I posted in the wrong window a few seconds ago. But here it was:
If I may, what did Mr Ftacnik say about his next (much anticipated) books on GM6a and GM6b?
I think this Olympiad is especially interesting in that you have the opportunity to sit at a (dinner?) table with the authors and talk about the book details.
Especially interested in 6. Bg5 and the page count of the books.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
We will finish 6A before 6B. This was the main thing. Then we talked lines, but I want to keep that close to the chest for the time being :-0.
Interesting, so volume 1 will be printed before volume 2 instead of simultaneously, like Schandorff’s 1. d4 books. I guess we will have to keep guessing about lines then 😀
But the most important is the publication of the book, I would ask him during dinner (or is it breakfast since there seems to be a carafe of orange juice at the table?) how much of the book(s) he has completed.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
The updating of these books will be quite a collective effort. It is a huge work and we will be four people doing it. Lubo, Nikos, Andrew and myself. All of us have independent qualities, meaning that the new books will be wildly different from the first edition.
This seems even more interesting. Do you mean that the book is edited by the four of you, or do you mean the actual authorship is by the four of you in conjunction? That will be quite a unique Grandmaster Repertoire to have four authors; that sounds slightly similar to Experts on the Sicilian. So does that mean, for example, one of you will write, for example, 6. Bg5, another will do 6. Be3, etc.?
If it is four authors for each chapter, I would probably infer that this will facilitate the completion of the books as that sounds basically as the book being written four times as quickly with four authors. Hopefully at least GM6a will be on the bookshelves before New Year’s Eve.
If the cover for any of them are completed, it would be nice to have the book title uploaded to the “Coming Soon” section. I am sure that we customers will want to pre-order this even more now.
I am not sure how often players meet in that breakfast/dinner room, but it would be quite interesting to see all of the authors of the upcoming books on the same table discussing their progress and details about their books. Maybe have a QC table for dinner with Berg, Avrukh, Nikos, Shaw, Pert, etc. 😀
@Gilchrist is a Legend
We are having a signing event on Tuesday; mainly with Judit as her book should have arrived here at this point. She is very excited, I hope we have not screwed it up in any way!
With the four “authors”, it will be like this: Lubomir and I do deep analysis. Nikos is checking for updates and coming with ideas of his own. Andrew is editing mainly, but you can never fully prevent him from improving the material!
The main difference from the first volume is that I am even more involved (I did share some of my own analysis in that book) and Nikos will do a thorough check of everything. Last time Andrew and Lubo missed some lines, as is well-known, but this time we want to be really thorough!
Lubo’s job will mainly be: analyse this and then a long list of positions at the end of theory.
With the nature of the Najdorf, the theory changes extremely frequently, and I would be unsurprised if every week a new novelty were played in this opening. But hopefully the book will be finished before 2013, and the advantage of two volumes is I suppose like the Grünfeld GM Repertoire–full dedication in second volume for the sixth move main lines, as well as anti-Sicilians for the first volume.
And if Nikos and you are working on parts of the book, is this on priority or is Playing the French with which you will be intending to publish first? Unless of course, work is done on both books simultaneously. I would not mind Playing the French having priority, since I play Sicilian and French now…
I was thinking about the new “authorship” of the book now. There have been a few questions regarding the 6…e5 reply against 6. Be2 and 6. f4 but it was known that Ftacnik specialises in the 6…e6 lines. But with the three additional contributors to the book, will 6…e5 against all lines except the obvious 6. Bc4 and 6. Bg5 be considered now? Since then one of the other three contributors can help to construct repertoires with 6. Be2 e5 and 6. f4 e5.
After your last book “Mayhem in the Morra” (and a very nice one !)I wonder who will write the section on the Morra ? And which system vs the gambit ? At least you can always transpose in a 2.c3 sicilian but I don’t think it will happen ? Am I right ?
8.Bf4 (vs Taylor system) was not in the first edition of Lubo if I’m good remembering …..
Admittedly if you’ll make omissions or major flaws in variations, or neglecting to cover some lines in Ftacnik’s GM books I think that you’ll seriously jeopardize the “Quality” standard!
