Spring 2010 – an overview

Hi guys, just an updated publishing schedule…

Author Title 2010
Jacob Aagaard Attacking Manual Volume 2 27 January 2010
Jacob Aagaard Attacking Manual Volume 1 2nd edition 27 January 2010
Artur Yusupov Boost your Chess 1 27 January 2010
Boris Avrukh Grandmaster Repertoire 2 – 1.d4 Volume Two 25 February 2010
Mihail Marin Grossmeister Repertoire 3 – 1.c4 e5 (German ed.) 25 February 2010
Boris Alterman The Alterman Gambit Guide – White Gambits March/April 2010
Milos Pavlovi The Cutting Edge: The Open Sicilian 1 March/April 2010
John Shaw Quality Chess Puzzle Book March/April 2010
Christian Bauer Play the Scandinavian Defence March/April 2010
Lubomir Ftacnik Grandmaster Repertoire 6 – The Sicilian Defence April/May 2010
Lars Schandorff Grandmaster Repertoire 7 – The Caro-Kann April/May 2010
Tibor Karolyi Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 1 – 1961-1985 April/May 2010
Tibor Karolyi Karpov’s Strategic Wins: Volume 2 – 1986 – 2009 April/May 2010
Mihail Marin Grandmaster Repertoire 4 – The English Opening vol. 2 May/June 2010
Mihail Marin Grandmaster Repertoire 5 – The English Opening vol. 3 May/June 2010

98 thoughts on “Spring 2010 – an overview”

  1. I had been under the impression that Marin’s second volume would cover everything else other than 1…e5 against the English. Was there so much material that a third volume was needed? (apologies in advance if this has been addressed earlier)

    Aside.. it looks like every major anti-1.e4 opening has been or is going to be covered by Quality Chess, e.g. 1…e5, 1…c6, 1…c5, even 1…d5. Are there plans for anyone to do a Grandmaster Repertoire – The French?

  2. Hi Jules,

    Yeah, Marin had too much stuff. So it goes. We will put something up on this later in the month.

    We would like to do something on the French, but nothing has been finalised just yet. The future will tell.

  3. So now the cat is officially out of the bag, can I take it we can look forward to getting GM Rep 4 & 5 at the same time whenever they are released?

  4. I’m stupidly excited at the prospect of both Marin books, but also very pleased to see that the Caro book is coming so soon, or at least is scheduled so soon, I should say. It must be coming along nicely. I think such breadth of subject matter is very encouraging to see; I wouldn’t relish this competition were I working for one of the other well known chess book publishers, especially as the main two I’m thinking of tend to be so complacent with regard to their customers (and allegedly their authors, on occasion).

  5. Was confused with the Grossmeister Repertoire 3, I take it this is a German release of the July 2009 Marin book? Is it purely a translation or are there corrections or is there any additional analysis?

  6. Jacob Aagaard :
    We would like to do something on the French, but nothing has been finalised just yet. The future will tell.

    Reaally looking forward to a Quality French book… I hope that QC has not missed the large number of people inquiring about a French book…or two 🙂

  7. We listen, don’t worry.

    The Marin books will be out together. At least it went from 2 to 3, not from 5 to 3 as Genesis.

    GM3 – German edition, out March is indeed the late September English book. If you are German, I would encourage you to get this edition rather than the English, but except for what a new proofread discovered of minor things, there are no changes from the English edition.

  8. @Jacob Aagaard
    Dear Mr. Aagaard…if may I dare…I have a dream: Grandmaster Repertoire – The French written by Victor Korchnoi!
    And by the way thanks for this blog! It’s great!
    Kind regards

  9. I see you have a Grandmaster Repertoire book planned on the Sicilian and against the Open Sicilian the author is recommending the Najdorf. Everyman and Gambit also have announced forthcoming books on the Najdorf (Play the Sicilian Najdorf, Richard Palliser, Everyoman, September 2010 and Play the Najdorf Sicilian, James Rizzitano, Gambit, May 2010). I was thinking it would be a good idea to delay publication of your Najdorf book until these other two Najdorf books have been published and the author has had a chance to reference them. What do you think?

