It's funny to see how the Evans Gambit still captures the imagination of modern day players. An ardent but weak player named Moody has been raving about the gambit's wonders (he also wrote a book on it) to anyone who cares to listen, Grandmaster Larry Christiansen came out with an interesting article on it in Inside Chess magazine, Kasparov scored two crushing knockouts with it, Harding and Cafferty wrote a 239 page, small typed, jam-packed book about it, and now Grandmaster Rohde has stepped in to set all this information straight.

Refuting analysis right and left and offering up many new ideas of his own, Rohde has done the Master level chess world a service by cutting through much of the rubbish that other books extolled. Unfortunately, the layout is jumbled and I found myself hopelessly confused as he jumped into "Harding 1," "Harding 2," "Moody this" and...well, you get the idea.

Move upon move left my head spinning (though much of my confusion was clearly due to the fact that I don't know anything at all about this opening!) but, I have to admit, Rohde's analysis (and the respect I give to him as a player) made me want to jump in and try this gambit for myself!

Clearly Rohde doesn't cover every line (Harding's 239 pages confirms this!), but he has written an important book for very strong players who seriously want to study this rich opening.

If you're a master-strength player who is thinking about playing the Evans, Rohde's book is a must buy; though the $15.95 price tag for a scant 85 pages will make anyone think twice before they reach for their wallet (with a curse on their lips, no doubt).

In this age of the database dump, Mr. Rohde should be commended for offering us something that obviously took a lot of time and hard work to create.

YOU CAN FIND THIS BOOK AT