International Master, Sabino Brunello, turned 20 only two weeks ago. On the July list he is ranked second in Italy with 2547 in front of a number of grandmasters.
Tomorrow Quality Chess will release Sabino’s first chess book, ATTACKING THE SPANISH, a 288 page guide to three hot and healthy gambits against the Ruy Lopez: The Schliemann, The Gajewski and The Marshall Attack.
I am personally very proud of this book, as Sabino is not only a friend of ours, but someone I have tried to help over the last four years. Having said this, his achievements are of course his own, and this book, is definitely an achievement.
Jacob Aagaard
My country man has right! I wondered why nobody answered, just look how Kramnik mutilated Naiditsch few days ago 🙂
«Can you produce Black GM rep against 1.e4 based on Kramnik’s choice: the dreaded RUSSIAN DEFENCE?
Arguably this is the best weapon against 1.e4 after Black replies 1…e5!»
«Indeed there’s only several rather old and obsolete book dealing with Russian Defence:
*******************************************************
Alexander Raetzki, Maxim Tschetwerik: Petroff Defence
191 pages, 2005.
*******************************************************
Lasha Janjgava: The Petroff
240 pages, 2001.
*******************************************************
Top practitioners: Adams, Gelfand, Karpov, Kramnik.
Since Gelfand gave Quality Chess high marks, it would be fantastic if he or Yussopov could write Black GM rep against 1e4»
I edited Raetsky and Chetverik’s book when I was with Everyman, actually.
I think it could make sense, but unfortunately I am not sure those authors are easily available for this project. Maybe later on, I think we have done enough 1.e4 e5 books once we finish the King’s Gambit…
Eagerly awaiting Marins book. 22nd was mentioned as publication date, is there a delay 🙂
We are in the process of typesetting it. I think end of August looks likely. Maybe it is time to do an update of the publishing schedule…
I don’t agree with you boss. You’re strongly biased towards 1d4 🙂
Look, after or on 1d4 we have following books:
1. 1.d4 – volume one
2. Beat the KID
3. Challenging the Grünfeld
4. Challenging the Nimzo-Indian
5. Play the Semi-Slav
6. Playing the Queen’s Gambit
7. Stonewall II
8. The Benko Gambit
9. 1.d4 – volume two
But on 1e4 e5 we ONLY have:
1. A Spanish Opening Repertoire for Black
2. Attacking the Spanish
3. Beating the Open Games 2nd edition
One can easily notice that there is no 1e4 e5 White repertoire in sight!!!
You produced 1.d4 full repertoire for White and you even managed to parallely publish White repertoire based on 1.d4 d5 2.c4.
As a 1e4 e5 player with either color I’m furious and I’m “freaking out”.
There is a few differences in our understanding of this.
If you want to compare 1.d4 to 1.e4, then please include all the 1.e4 books, or only the 1.d4 d5 books, of which there are only three.
Also, if you want to include unpublished 1.d4 books, please also include GM Repertoire 8 (or there abouts), which will be 1.e4 e5 for White, as well as the King’s Gambit.
Regarding the psychological pressure you are feeling, well, let’s just say that I am not an expert ;-).
Boss
Thanks Jacob 🙂
In some way I’m not in hurry to have White 1e4 repertoire in my hands, nor KID or Ruy Lopez for Black.
Why? I’ve built 2 separate databases on KID and Ruy Lopez with 2000 commented games from Mega 2009 and other commercial databases. This is an excellent way to grasp main ideas and a feeling for opening because a commentator gives valuable suggestions and insights. I have also in mind to go through:
a) Bellin Robert & Pietro Ponzetto – Mastering the King’s Indian Defense
b) Daniel King and Pietro Ponzetto – Mastering the Spanish
So after all I will be well guided when “my books” see the light!
These are good books, so you are on track.
Many thanks for the very good book “Attacking the Spanish”. I look forward to more 1…e5 defences from Black point of view. Any ideas for a book on the Slav or a GM repertoire on this great opening?
Yes. The main plan is not to publish one too soon ;-). We have other things we want to do more, and we are only three guys, so we are limited to a certain number of projects.