  10. I see you have a Grandmaster Repertoire book planned on the Sicilian and against the Open Sicilian the author is recommending the Najdorf. Everyman and Gambit also have announced forthcoming books on the Najdorf (Play the Sicilian Najdorf, Richard Palliser, Everyman, September 2010 and Play the Najdorf Sicilian, James Rizzitano, Gambit, May 2010). I was thinking it would be a good idea to delay publication of your Najdorf book until these other two Najdorf books have been published and the author has had a chance to reference them. What do you think?

  11. Add another Najdorf book planned by Everyman: Attacking Chess: The Sicilian Najdorf, Richard Palliser, Everyman Chess, February 2011

  12. I do not think it is desperately important to see what Palliser suggests on the Najdorf. And even if it was, has he not already published one book on it?

  13. I agree the Scheveningen, which is closely obviously closley related to the Najdorf get very little coverage compared to the Najdorf and other Open Sicilians like the Sveshnikov, Dragon etc (My opinion is it is simply tto complex). It is so disproportionate, as the Schevenigen is just as popular as all these others at all levels in my experience.

  14. There has been raised a discussion about this small excerpt at the chesspub foroum. Mr Avrukh seems to have found a nice idea against the Stonewall but a poster named “brabo” has found an improvement after 1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 d5 5. 0-0 Bd6 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 0-0 8. Qc2 Ne4 9. Rb1 Nbd7 10. b4 b5 11. cxb5 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 cxb5 13. Qc6 Nb6! and Black seems to be able to equalise. Maybe Mr Aagaard can say something about this?

  15. Ponting is a Legend

    I still fail to see the point-does Black have enough? What happens on simple moves such as 15. Qa4 or 15. Nd2? I think Avrukh omitted 13. Nb6 because it seems simple to refute.

  16. See http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1245104259/175#175 for a discussion and analysis about this line. For example

    1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 d5 5. 0-0 Bd6 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 0-0 8. Qc2 Ne4 9. Rb1 Nbd7 10. b4 b5 11. cxb5 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 cxb5 13. Qc6 Nb6 14. Qxb5 Nc4 15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. dxe5 a5! or

    “1. d4, f5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3. g3, e6 4. Bg2, d5 5. 0-0, Bd6 6. c4, c6 7. Nc3, 0-0 8. Qc2, Ne4 9. Rb1, Nbd7 10. b4, b5 11. cb5:, Nc3: 12. Qc3:, cb5: 13. Qc6, Nb6N 14. Qb5:, Nc4 (White is a pawn up but black has quite some counterplay for it) 15. Qa4, Bd7 16. Qb3, Rb8 17. a3, a5 18. Ne5 (It seems white has to give the pawn back.), ab4: 19. Nc4:, dc4: 20. Qc4:, ba3: 21. Ra1, Qf6 22. Ba3:, Bb5 23. Qc2, Ba3: 24. Ra3:, Qd4: and black finally equalised.” (analysis by “brabo”).

    Nevertheless i’m sure this will be one of the best openings books ever! I’ll looking forward to order it.

  17. Ponting is a Legend

    Here is a line I worked out: 1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 d5 5. 0-0 Bd6 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 0-0 8. Qc2 Ne4 9. Rb1 Nbd7 10. b4 b5 11. cxb5 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 cxb5 13. Qc6 Nb6 14. Qxb5 Nc4 15. Qa4 Bd7 16. Qd1! Why autopin the queen? Retreat it to safety with an extra pawn. 16 …a5 17. b5; 16…Qe7 17. Nd2!; 16…Rb8 17. Bg5 Qe8 18. Bf4! Rxb4 19. Bxd6 Rxb1 20. Qxb1 Nxd6 21. Qb4 Qb8 22. Rb1 +/= Stable positional advantage for White.

  18. I have a strong feeling White is better, but I don’t think my intuition is much valued in a sharp position like this. I will be back on this tomorrow.

