Quality Chess Blog

We have published a number of opening books, and I would like to hear from readers how well (surely not badly?) they have worked when you put them into practice.

I also like to keep an eye on whether top-level players are using the lines our authors have suggested, and the new ideas that they uncover in them. For example, Avrukh’s chosen line against the Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Qb3 Qb6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Nh4) was rare when we printed and now seems to be the favoured choice of the elite (Topalov, Carlsen, Morozevich, Wang Yue, etc.). I am not suggesting they are all simply following Avrukh (Topalov played it before the book, and he is a trend-setter), but it’s good to see the lines are relevant.

If you have spotted an interesting new idea played in one of our lines, then feel free to post it (or just the game reference) in comments.

John Shaw

Our authors usually either start as our friends or end up that way, so we like to see them playing well:

Mihail Marin has just finished first equal in the Reykjavik Open, with his 1.c4 repertoire scoring heavily.

The April FIDE rating list shows Tiger Hillarp Persson as Sweden’s new Number 1 at a chunky 2618.

And, as I mentioned a few days ago, IM Sabino Brunello won his second GM norm a few weeks ago.

Congratulations to them all.

John Shaw

We try to keep our website up-to-date with details of reviews of our books. For example, today I added a few quotes from a great review by IM Jeremy Silman on Boris Avrukh’s Grandmaster Repertoire 1.

Opinions on our  books are always welcome, including constructive criticism.

John Shaw