exd4 (13…h5 is easily repelled by 14.fxe5 Nxg2 15.Kxg2 hxg4 16.Bxg4 Qh4 17.h3 and Black does not have enough compensation) 14.exd4 Nxg2 15.Kxg2 f5 16.Re1! (16.g5 Qc7!? unclear) 16…Be7 17.g5 And White has a space advantage.

12.Nf4!?

We like this idea best, as it is most critical. 12.b4 0–0 13.Nf4 is another idea. Black might try to break in the centre with 13…e5 14.dxe5 Nxe5, but after 15.Bb2 Bf6 16.Qb3² White is probably a bit better.

12…e5

12…0–0 13.h4 small edge, will provoke Black into advancing the h-pawn.

13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.h4 d4!?

This seems to be the most logical move. 14…f6 is a computer idea, which is met with: 15.Qa4! Bf7 (15…b5? is punished by 16.Nxb5! cxb5 17.Bxb5† Kf7 18.Rd1± with a strong attack) 16.e4! dxe4 17.Rd1 Qc8 18.Nxe4 0–0

19.b3 small edge

14…h6 might be the best move. We think White is better after: 15.b4!? d4 (15…a5 16.Bb2!² axb4? 17.Ncxd5+–) 16.Ne4! Nxe3 (16…dxe3? 17.Bb2!±) 17.fxe3 Bxe4 18.Bb2!² White keeps the initiative and control of the centre.

15.exd4 Nxd4 16.Nxg6 hxg6 17.Bf4 Bf6 18.Re1 0–0 19.Bxe5! Bxe5 20.Bc4 small edge

White has some interesting attacking ideas on the light squares. After 20…Re8 21.Ne4 White has many threats and ideas with h4-h5 and Qg4 can be dangerous.

One example is: 20…Qc7?! 21.h5! g5 22.Ne4 Qe7 23.Qg4!± Nc2 24.Nxg5 Nxe1 25.Rxe1 Qf6 26.Re3! White has

a winning attack.

Here is a photo of the books – the main feature is of course that even a 480 page book lies open when in hardcover.

Having been beat into submission here on the site by a few very persistent people, we have now produced 5 of our books in hardcover. Grandmaster Repertoire 1, Grandmaster Repertoire 3 and the Cutting Edge 1 only in 32 copies each – a very limited edition only available on this website. We have printed Grandmaster Repertoire 7 and Soviet Chess Strategy in respectively 200 and 100 copies of hardcovers. Initial sales have been beyond our expectation, but more importantly, have the books lived up to your expectations? Please give us feedback. Is this worth the hassle and extra investment from us, as well as the extra cover price for you?