  19. I will forward this line to Boris, as it would be nice to come with a clear recommendation from the author, but I do not think Black equalises, unless you play like a machine with White. Lines I found to favour White slightly are: 14.Qxb5 Nc4 15.Ne5 Bxe5 (looks best) 16.dxe5 a5 17.a3 Nxe5 18.Qc5, and White has two bishops and a passed pawn. Black does have a nice centre, but still I prefer White a bit. As an active played I am also propelled towards 14.Bg5 Qd7 15.Rfc1 Rb8 (machine move, but looks right!?) 16.Qxd7 Bxd7 17.Ne1 Nc4 18.Nd3 with the idea Bf4 with a slight plus.

    The Stonewall is of course a solid opening, and in no way to be considered bad. But this kind of passive defence cannot be to anyones taste all the same…

  20. Mr Aagaard, we all know that it is impossible to cover in a book every possible line Black may play and this 13…Nb6 idea is not a very important one (a not so popular opening, not the main line, not the most obvious “human” move etc) but you have the will to analyse it and spend some time on it after a question from an amateur. This is really QUALITY imo. Thanks!

  21. Regarding GM 6 (Sicilian Defense) :
    I dont know whether this has already been asked, but I was wondering if you could tell me what I can expect – will it be …e5 in traditional Najdorf style(like in the ChessStars’ book “The sharpest Sicilian”) or rather …e6 lines in Sheveningen style(like in the EveryMan’s book “Sicilian Najdorf in Sheveningen style”)?

  22. Schevenningen style. Actually, there is some stuff in there with straight Schevenningen. The book is by the way written. At the moment we are checking all the lines with a computer and GM.

  23. Sigurbjorn Bjornsson

    If the book is already written, will it perhaps be published earlier than the schedule says (schedule says april/may)?

  24. We publish lines the books as soon as we can, always. Right now we are checking it and finding a few things here and there to be changed. This is normal. April/May is loose, because we do not want to promise anything we cannot keep (people are not well related to the word projection).

  25. @ Jacob Aagard
    sorry for a slightly off-topic question. After looking at AM 1 ( which i liked) I bought also Practical Chess Defence (which I also liked :)). So I plan also buying your other middlegame books. I have one Question concerning this (Verbessern sie ihr Schach “Super-Edition”). How much of the training material from excelling at positional chess and excelling at chess is omitted in the german edition ?

  26. Al – Either our website or Chess4Less.

    Boki – The book contains most of the two books, I think 80 of the best 108 exercises from Pos. and most articles from both books. Really, you will find Excelling at Technical Chess and Excelling at Chess Calculation to be better books, but I am still happy enough with the Super-Edition. After all, it is a combination of my two best selling books. However, they were written in 2000-2002, while the books from 2003-onwards, were written with a better ethos, I think, the ethos of Quality Chess of jumping the fence where it is highest…

  27. Boris has sent a short update to GM2. You can find the pgn in the ebooks section. I think White is still better after 13…Nb6, Boris found something more concrete elsewhere.

  28. Kostas Oreopoulos

    Actually Black is equal after Nb6. Ne5 fails, and trying to create a bind in the black squares with Be3…and f4 does not bring any happiness. In anycase, this is not bad at all. A book with suggestions is here to be used as a step forward. Refuting variations, making them better, evolving.

    The same happens with vol.1 . Great material to work with.

  29. Will “Play the Scandinavian Defence” focus on Qd6 lines? Seems all the rage these days 🙂
    And – in general – is the difference between a GM Repertoire book and a book like Play the Scandinavian Defence how in depth the coverage is? (Since both are written by GMs, so that cannot be distinguishing characteristic) Or is a GM Repertoire book both in depth and a widely used opening GM opening (so the Scandinavian would never be part of the series)
    Keep up the great work!

