Though most consider me to be some sort of positional maven, I have been recommending gambits like the Danish to my students for years. Why? Because, aside from the raw excitement they offer, these wild systems also give the beginning player a wonderful training ground in elementary tactics and basic mating positions.

One problem, though, is that books like NCO and MCO offer very little analysis on lines like the Danish and Goring gambits. This isn't that terrible a thing for beginners since they are playing these gambits in the hope that little memorization is required. On that level, they're right. However, if you intend to continue making use of these "quick-nuke systems" as you climb the rating ladder, then some serious analytical source is badly needed. DANISH DYNAMITE (which covers a family of openings coming from 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3/1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 and also 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4) is and isn't that source.

POSITIVES: It whets our attacking appetites by giving us a nice collection of miniatures, it gives the lines personality by telling us about their history, it teaches by letting us in on the basic ideas, and it informs by offering an impressively thorough analysis on all main and side lines.

NEGATIVES: When you offer such a depth of analysis, it's easy to mistake chess moves for a sea of gibberish. To avoid this "snow-blindness," it's extremely important to design the chapters and layout so that everything is easy to find. This is even more critical in the case of low rated players who will get lost in the rain of chess notation if care isn't taken to make the contents digestible. Sadly, DANISH DYNAMITE offers an explosion of chess moves that even confused me.  Yes, the book does have an index of variations (which really helps!), but the actual pages of analysis leaves one in shock. 

So should the aspiring Danish Gambit fan buy it? Though a caring typesetter and a demanding editor would have improved the book immeasurably and made it into something special, I still feel it's a wonderful research source, useful for those over the board players that wish to make a serious study of these lines, and a must buy for postal players entering this stuff as either side.

It's clear that the authors made a real effort to present an impressively detailed analysis, be it new and old. I appreciate that, and also liked their obvious, infectious, love for this whole opening complex. I'm certainly happy to own it, and if you have a good set of goggles or a notation decoder ring, you will be too.