Grandmaster Repertoire 10 - The Tarrasch Defence by Nikolaos Ntirlis & Jacob Aagaard

The Tarrasch Defence arises after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 and leads to dynamic play. Based on the variation 9.Bg5 c4, Ntirlis and Aagaard radically change the theoretical landscape for this classic opening, with analysis checked many times over and an ocean of new ideas.

Nikolaos Ntirlis is a computer specialist and successful trainer from Greece.

GM Jacob Aagaard has won the Guardian, ECF and ChessCafe book of the year awards, as well as many international tournaments. This is his first opening book for 8 years.

ISBN 978-1-906552-91-6  - 352 pages - Published 9 December 2011

Reviews

"The book is primarily written as a repertoire for Black, but, just as with the other titles in the Grandmaster Repertoire series, White will also benefit from studying the recommendations. The authors take the theory of this opening several years into the future with their countless improvements over existing theory and analysis, including several very important new ideas for White...

Anyone playing the Tarrasch as black on a serious level, or potentially facing it as white should consider this book a must buy."

Carsten Hansen, ChessCafe (full review)

"The two authors... present so many fresh and fascinating ideas in this old opening that it’s impossible to put down. It’s also a very objective and sensible book, in which the old opening is both treated with respect and is challenged to defend itself against computer-age scrutiny and rigour.

I could go on and on about the many beautiful variations in this book, but the truth is that it is crammed with fantastic stuff - really too much to mention in one review. So let me just say that the authors treat the ever-important Timman Variation (9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Bg5 d4 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Nd5) with due adoration and skepticism (I’ve always felt the line to be both overestimated and underestimated at the same time!). Here, too, they improve existing theory as they go along in many crucial lines."

Arne Moll, Chess Vibes (full review)