Maybe another guess would be if there will be both 6…e5 and 6…e6 for the following: 6. Be3/6. f3, 6. Be2, 6. f4, and 6. g3, where Ftacnik can analyse 6…e6 against and the three contributors 6…e5 (although Ftacnik already included 6. Be3 e5 and 6. g3 e5 in the first edition). But then I am not sure if GM6b will be excessively large.
Nikos is quite close to finishing his work on the French, making it my turn. As this is my last tournament (everyone says, “yeah yeah” when they hear it, but when they see me playing they believe me!) I will have a lot of time to work on this in the months to come. My work on the French is minimal (I am mainly working as the editor & communicator, as Nikos’ work will be excellent – but obviously I will study everything carefully as with the Tarrasch) and my main focus will be supervising the initial work on GM6A, as well as finish the Positional Play and Strategic Play books quite quickly.
If you were to at some point decide to write a complete repertoire book for the solid club player who wants a universal low theory rep I have two suggestions.
One rep possibility could consist of the London/1…d6 Plilidor/1…d6 Old Indian, with 3… e5 in the Philidor, 2…e5 in the Old Indian, and 2 Bf4 in the London.
The other rep possibility could consist of the London/Slav/Scandinavian, with 2 Bf4 in the London, 4…Qb6 in the Slav, and 3…Qd8 in the Scandinavian.
The first repertoire I mentioned could suit those who want solid/universal rep with limited theory along with some variety, since the London is very different from the Philidor/Old Indian.
The second repertoire I mentioned could suit those who want a solid/universal rep with even less theory and are closer in mirror. Granted, 4…Qb6 in the mainline slav and 3…Qd8 in the Scandinavian could use some tweaking.
For one thing, in the 3…Qd8 Scandinavian it seems that after White as already played Nf3 players may be going …c6 even though it’s not yet needed ( Qf3 isn’t a threat anymore).
I don’t think the Caro Kann fits the bill. It’s no longer low theory, and the structures in many of it’s setups are nothing like a London. That’s why I suggest 3…Qd8 Scandinavian in the CK’s place.
@Brink333
First of all, we are not doing such a book. Apple will not do a low cost wind-up laptop and McDonald’s will not do healthy salads (I know they do salads, but obviously they are covered in sugar dressings; healthy was the key word). The things we specialise in doing are sort of opposite of what you suggest. I am not saying it is worthless, but it is just not something for us; it does not fit our strengths.
Personally I consider the approach you mention for being some sort of anti-chess. I have never known a lot of theory (analysing, structuring and writing is a different thing from memorising it), but I have mainly played main line openings anyway. The difference is that once you make a mistake, you do some from a good position.
Having said that, the Philidor is now a serious opening with lots of ideas. The theory is mounting and you have to be very careful with Black.
Finally, the Scandinavian with Qd8 and c6 (as occasionally played by Kogan) is clearly a bit worse for Black, but even worse, after the artificial 4.d4 c6 5.Ne4, it is actually a Caro-Kann main line with tons of theory…
What would the order of publication be now, or is it the same? It seems as if it could be Avrukh’s 1. d4 Sidelines GM Repertoire, Playing the French, GM6a, GM Repertoire French, GM6b, perhaps..
@Gilchrist is a Legend
Maybe GM6B before, but in there you will also have to find space for the King’s Gambit, Positional Play, Strategic Play and a few other books.
I had seen the photographs of Judit Polgar with the book at the Olympiad–I think we customers will be just as happy as she when Playing the French and GM6a/b are released 😀
I know everyone has been discussing the King’s Gambit book, but I would be willing to prioritise the French and GM6(Ed.2) books in front of the former. Have you spoken with Avrukh at the Olympiad yet? Does he have any new updates on his new book? Maybe time for another dinner meeting 😀
I posted in the wrong window a few seconds ago. But here it was:
If I may, what did Mr Ftacnik say about his next (much anticipated) books on GM6a and GM6b?
I think this Olympiad is especially interesting in that you have the opportunity to sit at a (dinner?) table with the authors and talk about the book details.
Especially interested in 6. Bg5 and the page count of the books.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
We will finish 6A before 6B. This was the main thing. Then we talked lines, but I want to keep that close to the chest for the time being :-0.