  30. Kostas Oreopoulos

    The best white can get is something like the following variation

    1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 d5 5. O-O Bd6 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qc2
    Ne4 9. Rb1 Nd7 10. b4 b5 11. cxb5 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 cxb5 13. Qc6 Nb6 14. Qxb5 Nc4
    15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bxe5 17. Be3 Rf7 18. Rfc1 f4 19. gxf4 Bxf4 20. Bxf4 Rxf4
    21. e4 dxe4 22. Qe5 Rf5 23. Qxe4 =/+=

    with a slight advantage, comfortable for over the board play, but not enough to win i think.

  31. Kostas – look in the Free e-books section, there is an update from Boris. He found something one move earlier, which seems rather convincing.

  32. @Charles

    Charles,

    Play the Scandinavian will not focus on …Qd6 lines, although they might be mentioned in passing. The focus will be on …Qa5 lines, because these are the lines Christian Bauer currently plays and likes. The depth and quality of the analysis will be as high as possible (like the GM Repertoire books). This is not part of the GM Repertoire series simply because it is not a repertoire book. Since Christian is rated 2610, I am confident the analysis will be top notch.

  33. Carl Cederstam-Barsk

    Quality Chess is great! The only chess publisher for me!
    I bought a few of your books during the start of the autumn, and at the end I had gone up a record +461 in national rating, from 1740 -> 2201!
    It’s incredible! My performances went through the roof of what I thought was possible within at least a few years!
    Keep up the great work and make sure that Avrukh’s book is good!

  34. WOW Carl – which books specifically do you think contributed to this rating raise? I might need to buy some more of them 🙂

  35. Hi Carl,

    You must be doing the secret trick iwth the books – reading them :-). Avrukh’s book is done and it is fantastic…

  36. Andy :

    Jacob Aagaard :
    4…Bf5

    Any more details on this book please? Can’t wait for this one….:-)

    The Caro book, I should add, to save anyone backtracking the thread. The need for such a book on the Caro has been there a long time…..

  37. Carl Cederstam-Barsk

    @Jacob Aagaard
    Indeed, and allow me to congratulate you on your simply incredible book on defence, I think it has helped me a lot!
    I can only quote Gelfand: “You can quote me on this forever -Quality Chess is THE BEST CHESS PUBLISHER!”

    Keep up the work!

  38. I was just wondering if any of you guys knew if the VHS (Von Hennig-Schara) Gambit will be included in Alterman Black Gambit Guide.

    Thanks in Advance

  39. Andy :

    Jacob Aagaard :
    4…Bf5

    Any more details on this book please? Can’t wait for this one….:-)

    Yeah.. I was also kinda hoping to know what’s going to be recommended against the Advance and Panov-Botvinnik, two of the more dangerous lines against the Caro. I hope there won’t be too much overlap with Houska’s book or Bologan’s DVD. Keeping fingers crossed and hoping the lines are 3…Bf5 and 5…e6 6…Bb4 respectively.

  40. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, English Vol. 2 has been pushed to May/June! *sniffle* Oh well, it will make it all the sweeter when it comes.

  41. Two questions:

    1. Will GM Rep. Sicilian be a full repertoire against 1. e4? After watching the Collins DVD and noticing that he even has some improvements over Tiviakov’s c3 Sicilian DVD… I feel I need some ammo as Black. 🙂

    2. When should I expect (vaguely) GM Rep. 2 to arrive at my door in CA, USA? I purchased it from QC directly.

  42. We will post GM2 on Monday, when it is out. The whole office will march with 80 envelopes to the post office…

    The Sicilian Repertoire is a complete repertoire.

    The English has been moved a bit, because we cannot say anything with certainty before we have both volumes from Mihail. We will publish them together.

    We have answered the Caro-Kann question many times. Soon we might put the information on the book itself, but today I am busy.

  43. Ponting is a Legend

    I don’t think the shipping should take very long, since each QC order uses First Class post.. Glasgow to Newcastle should definitely not take very long 🙂

  44. Bertie McStrubble-Tuffin

    Let’s get excited, (woh) we just can’t hide it (no-no-no-o)
    I’m about to lose control and I think I like it
    I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it (no-no)
    I know, I know, I know, I know
    I know I want you, I want GM2

  45. Avrukh’s 1. d4, vol. 1 is simply outstanding. I love his succinctness and “to-the-point-ness”. When will his vol. 2 be available at Amazon Canada (which I imagine will coincide with Amazon US)?

