I should probably start characterizing some publishers for the reader who isn’t conversant with the chess publishing world. Let me start with Gambit Publishing. It is one of the two giants of chess publishing (Everyman is the other) with respect to serious books which include verbal commentary. Of course New in Chess, ChessBase, and the publishers of Informant are other major chess world publishers, but they are best known for periodic publications and CDs, whereas books like ECO and the Encyclopedias of Middlegames (and Endings) are wordless. Gambit’s audience generally ranges from the “improving (club?) player” all the way to grandmaster. The company produces encyclopedic works such as NUNN’S CHESS OPENINGS (For Watson’s review of “NCO”, click HERE, while you can find Silman’s review of this book HERE.) and Mueller and Lamprecht’s excellent and surprisingly accessible FUNDAMENTAL CHESS ENDINGS (A book that is still growing on me. Click HERE to see Donaldson’s review.). They also put out some advanced books on practical play and middlegame structures and strategy. I should emphasize that, as with Everyman, Gambit is publishing more works in the intermediate category, with books on tactics, chess improvement, puzzles, and the like. With a few exceptions, these are outside of the province of this column and I won’t list them. One should visit their Website for details: www.badbishop.com/gambit/index.html. It may interest some readers that Gambit has translated and published some of their most popular books into German (11 books) and Spanish (5 books). My own modern strategy book was even translated into Italian!

To my mind, specialized books on individual openings have been gathering a little moss over the past few years. By this I mean that we are seeing too many books essentially generated from databases without enough original material from the author. I haven’t reviewed several of the opening books from the last year for that reason. To me, “complete” works have always been the most admirable form of writing about openings, in the sense that the alternative of merely picking out representative games allows one to present variations and general ideas without doing the hard work of establishing which are truly the best and worst options for both players. That is a much more difficult task than merely presenting the typical ideas, structures, and strategies of an opening, which I (and any other experienced master) can do well for just about every opening that exists.

At any rate recent complete works have begun to get stale, as lists of game fragments, even well chosen, are not necessarily indicative of best or most interesting courses of play. In fact, I think that they rarely tell the whole truth about complex openings, since careful analysis will show that there are various interesting ways to deviate (or in some cases to boringly equalize), whether the game comes from Kramnik, Lputjan, Gulko, or some lower master. What makes a “complete” opening book come alive is for the author to step out of the mold and show personal interest in as many lines as possible. Chess is a surprisingly rich game, and given enough diligence on the part of the author even the most established opening variations will yield fresh ideas. That said, just organizing the incredible quantity of games and published material in major openings is already a very time-consuming task, so it’s probably unrealistic to expect too much from authors who receive so little material reward.

PLAY THE 2.c3 SICILIAN by Rozentalis and Harley (Check out Donaldson’s and Silman’s review of this same book.) is a repertoire book for White, but also a “complete” book, in that it looks at every reasonable Black system and provides at least one and sometimes more ideas with which to meet it. Eduard Rozentalis is a first-class grandmaster with enormous knowledge of this system, and his co-author Andrew Harley is insightful and assiduous, so much so that I strongly suspect that he contributed as much as his better-known partner.

It is impossible to describe this book in any detail for reasons of space, but nearly every chapter and variation contains new and interesting ideas, often treated in great detail, so the authors get a perfect grade in the involvement department. It is also a tribute to the open-minded approach of the authors that they can find counter-intuitive moves that effectively change the assessment of a position that has been around for years and dismissed as dully equal. Several times they demonstrate a definite if small White advantage by pursuing some simplified middlegame that looks devoid of prospects until you realize that it really is difficult for Black to coordinate his pieces. I certainly had to reevaluate my assessments of some key variations.

Of course it’s still a real challenge to make 2.c3 work against all defenses. The authors’ treatment of the popular line 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 is comprehensive and fun. Particular attention is paid to the move 6.dxc5, when I agree that 6...Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 followed by b4 probably favors White; but after 6...Qxc5, the authors are too optimistic and miss good ideas for Black (mostly a delicate matter of timing and move orders). Tal Shaked and I looked these ideas many years ago from both sides of the board. In my opinion, Black can equalize in more than one way, although that shouldn’t deter players from entering into this complex and under-investigated line. After all, White always has countermoves to test each Black attempt. This example is typical: Rozentalis and Harley are often too optimistic about White’s prospects, but they open up all kinds of new vistas and leave everything open for experimentation.

This book contributes a tremendous amount to theory and is highly recommended. Before moving on, however, I want to show one line that they missed for Black. After 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d6 6.Nf3 e6 (there are other orders) 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bd3, Short recently played 8...dxe5 9.dxe5 Na6! versus Shaw in Gibraltar 2003. Black has the double idea of ...Nb4 and ...Nc5 followed by an exchange of queens and/or ...Bd7 and ...Rc8. Black was soon better, although I suppose that White must be able to equalize. In the end, I feel that it’s unlikely that White gets an advantage after 2.c3, but Rozentalis and Harley show how many possibilities and options he has. A very fine effort.

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YOU CAN FIND THIS BOOK AT