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PLAY THE NIMZO-INDIAN
Author: Edward Dearing
Everyman Chess (2005)
224 pages
$23.95
PLAY 1.e4 e5!
Author: Nigel Davies
Everyman Chess (2005)
192 pages
$23.95
PLAY 1…b6
Author: Christian Bauer
Everyman Chess (2005)
224 pages
$23.95
THE Bb5 SICILIAN
Author: Palliser
Everyman Chess (2005)
208 pages
$23.95
STARTING OUT: THE SICILIAN DRAGON
Author: Andrew Martin
Everyman Chess (2005)
208 pages
$21.95
Reviewed by John Donaldson
Everyman Chess (www.everymanchess.com) has long had a reputation as a publisher of excellent chess books. Recently they have raised their standards even higher as evidenced by recent offerings that appeared at the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006. The following five books, which are between 192 and 224 pages long, retail for $23.95, excepting the Dragon which is $21.95. All use figurine algebraic and are paperbacks.
The sole member of Everyman’s “Starting out” series in this bunch is IM Andrew Martin’s recent effort on the Sicilian Dragon, but it would be a mistake to think this is a book aimed only at club players, though they will find it quite accessible. Martin uses his 208 pages wisely, devoting over half the book to the only line that really challenges Black – the Yugoslav Attack. Here Martin quickly dispenses of what he sees as second rate lines and quickly gets down to the nitty-gritty. His advice is simple – play the Chinese Dragon: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rb8 and if White play 10.h4 head for the Soltis variation with 10...h5. The point here is that the only lines where Black is challenged in the Soltis are those where White plays in the center and dispenses with an early h4. Your average 1600 might find this all a bit much but I don’t think this is who Martin was writing for. Adults from 2000 on up and kids maybe 1800 or more will find this a very useful introduction to a system that will give them real chances to beat much higher-rated players.
Some people may know IM Eddie Dearing only as the target of a very negative review by GM Sergei Tiviakov regarding the former’s work on the Dragon Sicilian. If so, this would be quite unfortunate. Dearing has written three books in the past few years and all are quite good. So good in fact that I would be a little hesitant to hire him as a lawyer – his day job – as it sure seems like he is putting all his efforts into his books!
Dearing’s latest, PLAY THE NIMZO-INDIAN, is a 224 page opening repertoire book that advocates the following lines, with more than a little influence from GM Romanishin against White’s main setups.
4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 Qf5
4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 c5 6.a3 Ba5
4.e3 b6 5.Bd3 Bb7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 d5
There is also coverage of the Leningrad, Saemisch and 4.g3.
Tucked into the back of the book is a useful section on what to do against the tricky move order 4.Nf3, keeping future development with g3, e3 or Bg5 a secret. Dearing proposes 4...0-0 and looks at the not often seen sequence 5.Bg5 c5 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 cxd4 8.exd4 when both 8...d5 and 8...Qa5 appear to give Black good play.
This is a good guide to the Nimzo!
One of the first books that Batsford produced in its fabled opening series in the early 1970s was on the Closed Ruy Lopez. Surprisingly few books have appeared on the main line Ruy since than and really nothing from Black’s perspective. That’s changed with Nigel Davies’ PLAY 1.e4 e5! where the former Pirc/Modern Defense player comes clean and tries to show the error of his early years by advocating classicism. He makes a good case in his 192 page monograph as he not only deals with all the relevant lines of the Ruy anchored by the Keres variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7) but also covers all other White tries after 1.e4 e5. This makes the book a particularly good value as it is all you need if you intend to answer 1.e4 with 1...e5.
For something decidedly less classical, try French 2600+ GM Christian Bauer’s PLAY 1...b6. This book, which fills a gap in the chess literature, covers 1...b6 via all of White’s first moves except of course 1.g3! Bauer, in his first book, packs a wealth of information into eighty-two annotated games in 224 pages.
Bauer is quite thorough, but one point I wish he could have addressed occurs after 1.Nf3 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.d4 Bb4 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.Nd2 e5 11.f4 Qe7 12.fxe5 dxe5. Here, after Khalifman in his OPENING FOR WHITE ACCORDING TO KRAMNIK series, in volume 3, gives the critical line as 13.Bb5+ c6 14.Bd3 0-0 15.Qh5 Nd7 16.Rae1. It would be interesting to know how White should continue after a normal move like 16...Rad8.
If you play 1...b6, you must have this book.
Last but not least among the recent offerings from Everyman is IM Richard Palliser’s THE Bb5 SICILIAN. This 208 page book covers all lines after 2...d6 3.Bb5+ and 2...Nc6 3.Bb5 in the Sicilian. The latter has a better reputation, perhaps the best of all White’s anti-Sicilian lines that avoid 3.d4. One only has to look at the games of 3.Bb5 regular Sergei Rublevsky to know the line has punch at all levels of competition. Eighty-two well-annotated games cover the bases, including recent developments like 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Qa4.
Click to buy Dearing’s PLAY THE NIMZO-INDIAN
Click to buy Dearing’s PLAY THE SICILIAN DRAGON
Click to buy Davies’ PLAY 1.e4 e5!: A COMPLETE REPERTOIRE FOR BLACK
Click to buy Bauer’s PLAY 1...b6
Click to buy Palliser’s Bb5 SICILIAN
Click to buy Martin’s STARTING OUT: SICILIAN DRAGON
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