  46. I worked through 1/3 of GM3 and it is spot on, just like GM1. Explanations and assessments where needed. I also plan to buy the other announced GM-volumes!

    I read you wanted to save on pages. In GM3 the first page of a chapter and the 3 commercial pages at the end would save 36 pages. So that would be an opportunity. Please do not remove the variation moves above each variation, since it makes the book much easier to read.

    I miss the Smyslov variation (1 c5-e5 2 g3 d6 3 Nc3 Be6 4 Bg2 Nc6 (or c6) 5 d3 Qd7, the note on page 406 does not mention this major variation.

    One item I am very curious about is how Marin plans to solve to play against the Kings Indian. Is he going to recommend the Botwinnik also against the .. c5 variations?

  47. Hi Leo. Actually we both removed blank pages and the moves. I agree it makes things easier to read to have the moves, but we have full indeces at the front of the chapter and at the back of the book. We also use a lot of diagrams. Seeing the Italian version of the book, without the moves, we decided they were not needed. We have not made any final decisions for future volumes, but I have doubts about them returning.

  48. @Ghenghisclown

    Ghengisclown,

    We decided to expand the English to three volumes when we saw how many pages Mihail Marin sent us. The original plan was a complete repertoire in one book, but then Mihail sent a “chapter” that ran to several hundred pages, all of it good enough that we could not force ourselves to delete anything. The switch from 2 to 3 was the same situation, and a little painful commercially. Twice the work, more than twice the expense, probably not twice the return. Also, various people we do business with really do not like it when we announce one book and deliver two.

    So, the short version is that Marin had so much to say about the English that it physically would not fit in fewer than three books. Excessive? I don’t think so. More Marin is a good thing.

    @Ponting is a Legend

    PiaL,

    If you happen to be passing, by all means step in to the office. We are not usually open to the public, but I am sure we could manage a quick book hand-off.

  49. John Shaw :
    @Ghenghisclown
    Ghengisclown,
    We decided to expand the English to three volumes when we saw how many pages Mihail Marin sent us. The original plan was a complete repertoire in one book, but then Mihail sent a “chapter” that ran to several hundred pages, all of it good enough that we could not force ourselves to delete anything. The switch from 2 to 3 was the same situation, and a little painful commercially. Twice the work, more than twice the expense, probably not twice the return. Also, various people we do business with really do not like it when we announce one book and deliver two.
    So, the short version is that Marin had so much to say about the English that it physically would not fit in fewer than three books. Excessive? I don’t think so. More Marin is a good thing.
    @Ponting is a Legend
    PiaL,
    If you happen to be passing, by all means step in to the office. We are not usually open to the public, but I am sure we could manage a quick book hand-off.

    More Marin is a very good thing! If I may pry a little more… will the third volume on the English be an expansion of the symmetrical variation or something else all together? *bounces in excitement*

  50. I received “THE Book” Avrukh 2 yesterday, and at first glance it looks simply superb !! qualitychess should consider to offer a subsribtion to their books !!
    One, maybe silly question. yesterday at first glance I could not find the blumenfeld-gambit ( I know, very minor variation). Maybe someone has an Idea?

    Anyway great book !!!

  51. John/Jacob,

    I am sure that you will reap the deserved reward for not sacrificing any of Marin’s material. I will definitely buy these two in addition to gm 2.Keep up the good work.

  52. Blumenfeld Gambit is with Nf3. Without Nf3, but with g3, it does not make sense. However, we shall check it.

    That 1.d4 is 2 volumes and the English 3 is odd. If we had to do 1.d4 now, with what we know know, we would have done 1.d4 in 4 volumes. We want to do 1.e4 in 4 volumes as well.

    Marin’s 3rd volume will be 1.c4 c5, and probably not 500 pages like the other two.

    3/5 euros is of course for airmail/first class postage.