Review by CARSTEN HANSEN, Checkpoint, http://www.chesscafe.com:
The Scots don’t like the Spanish
This month we look at two books with recommendations for Black against the Spanish Opening (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5), one examines multiple gambit options, while the other is a repertoire book. In the case of Attacking the Spanish, this is the third title from the Scottish powerhouse of chess publishing, Quality Chess, that deals with the Ruy Lopez from Black’s perspective, and because of their efforts thus far Spanish enthusiasts on the white side of the board are surely looking forward to the publishers finding another opening to pick on. Incidentally, all the authors featured this month, aside from those on the DVDs, are from countries in close vicinity to the Adriatic Sea.
Attacking the Spanish by Sabino Brunello, Quality Chess 2009, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Paperback, 284pp., $29.95
The back cover tell us that the author “is one of the leaders of the youthful revival in Italian chess” and that he “is still a teenager, but his rating is already 2550 and increasing daily. By the time this book is printed he will probably be a grandmaster.” This is an odd embellishment to say the least. A quick check on FIDE’s website shows that he has yet to become a grandmaster (at least the title hasn’t been awarded yet) and his rating is down. However, the poorly worded promotion was completely unnecessary, because he is already a stronger player than most authors today.
This title is different from most other opening books in that it focuses exclusively on three different variations. All three are gambit continuations that have been played several times by top ten players in recent years. The table of contents is as follows:
Introduction (2 pages)
The Schliemann
1 Schliemann: 4 d3 (30 pages)
2 Schliemann: 4 Nc3 (32 pages)
3 Schliemann: Minor Lines (24 pages)
The Gajewski
4 Gajewski: 11 d3 and 11 exd5 (26 pages)
5 Gajewski: 11 d4 (34 pages)
The Marshall
6 Anti-Marshall (30 pages)
7 Marshall: 12 d4 (40 pages)
8 Marshall: 12 d3 (34 pages)
9 Marshall: Modern Lines (22 pages)
Index of Variations (5 pages)
To the average player with some knowledge of opening theory the Schliemann (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5) and the Marshall (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 c3 d5) should be familiar names, whereas the Gajewski (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 c3 d6 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2 d5!?) is of newer vintage, and may be unfamiliar to many.
While the Schliemann has been played by Radjabov, as well as Aronian and Adams, it has never been popular at top level. It lacks the dynamic potential of the Marshall Attack, and has mostly been used as a surprise weapon. In the eighty-six pages of coverage in this book, Brunello provides the most detailed and accurate coverage of this opening to date. However, his conclusion on the critical lines in the Schliemann is quite telling: “The critical test of our repertoire came in variation C2) after 7 Qe2! Be7 8 Bxc6 dxc6 9 Nxe5. Black must certainly demonstrate some precise knowledge here, but I believe his position to be quite defensible. It is important for the second player to understand when to swap down to an opposite coloured bishop position, and I hope that after absorbing the contents of the present chapter the reader will feel equipped to make that decision. When carried out correctly, this should lead to a position that the second player ought to be able to draw without many problems.”
Each of Brunello’s chapters begin with an introduction to the lines covered, the general themes, central ideas, and theoretical highlights. The theoretical coverage follows, and then he presents the reader with a conclusion that highlights the most important issues in the particular line. All in all, this makes the chapters a joy to read. However, in addition to just presenting the material on a given line, with the current theory and the established evaluations, Brunello goes much further, offering the reader a smorgasbord of new ideas, theoretical novelties and improvements over existing theory. He has been kind enough to assign them with the Informator novelty symbol, which helps draw our attention to these instances. I think that in a work of this kind, it can be quite useful for players of either color to see where they need to pay attention and put some extra work in if they intend to use the line in question.
The material is very advanced, particularly in the coverage of the Marshall, which for a long time has been Brunello’s main weapon to counter the Spanish. The author warns the reader about the vast volume of variations in the main lines after 12 d4, whereas it appears that 12 d3 is currently more critical for the time being.
This is an important and very interesting book. The young author presents the material in a very mature fashion, while injecting plenty of youthful enthusiasm into the coverage and analysis. For anyone playing the Spanish from either side, this book is an absolute must buy.
My assessment of this book: 5/5