@Jacob Aagaard
Interesting, so volume 1 will be printed before volume 2 instead of simultaneously, like Schandorff’s 1. d4 books. I guess we will have to keep guessing about lines then 😀
But the most important is the publication of the book, I would ask him during dinner (or is it breakfast since there seems to be a carafe of orange juice at the table?) how much of the book(s) he has completed.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
The updating of these books will be quite a collective effort. It is a huge work and we will be four people doing it. Lubo, Nikos, Andrew and myself. All of us have independent qualities, meaning that the new books will be wildly different from the first edition.
@Jacob Aagaard
This seems even more interesting. Do you mean that the book is edited by the four of you, or do you mean the actual authorship is by the four of you in conjunction? That will be quite a unique Grandmaster Repertoire to have four authors; that sounds slightly similar to Experts on the Sicilian. So does that mean, for example, one of you will write, for example, 6. Bg5, another will do 6. Be3, etc.?
If it is four authors for each chapter, I would probably infer that this will facilitate the completion of the books as that sounds basically as the book being written four times as quickly with four authors. Hopefully at least GM6a will be on the bookshelves before New Year’s Eve.
If the cover for any of them are completed, it would be nice to have the book title uploaded to the “Coming Soon” section. I am sure that we customers will want to pre-order this even more now.
I am not sure how often players meet in that breakfast/dinner room, but it would be quite interesting to see all of the authors of the upcoming books on the same table discussing their progress and details about their books. Maybe have a QC table for dinner with Berg, Avrukh, Nikos, Shaw, Pert, etc. 😀
@Gilchrist is a Legend
We are having a signing event on Tuesday; mainly with Judit as her book should have arrived here at this point. She is very excited, I hope we have not screwed it up in any way!
With the four “authors”, it will be like this: Lubomir and I do deep analysis. Nikos is checking for updates and coming with ideas of his own. Andrew is editing mainly, but you can never fully prevent him from improving the material!
The main difference from the first volume is that I am even more involved (I did share some of my own analysis in that book) and Nikos will do a thorough check of everything. Last time Andrew and Lubo missed some lines, as is well-known, but this time we want to be really thorough!
Lubo’s job will mainly be: analyse this and then a long list of positions at the end of theory.
With the nature of the Najdorf, the theory changes extremely frequently, and I would be unsurprised if every week a new novelty were played in this opening. But hopefully the book will be finished before 2013, and the advantage of two volumes is I suppose like the Grünfeld GM Repertoire–full dedication in second volume for the sixth move main lines, as well as anti-Sicilians for the first volume.
And if Nikos and you are working on parts of the book, is this on priority or is Playing the French with which you will be intending to publish first? Unless of course, work is done on both books simultaneously. I would not mind Playing the French having priority, since I play Sicilian and French now…
I was thinking about the new “authorship” of the book now. There have been a few questions regarding the 6…e5 reply against 6. Be2 and 6. f4 but it was known that Ftacnik specialises in the 6…e6 lines. But with the three additional contributors to the book, will 6…e5 against all lines except the obvious 6. Bc4 and 6. Bg5 be considered now? Since then one of the other three contributors can help to construct repertoires with 6. Be2 e5 and 6. f4 e5.
After your last book “Mayhem in the Morra” (and a very nice one !)I wonder who will write the section on the Morra ? And which system vs the gambit ? At least you can always transpose in a 2.c3 sicilian but I don’t think it will happen ? Am I right ?
8.Bf4 (vs Taylor system) was not in the first edition of Lubo if I’m good remembering …..
Admittedly if you’ll make omissions or major flaws in variations, or neglecting to cover some lines in Ftacnik’s GM books I think that you’ll seriously jeopardize the “Quality” standard!
So make proofreaders suffer hard 🙂
Maybe another guess would be if there will be both 6…e5 and 6…e6 for the following: 6. Be3/6. f3, 6. Be2, 6. f4, and 6. g3, where Ftacnik can analyse 6…e6 against and the three contributors 6…e5 (although Ftacnik already included 6. Be3 e5 and 6. g3 e5 in the first edition). But then I am not sure if GM6b will be excessively large.