    Those who got the book already must have got it through Niggemann. This time around they got the books earlier because of a fluke. We will send out the websales on Monday from Glasgow to all over the world, and various shops all over Europe will have the book Monday/Tuesday as well.

  53. @boki Yeah, I’d have liked that too. Unfortunately, from what I understand, piracy is too big of a concern. And if piracy becomes controlled through DRM etc. it’s too much of a hassle for users. Hopefully there will be regular new editions though.

    I hope I get it here in California soon too. I’m so curious!

  54. Ponting is a Legend

    boki :
    I received “THE Book” Avrukh 2 yesterday, and at first glance it looks simply superb !! qualitychess should consider to offer a subsribtion to their books !!
    One, maybe silly question. yesterday at first glance I could not find the blumenfeld-gambit ( I know, very minor variation). Maybe someone has an Idea?
    Anyway great book !!!

    boki, how did you receive GM2 so fast? Did you order from QC? They shipped already?

  55. @boki

    boki,

    I had a quick look at the pseudo-Blumenfeld. I can’t remember if it’s mentioned in the book, but I suspect not. It is very rare and looks ropey for Black. White has many options but the lines below are my first thoughts:

    1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 b5 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Bg2 d5 7.cxd5 and Black has a nasty choice:

    7…Bb7 8.Nh3
    7…exd5 8.Nc3 Bb7 and now either 9.Bg5 Be7 10.Nh3 or even the simple 9.Nxb5.

    Either way, Black’s centre looks weak and I like the way White can benefit by not having played Nf3, with Nh3-f4 in particular.
    Disclaimer: I am not Boris Avrukh.

  56. yes, I got it from Niggemann.
    BTW I also purchased AM2 by Jacob in the same installement, looks also perfect !
    Accept my congratulations as THE finest chess publisher !
    Thanks for the short Variations on the Blumenfeld. I think Jacob is of course right, that in the proposed move order with 3.g3 the blumenfeld try is just rubbish and the variations by John are more then sufficent to deal with it.

  57. 1. on GM repertoire 1e4

    Mr. Aagaard, I’m afraid that you’ll finish these series in 2012. As main head in Quality company you certainly won’t have enough time to finish it in 2011! This is bad truth for all e4 players, hopefully I’m wrong in prediction 🙂

    2. on KING’S GAMBIT

    Mr. Shaw, since Everyman’s book “King’s Gambit Uncensored” by Jonathan Tait was canceled, I immediately noticed that this best gambit from all “gambit family” (excluding Queens Gambit which doesn’t have any similarity with other gambits) is going to be very very hard hit for the ones who are vigorous and brave enough to write a decent 21 century book, with all needed standards of a Quality Chess opening book. Please answer on following:

    a) did you use in your bibliography Thomas Johansson’s “The Fascinating King’s Gambit” and “King’s Gambit for creative aggressor”, as a super stuff and e-books from ChessPublishing?

    b) is this book going to be a neutral overview for both side or a White repertoire?

    c) do you think a Bishop Gambit (1e4 e5 2f4 exf4 3Bc4) should replace Knight’s Gambit (1e4 e5 2f4 exf4 3Nf3) because of the Kieseritzky line or simply because of a superfluous of analysis?

    d) honestly, tell me please why King’s gambit isn’t so popular and where in plain words lies his “refutation”? I played it and switched to Ruy Lopez, but I play KG from time to time.

    3. on CHESS STRATEGY / POSITIONAL PLAY

    Mr. Aagaard, I have read many book of given theme and I can put an exclamation mark only on Euwe’s “The Middlegame” and Dvoretsky’s books, and also on Carsten Hansen’s “Improve your positional play”. On the market is a lack of good books which would clearly identify all strategic factors and give clear examples without mystifying prose. One of these books which you could translate to English is a book from our compatriot Therekin who published it in German by Kania Verlag. What can you comment on this and what’s your vision. I think personally that you can give a big contribution in this field because you have all preconditions: a publisher, a knowledge, but do you have a will? Please DO NOT forget that nobody in the world did not publish a STRATEGY/POSITIONAL PLAY ENCYCLOPAEDIA, not even a great Chess Informant who did publish only Anthology of chess combinations. When you put such work in a heavy 1000 pages book with hardback you can get a all-time-classic. Please be allowed to charge me 100 euros for this book right now!!!

