One of the outstanding chess books of 2009 was volume one of Romanian Grandmaster Mihail Marin’s trilogy on 1.c4. This 477-page work covering 1.c4 e5 won deserved recognition for the depth and quality of the analysis. The second and third volumes in the series, recently released, maintain the same high standards.
Part One
THE ENGLISH OPENING: Volume Two
Author: Mihail Marin
Quality Chess (2010)
432 pages
Paperback: $28.95
Hardcover: $40.95
THE ENGLISH OPENING: Volume Two by Mihail Marin deals with the question of how to handle Black’s attempts to turn the English Opening into the Slav, Queen’s Gambit, Grunfeld and King’s Indian.
Marin borrows a page from Tony Kosten’s DYNAMIC ENGLISH in advocating a Reti/Catalan setup (g3 and c4) versus both the Slav and Queen’s Gambit. While Kosten could only cover the basics, Marin spends over 200 pages on 1.c4 c6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 alone!
The key position for this is reached after 1.c4 c6 2.g3 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg2 dxc4 when Marin advocates the principled 5.0-0 with the idea of meeting 5...b5 with 6.a4 Bb7 7.b3 cxb3 8.Qxb3, saving a tempo over similar lines after 5.Qc2 where the queen spends two tempi to reach b3. The critical variation is 5.0-0 Nbd7 6.Na3 Nb6 7.Qc2 Qd5 8.Ne1! (intending the gambit d3 in many lines) where Marin shares many novelties in 8 pages of coverage.
The same fresh approach characterizes his neo-Catalan answer to the Queen’s Gambit with 1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Na3 where White willingly accepts double rook pawns in return for the two Bishops and a strong pawn center. If Black decides to hold steady with 1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 White does not transpose into the Catalan but continues with an old Botvinnik favorite 6.b3. White meets 6...b6 with 7.Bb2 Bb7 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Nc3 intending Qe2 and d4.
The big divergence with Kosten’s repertoire is in Marin’s advocacy of the Botvinnik system (c4, g3, Bg2, Nc3, e4) against the King’s Indian. Since the author in volume three has White fighting against the Botvinnik via 1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e5 I was very curious as to how Marin would handle this. Readers of the Dynamic English will recall that Kosten specifically refrained from recommending the Botvinnik against the King’s Indian, not because of ...e5 setups but those involving ...c5.
When playing against the Botvinnik Marin recommends leaving White’s pawn on d2 and aiming for a3 and b4, often without Rab1. The latter detail can be quite important. My only reservation about the entire series is that in Volume 2 the Botvinnik for White is only considered after 1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 instead of the more flexible 5...c5 intending ....Ne8-c7-e6 right away. This treatment would cut across d3-d4 plans for White leaving him to choose between kingside play and initiating action on the queenside with a3 and b4. It would be very interesting to see Marin’s thoughts on this.
One way to try to deprogram the pure English treatment of 1.c4, 2.g3, 3.Bg2 and 4.Nc3 is with 1...b6. Many of those who play the English like to keep the ball in their own court and not go down the main lines that arise from 1...b6 that are often quite messy. Marin has just the answer in 1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.e4 e6 4.Nge2 with White following with a later g3 and Bg2. This is yet another example of how well the openings in this series work together. Sometimes opening repertoire books advocate variations that are all over the place – for example g3 in the Vienna followed by 6.Bg5 against the Najdorf – this series is not like that. The lines are consistent throughout featuring active positional chess.
Anti-Slav Systems
2 Introduction 15
3 5th Move Various 21
4 5...e6 53
5 4...Bg4 69
6 The Barcza Variation 85
7 4...g6 109
8 4...e6 127
9 3...Bg4 155
10 3...dxc4 165
11 3...g6 173
Anti-QG Systems
12 Introduction and 3...dxc4 195
13 The Triangle I 203
14 The Triangle II 209
15 The Georgian System 215
16 4...dxc4 227
17 4...e6 with a quick ...b5 241
18 4...dxc4 – 6...0–0 Main Line 259
QGD Set-up
19 6...d4 and 6...a5 269
20 6...c6 275
21 6...b6 without ...c5 293
22 6...c5 303
23 Reversed Modern Benoni 317
24 9...dxc4 Main Line 333
25 9...Bb7 Main Line 351
Odds and Ends
26 Anti-Grünfeld 375
27 Anti-King’s Indian 391
28 Anti-Dutch 403
29 Anti-Owen 411
30 Reti Move Order 423
Variation Index
Part Two
THE ENGLISH OPENING: Volume Three
Author: Mihail Marin
Quality Chess (2010)
275 pages
Paperback: $28.95
Hardcover: $40.95
Reviewed by John Donaldson
The third volume in the series, THE ENGLISH OPENING: Volume Three by Mihail Marin, covers the Symmetrical variation of the English, but with a move-order that avoids the Hedgehog and Double fianchetto variations and the heavily analyzed Four Knight English with an early d4.
Over half of this book is devoted to 1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nc3 with the core the English/King’s Indian line 5...Nf6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 0-0 8.0-0 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 10.Qd3 where Marin has found a most interesting novelty in 10...a6 11.Be3 Ng4 12.Bd4 Ne5 13.Qe4!
The reversed Maroczy-Bind line has a reputation of being a very tough nut to crack and the main lines after 1.c4 c5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nf3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Nc3 Nc7 7.0-0 e5 involving d3 followed by Nf3-d2-c4 have White showing a hard time showing any advantage at all. Once again Marin has brought a fresh approach to the problem and advocates 8.a3 intending dynamic play with b2-b4 and e2-e3 followed by d2-d4 attacking the pillars of the bind.
The King’s Indian and Dutch are often mentioned as universal defenses against everything but 1.e4, but Black has a third all-purpose answer to queenside openings in the Tarrasch Defense. Again this is not an easy opening to show a clear advantage against and the typical isolated queen pawn positions are not common for the English. Marin’s answer is what he calls the Anti Tarrasch Catalan (1.c4 c5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.d4 d5 7.dxc5 where after 7...Bxc5 8.a3 White plays against the Bishop on c8.
1 The Double English – A Repertoire 11 The Closed System 2 Introduction and Sidelines 15 3 5...d6 27 4 5...e5 51 5 5...e6 – The Fischer System 79 6 5...Nf6 101 7 Main Line with 8...Nxd4 123 The Open Lines 8 2...Nf6 149 9 The Reversed Maroczy 165 10 Reversed Maroczy with ...g6 195 The Flexible 3...e6 11 Introduction 215 12 4...b6 – The Inferior Queen’s Indian 219 13 4...a6 – The Inferior Hedgehog 229 14 The Anti Tarrasch Catalan 209 15 6...cxd4 – The delayed Hedgehog and others 215
One of the virtues of the repertoire that Marin has constructed is that it can be a stand alone system or parts of it can be used selectively by those who open 1.Nf3. Players below 2400 FIDE will likely adopt it in full but stronger players may choose bits and pieces combining it with other lines - for example the Fianchetto Variation against the King’s Indian and Grunfeld and in this they will be well-served by the second volume in GM Avrukh’s series on 1.d4, also published by Quality Chess.
Volumes two and three in Marin’s series on the English are published on high quality paper with a clean, easy to read layout. They are available in both hardback and paperback editions with the former costing 8 Euros more. This might seem like an unnecessary luxury for an opening book that will eventually be outdated. However, if your budget allows and you intend to use these books a lot, it might be a wise investment. Will the difference in price be remembered after you have spent several hundred hours mastering this material?
I give Marin’s three volumes series on the English my highest recommendation.
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