Nikos is quite close to finishing his work on the French, making it my turn. As this is my last tournament (everyone says, “yeah yeah” when they hear it, but when they see me playing they believe me!) I will have a lot of time to work on this in the months to come. My work on the French is minimal (I am mainly working as the editor & communicator, as Nikos’ work will be excellent – but obviously I will study everything carefully as with the Tarrasch) and my main focus will be supervising the initial work on GM6A, as well as finish the Positional Play and Strategic Play books quite quickly.
If you were to at some point decide to write a complete repertoire book for the solid club player who wants a universal low theory rep I have two suggestions.
One rep possibility could consist of the London/1…d6 Plilidor/1…d6 Old Indian, with 3… e5 in the Philidor, 2…e5 in the Old Indian, and 2 Bf4 in the London.
The other rep possibility could consist of the London/Slav/Scandinavian, with 2 Bf4 in the London, 4…Qb6 in the Slav, and 3…Qd8 in the Scandinavian.
The first repertoire I mentioned could suit those who want solid/universal rep with limited theory along with some variety, since the London is very different from the Philidor/Old Indian.
The second repertoire I mentioned could suit those who want a solid/universal rep with even less theory and are closer in mirror. Granted, 4…Qb6 in the mainline slav and 3…Qd8 in the Scandinavian could use some tweaking.
For one thing, in the 3…Qd8 Scandinavian it seems that after White as already played Nf3 players may be going …c6 even though it’s not yet needed ( Qf3 isn’t a threat anymore).
I don’t think the Caro Kann fits the bill. It’s no longer low theory, and the structures in many of it’s setups are nothing like a London. That’s why I suggest 3…Qd8 Scandinavian in the CK’s place.
Above I meant “(Qf3 isn’t a threat anymore when black plays …Bf5)”.
@Jacob Aagaard
The Playing the French book would you think that your input will drive the book to publication around what was on http://www.vanstockum.nl/boeken/schaken/gb/playing-the-french-aagaard-jacob-ntirlis-nikolaos-9781907982361/ (although I think you said this was a standardised date that was sent before) or at least before New Year’s Eve? I would be quite eager to see what the ideas in the book will be.
Two positions of great interest:
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Bb3 Bd6
I infer that these will be amongst the most critical in the book.
@Brink333
First of all, we are not doing such a book. Apple will not do a low cost wind-up laptop and McDonald’s will not do healthy salads (I know they do salads, but obviously they are covered in sugar dressings; healthy was the key word). The things we specialise in doing are sort of opposite of what you suggest. I am not saying it is worthless, but it is just not something for us; it does not fit our strengths.
Personally I consider the approach you mention for being some sort of anti-chess. I have never known a lot of theory (analysing, structuring and writing is a different thing from memorising it), but I have mainly played main line openings anyway. The difference is that once you make a mistake, you do some from a good position.
Having said that, the Philidor is now a serious opening with lots of ideas. The theory is mounting and you have to be very careful with Black.
Finally, the Scandinavian with Qd8 and c6 (as occasionally played by Kogan) is clearly a bit worse for Black, but even worse, after the artificial 4.d4 c6 5.Ne4, it is actually a Caro-Kann main line with tons of theory…
What would the order of publication be now, or is it the same? It seems as if it could be Avrukh’s 1. d4 Sidelines GM Repertoire, Playing the French, GM6a, GM Repertoire French, GM6b, perhaps..
@Gilchrist is a Legend
Maybe GM6B before, but in there you will also have to find space for the King’s Gambit, Positional Play, Strategic Play and a few other books.
I had seen the photographs of Judit Polgar with the book at the Olympiad–I think we customers will be just as happy as she when Playing the French and GM6a/b are released 😀
I know everyone has been discussing the King’s Gambit book, but I would be willing to prioritise the French and GM6(Ed.2) books in front of the former. Have you spoken with Avrukh at the Olympiad yet? Does he have any new updates on his new book? Maybe time for another dinner meeting 😀
@Nikos
I suppose these could be the most critical positions in the book:
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Bb3 Bd6