    4. on RUSSIAN CLASSICS

    Mr. Aagaard, you could launch a new series of books. In Russian you can find so many forgotten books which could be resurrected with little new touch. By the way, such series span from ex Yugoslavia till Estonia, fencing the whole former Soviet Union.

    5. on the ENDGAME

    Mr. Aagaard, my professor on the faculty once told me that I should follow a Latin sentence: MULTA, NON MULTUM. In the endgame field we have only 3 authorities: Fine/Cheron, Averbakh and Dvoretsky. Since Fine/Cheron works seem to be outdated, and Dvoretsky’s “Endgame Manual” being put on a high tripod, I think that Averbakh as THE leading living endgame theorist deserves that his 5 tomes, earlier published by Pergamon in the 1980-ies and as a CD by Convekta, are published by such high raise company as Quality. These works are also considered as Russian classics and you will definitely find people who would buy it in splendid re-edition in hardback. Again I will be the first one to buy it. Also do not forget that you should put also an ideal in your business and so don’t be blinded only with the percentage of money. Do make a side shuffle, be an avantgardist!

    Thanks for reading and commenting. Best wishes from “RUSSIAN POWER” 🙂

  58. Jacob Aagaard :
    That 1.d4 is 2 volumes and the English 3 is odd. If we had to do 1.d4 now, with what we know know, we would have done 1.d4 in 4 volumes. We want to do 1.e4 in 4 volumes as well.

    About a month ago you said it was gonna be 3 volumes! Also what is the structure? (with three volumes I was thinking 1. … e5; 1. … c5 and then all the rest in a third volume) Speaking of future plans, when will we see the 2010 catalogue? Next Monday is March already!

  59. 1) Obviously I cannot promise more than I am aiming for 2011 for all volumes. I don’t believe your fears are justified. Besides, I am surely the servant of John and Andrew, which is the true position of any managing director, which I am, but I think without the title…

    2) This book will happen in the early summer.
    a) We have these and many other sources
    b) It is going to be a repertoire style, but not too strict
    c) No
    d) Too many forced draws?

    3) Yes, you keep saying this. We have something on the way, but not right now.

    4) We are doing one this year. Maybe one more in the future as well. I think many of them are dated, but those that are not, we do look at.

    5) The Averbakh books are updated on a DVD. You can get it from Chess Assistant’s creators – I think they are called Convektor!?
    d)

  60. I will get the catalouge ready when I have some more of the covers ready. This is the main stumbling block. But I need it ready soon for the American’s anyway.

    I was thinking

    1) 1.e4 – various openings, including Petroff, Philidor
    2) 1.e4 – Ruy Lopez
    3) 1.e4 – French & Caro-Kann
    4) 1.e4 – The Sicilian

    I simply could not see a way to do these books in three volumes in a way that made sense. I am getting excited – as soon as we are done with the King’s Gambit, I am going to be heavily on this project.

  61. Jacob Aagaard :
    I will get the catalouge ready when I have some more of the covers ready. This is the main stumbling block. But I need it ready soon for the American’s anyway.
    I was thinking
    1) 1.e4 – various openings, including Petroff, Philidor
    2) 1.e4 – Ruy Lopez
    3) 1.e4 – French & Caro-Kann
    4) 1.e4 – The Sicilian
    I simply could not see a way to do these books in three volumes in a way that made sense. I am getting excited – as soon as we are done with the King’s Gambit, I am going to be heavily on this project.

    I see. In my scheme 1 would be divided between 2 & 3. Is this also the order in which you plan to publish them? Have you decided the main lines? I remember you wanted 6. Be3 against Najdorf. What about Caro-Kann and French? (fingers crossed for both them to be Advanced!)

    Finally what happened to hardcover option?

    I am really looking forward to the catalogue to find out who is writing the Gruenfeld volume …

  62. I think it would be better to put everything after 1 e4 e5 in the same volume so if a player just needs a repertoire against 1…e5 they will only have to buy 1 volume instead of 2.

    1) 1.e4 – Pirc, Alekhine, Scandinavian, and other less common openings.
    2) 1.e4 – French & Caro-Kann
    3) 1.e4 – 1..e5
    4) 1.e4 – The Sicilian

  63. @MAS
    See the point, but Ruy Lopez already mammoth. One tome on that seems sensible enough.
    Tho dont envy the writer who be bringing this bairn into the world.
    Mop up pirc, modern, alekhine, scandi, petroff, philidor, then the minor stuff all in one jobbie (4-500 pages).
    Ay, plan seems sensible.

    Look forward to GM2 arriving….

  64. The problem is that I anticipate that Petroff will be a lot of pages, and the Ruy Lopez will easily fill a volume by itself.

    I was thinking 3.Nc3 against the French and possibly an advance variation against the Caro-Kann. Basically I am going to spend a year just studying the opening in order to write these books.

  65. Jacob Aagaard :
    The problem is that I anticipate that Petroff will be a lot of pages, and the Ruy Lopez will easily fill a volume by itself.
    I was thinking 3.Nc3 against the French and possibly an advance variation against the Caro-Kann. Basically I am going to spend a year just studying the opening in order to write these books.

    Advanced against Caro-Kann is great!

    About 3. Nc3 against French, if you look at Khalifman’s book on Winawer the main line (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 0-0 8. Bd3 f5 9. exf6 Rxf6 10. Bg5 Rf7 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qd1) ends in very unclear positions and I am not sure White has found any major improvements since. Also this will take a lot of space, if I recall correctly Khalifman’s initial plan was to do French in one volume however he ended up with two volumes and a total page count of 630. Compare that with 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 (which included Petroff, Philidor and Ruy Lopez) where he used up 660 pages.

    I am looking forward to this, I hope you get at least one volume done in 2010!

  66. This Russian team of analysts, known as Khalifman although I think his involvement is limited at times, seems to have a policy of just printing all lines they find and analyse positions that seem to be completely untheoretical, in depth. We don’t, which is why Avrukh needed 1050 pages for 1.d4, and not the many thousands Khalifman needed for the Kramnik repertoire series.

    About the specific position. I prefer White and hope I will find something.

  67. Jacob Aagaard :
    This Russian team of analysts, known as Khalifman although I think his involvement is limited at times, seems to have a policy of just printing all lines they find and analyse positions that seem to be completely untheoretical, in depth. We don’t, which is why Avrukh needed 1050 pages for 1.d4, and not the many thousands Khalifman needed for the Kramnik repertoire series.

    I see. But if that is the case then you should be fine with 3 volumes. After all as I said Khalifman used 660 pages for 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 and his pages are much smaller and you are saying that he includes stuff that are not necessary.

    Jacob Aagaard :
    About the specific position. I prefer White and hope I will find something.

    I certainly hope so but all I am saying is that 3. Nc3 is so heavily theoretical that its edge compared to 3. e5 or 3. Nd2 (if it indeed exists) might not be enough to justify the investment. The line I mentioned is one of the several playable lines in the 7. … O-O line, then poison pawn and 3. … Nf6 (which should be in good shape since Kasparov-Carlsen played it).

    Anyway given QC’s already published material regardless of your opening choice I am looking forward to it.

  68. I took a look into the excerpt of the Alterman Gambit book. In the preface to the book a “Fried Liver Attack” is mentioned, but in the content of the book not. Is it somewhere hidden? Anyway what is the “Fried Liver Attack” and why this strange name?

  69. @Michael

    The Fried Liver Attack is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 – the name is apparently from an Italian saying about being “as dead as fried liver” which is an assessment of the black king’s prospects. This line is intentionally not in the book. At an earlier stage we were going to mention it (which may be why you saw it mentioned in old sales text). The Fried Liver is not, as far as I know, mentioned in the pdf excerpt.

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